I've just about finished packing for my first trip to Africa. I and other reporters will be boarding the Canadian Forces CC-150 Polaris tomorrow afternoon for a very long ride with Prime Minister Harper on our way to his (and my) first Commonwealth Summit to be held in Kampala, Uganda. The summit will run Thursday through Sunday. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be there — and that's always kind of cool. For those counting, it will be the third time the Prime Minister has met the Queen. The Queen hosted Prime Minister and Mrs. Harper at Buckingham Palace in July, 2006 and then, earlier this year, the Queen travelled to Vimy Ridge to join the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of France to mark the 90th anniversary of the famous First World War battle. Not sure how long the Queen is staying with us in Uganda. My guess is overnight.
On Monday, we depart Kampala for a quick day trip to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. We fly home Monday night and land in Ottawa very early on Tuesday morning.
We are staying in a hotel that, the PMO advance staff tell us, was still under construction just a few weeks ago. In fact, local critics of this Summit say they “pray” that all the hotels have running water by the time we arrive. For the record, I'm praying for the same thing.
I'm informed that my BlackBerry should be working in Uganda (CTV's BlackBerry service provider is Rogers as the network Rogers uses seems to work in Europe, Asia, Africa and more places around the world than the service from Bell or Telus) so I should be able to send along some posts as we're travelling.
PMO officials say we'll get a more detailed itinerary as we board the plane — I'll post it as I'm able — but here's the schedule as we know it so far:
(All times local)
WED NOV 21
OTTAWA (GMT -5)
1330 – Reporters to arrive at Canada Reception Centre at Ottawa International Airport
1530 – Wheels Up
THU NOV 22
NICE, France (GMT +2 )
0430 – Wheels down.
– Refuel
0630 – Wheels up
ENTEBBE, Uganda (GMT +3)
1500 – Wheels down
1930 – Reception for Commonwealth Summit Heads of State
FRI NOV 23
KAMPALA, Uganda
SAT NOV 24
KAMPALA, Uganda
1000 – 1300 – Leaders Retreat
1500 – 1730 – Leaders Retreat
SUN NOV 25
KAMPALA, Uganda
1000 – 1200 – Leaders Retreat
MON NOV 26
ENTEBBE, Uganda
0815 – Wheels up
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
1000 – Wheels down
1800 – Wheels up
TUE NOV 27
OTTAWA (GMT -5)
0515 – Wheels down