Travel talk! Wow we have gone off topic on Richards welcome have we not?
Meg: Yes, the plan so far is to fly to Europe (Amsterdam) spend a day or two, then to The Gambia for a week or so. The Gambia is in Northwest Africa so we won't be heading South to Tanzania (though Chelsea loved it there) but rather down the West Coast through Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, etc. These countries are not touristy at all and are primarily Muslim countries. On the way back we are considering a few extra days in Central Europe (i.e. Zirndorf???)
One very interesting thing we've discovered it that the predominantly Muslin African nations have much lower HIV/AIDS rates than the predominantly Christian nations. But in West Africa the poverty and malnutrition is extreme. Here's a
cool map I found where you can click on an African nation and it will link to the CIA fact book for that country.
Serenity Windjammers are much fun and go lots of places in the Carribean. Having been on one though I wouldn't recommend we try to share a 6 person "cabin" as it's about the size of 1 small bedroom and barely works well for 6 teenagers! The 2 person cabins are much better suited to couples but are still mostly a place to keep you stuff, shower, sleep if you wish. (I mostly slept on deck when I went on The Flying Cloud!
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Richard Apologies for thread-jacking! If I were you I'd report the lot of us to a moderator!
As you may have gathered my daughter has been invited by the Peace Corp to go to The Gambia to work on infant mortality/maternal health and HIV/AIDS issues for two years. She is scheduled to leave the end of January and we plan to visit a year from now (next December/January).
