Do we look like we have been on safari?
Our last day in Nairobi was indeed a full one. While we were not scheduled to depart on our walking tour of Nairobi until 9:30 am, many of us were up very early. Skip and I finished breakfast by about 7:30 am. After breakfast Skip finished printing our board passes at the business center (he and Bob did the first leg from Nairobi to London the night before) and I browsed at the gift shop at Intercontinental Nairobi Hotel. I bought necklace slide and a couple of scarves. Pat and Monja decided to go shopping independently and would join us in the evening for our farewell dinner. Likewise, Sybil decided to complete some last minute shopping and made arrangements to be escorted to a nearby hotel for additional shopping.
We began our walking tour right across the street from our hotel, by walking past a monument to Jomo Kenyatta, the first elected president of the Republic of Kenya in December, 1964. Interestingly, we were not allowed to take any pictures of Kenyatta's memorial, or for that matter any governmental buildings, police officials, or army personnel.
We continued our walk through a business district and ultimately to the Nairobi open market. In this market there were many small vendors selling things like flowers, fish, jewelry, fabric, wood carvings, artwork, etc. After our walking tour we returned to the hotel where we boarded our coach to travel to the Nairobi National Museum, where we walked through the museum for about an hour. We had lunch in a cafe on the grounds of the museum and did a bit more shopping at the museum's gift shop before returning to our hotel to shower and prepare for dinner and our departure from East Africa to London.
After dinner at a Brazilian-like restaurant we departed for Nairobi Airport, arriving around 9:30 pm for our 11:35 pm flight to London. Everyone in our group, except Larry and Lynne, departed Niarobi to London on the same flight. (After that, Sybil and Jerry were on different flights, as were Pat and Monja.) Thankfully, all of our luggage (loaded with souvenirs) was checked in easily enough and we were all happy to have cleared security. (Many clubs, spears, masks, sticks and other items were included in baggage. Bob was able to carry his swords on board, but officials made Jerry check his stick.) The boarding areas in Nairobi were different than any I have ever been in, in that there were no bathrooms, access to food, or shopping. If you needed to go to the bathroom once in the boarding area, you had to leave your boarding pass with personnel at a security point, exit to a common area, use the facility, retrieve your boarding pass, and then go through security once again. Boarding was likewise chaotic.
We boarded British Airways Flight 64 on time and began our 9 hour flight to London. I took a sleep aid (restoril) and happily slept like a baby until shortly before landing at Heathrow Airport, missing several meals. We (Bill, Mary Ann, Vicky, Bob, Skip and I) had a three hour layover at Heathrow, but it seemed much shorter.
We then boarded British Airways Flight 117 for New York's JFK Airport. That flight took almost 8 hours. We all agreed that the BA flights were among the more enjoyable ones any of us had been on recently. The attendants were pleasant and profession, the food was decent (in some cases even good), the snacks and drinks were free, and departures and arrivals were on time. REALLY, what more could you ask for?
Catching a taxi from JFK airport to LaGuardia airport was easy enough, with the six of us sharing two taxis. We had plenty of time to make the transfer since we landed at 11:00 am and our flight to Wilmington via US Airways was not scheduled to depart until 4:45 pm. Again, check in was easy enough and we made our way to the gate area, enjoying the free wifi and easy availability of restrooms, food, and shopping. Shortly before we should have been boarding, we learned that our flight to Wilmington had been delayed. After several more delays, we eventually took off for Wilmington about 2 hours later that scheduled.
As always, the arrival at Wilmington International Airport was easy. With all of our bags in hand we were in a cab on our way home in just a jiffy. Bob and Vicky shared a cab with us. We were all very tired, happy to be home, and a bit punchy from such a long trip. The taxi cab driver began droning on and on about some sort of "W" tag or sticker she had to have to operate her taxi that was making life very difficult for her. Anyway, you would have had to be there to appreciate the hilarity of the conversation. We all tried to maintain our composure in the face of her absurd prattering about the matter, but it was indeed VERY difficult.
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