Saturday, May 28, 2011

Arrival in Kenya


May 27th @ 8:30pm: Just arrived in Nairobi! While the fight was long, I believe that my anticipation and excitement made the time fly by. Thankfully, the flight was relatively empty and I was able to spread out and relax on the 8hr flight. By far the coolest part of the trip was when we flew over the Sahara. The desert looked just like an ocean of sand that spanned as far as the eye could see (sorry no pics). Upon arriving in Nairobi it was abundantly clear that we had arrived in a different part of the world. After exchanging currency and grabbing our luggage we found our driver and headed to the hotel. Nairobi is a deceiving large city … while the city seemed very spread out and the skyline was not filled with skyscrapers we learned that the greater metropolitan area is home to nearly 10 million people. While our hotel was just a few miles from the airport, our drive took nearly 20 minutes with the traffic … which apparently takes nearly 3hrs during rush hour! As we arrived at our hotel we were met with large steel gates and armed security … it was clear that this was not the US. We were met by very friendly staff and escorted to our room. After getting settled we grabbed some dinner at the restaurant which had a menu similar to that of any restaurant in the states … probably because the hotel was mainly occupied by Americans, Europeans and Aussies. We were also introduced to our first Kenyan beers of the voyage, Tusker, which were light and refreshing after a long day of traveling. Time for some shuteye as we depart for our final destination in Eldoret at 6am!

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