Van dropped me off at the airport on Sunday, June 24 at around 9 pm. I felt overwhelming lonely as I watched his car pull away. I had never flown anywhere outside the country and was feeling incredibly apprehensive about the whole trip. Everything sounded so good on paper. The longer I was at the airport the longer three weeks became.
I guess I didn't realize that the airport would be pretty much shut down that late at night. All the food stands and stores were closed. The only people there were seated at my gate. There is just something eerie about being at an airport without the hustle of people.
It seemed to take forever to board and take off. I was of course crammed in a middle seat between this older woman who didn't speak English and this heavy-set man whose arm kept slipping off the arm rest. I am not sure how, but thankfully I slept through most of that flight.
I arrived in London after an 8 hour flight with plenty of time on my hands. As I discovered Heathrow has plenty of things to do to occupy a 6 hour layover. I think I visited each of the stores at least twice, had a decent meal, picked up another book, called my mom and read about half of Julie and Julia.
The flight from London to Nairobi passed in the same uneventful manner. I arrived in Nairobi at about 7 am on Tuesday, June 26. Stepping off the plane I was grateful for a safe trip. I found my way down to the baggage claim area and soaked up the scenery. The airport looked just as I imagined shades of green, khaki and brown. It was exactly what I thought an African airport would look. I watched as the airport employee moved the cardboard sign with the Virgin Atlantic logo over to the conveyor belt where we would pick up our luggage.
There was a large window that allowed us to see the bags being lifted one by one onto the back of the conveyor belt by the airport employees. We waited a good 45 minutes for all of the luggage. I don't think that I have ever in my life been so happy to see my luggage or breathed such a huge sigh of relief.
As I exited the airport, I saw a large crowd of people holding names of the passengers they were to transport. Of course there wasn't anyone waiting for me.
Everyone attending our conference was supposed to be picked up by a group called Twiga Tours. The transportation was supposed to be paid for and organized. It really wasn't so organized.
Eventually I found a man holding a Twiga Tours sign and he was able to find the person responsible for my conference. Unfortunately, the car had already left so he had to call another driver. He led me outside to wait for the car. He had to return to the airport to make some more calls so he left me outside standing next to a security guard with a machine gun. If that doesn't make you feel safe, I'm not sure what will.
About 15 minutes later the guy from Twiga returned with a driver to take me to the hotel.
This was my first taste of Kenyan driving. Let's just say that traffic lights are few and far between. People come and go how they please. It is really a test of the nerves. I was very glad to arrive at the hotel in one piece.
