Africa Trip part 1

On Route
(1st and 2nd November)

E (my ex-girlfriend, who was actually my current girlfriend back in November) doesn't spend the night of the first with me at Mark and Kevin’s in Acton, instead she stays with a friend – Chloe, I think. She has never felt very happy around my Zimbabwean friends. The 2nd of November is the day that we both set off for Nairobi, which will be the start of an ‘overlander’ trip all the way down to Johannesburg.

On Nov 1 E tells me that she wasn’t sure if our relationship was working. On the eve of a six week African trip this disconcerting but it is also quite typical of her to react extremely when she has been through a lot of stress. We have, in the last two weeks, been packing up our flat in Hammersmith, resigning our jobs and preparing to go on this voyage together. In fact, the flat is largely hers and 99% of the stuff in there is hers. Her life’s possessions I suppose, all having to be packed away and put into storage.

She has just returned from Madrid where she was visiting her American friend. On her return she finds the flat messy and the clothes that she left in the washing machine still there. This is, perhaps, one of reasons that she comes to the conclusion that our relationship is not working. Surely, though, she knows me by now? I was busy saying goodbye to friends from work; I had no time to put on the washing!

Anyway, she has told me on at least one occasion that if a girl goes on holiday and comes back and tells her boyfriend that she no longer wants to be with him then it’s obvious that she’s cheated. I tell her this but she says that of course she hasn’t.

Mark and Martina go with us to Heathrow. The trains are so crowded that we have to let about 3 go by before we get on one. When we eventually get to Heathrow I have a goodbye conversation with Mark whilst E winces, grips her stomach dramatically and tells me over and over that she is hungry and that we should go so that she can eat. When E is hungry everything must stop so that she can eat; not to dissimilar to a little girl who begins crying when she wants something. This irritates me and angers her and results in a terrible argument which would bring all the tensions of the last few days to the forefront. We effectively break up after passport control.

Qatar Airlines takes us to Doha first and we fly directly over Baghdad and Basra. There is very little communication between E and me on those 7 hours. The Times and the in flight entertainment system are my companions.

Qatar is big sandpit, as far as I could tell. The capital is preparing for the Asian games, which I had never heard of previously. I wondered at the time, since they obviously include the Middle East, if they also include Israel.

I saw men dressed in those white robes and Saudi-like head gear for the first time. I saw women completely covered in black, some of which were doing the body searches for women coming through the passport gates. I think they may have been carrying guns. Doha airport is what I would imagine Dubai to look like, expect poorer. I had a shit hamburger there and then onwards to Nairobi.