BLOG 1 - DAY ONE IN NAIROBI

Blog 1 

Finally all the packing and preparing is done and our trip is about to begin. Saying goodbye to our families is always sad but the anticipation was overwhelming. Driving to the airport at 5am didn't even seem so bad due to all the excitement. After our tearful goodbye Savannah and I were off through security and towards our boarding gate. Our Durban-Joburg flight was short and sweet. Once in Joburg we trekked across the airport to international departures (cue butterflies in my stomach). Customs were quick and painless, and after deciding we were still hungry we stopped for breakfast at the closest restaurant to our boarding gate, Sav and I shared a grilled chicken sandwich, it was small and very overpriced but it filled our stomachs just enough. I received a call from my parents with their first question being "why can we call you? Your phone should be on roaming" this then led to me attempting to do so. No airtime. No airtime sold in any of the stores. More frantic calls. Airtime received, sent from one of my moms friends. Roam On. Lucky me, after that bit of chaos Sav and I stood waiting at the boarding gate for about 5 or so minutes until we heard a final call for our flight to Nairobi. Whoops. The huge lines of people were obviously just sitting where all our fellow passengers were previously. Another slight panic, the man operating the boarding gate made a joke about us having missed our flight (which was not the case) but alas there were other passengers that appeared also flying to Nairobi. After a very empty bus transfer we were finally on our way to Nairobi. The flight started off smoothly, with The devil wears Prada being the first movie, it's old and familiar and I hadn't seen in years so I didn't mind. I didn't pay attention to the second movie other than occasionally seeing Liam Hemsworth on the screen and listening to my own music while Sav did a crossword. There was a bit of turbulence towards the end of the flight and during the landing. We boarded another bus transfer to take us to the other side of the airport.  The customs building was pretty basic but clean so we filled in our immigration forms while sitting on the floor (not many chairs available). We were in the front of the line when a huge number of passengers from Dubai filled the previously empty room (over 200people in the tiny room). Although we started off at the wrong carousel we soon found our luggage and followed the exit signs. After looking around for our taxi we were greeted by a lovely friendly lady who was the person organizing our taxi. The walk to our taxi was quick and entertaining as the trolley carrying our luggage didn't have brakes and there was a downhill slope. Our taxi was clean and comfortable. The roads are a bit of a new experience, I've seen Joburg traffic but this is on a whole new level. Buses, Trucks, Bikes, Cars EVERYWHERE. The roads are very chaotic. I've seen cars I had never seen before, such as a Toyota Voxy and Nissan Note. Driving through the areas on our way from the airport was an eye opener and gave us a better idea of Nairobi's infrastructure which ranges a lot. The city is colourful and full of busy people. Another realization I had was that Kenyan buses seem to be the equivalent of South African taxis ( pretty naughty). Just in that hour and a bit it was very noticeable how hot and dry Kenya is, feeling the strength of the sun through the taxis windows and struggling aircon. There are what seems like millions of Maribu birds which in my opinion look like Hadedas on steroids. Next up was a giant traffic circle with traffic lights that apparently don't work but one seemingly very capable policeman directing all the traffic perfectly.  From what I've seen so far buildings range from gigantic skyscrapers to small shacks selling sweeties. So in total Hotel Boulevard was a two hour car ride from the airport. Our room is small and spunky but overall perfect for what we need it for. We have a garden view and there is even a large pool. A restaurant attached to the hotel was our  dinner location this evening and the food exceeded expectations . So to sum up day one of our African adventure: it has been a bit stressful but completely overruled by laughter (nervous or otherwise).

I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.