We made it to Kenya

Hi! We made it to Kenya!

We had an uneventful trip. The LAX to Amsterdam trip was delayed by about an hour but because we had a several hour layover in Amsterdam, the delay didn’t affect us. We were all able to sleep some on that flight. Food was different but good enough.

The Kenya Airways flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi was pretty nice and also uneventful. The airplane was a fairly new Boeing 777 with a few nice amenities like individual tv screens so we could pick what we wanted to watch and nicer reclining seats.

The big test for our days of traveling was to see if our luggage had arrived as well. While we were waiting in the very slow line to get our visas, our luggage had indeed been offloaded from the plane! All 12 pieces were there looking to be in fine shape. A driver from Mayfield Guesthouse was waiting (and getting nervous because we took so long) for us. He had a van with a roof rack so with the help of some young men looking for an extra buck (which they got), all our very heavy baggage got up on top of the van or inside of it and there was room for the 3 of us as well (always a good thing!).

Driving from the airport to Mayfield Guesthouse was an adventure because there was a TON of traffic. Everyone here is complaining about the amount of traffic and it was obvious that it has gotten way worse over the years. It was also fun because there were giraffes grazing in the plain next to the airport!

After unloading our very heavy luggage into a storage unit for the next few days, we all three enjoyed hot showers and a cup of coffee (okay, Emily didn’t have coffee…). We then spent the rest of the day trying to stay awake so we can sleep tonight. We walked around Mayfield, stood around talking to people, went to the hangar (where Mark used to work) to visit folks out there, walked to Hurlingham (a nearby shopping area), etc. The reaction we got from folks at the hangar was really fun. Most of the Kenyans did not know we were coming so they were quite surprised to see us. They were disappointed to find out we are not staying in Kenya but happy we are back on the continent. Everybody told Emily, “Wow! You’ve grown! You were just a little girl when you left!” They’ve also been very pleased to see the pictures of Rebekah, Joe and kids and of Stephanie. We finally all ended up taking a 30 minute nap before supper which helped revive us. We’ll be ready to sleep tonight!

So, that was our first day here. Tomorrow we head up to Kijabe to see RVA.

Good Night!
Lisa