DXB

Africa, for us, starts at Dubai International Airport. Because DXB, as it appears on airport destination screens, has fashioned itself as the eye of the storm that is modern east-west travel. DXB is the God Hub that all other international airports bow down to. Hardly anyone actual intends to go to Dubai but hundreds of thousands, millions, pass through each year as they connect one flight with another to cross the globe. 

I almost laughed out loud as the passengers from our Londin flight travelling East, crossed a lift lobby with passengers from Australia travelling west. It was as if the whole world was on the move and everyone going somewhere else. With every individual traveller's story being threaded through the eye of the needle that is DXB. 

Invisible from the airport terminal, but astonishing when viewed from the air, is Dubai itself. By making a place where first ships and now planes have to stop, Dubai has found a reason to found a city. A place full of skyscrapers and malls and hotels and theme parks and homes and parks and beaches. But as you look down, at the edges of the city, it is simply desert and sand and nature's chaos. And beyond the relative international normality of Dubai, lies a Middle East that is political sand and man made chaos. 

But our path, like millions of others, touches only briefly on Dubai - 90 minutes - before we reach for our real destination - Africa. 

A Day

It's A day and just a few hours to go before the flight to Dar es salaam. 

It's always a bit nerve-wracking before these big trips. Checking over the paperwork and packing lists in case something has been forgotten. I packed my travel clothes by mistake and then had to unpack them. Idiot. 

Just time for lunch in the West End for a good send off. Skall has already had a Bloody Mary for breakfast. 

Why are we doing this?

Why are we doing this? To raise money for Aston University. Aston has a successful mission to help bright students from Britain's poorest families. These students typically come from backgrounds where they are living in Local Authority care, where neither parent has been to university, are in receipt of free school meals, receive an educational bursary or live in an eligible postcode. Aston's new medical school is taking 40% of its intake from these students. 

We are helping students across the university. All Aston students are entitled to free language tuition in year 1, but after that they must pay for it. 

In a global jobs market these skills are important and we've been supporting a three year programme to offer free language tuition to eligible students who simply can't afford the fees. 

The results have been outstanding with many of the students taking up placements and positions with major international businesses where language proficiency has been key to landing the job. 

If you would like to help to support this programme please use the link below to visit our dedicated Aston giving site:

https://spsr.me/4z8W

Packing

We've been told to pack light as too much weight isn't good for the cars. But it's easier said than done. 

Books

We have been reading up on Africaaa! before the trip.  here's our recommended reading list.  rather sadly, whilst there is plenty of reading material about colonial Africa and African wildlife, there is very little written about modern African life and African cities.  Hopefully our blog will help to change that.

The Green Hills of Africa - Ernest Hemmingway
Out of Africa - Karen Blixen
The Shadow of The Sun, My African Life - Richard Kapuscinski
Another Day of Life - Richard Kapuscinski
African History, A very Short Introduction - John Parker
North of South - Shiva Naipaul
A Bend in the River - V S Naipaul
Dark Star Safari - Paul Theroux
Looking for Transwornderland - Noo Saro-Wiwa
Half of a Yellow Sun -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela

Why oh Why?

Alex, my 21 year old son, has just finished university and announced that he's having a gap year. In the meantime I've spent a year trying to get my 1935 Buick - known as Rhubarb & Custard back on the road after an unfortunate accident in France.

It's obvious isn't it that the two were made for each other and so the idea of driving across Africa together was born - from Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania to Cape Town, taking in Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa. A total distance of some 5,000 km in 27 days.

There are some known issues.  Alex has lived away from home for 8 years so spending all day every day together in an old car is going to be a bit of a shock.  Secondly, R&C is notoriously unreliable, it failed to complete the Peking to Paris Rally in 2016 as well as the Flying Scotsman in 2015 and the Blue Train in 2017. Thirdly, Alex has never driven R&C as it hasn't had a fuel tank or steering box for most of 2018 and now the car has been shipped and is currently in Saudi Arabia in the port of Jeddah.

Still, what could possibly go wrong! Apart from mechanical breakdown, getting lost, falling out, tropical diseases, accidents, kidnap, assault......