Comedians always joke about air travel, probably because it’s so easy. Two flights — a seven-hour red eye followed by a four-hour layover topped with the final eight hours sitting in a tin can — and we weren’t laughing much. But we survived.
We arrived in Nairobi at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday local time. The airport suffered a severe fire in early August, so our first glimpse of the landscape occurred as we disembarked onto the tarmac. There wasn’t much to see, however, as we soon climbed aboard a small bus to ferry us to the main terminal.
The spartan terminal featured none of Heathrow’s shine and is the smallest I’ve seen. The floor is painted gray concrete and there were small desks with those elastic black row creators forced us into lines for visas. Beyond that lay only a small conveyor belt and some carts.
Leo had arranged a ride for us through IBM, and as we entered the building, it was nice to find a woman holding our name on a card. Maria introduced herself and helped guide us to the “Fast Track/Diplomat” visa line, making us feel like VIPs. Especially when we realized everyone else with drivers had to go outside to find theirs. She and her colleague Linda helped us wheel our luggage out to the parking lot where our driver waited.
Driving here appears to be an aggressive sport, each player making strong moves to nose forward in front of others through queues, roundabouts and parking lots. Leo says the drivers in China are more aggressive, but I was still amused watching ours wrestle through the crowd of matatus (mini van-like buses jam packed with people).
The air temperature (21 C) felt great as we cruised along a dark highway toward the city center. One of the first things I noticed was how few electric lights shone. In some U.S. cities you can practically wear sunglasses while driving a night (looking at you, Miami) because of the blinding number of highway lights, billboard signs and well-lit buildings. Billboards here feature only one or two small lights and building exteriors are not lit like Christmas trees. Even the flagpole and small monument outside our hotel stood in darkness as we arrived.
I couldn’t decide if it was cool — yay, no light pollution! — or slightly creepy until we arrived at our hotel, where a locked gate prevents entry until guards check the trunk and use a mirror to sneak a peek at the car’s undercarriage. Creepy it is, then — sort of a wild West vibe with everything shut up tightly at night to keep out boogeymen, bombers and bad guys.
We emerged from the cab and our luggage was hoisted onto an X-ray machine. Then, at last, we entered our hotel and checked in. The Intercontinental is five stars, but stars go a little further in the U.S. That said, it’s a nice place and frankly, by that time it was 11:30 p.m. and we didn’t give a damn as long as a bed was waiting.
Today we forced ourselves awake at 9 a.m. to catch the included breakfast buffet downstairs at the Terrace Restaurant, which overlooks the hotel pool and terrace, along with the outdoor tiki bar. We had our choice of six fruit juices, including passion, mango, pineapple and of course, freshly squeezed orange. A fruit bar offered mangos, watermelon, bananas and more tropical fare, plus yogurts and some cold sliced salmon and other chilled meats.
Hot food included an omelet station, various types of sausages and bacon, waffles and French toast (a little different form than those we find at home), plus scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, an array of muffins, croissants, toast/jams, an odd-looking brown porridge and more. We disliked the scrambled eggs, but everything else was good.
After breakfast, we ventured out to the city center to orient ourselves. Most guidebooks offer a lot of safety tips while wandering, but the city center seemed fairly quiet except for bursts of praise song coming from the open windows of churches. There were the standard unsavory characters on corners here and there, found in nearly every city, but overall we felt safe, especially considering the impressive number of guards sitting on folding chairs on just about every block.
Naturally, we still stood out and got plenty of stares. And of course, we were often hit up by beggars or those offering services. Two children tried asking me for money. Another asked Leo, first giving us a first bump because we’re from “Obama country.” Others offered Leo and I safaris and cab rides.
There isn’t much to see in the city center, so we wandered a bit and got our bearings and then returned to the hotel. We then discussed activities, but the jet lag is making us light headed and slightly dizzy. So we opted to take it easy today, aside from venturing to lunch at Restaurant Havana in the nearby suburb of Westlands. (Trust Leo to find a Cuban sandwich and ropa vieja in Kenya.)
We now plan to lounge a bit and eat dinner in one of the other hotel restaurants before turning in early. My hope is that one more night of good sleep followed by a jog in the hotel gym will put us on Nairobi time.
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