The last few days have been filled with last minute faffing about. Why didnt I go out and buy the kit list months ago?! I have spent so much money, and now am having to put aside even some of the things that I bought just yesterday in order to avoid carrying too much on the trip! ... I always struggle with the idea that maybe I am just a last minute kind of person, even though I like to think of myself as being super organised and well planned. The problem with accepting that new self is that I might have to ditch my "to do" lists which are the comforter of modern life and abstraction to "the real world"! ...

And so starts Mission Malawi 2 ... 34 people gathering at Heathrow airport about to undertake a 2 week experience of a lifetime. People I've got to know partially over the last year as we've planned and fund raised our way to today. Some trepidation as I dont normally feel comfortable with the whole "group" thing... but the beauty of this trip is that the physical focus of cycling, hiking and kayaking and the shared sense of purpose on supporting HIV/AIDS work in Malawi and Zimbabwe, provides the cover to hide myself away in, as well as simultaneously providing the structure to connect and share the common experience that we are about to undertake.

To be frank I was a bit unsure (ok latent western snobbishness kicking in) of what flying Kenya Airways to Nairobi was going to be like. Just another modern 777 with a full entertainment system, and the ability to dip in and start watching a movie every 15 mins. For me flying is all about the distraction!

After several hours wandering, sitting and passing the time in the transfer lounge of Nairobi airport (where I acquired another last minute purchase - this time of very retro Jackie Onassis, backup sunglasses... that I also never wore once during the trip!) we were off again. Flying on to Blantyre, Malawi.

My life normally revolves around central London - and mostly within zone 1! And yet whenever I leave, whether travelling in the UK or further abroad, I keep being reminded that I ought to do this and get out of the built up city more. But this time I was somewhere just a little bit different... Watching the in-air map I could see that we were flying near to Kilimanjaro, and other exotic destinations such as Zanzibar and Dar Es Salam seemed to be just a mouse click away. By God... these mystical, far flung destinations really are within grasp. Maybe I can be a traveller...

OK, so the journal starts here... I havent linked to every individual photo from this journal, so you'll need to check out my flickr.com site (click on the link on the side). I've got several photosets of different parts of the "Africa" experience that I had. But if you just want to see pictures about the 2 week Challenge then there are two versions of the Mission Malawi 2 photoset... a complete (every last picture I took!) version and a slightly condensed version (just the pictures for which I added some descriptive text - though you dont get to see that if you just run the slideshow feature - you'd need to click through each manually). Whichever route you take through this, enjoy and please feel free to comment or send me your thoughts!