Move-Out Disaster

So after a somewhat eventful day on Saturday, me and my belonging have made it back to Ohio. Here is the detailed story:

Mom, Dad, and Sarah arrived on Friday afternoon. We had a nice goodbye party with people in Tuscaloosa that evening and then went to bed to prepare to pick up and load the Uhaul truck in the morning. Well, everything did not go as planned....
We were supposed to be able to pick up the Uhaul by 10:30 am-- "guaranteed". We kept calling the place we were supposed to pick it up from and kept being told that the truck had not been returned to them yet. 10:30 goes by... 11 goes by... We try calling the 1-800 number for Uhaul and are getting nowhere. You can't understand the people on the phone, they are rude, keep putting us on hold, tell us they will call back and then never do. We finally hear back from the place we were supposed to get the truck from... they have tracked it down. But wait... it turns out that truck was (accidentally?) returned to a different location and then rented out to someone else!!! And apparently they have no other trucks to give us. At this point we start to panic and start to call any other truck renters around. Budget says they have a truck out that is supposed to be returned later that day that we would be able to have... so while we continue to try to deal with Uhaul, we hope Budget may work as a backup.

At this point we decide to just drive to the main Uhaul place in Tuscaloosa to try to talk to someone in person instead of calling the (completely inept) people at the 1-800 number again. We get there and see at least 3 or 4 trucks parked on the lot. But when we go inside we are told those are for in-town transport only and are not allowed to be driven one-way to Ohio. We explain the situation to the guy at the desk and he trys to get on the phone with the head office at the 1-800 number also. After what seems like an hour, he says the only truck they have available is in a little town over 60 miles away... that we would have to drive ourselves to go pick up (we told them they needed to get someone to drive the truck to Tuscaloosa, and they said that was not allowed)... and they would only take $50 off of our bill. Otherwise there wouldn't be anything in Tuscaloosa until Monday! Absolutely ridiculous.

1. I guess our guaranteed reservation was not guaranteed at all...
2. Us having to drive an hour and a half each way to go pick up another truck is unacceptable... and it was already 4 hours late at this point. Another 3 hours would have wiped out the entire day, and we still needed to pack the truck once we got it.
3. The $50 off would barely cover the gas to go pick up this other truck.
4. We had to get a truck that day to get my stuff home so that I can get on a plane to Africa. Waiting til Monday was absolutely not an option.
5. They didn't seem to care about any of this and were totally unwilling to do anything to help

Luckily, at that moment we got a call from the Budget truck guy saying the truck they were expecting to be returned would be back in 5 minutes and we could come get it right away. So we promplty gave up on and left UHaul. The people who rented us the Budget truck were so helpful and professional. We were able to pick it up and get it loaded with time to spare. So moral of the story... Uhaul never again, Budget truck all the way

We left Tuscaloosa early Sunday morning. Mom and Dad drove the truck, I drove my car and Sarah rode with me to hold my cat for the drive :) He was very well behaved. He slept on Sarah's lap most of the first half-- although he kept wanting to climb on me or jump down by my feet, but Sarah kept him out of the way. Then the second half of the drive he went to the back seat, and sat on top of his litter box to sleep and stare out the window the whole time without making a sound. We got back around 5:30pm EST and unloaded everything.

Today I have been making sure I have everything ready for Kenya. Tomorrow early morning I will get on a plane to Newark and take the train down to Princeton. I have to sign in and fill out some forms at the grad school as soon as I get there before commencement starts at 11am. Then I will meet with Dr. Rubenstein to hear about what I will be researching. All I really know so far is that I will be studying hybrid zebra behavior and have read one paper they published on these hybrids. I got an email today saying the plan is to get me a small 4x4 to drive around the conservancy to look for and follow the zebras! My immediate thought was... I hope it is not a stick shift. I sort of know how to drive one, barely. And I wonder if I will be driving around alone or with someone else. I really don't want to stall out or get stuck or lost in the middle of the Kenyan wild. So I am a little nervous now. Dr. Rubenstein said he would tell me more tomorrow when we meet.
I will spend the night with one of the undergrads going on the trip tomorrow night at Princeton. Then the group of 8 of us leave Wed at 6:30 am to take a van to JFK. Amy (Dr. Rubenstein's assistant) sent me everyone's travel schedule, and I guess Dr. Rubenstein is actually not coming to Kenya until 2 weeks after us. Most of the undergrads will leave to head back to the states in July sometime, but there is one girl on the same flight back as me Aug 7.

So that was a very long post. Unless I have time tomorrow in Princeton, the next update will probably be from Kenya!

Moving...

Mom, dad, and best friend Sarah get to Tuscaloosa tomorrow to help me move all of my sh*t back to Ohio for the summer. I haven't seen them since Christmas, so I'm excited for them all to get here! We will have a little goodbye party tomorrow night with my friends/co-workers, pack up the Uhaul on Sat, and drive to Dayton on Sunday.
I then have Monday to do any last minute shopping and drop my cat off at his cat-sitters' house before flying to Princeton early Tuesday. Poor Magic, I don't think he has any idea what is going on yet. He will be on a long car ride followed by 2 different houses in 2 days. I hope he doesn't freak it. I don't want all the travel and change to traumatize him. And I don't want him to think I am abandoning him :(

Last day of work tomorrow...

2 weeks

2 weeks from today I will be headed to Princeton to check in as a new, early-arrival grad student and meet up with the group before heading to Kenya. Then 2 weeks from tomorrow I will be on a plane to Dubai. Exciting!!!! Which reminds me... I need to start taking my malaria pills next week.

The day I will be at Princeton, June 1, is my 24th birthday (when did I get so old?)... and also happens to be their commencement, so it will be pretty busy on campus. I will have like 30 minutes after I get off the train from the airport to go fill out all required forms at the grad school before they all leave to go watch commencement. It's a tight schedule, but since that is the only day I will be on campus, the woman at the grad school was really nice to meet with me during such a busy time. Hopefully it will all work out fine.

I think I have pretty much everything I need for Kenya now. I have packed most of my things at my house in Alabama to get ready to take it back to Ohio too. I am sort of at the point where I can't do much more because everything not packed I still need to use for the next 1.5 weeks. The parents and I are throwing a going-away party the last Friday night I am town. If anyone reading this will be in Tuscaloosa May 28 and I forgot to send you the invitation, please come! Anyone is welcome.

Plane Ticket Booked

So I officially have a plane ticket to Kenya as of today!

Leaving June 2 from JFK on Air Emirates flying to Dubai (!) and then from Dubai to Nairobi, Kenya. I am kind of excited about going to Dubai even though I won't get to see anything outside of the airport. I have always wanted to go there. Maybe on a future trip I can try to stay over for a day or two in Dubai. I thought we would be changing planes in Europe somewhere, but I guess this flight was cheaper. The only downside is, the flight to Dubai is 13 hours long. That's a long time in a small seat. But then from Dubai to Kenya is only another 5 hours. Going through Europe would have broken it up more evenly (two 8-hour flights), but that's ok. I'm just happy to be going! And I'm not paying for the ticket so I don't really get to decide, haha.

My parents (and Sarah!) are driving down to Alabama on May 28 to help me pack and move everything to Ohio on May 30. Then I have one day to rest/finish packing before flying to Newark Tue morning June 1 (which also happens to be my birthday :) ). The flight to Dubai leaves JFK early on June 2, so I figured I better get to Princeton the day before to avoid any chance of being delayed and missing my flight. So... I will get to Princeton on June 1, hopefully spend the night with one of the undergrads going on the trip, and then leave with the whole group to head to JFK the next morning, June 2.

I get back to the states 2 months later on Aug 8. I will be flying through Dubai again, back to JFK, then taking a shuttle to the Newark airport where I have a direct flight back to Dayton. So if anyone wants to come meet me in Dayton, I get back at 6pm on Aug 8.

It's getting close!!!!