Bags Are Packed!

Bags are packed.

Plane tickets are printed.

Passport is in my purse.

Malaria prescription has been filled.

Yellow fever certificate is ready to go.

via

I'm so excited to finally be heading off to Rwanda tomorrow to be meeting up with two of my very best friends and favorite travel partners!  

It's been so long since the three of us have been in one country and almost six years since we've traveled abroad together.  While we aren't quite certain what we'll be doing yet it seems that the genocide memorial, kayaking across a lake, jungle tromping, motorcycle riding, and a good dose of relaxing/catching up are quite high on the list of priorities. 

I am literally itching out of my skin to get there!

{see original Rwanda post here.}

Amber, Me, Katie - Croatia circa 2006

After a fun filled five days in Rwanda, I'll be back in Jo'burg for a short couple of days, but then I'm jumping on another plane to Cape Town to meet up with two more of my very favorite people!  

Two of my ex-roommates {and very very good friends} are flying out to South Africa for the first time since we all studied abroad together in Stellenbosch in 2008.  I'm so glad that everything worked out {read: I was able to save up enough dough} to also be able to fly out and have a little reunion weekend with them in our old stomping grounds.  We will certainly be eating out at all of our favorite restaurants, going on ample wine tours {Stellenbosch is famous for them!}, meeting up with old friends, and generally enjoying each others company. 

Jenny, Brigid, and I at the Cape of Good Hope circa 2008

Following our weekend in Cape Town / Stellenbosch, they will be flying back to Jo'burg with me for a few days and I must say that I'm also really looking forward to giving them a tour of my current home city and sharing a little bit of my every day life with them.  A lot has changed since we were all students on a semester abroad adventure four years ago!  One of these lovely ladies is also the one who is responsible for introducing Jurgen and I, so Jurg's quite excited to spend some time with them as well.

It should make for an amazing {albeit busy} couple of weeks!  

While I'm away there will be some incredibly inspirational ladies guest posting on the blog.  The only guideline I gave them was that their post be travel-inspired in some way and I've loved reading each of their posts one by one.  From semesters abroad in Jerusalem, to tips on becoming an expat, to becoming an au pair in Germany, to foreign boyfriends with accents, to spending a summer working at a baboon sanctuary - the topics were all equally unique, personal, and amazing.  I can't wait to share them with you!

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a great weekend!  

{I should be popping in every once in awhile on twitter in case you'd like to check-in!}