Journey with music

At sunrise we step into a comfortable Easycoach, departing from Kampala and 11 hours later arriving in Naivasha. Sitting still for such a long time is constraining, both for my butt and head. What saves my journey is borrowing Serkan's mp3 player and diving into the world of music. For me, music is not about names of songs and artists, genres or reviews. For me, music is about memories throughout lived years and feelings of happiness, sadness, excitement and partying. When I hear a song, I may not recall it for anything else but it reminding me of a particular special moment or period of time.

Looking out the bus window I return to Sydney's Darling Harbour to watch planes fly over skyscrapers and dream about success, to nonsense crazy parties of first university semesters, to a dark autumn night in the streets of Helsinki when a guy I fancy kisses me for the first time.

I realize that so far my life has been filled with a variety of good times. Still I tend to wait to be happy until I am in an established relationship, I reach the next salary level (which keeps raising as my career progresses) or I am as fit as I desire to be. Only when looking back, I recall that during those specified moments I was indeed truly happy even though I had not fulfilled my goals. I decide to attempt to recognize special moments already when they are present, not just when they are past. Yet I should not desperately stick to those moments but let them pass, trusting that other ones will follow even if I have to wait for a while.

As the bus approaches its destination I take off my earphones and return to reality. I am convinced that this trip through Kenya and Tanzania, which is just beginning, will enrich my bank of unique moments. Knowing that, I feel happy.

(Photos from Mombasa, the half-way pitstop of the trip)