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After my first night in Kampala, I grabbed my bags and headed over to the Sheraton the next morning. I was to meet some friends of my sister, who I would be traveling with for the next week. Pretty random. I showed up at their hotel room and met Robbie – the guy who my sister knew. The other boys, Josh and Rob, were still sleeping so Robbie and I went down to breakfast. It was one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in 8 months (there were even waffles)! After, we woke up the boys and headed downtown. We spent the day exploring Kampala and getting to know each other. It’s funny how easily you can get along with people and how quickly you can get to know each other when traveling. Oh yeah, staying at the Sheraton was glorious. A nice break from my usual $10/night places.
Josh, Rob, Robbie and me
I refuse to take night buses in Africa, so I left Nairobi at 7am on a bus en route to Kampala, Uganda. It is a long trip – about 14 hours. By the time we were getting into Kampala, it was already dark outside. I asked the woman in front of me if the bus station was relatively safe. She immediately became concerned about me, as did the rest of the bus. The man sitting next to me helped me call the backpackers place to book a room. Then, he said he would sort out a taxi for me when we arrived. But then I added another factor to the equation – I had no Ugandan money and needed to go to an atm. The woman disagreed with the idea of the taxi driver stopping at an atm on the way to the backpackers. So before reaching the final stop, everyone decided it was best for me to get off at an earlier stop. I quickly grabbed my bags and jumped out. Mathew, a Kenyan on the bus, got off with me. Together we went to three atms before finding one that worked. After, he negotiated a taxi for me. As I got into the taxi, he got in too. I turned to him and told him I was fine. But he insisted that he escort me to the hotel and that the taxi driver would return to town anyway. I don’t know what you all think, but in my mind that was over and above the call of duty.
