Who ever thought getting there would be half the adventure
So the day we left was filled with much running around and last minute forgot-to-dos (it wouldn’t be a true family trip without a high level of last minute chaos). As we bid our house a final farewell I couldn’t help but ask myself, one last time, why again had I decided to pack up my life and move across the world (which was followed by me telling myself over and over that this will be an enriching and wonderful experience… though I was having a little trouble convincing myself this is true). We then made our way to the train station to get on a coach bus, and to officially start “our African Adventure”. The first part of our travel was uneventful, and both the bus ride to Montréal and the flight to Amsterdam were quite standard (we even caught some ideal flying weather on the flight to Amsterdam and arrived over an hour early. We optimistically thought that the journey was getting off to a wonderful start!).
As we walked off our plane in Amsterdam (“walked off” is a generous way of saying it… by this time the left half of my body had fallen asleep and I was dragging my leg behind me) we were happy to know they had just given us just enough time to enjoy a horribly overpriced cup of coffee. Now, for all the people who haven’t been to the Amsterdam airport, it is IMMENSE, and includes a museum, a massage center (which has the coolest water massage unit which looks remarkably like a human car wash), hundreds of moving sidewalks (the best invention ever when you can’t walk properly), and a casino. Our connecting flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi was supposed to leave at 10:00 am local time, and God only knows real time, and we arrived at our gate at the recommended time before departure to board our plane. The way security is set up at the Amsterdam airport is that, just before boarding your plane, you pass through a security check at the gate (surrendering all you liquids) and they dump you in a room with a few very uncomfortable chairs (to encourage people not to sleep) and no bathrooms. So we passed security and entered “the holding pen” with the expectation that we would soon board our plane. 10:00 rolled around, and we weren’t on the plane. Around 10:15 (weren’t we supposed to be blissfully flying right now) they informed us that our plane was broken and it would be fixed shortly. Half an hour later we were informed that our plane was really broken and they needed to get us a new plane, but no worries, it would only be about an hour wait (remember nothing to drink and NO BATHROOM). At this point the overwhelming fatigue overcame me and I drifted off to sleep in a horribly uncomfortable position. I awoke an hour later to hear that, not only would we not be leaving now, but that our flight had been delayed until 2:30 pm because the weather was bad. The ironic part was that the “wonderful flying weather” which helped us get to Amsterdam in record time, was now the same weather that was blowing on the plane so hard that was it too dangerous for the ground staff to load the food and luggage on the plane (now had the first plane not broken we wouldn’t be having this problem). So now that we had all this time to kill, we went off to find somewhere to eat (I bet you can guess where I suggested! The Amsterdam has a wonderful McDonalds if you are ever on that side of the world). 2:30 came and went, and it was obvious that we weren’t going to be getting off the ground anytime soon as the plane was violently rocking back and fourth and the tarmac was completely void of people. The one issue with the Amsterdam airport is the lack of comfortable locations for people to sleep (and by this time all flights were delayed or canceled, so the airport was covered in people sleeping EVERYWHERE including the ground in the middle of the hallways). As our flight was continuously delayed “just another half hour” the feeling of hopelessness started to sink in. Finally, around 5pm, they told us we were a go, and we once again passed through security, and were put back in the holding pen. After sitting there for about 45 minutes (this was starting to seem like a common trend) we were informed that “the flight staff has now surpassed their working hours and are no longer required to fly. They will get back to you shortly with their decision”. As expected, the entire room immediately turned into a state of uproar and chaos. Thankfully, we were informed about 40 minutes later that they had graciously decided to continue with the flight. We boarded our flight and fortunately it was uneventful.
We arrived in Nairobi at about 3:30 in the morning and were met by a representative from the tour company who informed us that he would drive us to our hotel. He then slipped in the fact that since our plane was soo late in arriving; he would pick us up from the hotel a mere hour after having dropped us off (so much for spending the night in Nairobi). We drove through Nairobi, which was covered in a thick layer of fog, to our hotel where we had a quick shower and some breakfast. By the time the representative had picked us up the fog had lifted and we got our first glimpse of Nairobi. I realized that the fog might have been a good thing as to stop me from being able to see the driving conditions. Stop lights were merely decoration, and there were no lines on the road (so what should have been 2 lanes turned into 4 lanes of chaos). The scariest part was that the driver was going VERY fast down this highway and the road was covered in tons of jaywalkers (picture 50 jaywalkers crossing a busy section of the Queensway). We made it to the airport with only a few near misses, and boarded our flight to Mount Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania. By this time our internal clocks were going haywire and our bodies ached, but we staggered onward to our next destination.
Mont Kilimanjaro airport greeted us with beaming sunshine, balmy temperature and tropical plants galore. We were again met by another representative who drove use approximately 50 km (in only slightly milder driving conditions then that of the Nairobi) to our hotel in the center of Arusha (where our safari was set to begin the next day). We arrived in Arusha at approximately 10 am local time, and for the first time in over 30 hours, got some good sleep.
~ Danielle
