In Nairobi now. The overland tour is over and it feels so strange not to wake up in a tent or travel on the truck all day. I'm so enjoying the bed though, I'm in a 20 dollars a day hotel and yet I feel like a queen!

It was such a great adventure, definitely the best trip I've ever had. Living with 20 people 24 hours a day sometimes made me a bit claustrophobic, but overall we had a great time. Some of us struggled a bit. A girl went a bit mad and completely isolated herself. She complained about everything for no apparent reason and pretty much hated all of us. I felt sorry for her because spending 6 weeks so unhappily must have been really tough, but hey her choice after all.

Both our tour leader and the driver were just amazing. We couldn't have asked for more. The overland diet based on potatoes, bread and meet made me gain some weight though (I'm the only person on the bloody planet who managed to get fatter in Africa!), but who cares.

I'm contemplating the possibility of doing another overland tour in India or South East Asia but I think I can spend much less going solo there. I also fancy travelling on my own to see how it feels.

I really look forward to Ghana now. It will be good to stay somewhere for a while and have the time to know people a bit better. African people are so intriguing. Very friendly and always smiling. Most of them don't know when they are going to eat next and yet they are always happy and relaxed.

Maybe not surprisingly, the first thing they notice about us is that we're stressed. More than once I was asked by locals what makes us so stressed. Greed probably, I said. We have everything and want always more. We run all the time even when we are not in a rush. African people don't have much and never rush, but always have a smile on their face. I'm wondering whether leading a simpler life is the key to happiness.

The contrast is really obvious in bars where you see a bunch of tourist who have all the time on earth to waste getting visibly angry because the service is too slow compared to their standard. The bar tender would always smile, pretend he didn't notice their comments and serve them in his own time. Marvellous.