Uganda Travelogue, Part 1

My expedition to the source of the Nile began with a ride to the Tulsa airport in a Lincoln Town Car. My parents dropped me off and I glided through check-in and screening on a Monday afternoon when the airport was unburdened by business travelers. Still, American Airlines did what they could to keep my feet on the ground. Their American computer software rebelled against the monarchical tyranny of British Airways and cut off all communications. I was told that I would have to check in again in Dallas to obtain my British Airways boarding pass. A separate problem that persisted throughout my trip was that the automated check-in station would not read my passport.

Next, it was announced at the gate that our departure would be delayed fifteen minutes in order to check the tire pressure. Fifteen minutes later, it was announced that a tire needed to be changed, so we would be further delayed. When one of the AA attendants announced that the maintenance crew had managed to change the tire in ten minutes under the expected time, it was said with a tone of triumph, but if he expected an eruption of applause from the passengers, it would be slow in coming.

I checked in at the British Airways counter at DFW, as instructed, and made my flight in plenty of time. It was a comfortable flight. I was seated at a window with no one in front of me or beside me. The entertainment console looked impressive, but the entire system was down, so there would be no movies on the flight to London.

Casting the useless headset aside, I explored the rest of the cellophane-wrapped goody package that was on my seat and was perplexed when I pulled out a complimentary pair of lounging socks. It made about as much sense to me as giving out free shower curtains. Before the socks could make it into my carry-on bag, they slipped off my lap and disappeared between my seat and the window. I slowly contorted my neck and head forward to the point where I could barely see under my seat and I spotted a sock. I reached out and grabbed it only to find that there was a foot in it. The foot recoiled at my touch and I stayed crouched forward and avoided making eye contact with the man seated behind me for the next seven hours.

Salmon and lemon cheese cake was the in-flight meal.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A twelve hour layover in London allowed me to see the city. I checked my bag at a left luggage counter and took an hour-long Underground ride to Tower Hill. I walked to the Tower of London ticket counter where I had a pre-purchased ticket waiting for me. The Tower of London was the largest fortress in medieval Europe. Inside the walls, there are actually 20 towers, although the oldest one, the White Tower, is the one most commonly thought of as the Tower of London. It was built by William the Conqueror in 1066.

I joined a guided tour led by one of the Beefeaters. He led us through the courtyard, pointing out the different towers and telling about the various prisoners and royal residents, including Sir Thomas More, Sir Walter Raleigh, Guy Fawkes, Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Howard. The tour concluded inside the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. It has been the favored place of worship for numerous monarchs, including King Henry VIII and today's Queen Elizabeth. The decapitated bodies of Henry VIII's two executed queens lie beneath the alter and in the crypt.

Freed from the tour group, I wandered next door to a former barracks that now houses the Crown Jewels. A short line of tourists leading to the entrance gave no indication of the amount of time that would soon be swallowed up by the massive rope line inside that stretched from room to room while moving images of jeweled scepters, crowns, orbs, and giant spoons were displayed on the walls. The reward at the end of the maze was the three-dimensional version of the same objects. They were tacky bits of royal ostentation that induced yawning, but now I can say I've seen the Crown Jewels.

More interesting was my self-guided tour of the White Tower, containing a huge armory that included suits of armor from various monarchs, including King Henry VIII, and weaponry dating all of the way back to William the Conqueror. I also really liked seeing the internal chapel, the Chapel of St. John, dating from 1080.

Other towers contained miscellaneous exhibits. The one that held the imprisoned Sir Walter Raleigh contained a mock up of the explorer's chambers, which were voluntarily shared by his wife and children. Another contained a display of torture devices that included a plaque stating the surprising fact that in the entire history of Britain, fewer than 100 people were tortured. The way the torture angle is used to promote the Tower of London, you would have thought torture was a major industry throughout the centuries.

A plaque in another tower tells the story of a an imprisoned Protestant woman who was offered her freedom if only she would renounce her Protestantism, but who accepted execution by being burned at the stake, instead. A display invites viewers to push one of three buttons in answer to the question, "What would you do for your beliefs?" The option, "I would die for my beliefs", was beat out by "My beliefs really aren't that important" by more than 3-to-1.

Leaving the Tower of London, I walked westward along the Thames to Tower Bridge. A heavy drizzling rain had started, but I was committed to walking over the bridge and back again. I then returned to the vicinity of the Tower of London ticket office where I bought some fish and chips from a vendor.

Next, I rode a passenger boat down the Thames, passing the London Eye, a massive Ferris wheel, and Big Ben and the houses of parliament. I disembarked at Westminster and concluded my mini-tour of London with a walk through St. James Park, with a brief stop at the Buckingham Palace gate.

I returned to the airport by Underground, retrieved my bag and made my flight with plenty of time to spare. One observation I made while at the Heathrow Airport was that there were no trash cans. Holding two small pieces of trash, I walked the entire length and breadth of two terminal levels and found no trash cans - not even in the bathroom. Some sort of anti-terrorism measure, I'm sure. That, or a full-employment program for floor sweepers.

I like London, but it sure is expensive. Thank Alan Greenspan for driving down the value of the dollar. My little trip into the city and back cost me $50.00, plus $32 for admission to the Tower of London. I was ready to get to a country where $50.00 is a retirement fund.

It was an 8-hour flight to Uganda and I sat beside a pleasant guy who said he was originally from Riverside, California, but is now a Ugandan. He handles aircraft maintenance for a charity called Mission Aviation Fellowship, that flies relief missions in and out of Uganda and the Sudan.