If someone asked me where I would like to be on New Year's Eve, I would have said, my bedroom. That's where I have always commemorated the New Year for the past few years. Pressed to name an exotic place, I would probably have mentioned Uhuru Peak on Mt. Kilimanjaro.
What happened this New Year's Eve, I would not have imagined. I had to travel from Butiama to Dar es Salaam on Thursday through a flight from Mwanza that normally takes off at around 2000hrs and arrives in Dar before midnight. However, before I left Butiama for the two-hour drive to Mwanza, I was informed that the Air Tanzania flight was delayed and would leave Mwanza at 2300hrs. And so it was.
An hour into the flight and about 30 seconds before the stroke of midnight, Captain Karim interrupted a quiet but chilled cabin half-filled to capacity and began to speak, but I could not make much sense of what he said having just woken up from a nap. But I caught his mention of the fact that we had left Mwanza in the year 2009 and would arrive at Dar es Salaam in the year 2010.
I realize there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of travelers who take a few hours and two years between two destinations, but it felt unique to experience it myself.
The Captain then began a countdown to the New Year. A weeks ago if someone suggested I would be in a plane on New Year's Eve at 20,000ft above Tanzania, I would have said that was an interesting dream.
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http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/11/letter-from-butiama-downside-of-budget.html
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1 comment:
Cool experience brother!
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