The Adventure Has Begun

Since I've been awake since 3am this morning and no amount of reading is helping me fall asleep I figure I will account for the past few days. First, leaving from Newark was a breeze, no waiting in lines and plenty of time to spare. This will be the only easy part of the trip. The flight was fine, watching Inception, Charlie St. Cloud, and the last part of Eat Pray Love on the way. The tricky part comes in once we land. We are half an hour late and there was only an hour and twenty minutes between flights. This began the race to the terminal. There could not have been more turns, escalators, long hallways with moving sidewalks than there was in the Heathrow airport. Virgin Atlantic planes are supposed to be all in the same terminal and if this is true, that’s one helluva terminal. I had to stop at an additional security point where I had to rescan my carryons, which I of course was too anxious to wait in. I politely asked most people in line if I could go ahead of them, and with my charming smile J, was able to move through it pretty quickly. I then got my backpack back on, threw on my purse, grabbed my belt because I didn’t want to take the time to put it on, and began to run Home Alone 2 style through the rest of the airport. I regret now only running once since the Army Ten-Miler because I was exhausted by the time I got to my gate. Now they say they close the door thirty minutes prior to the time of departure and I made it within one minute to spare. Phew! I walked towards the jetway, stopped to put my belt on finally – didn’t look weird to do this right there at all – and then walked to my seat. I was very relieved I didn’t miss it. But then, for what seemed like an additional 20 to 30 minutes, people kept coming onto the plane. Lies! Apparently they say they don’t close the doors when they say they will, which I guess I should have assumed, but nervous Nancy here wasn’t going to take the risk. The flight was also fine, watching even more movies – Wall Street 2, Scott Pilgrim v. The World, and the first part of Eat Pray Love (beginning to end, end to beginning, really don’t think it would have made it better). If Virgin Atlantic has anything, they do have a large movie selection.

About a million hours later we landed safely and it was time to go through customs and baggage claim. Customs was pretty easy, didn’t take too long, and they didn’t even check my yellow fever card. So glad I took the time to contact Penn to make sure they sent it to me right away. I then proceeded down to baggage claim where I got myself a cart and was all prepared to grab my two big bags and go on my way. Well this did not turn out to be the case. Apparently I can run a mile through the airport to make sure I get on the plane in time, but the men with bags can’t organize them so they know which ones they will need to get out first and to the correct plane on time. But hakuna matata (it really does mean no worries), Nairobi Airport was kind enough to put a piece of paper on the belt that listed all of our last names who would not be receiving bags that morning. I was actually too tired to care at that point, so I went over to what looked like a lemonade stand to let them know I didn’t have my bags. They wrote it down and told me to call them to figure out how they could get them to Eldoret. Call? I don’t have a phone. I told them I would figure it out and the woman assured me they would get on a courier flight that would arrive there on Sunday (I would later find out that they don’t have courier flights on the weekend). I just said ok, and didn’t want to think about, knowing I had a full day ahead of me.

Not realizing that I may be a little tired after traveling more than a day on a plane I had booked a trip with a recommended tour group so that I could go to an elephant orphanage and giraffe park. So I found some reserved energy and was excited to go. I met my guide, Jay, outside of baggage claim and we proceeded on our way. First stop was the elephant orphanage. They are only open to the public from 11am to noon, since this is when they can show off the animals during feeding and play time. Jay and I went in the park, with probably every other Mzungu (white person) in the area, to see the elephants. They were all babies, and absolutely adorable. They drank special milk from big bottles and played around in the mud and water. For a much better description I have pics and videos coming soon. The best part was when they would roll into one another and knock each other down in the water. Very cute!

Next stop Jay and I had lunch at the Nairobi National Park where we ate outside. The coolest part was that it was as if we were eating in the park itself, since there were baboons and antelope roaming all around for us to see. Jay said that giraffes usually came by as well, but not that afternoon. Nonetheless, it was definitely cool to eat with the monkeys and I was about to see giraffes anyways. Last stop for the day was the giraffe park, which I was happy to get to since exhaustion was creeping in. There were about 7 giraffes roaming around the area, ranging from babies to adults. The coolest part though, was that you could feed them! I walked up the overhang where I was given pellets. I put my hand out to the giraffe’s mouth and he slurped them right up. Their tongues are black, really long, and slimy. It was definitely a cool experience to be so close to a giraffe. Pics of this are also coming soon!

Back in the car, we went back to the airport so I could catch one more flight to Eldoret – a short 45 minute flight to the western side of Kenya. I boarded the mini plane, which apparently doesn’t have to follow all the same guidelines as other planes. Without going into too much detail in order to prevent giving my mother a heart attack, the girl next to me picked up her phone as we started speeding up to take off. I asked her if she should turn that off and she said it was ok, so I closed my eyes to “sleep” and said uhhhhh ok. Well I obviously landed safely since I am writing this post now, but it just added to the overall fun of the trip.

I was picked up at the airport and driven to the Indiana University Housing (IU House). We picked up a woman, named Purity, who then showed me around the area and to my room. There is actually wireless in my room, which is amazing, so I could catch up on some things, including skyping my dad to tell him I was alive, before going to bed. Skype is pretty amazing and will be used often while I am here. Well I was beyond exhaustion at this point, being awake for what I think was close to 40 hours, with short naps on the plane. The adventure has definitely begun; the frustration of getting my bags though is never-ending. Hopefully the next time I write I will be able to say that I am no longer wearing the same jeans from last Thursday.