#1 Travel Destination in the World?

As our departure for Uganda nears (27 days), we are increasingly asked if we feel like we will be safe in Africa.  We are also asked about how our kids will do in a third-world country.  In fact, during our visit to Santa Rosa last week, one of our dear friends at my parents’ church asked us if we would be living in a grass hut (and she was dead serious).  We have assured our friends and family that while Uganda is a developing country, and while the material comforts we have enjoyed in Malibu are largely non-existent there, we will feel safe in the capital city of Kampala, that our kids will thrive there, and that we will actually be living in a relatively nice apartment.

I have rarely been accused of being ahead of the curve – in fashion, in hairstyle, in anything.  Accordingly, I was quite surprised to learn that Uganda has recently been named #1 in Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Travel Destinations for 2012.  Among the reasons cited for this selection, the editors pointed out that Kampala is one of Africa’s safest capital cities.  We are eager to go white-water rafting on the Nile and to explore “where savannah meets the vast lakes of East Africa, and where snow-capped mountains bear down on sprawling jungles.”

I was pretty excited about this #1 designation until I read a little farther down the list — #2 is Myanmar, which the United States won’t even recognize as a country because of the way the rulers of what was formerly called Burma came to power.  Coming in at #3 is Ukraine, where it gets above freezing two days a year.  And in at #7 is Castro’s Cuba.  I really began to question the desirability of Uganda’s #1 ranking when I read Lonely Planet’s Top 5 Dinner Dates of 2012:

5.         Venezuelan Beef with Hugo Chavez as he describes how to win friends in the free world;

4.         Triple Cheeseburgers with Michael Moore as he explains how capitalism makes America great;

3.         Chicken Kabobs with Iranian President Ahmadinejad as shares his secrets for identifying infidels;

2.         A doubled helping of rice rations with Kim Jong Il as he reveals his strategies for inspiring a nation to prosperity and happiness (recently cancelled); and

1.         Soft-shelled crabs with Joe Biden and Newt Gingrich with a lesson on how to ram your own foot into your mouth without chipping your teeth.

Maybe being #1 is not such a good thing after all . . .

Next post – my two biggest heroes of 2011.