Air France, the first flight...

Flights to Africa are rarely direct. Sure, South African Airlines flies non-stop to Johannesburg, Egypt Air to Cairo, and even Delta straight to Accra, Ghana. But many require two stops. Most three. My itinerary takes me to Paris; Nairobi, Kenya; and into Entebbe, Uganda, the former capital. It lies on the shores of Lake Victoria, the second largest body of fresh water in the world and is a 45-minute ride to the current capital of Uganda, Kampala.

The first of two 7-hour plus flights My Air France goes smoothly except for the frozen cous cous dinner and allows me time to continue reading on the recent water situation in Uganda, from rural infrastructure development to corruption, an all to common theme that permeates the country, even in the aid sector. As I have 22 hours of flight time I have a lot of time to read and ponder. But I am now thinking about how can I beat the impending jet-lag.

When I fly to Europe from the US, I usually leave at night. I try to sleep en route; it rarely works. To “beat” the jet-lag, I don’t sleep from the morning I arrive at my destination until at least 9pm. My general strategy is to stay up. It based on a simple notion: it’s easier to force consciousness than sleep. Even this summer as I journeyed 30-plus hours to Kyrgyzstan (coincidentally taking the same Berlin-Istanbul-Bishkek route that Ben took a month earlier to Afghanistan) I overcame the jet-lag relatively quickly, mostly by staying active.

My current flight poses new challenges. I arrive at 11:30 at night. And I fear a difficult jet-lag. I have no game plan for when to stay up and when to sleep.