In Transit

So I am finally here! But getting here was quite the feat. Luckily or possibly amazingly, I made all my flights without any delays or cancellations. But after a 6 hour layover in Chicago, I was on the plane to London, only to be next to a man who was completely prejudice against people who were overweight or a little bit different.

Then once I got to Heathrow in London, I had to go through customs even though I was not leaving the airport, I had to recheck my luggage with Kenya Airways (the Pride of Africa--their slogan). So I did all of that and then someone directed me towards an escalator to get to the check-in desk of Kenya Airways. So with much difficulty and almost falling, I managed to get my 2 large pieces of luggage, my backpack, purse, and myself up the two escalators. Once reaching the top, very out of breath, I look to my left only to see 2 very large elevators that just came from the floor below! Oh well I thought, I was about to get rid of my luggage and be done with it...WRONG! After walking around trying to find the right desk, I asked someone where they were. This airport worker told me that I had to go back downstairs and get on the underground and go all the way to terminal 4 then go upstairs and the desk is there. You can imagine how thrilled I was to hear that.

So I do as I was directed and finally reaching a counter with Kenya Airways on it, the man tells me that they don't start checking in until 3:30pm which was 2 hours away! So I waited... and then checked in and then waited for about 6 more hours until my plane left. I know that Heathrow has all kinds of Duty Free shops, but honestly at the point I couldn't have cared less. All I wanted to do was be on the plane and asleep. Once on the plane to Nairobi, Kenya, things went surprisingly well. I was in the very front row of the plane with all the leg room I could want, and I sat next to a man who told me a lot about Tanzania.

Once the plane landed in Nairobi, I was getting very excited because I was almost to my final destination. As we got off the plane, I experienced something very peculiar. We walked off the plane and were directly on the blacktop where there were planes about 5 feet away from us. The passengers were not guided in any "safe" direction, but I just hoped that the people in front of me knew where to go. So after about 1/4 of a mile walk, I was finally in the airport. This was the first time of many that I will use the phrase "only in Africa".

The Nairobi airport was very interesting. I sat on the floor next to a cement blocked window and waited by my gate to be boarded onto the plain. Oh and the floor was the only option for sitting down. Then my flight was called about 45 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. So I went through the security and then was seated in a "holding room" with at least 100 other people who were all on different flights. And about 15 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave, an airport worker came running into the room and told us that our flight was getting ready to leave! So we walked very quickly, back outside onto the blacktop with all the planes just feet away, and I finally boarded my last plane! AMEN.

The flight to Zanzibar was very quick and the best flight of my 2 day travel! We passed by Mt. Kilimanjaro and I could see the snow topped mountain in all its glory! It was beautiful. Then we flew over water and islands started to pop up everywhere! It was amazingly beautiful. Paradise did not do it justice. And we had to fly all the way around Zanzibar to reach the island. when we landed, the airport was extremely small and quite unorganized! I went through "customs" haha and then out of the airport. Now the woman that was supposed to be picking me up from the airport was an American, but when I went outside, there was no American woman anywhere. Finally a very nice airport worker asked me if I needed help because I was just standing outside the airport looking around with all my luggage around me. (very out of place). And the main problem I was having was the fact that my US phone would not work to call any local numbers in Zanzibar or any American numbers. So this man was very nice and used his phone to call my homestay mother who he apparently knew because he perked up when I told him her name. \so he called her and spoke in Swahili to have someone come get me. And within 10 minutes, my homestay father was there to get me.

So things were a little rocky in some places on my travels over here, but I am settled in and I will definitely be writing more soon!

Kwaheri!