You all can rest assured I have arrived in Kenya safe and sound. This has not been the best travel experience I've ever had, but I'm sure it could have been worse. Let's start with the positives first. I got to spend the whole day on Thursday with my mom in Chicago since she was kind enough to help me pass my 12 hour layover. My bags didn't get lost. My driver was right on time to pick me up from the airport. Turkish airlines has absolutely scrumptious food.
Now, for what you all really want to hear....what went wrong. Well, it started in the RDU airport when my fav hiking sandals broke and fell off my foot, just minutes after checking my bags and sending all my other choices of footwear to the belly of the plane. They actually broke as I was saying that they were all I was planning on wearing because they are the best sandals ever. Oh, the irony. But thankfully, with a modified paper clip and hair rubberband they were at least functional again to get through the airport.
When I got to the airport the TSA lady saw me waiting in line alone, with a teary and distressed mother standing by (as supportive as my mumsy is, she doesn't like the actual sending off part). Based on my pink backpack, ponytail, and no makeup I think she deduced I was about 13 years old and flying alone for the first time. She promptly put her arm around me and whisked me to the front of the security line, all while calling me sweetiepie. While I was slightly insulted that my calm maturity and airport proficiency werelost on her, but it was a 45 minute line.... So I just smiled and thanked her and asked if I'd be able to wave to my mom after I went through security. Hehe. On the flight to Istanbul I was sitting next to an 18 year old boy on a class trip, and after chatting on and off for the first few hours of the flight he asked me how old I was. When I told him, his response was, "wow, I had no idea you were that old!". It was then I started to seriously consider traveling in a business suit, or at least ditching the pink backpack ;)
Now this is where things start to take a downhill turn (and for those of you who cringe when I tell my gross medical stories you should skip this paragraph). We got almost to Istanbul just fine, and then we hit a storm. And it got a little rough. Now, it wasn't quite brace-yourself-on-the-back-of-the-seat rough, but pretty close and we had to circle the airport for over an hour. The lady in front of us thought she would help by screaming in turkish and wringing her hands whenever the plane lurched. Thank you for that. The drunk lady to my left would not stop her hyena laughing, and the sound of wretching could be heard from behind and in front of me. Now for those of you who know me well, know that I get nauseous just looking at the spinning teacups at the fair. And I don't normally take any motion-sickness meds on these huge planes because they are usually so smooth........but I do have impressive control of my gag reflex, so what did I do? Instead of just throwing up when everyone else was, when it was at least a little socially appropriate and the hyena laughing and Turkish screaming may have drowned it out, I waited until the plane was actually on the ground and everyone was standing around me trying to get off. And if I could give Turkish Airlines a little feedback- they need to made the openings of the barf bags a little bigger. Seriously.
Needless to say, I could have been in better spirits when I arrived in Istanbul. I wanted to take some meds (better late than never) but was out of water and they wouldn't accept American bills and I didn't have time to change money. It was almost sit on the floor and cry time when I found one little packet of chewable meclizine (thanks dad) and the day was saved. The remaining 6 hours I spent on a plane were delightful. I was so grateful to finally get to my room in Nairobi and slept that blissful sleep that can only come on a 6 inch foam bunk bed mattress after 16 hours on a plane. Why do I love traveling so much, some days I just can't say.
I spent today getting my ducks in a row and getting phone and Internet set up. This is a photo of my little charging station in my room :). The charger they give you with your phone doesn't fit into all outlets. What in the world !?. But all you need to do is stick something plastic into the remaining outlet hole while you insert the other two prongs. What could possibly go wrong with that, right?
Tomorrow I leave for Maseno via the Easy coach, and I have high hopes for my next travel day.
I sincerely hope my next post will have no mention of vomiting, and my apologies that this is so long. I tend to get a little wordy when I have my thoughts all to myself for a whole day :)
Jessie
