"The airport is full of temporary surprises and
mediocre or missing installations, signage, toilets. Queuing up in lines at
check in is semi-manual. Many pax miss flights due to poor or incomplete
announcements. Lots of delays. Domestic uses cargo building. Luggage handed out
one by one or are picked by pax from trolleys. One has to inquire about flights
and crosscheck info on departures and arrivals all the time. The airport is a
mess, but somehow there is a system . . ." Anders Pedersen of Denmark shares
his recent experience flying through the Nairobi, Kenya International airport.
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I'm on the way to Kenya (as you read this) and couldn't be
more excited! Traveling to East Africa is always pure joy. However, the thought
of arriving at Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport does give me pause .
. . I've never been to a major airport weeks after it burned. I'm told all will
be "sawa sawa" (pretty much okay), and that we have simply been moved
to a really large conference tent. Should be interesting - I promise to share the fun!
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Sad day: International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya burns in August |
I began thinking this week that I should share some
memorable flight or airport experiences - funny, maddening, ridiculous, and
even heart-warming. Traveling for Kulea is rarely ordinary.
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While racking up some serious miles, some of my best
memories are flying with my good friend, Kelly Lacourse. She is the VP of our
USA Board, which sounds extremely serious -- but she's usually anything but
serious (except seriously committed to helping orphans). She is very funny!
Travel is never boring with her along. She brings along her own entertainment:
extension fork, edible crickets, shocking hand shake things, certain noise
making pillows, and more. She could have her own sit-com and it would be wildly
successful. You want to be careful if she has a camera on the plane and is in
the mood for fun. The poor guy in this photo had no idea he was in her lens.
Kelly will be leading a team of volunteers to Tanzania in about a week and I'll
meet them in Dar when they arrive. I can assure team members it will be
memorable travelling with Kelly, a.k.a. Mama Helen.
A new friend of mine, Cindy Bauer, had the misfortune of
flying into Nairobi at the time of the fire. She was delayed in Amsterdam,
redirected to Nigeria, Ethiopia and Uganda before arriving in Kenya. Check out
a world map and you will see that Nigeria, while on the African continent, is
not anywhere near East Africa or Kenya. Why did they fly her there?!! In her
blog about this experience she writes, "It is so interesting how much
perspective is gained when giant obstacles get in your way like the airport
being on fire." Perspective? She is
amazing! I read her Facebook postings from Amsterdam and other airports - she
is extremely tolerant and was 100% determined to get to Kenya. Well done,
rafiki! (Cindy is the Executive Director of Kupenda.)
I'm a little concerned about the first words in a warning
posted by The Kenya Airport Authority (in small print): We want to reassure
international and local passengers that while they may experience some level of
discomfort and delays during travel . . ."
Hmm!
I have more stories but for now, I just want to leave a link
and a challenge. The link is to a story that went around by email a few years
ago. It's great! Check out the 'Flying 101' jet described in Dave Smith's blog
about Kulula Airlines, South Africa. And the challenge? Post a comment or send
me an email about a memorable flight experience you've had. This could be fun .
. . then tune in next week as I blog from Kenya!
Holding my breath until I can see these guys. . .
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