All my stuff is packed, ready to go. Earlier this week we enjoyed relaxing days with the family at home and celebrated my son Manuel’s fourth birthday.

This evening, after all the waiting, it is finally time for me to get going and I will fly to Istanbul, then continue to Johannesburg. I will meet Mark at his home tomorrow morning and then we will start our trip. I am excited, I believe I haven‘t travelled longer than four weeks for over 20 years. Even though we have done some serious, meticulous planning (you should see Mark‘s spreadsheets!), I am sure we will encounter a lot of unexpected roadblocks. The most concerning development at the moment is the military coup and resulting uncertainty in Sudan. Currently it looks as if the borders are closed down, preventing transit through Sudan, which means Cairo becomes almost unreachable. So we may be forced to replan already. I guess we will go and see as we go along and just make the best of every moment. Carpe diem!