I’m sitting on the Van Galder bus to O’Hare, trying out a ridiculously silly looking tiny bluetooth keyboard that my Galaxy S7 is paired to.  Yes,  it’s the first vacation I’ve taken since Germany and Austria with Dozan wa Awtar that I’m not taking a laptop with me…. This will be a 100% phone based trip! 

Christine and I bought these plane tickets on a whim on December 8th from a booking website that gives 48 hour money back refunds and said,  okay,  we have 48 hours to determine if we can find a trustworthy yet affordable safari company or not.  Also,  do we need to send our passports to DC or something for a visa?  Yes to the first,  no to the second; we’re going to wing it and buy visas for $100 apiece right at the airport. Websites are saying that’s possible so we really hope that’s true – otherwise,  as Han Solo says,  “this is gonna be a real short trip.” 

The majority of our 12 day trip is going to be an 8 day safari with a group Christine found,  Endallah Cultural Tours –  normally I’d insert a URL here but on a single tasking smartphone that keeps trying to autocorrect everything,  even with the dang keyboard attached,  you’ll forgive me for keeping things simple. Endallah is special because it’s based around Endallah Village as an aid group that uses tourist money to buy water pumps and school supplies for the villagers.  In return,  we get to stay at people’s homes,  eat with them,  and get a private tour into 3-4 of the national parks with a driver. Not bad for $1825 a person,  when you consider that going with a foreign tour group like Thomson Safaris,  who wait on you hand and foot,  can cost $4000 for a similar duration.  Christine and I have always been good with roughing it,  though! 

Well,  my fingers are starting to cramp and the bus swaying around isn’t helping my phone balance on this little keyboard tray at all,  so I’ll sign off.  Seems like this keyboard likes to double insert two spaces after each period.  How annoying,  I wonder if it’s possible to turn that “feature” off…