Work Life – Khartoum, Sudan

Sudan ended up being much more than just a work trip but that’s how it started. After a few short ventures to Greece, Albania and Amman, Khartoum was both the longest and most intense of my work trips from Rome. Add the extended family meet ups, the absolute difference in pretty much everything as compared to Italy, and a full schedule, and the two weeks made heavy emotional imprints.

We stayed at Khartoum’s premier, safest and most radically overpriced hotel, the Al Salam. Daddy was not unpleased to be able to get to the gym 11 of 13 days and take occasional dunks in the pool to escape the mid-30 degree heat.

Work was work. Busy, challenging, fruitful.

The food did not suck at all and was a welcome change from Rome’s wonderful carbonara, pizza, pinsa, amatriciana and cacio pepe.

The main highlight, aside from meeting Dalia’s family, was a touristy day spent cruising on the Nile, atv’ing and of course, eating some more.

By the end of two weeks, I was more than ready to return home, squeeze the heck out of Aleksander, kiss my wife and get three scoops of gelato. It was a real blessing to be able to have this experience, see a place so different from where we’re living, meet family in such an unexpected location and be reminded of how lucky we are, to be here, to travel there.