I’m in Kigali, writing on a French keyboard that makes typing seem like a game of hit-and-miss, like trying to play poker while looking through a chicken.

Overview: Kenya is full of guns. In colonial days, they tried to exterminate the elephants (whose populations are now on the rise, thankfully); today, the good guys have guns, the bad guys have guns, and pretty much every building or parking lot has a guard with a semi-automatic rifle. This includes all the little villages, not just Nairobi. Guns are everywhere in Kenya. The government seems to have just enough money for security and corruption with nothing left over.

Uganda is in slightly better shape (i actually saw a Lexus dealership, which puts it above Kenya), but ALL roads there are Jeep trails, including the main ones that look like tarmac on the map. Driving in Uganda is a contact sport – dodging potholes that are always as deep as they are long while dodging trucks that are NOT trying to dodge you.

Rwanda is France compared to the other two, though there isn’t a single movie theater in the entire country. There are smooth paved roads everywhere, as though Bill Clinton could show up at any time and there would be hell to pay if his Mercedes bumped his latte.

5 years out from 9/11 and one month from the foiled air-terror plot in the UK, the harsh new realities of air travel were, understandably, tops in the headlines this weekend. Yet travelers seem to be taking the inconvenience and worry in stride: the rest of the weekend’s features were full of highly aspirational trips, some to not necessarily “safe” destinations, including Jordan, Uzbekistan’s silk road, and Rwanda and Uganda’s nature preserves.

Air Travel
- What We’ve Learned (Washington Post)

- Fewer bags overhead! But more staring at the carousel (LA Times)

- El Al’s security a model for airlines (Chicago Tribune)

- What to Do When Bumped From a Flight (Chicago Tribune)

Jordan
- In Historic Petra, Dazzling Sights for a Small Audience (NYT)

Northeast U.S.
- The Magnificent Obsession of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NYT)

Rajasthan, India
- Adventure With a Mission (Washington Post)

Rwanda
- Gorillas in our midst (SF Gate)

Uganda
- Gorillas in our midst (SF Gate)

Utah
- Close enough to touch Utah’s sky (LA Times)

Uzbekistan
- Spin your own tales of the Silk Road (Houston Chronicle)

Venice
- How to do Venice like a Venetian (Guardian)