Africa Log: Day 1

The day started as expected. I woke up around 4:00, about an hour before the alarm, and could not get back to sleep. I got up quietly and let the dogs out.

I went downstairs and pulled up several What to Pack for a Safari sites to make sure I didn’t forget anything. I noted a flashlight, spare batteries, and ebooks on the iPad were recommended. I pulled the small Mag light that has been in my briefcase unused for about 10 years and set it with the other electronics to pack.

I set out to buy some ebooks, but it proved more difficult than expected. First I went to Black Library to download the latest Caiphus Cain book, but could not remember my password. After several irritating tries, I finally pressed to Forgot Password link to have it mailed to me. It never arrived. I check the iBookstore and downloaded a couple of titles.

By this time, Steph was up, so we dressed and walked the dogs, followed by breakfast at Denny’s. While we were waiting, I decided to buy some classic Brian Lumley books that I have signed, vintage paperback of. Using my iPhone, found them in ebook form at Hive.com, but when I went to purchase them, found that they only accept UK credit cards for payment! I eventually found them at ebooks.com.

After breakfast we returned home, and I tried to download the books on my iPad, but it said I did not have an ebook reader. After a little while, I figured out that eBook Reader was their app and downloaded it. It was free, and actually came with half a dozen novels, including Beowulf, The Iliad, The First Men in The Moon, and others. I synched my account, and the two I bought were added as well.

Then we walked the dogs again, showered, packed, took the dogs to the kennel, and had lunch before the taxi came. The trip to Dulles was rather nice. The taxi turned out to be a Chevy Suburban with tinted windows, mints, and bottled water.

We got to the airport in plenty of time, checked our bags, went through security in no time, and found ourselves at the gate with two hours to kill. We walked the length of the terminal, had a snack, and then waited half an hour at the gate before boarding. I started listening to Warbound, by Larry Correia.

The boarding went without incident, we found our seats in row 21, and discovered that each of our seats had a USB charging port! The takeoff was nice and smooth. I discovered that KLM provides over 50 different movies and TV shows, so I watched Gangster Squad. I had southwestern chicken with for dinner, and eventually fell asleep.

Until the crying baby erupted two seats in front of me about an hour later. The cabin was dim for sleeping, but the person sitting in front on my wife had their screen on the bright blue menu, so as soon as I opened my eyes, I was awake. The mother finally took the crying kid for a walk, but not before another younger kid started up. There was only 3 hours left to arrival in Amsterdam. Somebody get the brandy so we can all get some sleep!