Back from Africa

Well I just got back from the 10 day trip to Africa and I guess the first thing I'll say is that sure was a very eye opening and reality changing trip. It pretty much was the epitome of what I enjoy about traveling as well as a great learning experience. I first went to Africa with what felt like literally no idea how my uncle does his business and where he makes his money, and now I've come back with not only a very good understanding of how he makes it but a solid gameplan for how I'm going to be able to get involved with it myself.

Prior to going I thought the plane ride was going to be hell since it was going to be such long layovers and then one big long flight for 15 hours straight but the cool part about it was that the long 15 hour flight turned out to be the easiest and most relaxed one because we flew with an airline called Emirates which was sick. They had an entertainment system type thing for each passenger that included TV, hundreds of movies, all kinds of music, games (such as you and the person you're traveling with could play each other in chess if you wanted right through the entertainment system), and a great menu of food you could order at any time. I guess also the best part was that the plane was so spacious that you could lay down full length and sleep like you're in a bed. At one point during the plane ride the lights were off and there were tons of people all laid out full length passed out sleeping... it was the best plane ride I've been on for sure. The 15 hour flight was the flight from NY to Dubai, then we flew form Dubai to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania which was like a 5 hour flight which was not nearly as good but certainly not bad since it was still on the Emirates airline.

When arriving in Africa we were met at the airport by a friend of my Uncles who worked for the airline that was holding a sign for us the moment we got off the plane and pretty much guided us through the whole process of filling out paper work and passports and stuff. From there we were picked up at the airport by another girl that was the girlfriend of a guy that was living with and working with my Uncle. She was pretty damn fine and certainly not what I envisioned a typical woman from Africa looking like, but I was admittedly ignorant about Africa since I've never been and really only knew what I may have seen on TV/movies/books. I guess I forgot though about a girl I used to like a lot back in high school that was Ethipian with a georgeous smile and body. Turned out to be a lot more girls that I thought were fine than I thought there would be but since I was primarily there for business I wasn't really thiking about it too much.

The girl drove us to my Uncles house in Tanzania and on the way there one of my first observations was that the city was a lot more developed than I had thought it would be. Throughout the trip I noticed there was a huge disparity between the living conditions of various people in different parts of the country depending on where we were. In some parts of Tanzania, people were living in incredible poverty or areas where they had to have homemade houses or raise your own cattle in order to eat. Then in other areas things were pretty much a normal city where you had banks, casinos, hotels, roads, and houses... where everything was pretty well developed compared to other areas but definitely not as developed as USA.

We got to my Uncle's house and we were greeted by my Uncle and a different friend of his. He told us that we could sleep at his house or stay at a hotel if we wanted air conditioning and since my mom was interested in AC we ended up deciding to stay in a hotel that night. At my Uncles house the girl that drove us from the airport was living there along with her sister. My uncle said she moved in kind of on her own without asking her boyfriend (the guy that lives there as well with my Uncle) first about it. So at this point we were all just hanging out at the house and my Uncle was talking to me a bit about some of the business he's involved in out there. He mentioned to me that he just found out the day before that the president of Tanzania was interested in meeting with him and flying him out to Burundi to meet.. so my Uncle told me that he was interested in me joining him.

I was told to be ready by like 4am in the morning because we had to catch a very early flight out there so I got to sleep pretty early without doing too much the first night there. So at like 4am my Uncle arrived at the hotel my mother and I were staying at (just for 3 days) and then we rode to the airport to head out to meet up with the president. We were met at the airport by a guy who was a representative of the President like his main man/business partner or something of the sort, as well as 3 armed soldiers that were meant to escort us for our entire stay in the country pretty much like bodyguards. They treated my Uncle pretty much like he was a Savior/Jesus the entire trip because they knew he was a powerful man from the USA that might be interested in doing business in their country. I knew my Uncle was connected/powerful/rich and what not, but actually discovered during this trip that it was even bigger than I thought. He showed me pictures with him and Obama and some other world leaders that he said he knew very well.

So the first day here in Burundi we were escorted to a nice hotel and pretty much treated like Royalty. It was here that my Uncle and I spent the bulk of the time we spent talking business on the entire trip. For some reason he seemed to be primarily focused on me having a "fun" type trip in Africa moreso than a business/learning trip. I think the reason was that he first wanted me to enjoy being in Africa first so that it would make it easier later on to make the decision to do business with him there since doing business there involves spending time there. I guess he figured if I don't like the place I won't do business there which wasn't really true since I'm interested in doing anything that will get me ahead financially. Turns out though anyway that I did have a fun time and viewed it as a great life experience in general but even if I didn't I still would have wanted to come back to work with him. I also felt like I had to take initiative to do a lot of the probing questioning to get information explaining what he had in mind for me. I sort of wondered if I hadn't asked any questions about the business aspect, if he was even going to bring it up. Since that was my main value in going I made sure to drill him with lots of questions for the duration of the trip whenever I had a chance.

While we were in Burundi I had plenty of time to ask him questions since it was just him and I. I can't really go into great detail in this blog post about the business/investing opportunities but in a very basic sense I'm buying a % ownership of his corpoation and also will be working with him directly on some of his projects so that I can learn first hand how to do deals myself, at which point I will then be doing my own deals/projects. He told me one of the deals he had in mind for me, if it goes through he can assure me it would make me a multi millionaire in at least 4 years if not earlier.. and from that point on I'd be on my way to being a billionaire. Sounds kind of outside my reality but with the understanding I have of what he does it certainly seems more plausible. The ownership in his corporation is a passive investment which I will be doing either way regardless of which project I get involved in... which I invested a sizable chunk of my roll into because the % chance of losing money at this point is nearly 0. He's basically allowing me to invest with him on a deal where they are at the very end of the project and all the risks have been taken. Kind of like getting to the river first and seeing you have the nuts and then deciding to go all in.

So we then spent the entire day mainly just discussing business with the President's right hand man, business with each other while eating/relaxing, and checking out some land of interest by the president's assistant. After all of this was done we then drove out to see the president out in what seemed like a hidden area of the jungle or something... not even sure how to describe it. It wasn't a "jungle" but it was like a bunch of dirt roads, not many buildings or houses, kind of barren like many other parts of Africa and then the area he was staying had numerous soldiers/guards out front of these huge gates and then a big house inside that he was staying in. We rode out there with the 3 soldiers with us the whole time carring AK-47s. I wasn't too certain about our safety since I'm ignorant about Africa but I assumed my Uncle's no fool and he wouldn't take us somewhere dangerous. I just kept getting visions of a buncha Rebels jumping out the bushes with guns and then spraying the entire truck of us with bullets. The country of Burundi had just gotten over a civil war like 4 years prior as well for what it's worth.

So we met up with the president, they talked business and then my Uncle and I spent the night in this hotel which was out in the bush as well and not upscale or anything obviously but wasn't expected to be. We headed out in the morning and flew back to Dar Es Salaam, continuing to discuss the business options the entire way as well. On the business side of things, the basic plan for me at this point is I'm going to grind poker hardcore from now until September and hope to make 300k+ since I'll be grinding in Canada. I'll also be researching and reading more about what my Uncle does so I can show up with a better understanding of what it is I'm doing and want to accomplish. Pretty much all my time will be spent playing poker and reading about stuff related to what my uncle does.

When we got back from Burundi we decided it would be a good idea for all of us to go out for dinner and drinks so like 8 of us went out to this outside lounge type place to just relax. Everyone got a little buzz going just hanging out/talking and then 3 of the girls, myself, and my Uncle all decided we were going to go out to a club to continue the party. I ended up having a good time and making a few friends that I hung out with the rest of the trip and met a few girls as well. I drank too much (not sure how) though and got more drunk than I can remember in recent time. I don't even know how, I think I just had like 4 long island ice teas... a guy I met at the bar bought me 2 and he was friends with the bartender so maybe he got em extra strong or something I don't know but I just know my head was spinning that night when I got home to pass out and I was throwing up the entire next day that we had planned to spend in Zanzibar.

So the next morning we take a Ferry to Zanzibar so obviously I'm puking the entire way. Hell, even before we got to the ferry we were driven there by my Uncle's friend, along with his wife, their 2 little daughters, my mom, and then another woman.. and they had to pull the car over for me on the way just so I can puke. Was kind of embarassing but the friend of my Uncle was out with us the night before so he had seen why I was drunk and also he understood that my Uncle was trying to show me a good time so he didn't view it as rude/disrespectful or anything I don't think. So we took the ferry on over to Zanzibar and just spent the day out there eating outside, sight seeing, and relaxing by the water. I was with my mom and 2 little girls so it was a different type of fun but I had fun. The two girls were so damn sweet and adorable (I rarely ever say that outside of gaming with a girl either). I'm not around kids too much but I found it fun joking around and talking with them the whole day.

We got back from Zanzibar and had 1 quick day to rest at my Uncle's house before heading back out to Ngorongoro crater for a Safarian tour which was just an amazing experience. We flew out to Arusha and then were picked up by our tour guide at the airport and drove through the town for like 2 hours stopping along the way sight seeing. The hotel we got to was very nice and upscale similar to the standards of the nice hotels in the USA. We had a nice meal and just relaxed in the room for the night and then the next morning drove out to the crater. We saw pretty much every animal imaginable and even were lucky enough to get to see a lion killing/eating a buffalo and then rest while protecting his kill/meat from hyeneas. Then after a while the lion left and the hyenas came in to clean up and eat the remainings being the scavengers they are. This was pretty much everything you'd expect an African safarian tour to be like, certainly one of the best parts of the trip. Afterwards we came back home and then flew out.