It’s worth it.

There is just no better feeling in the world than being on an airplane that is headed for Africa. A place that I call my magic place, that fills my soul and, creates stories for my rocking chair.

The past three months have really been another big adjustment to a new chapter in this journey and a real grind. It required endless days of sitting in front of the computer for hours on end. This is such a busy time of year for grants and submission deadlines, many of them falling when I was to be in Africa so I had twice the work in half the time to get it done. Preparing for this two month trip to Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya and Mali (originally Southern Sudan was included but was recently cancelled due to unrest) brought on more stress and anxiety than usually, or at least it seemed that way in the past few days. However, arriving at the airport seemed to immediately put the bounce back in my step, a smile on my face, light in my eyes and it all now seems worth it!

I also got very lucky and found a great new Travel agent who works magic to help you be able to use your miles. I am flying business the whole trip, LA, Amsterdam, Nairobi, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nairobi, Mali, France, Los Angeles, for 120,000 miles and $1,200, normally an $8,000 dollar ticket!! And she had to make changes several times due to my trip to Sudan getting cancelled a few weeks before departure….Why do I tell you this… because you should use her for all your air travel needs. Her name is Renee, her agency is R&R Travel, her email is travel@rrtravelservice.com, tell her Piper sent you and she will take great care of you! Just another time when life has sent a person that I needed to help me through this journey.

So for this first short segment I am sitting in first class filled with a lot of nice looking businessmen in suit and tie attire… a life so different from my own and one that takes me back to how different my last book of life was…. I say book because I am now writing a new book in life filled with many new chapters of it own. It feels good to have that book tucked away on the shelf. I can always pull it out, dust it off and reopen it….it’s titled “The back up Plan”.

It was not all too long ago that I remember being in the world of traveling for business 100,000 + miles per year but even so I was in the fashion industry, which was still far away from that of a suit and tie world. Even then I took the path that flew me to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea, rather than the prestige of Europe. Although London, Paris, and Rome were on my route for several years in the beginning of my career, when given the choice I felt pulled towards the developing world and the cultures I desired to interact with. I believe it is from my years of working creatively with color, texture, fabrics and other cultures that instinctively drew me to want to photograph and learn more about the cultures and tribes of Africa.

I wish you all well on your own journey’s.

As Always comments are open below.