OFF to the USA......... Summer of 1957 was time for me to fly to the US. It was sad leaving home and family but I was looking forward to a new adventure.My brother Pete and 2 of our friends drove me up to Nairobi to fly on Scandinavian Airlines. The plane was a large 4 engine propeller machine with nice comfortable seats and plenty of leg room, unlike some of todays arrangements. The plane left in the evening and our first stop was Khartoum,Sudan, about 1 AM in the morning. We exited the plane and the heat even at night was overwhelming. We flew over Egypt and saw the Pyramids and the Nile. Fortunately, I had a window seat the whole flight to the USA. The next stop was Athens, followed by Rome. There the plane was stopped for 2 hours and I had a chance to practice some of the Italian language that I had picked up while living in Moshi and going around with some Italian friends. The plane took off and flew north over the Alps. That was quite a sight with all the snow covered mountains. We landed in Bern,Switzerland and our next stop was in Frankfurt, Germany. From there we went to Copenhagen, Denmark. In the evening we took off, flew over the English country side and across the Atlantic. Part way over the ocean, a German passenger had to be calmed down by the air hostess when he thought that the plane was on fire as he saw flames coming out of the exhaust of one of the engines. Finally we saw the Statue of Liberty and New York City and we landed at La Guardia airport. Luckily Uncle Gus and Pano met me there and we went to stay at a hotel for 2 days.