{"id":2098,"date":"2022-07-06T13:07:14","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T11:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icanbeme.space\/?p=2098"},"modified":"2022-08-30T17:47:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:47:06","slug":"travels-uganda-trip-2019-episode-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/index.php\/2022\/07\/06\/travels-uganda-trip-2019-episode-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Travels: Uganda Trip 2019 \u2013 Episode 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Uganda Trip 2019 \u2013 Episode 1:<\/strong>
29hrs from Berlin to Masaka<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On 14th September 2019 my adventure started: It took me 3 flights and nearly 17 hours to get from Berlin to Entebbe; the main airport in Uganda. After the first stop in London Heathrow I landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. From the plane I could catch my first glimpse of central African territory. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Ethiopia is so much greener than I naively imagined!
<Click image to enlarge><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

I was forced to check-in my hand luggage on the last plane from Addis to Entebbe. Once I was seated on the plane I realised that I hadn\u2019t taken out my visa documents. In panic I asked a flight attendant what to do. She said, she will inform the ground staff in Entebbe to take out the suitcase and give it to me straight after landing. What a stress! At least I had a nice seat neighbour \u2013 an Egyptian guy called Youhanna. We chatted a lot! Once landed, I was informed it wasn\u2019t possible to hand out the hand-luggage separately so I had to tell that to immigration, get the checked-in suitcases and go back to get my visa. I was a bit stressed out, since I couldn\u2019t imagine how immigration would let me though without a visa. I already pictured myself stuck at the airport like Tom Hanks in \u201cTerminal\u201d, not being able to get my visa and not being able to fetch my suitcases. Thankfully, immigration could give me my visa, since they had all the information in their system and fortunately, I had my passport with me. I was so relieved! However, my adventure at the airport was not over yet \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youhanna and me were waiting together for our luggage. His came, but we waited and waited and waited for mine. I told him, he could leave any time, but I was so grateful that he stayed. Frequently travelling alone really made me appreciate when somebody is accompanying me, especially when things go wrong. We waited for an hour, but my suitcase didn\u2019t show up. After reporting the delay to the airport office we left the airport \u2013 of course without my suitcase. Since it took me so long to get out I was worried that the people who were supposed to pick me up gave up and left. Youhanna offered to drive me in that case, but thankfully I spotted a guy holding a sign, saying \u201cISSU\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive to the hotel only took 10 minutes. I expected to meet many participants and the organisers of the summer school at the hotel, but instead I was welcomed by the receptionist who gave me a key and led me to my room. I was quite puzzled, since the actual plan according to the email I received about our arrival said that we would have breakfast at the hotel together. So, when we arrived at the room, I asked her where the others were and she said that they were in their rooms, freshening up. When asked about breakfast she said, she doesn\u2019t know about it. Ever more confused, I went back to the reception and thankfully found the main organiser, Marlene, who wasn\u2019t hard to spot, since she was the only other white person there. She said, she doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen about food. That was the first of many experiences in Uganda where things that were organised just didn\u2019t work out. She also said that we will delay our drive to Masaka by 1 hour to 15:00, since an air plane with more participants was delayed. Actually, I didn\u2019t mind this delay, since that meant I could sleep a bit in my room. And thinking about it \u2013 I preferred a room to breakfast, since what I really needed was sleep, even though I had slept on both flights. 2.5 hours of sleep later we finally left with a shuttle bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shuttle bus was also an experience in itself. While in Europe busses are temperature-controlled and windows generally can\u2019t be opened, this bus looked like it\u2019s going to fall apart any time and air draft from fully open windows served as air conditioning. The best part was the baggage loading, through the window of the bus. Our luggage got the back seats.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Loading our bus from Entebbe to Masaka
<Click image to enlarge><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Along the way we picked up some more participants and so we didn\u2019t know where they should sit, since all the seats were either already taken by people or by luggage. Then we found out that there were seats in the corridor one could unfold. And so we carried on \u2013 a mini shuttle bus, stuffed with people and luggage \u2013 on our 4 hour ride to Masaka where our summer school was about to take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our stuffed bus journey
<Click images to enlarge><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Again, I could catch up some sleep during the ride, but I was also curious to look out of the window. Everything looked so different from Europe, which of course I had expected, but I didn\u2019t know what was going to await me. There were cows and goats on the streets, being leashed to trees, people carrying things on their heads, people working on fences, people selling fruits, garbage everywhere. No matter where you looked something new and surprising was waiting for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos from along the road
<Click images to enlarge><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, we couldn\u2019t resist doing a short stop at the equator<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stepping from the Northern into the Southern Hemisphere
<Click images to enlarge><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We arrived at the hotel in Masaka<\/a> at around 20:00 local time (GMT+3), so around 29 hours after I left my home in Berlin. We \u2013 the 50 course participants \u2013 were supposed to be briefed in the conference room. I found that to be an ambitious plan, given that once the shuttle bus arrived everybody disappeared to their rooms and the other participants who arrived with another bus before us surely also had no clue about that meeting. So it was decided to be cancelled. Since I was only living off the brownies I took from the plane that day I was quite hungry, so I decided to join the German girls Isabel, Tajana and Moira for a light dinner given the late time. We were a bit disappointed that the cooks took an hour to bring us some fried vegetables with rice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my day wasn\u2019t supposed to be over yet. After that long journey and knowing I had no change of clothes, because of my lost suitcase, I was quite looking forward to having a hot shower and washing my hair. But surprise \u2013 the water didn\u2019t get warm. I called the receptionist and he responded that there is nothing he can do no; it would be repaired in the morning. I asked him if I could actually change rooms the next day to one that is in a less noisy part of the hotel. What I didn\u2019t tell him is that just a few minutes before I was disturbed by some loud music in front of my window. When I looked outside, I saw a naked African guy passing by, entering the building just in front of my window where he went to have a shower. Given that it didn’t look like a normal hotel room to me, I concluded that he must be hotel staff. I found that quite amusing actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, I decided to go to sleep without a shower, since I felt quite cold already. That meant. however, that I would feel like a pig on the next day \u2013 not showered after a 29hr journey and no change of clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> <\/strong>to read the next episode of this Uganda Trip 2019 or navigate through the Table of Contents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table of Contents<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
  1. Prologue & Epilogue<\/a> <\/li>
  2. 29hrs from Berlin to Masaka<\/li>
  3. First lecture & Shopping in Masaka<\/a> <\/li>
  4. Food & Drinks<\/a><\/li>
  5. Ugandan Steam Bath & BBQ<\/a> <\/li>
  6. Off to Ssese islands <\/a><\/li>
  7. A Nature Walk on Ssese Islands<\/a><\/li>
  8. African Braids<\/a><\/li>
  9. Kampala \u2013 Uganda’s Capital<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    Written by Julia Heuritsch in September 2019<\/em> | Last edited: 6th July 2022<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

    <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Uganda Trip 2019 \u2013 Episode 1:29hrs from Berlin to Masaka On 14th September 2019 my adventure started: It took me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[32,35],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nUganda Trip 2019 - 1 | I can be me Blog - Julia Heuritsch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read about my adventures during a trip to Uganda to attend a summer school in Masaka .\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/index.php\/2022\/07\/06\/travels-uganda-trip-2019-episode-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uganda Trip 2019 - 1 | I can be me Blog - Julia Heuritsch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Read about my adventures during a trip to Uganda to attend a summer school in Masaka .\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/index.php\/2022\/07\/06\/travels-uganda-trip-2019-episode-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"I can be me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-06T11:07:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-30T15:47:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/IcanbeMe_Ethiopia-1024x575.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julia Heuritsch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Julia Heuritsch\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/\",\"name\":\"I can be me\",\"description\":\"#Saywhatis!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/index.php\/2022\/07\/06\/travels-uganda-trip-2019-episode-1\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/IcanbeMe_Ethiopia-1024x575.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/IcanbeMe_Ethiopia-1024x575.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/index.php\/2022\/07\/06\/travels-uganda-trip-2019-episode-1\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/icanbeme.space\/index.php\/2022\/07\/06\/travels-uganda-trip-2019-episode-1\/\",\"name\":\"Uganda Trip 2019 - 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