Several months ago, the domain to my Sierra Leone blog ran out. Blame my carelessness. To my disappointment, somebody snapped up the domain name. I didn't notice until a few weeks later and my little African pet project was supplanted by advertisements for herbal sex remedies.
I've now rescued my data (thank you, Internet Archive) and plan a subsection on this site where my old posts, some complete with post-university angst, will be republished.
Some of the classics will find their way to the main page. I'm surprised I misspelled the words "commission" and "because" (the latter twice), even though I was in a rush. I blame Firefox sans spell check. Here is what I wrote post-Kenya, pre-Sierra Leone.
02.06.06 // Destination: Freetown
May 30th, 2006
Welcome to livefromfreetown.com. I’ve had a pretty good time travelling through Europe and into Kenya, and am back home for 2 days until I fly to London, and then on to Freetown. Adventure awaits.
The in-flight magazine from Nairobi to Kisumu had a very interesting article about Sierra Leone. The State Department has declared the entire country safe for travel, including border areas, which were among the most dangerous, and there is a small but growing market for tourism. Despite that it is no longer the poorest country in the world (still among the poorest), I’m not convinced that this country is Club-Med.
Nevertheless, with peace, good governance, and foreign investment (much of which coming from the Chinese), Sierra Leone may have a bright future, although there is still much need.
Friday morning will be rushed because the plan is to get my visa from the High Commission in London. If the quality of a country’s website is any indicator of development, I’d venture that only North Korea is in worse shape. Anyways, these are some thoughts. I will wait to gather impressions once I arrive.
Yet to be determined is the quality of internet access, so I’m not sure how fast I’ll get videos online, but I’ll do my best.
Stay tuned…
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Live from… New Jersey?
June 2nd, 2006
Well, I hope New Jersey enjoyed their thunderstorms, because I sure didn’t enjoy their thunderstorms. An unfortunate combination of bad weather and even worse service from Continental meant I missed my connecting flight at Newark, even though I was at the airport when it left.
This means I’ll be in London tomorrow and Sunday nights, and will be arriving on Monday. If i have some time to kill (likely), I’ll take a picture of my sad face here at in front of McDonalds.
And this is where I spent the night…
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Live from… Gatwick
June 4th, 2006
It isn’t Sierra Leone, but Gatwick Airport is a lot closer than New Jersey. At least I made it across the Atlantic. After a bit of negotiating, the airline agreed to cover my expenses for the weekend, and thus, I’m spending 2 nights at the Hilton here and eating £18.95 breakfasts. Delicious.
That’s pretty much the only thing of note that’s happened this weekend. The food. The delicious food. Other than that, it has been a lot of sitting around and watching TV, and wandering. After the last month, things really aren’t nearly as fun when you’re alone.
So today is finally go-time. I’ll be going downtown this morning to collect my visa from the High Commission for Sierra Leone, and then rushing back to catch the plane. There are two ways you can get from the airport downtown. Regular train service, or the Gatwick Express. A return on the Gatwick Express is £28, which is about $75. I think I’ll leave early this morning and take the el-cheapo, and then if I’m in a rush, I can take the express back. I’m on a budget…
That is really the last thing I have to do before I go, besides actually getting on the plane. My flight to Freetown leaves today at 3:30 pm, and arrives at about 8:30 pm. Catch you on the flip side.
