I’m taking my first trip to Africa and I am going to visit Ethiopia. I have planned 10 full days in Ethiopia plus 3 days of travel for a total vacation of 13 days. After reading through the guide book for awhile, 10 days seems a bit short. Oh well. I have other vacations to take this year, so 9 days off of work is already quite a bit.

Why Ethiopia? I have a cousin who is working as an assistant professor at Jimma University. The plan is to catch up with him and his dad in Ethiopia. His dad, my uncle, will be out there a few days before me. They are going to visit Harar before I get there. I’m going to meet them at the airport in Addis Ababa and then we are flying to Jimma for a day or two. My cousin has to work, so my uncle and I will tour northern Ethiopia for several days. Our plans are uncertain, but we will get them figure out once I get there.

The picture above is everything I will be bringing to Ethiopia. Two items that are missing from the picture are flip-flops and two small luggage locks. Total weight of my pack, excluding the clothes I will be wearing, is 19 pounds. My goal was to keep the weight under 20 pounds, so this is great! The pack would be even lighter if I wasn’t bringing the 1.5 pound guidebook with me. But, I need it and I didn’t want to get the kindle version.

Once I get back, I’ll report on how useful my luggage actually was.