We arrived in Amsterdam around 9:00 AM local time.....even earlier than when we were supposed to. There was a lot of snow on the ground from the snows which had blanketed Europe a few days prior, but no problem landing. We are thankful we did not decide to fly through London where passengers are sleeping on the floors for days at a time waiting for their flights home.
Simko and John lugged the carry on bags through the airport and eventually found the transfer desk for KLM (flew United from Chicago). Boarding passes in-hand, we headed for our gate where we once again where we had to go through security. Simko had to chug about 3/4 of a Liter of water before they would allow him through security. Once through security, Simko waited with the bags and John went around the corner to find the others. Steph, Cindy, Mike and Mitch were waiting in line to board before we got through security. They still had not met Simko.
After rejoining Simko, we went towards the gate and were stopped by a security agent saying our 'carry on' bags were too large. John had packed a large, compact duffel bag in his carry-on. This was large enough to fit both John's and Ryan's bags. Fortunately, Ryan had forgotten to put his luggage lock on his other bag checked in Chicago so that lock was used to lock up the duffel. Security is a concern at Nairobi airport, so we feel better about checking all of the gear we need for the hike with the lock on it. After boarding the plane, it was apparent that trying to carry them on this flight would have been nearly impossible given how full the flight was and how late we were in boarding.
Steph, Cindy, Mike and Mitch all had rock star seating on the flight, while Simko and John were herded into the back of the plane through a separate entrance. Simko was even stuck next to one of the exit doors with no leg room. Mike and Cindy did come back to visit John, and tried to find Simko, but he was hiding behind his beard (see below) and they did not find him.
Eventually, Simko was deemed to be real and John and he went to the front of the plane to talk to the others, to fill out our Kenya immigration forms, and to eat some of the 5 ice creams that Steph had obtained from the stewardess. This is our team filling out the customs forms:
The flight arrived in Nairobi on-time around 8:30 PM local time. John waited for the others outside of the plane, not realizing that he was actually the last one off of the plane and the others were already at customs. The Nairobi airport is actually an oval shape with customs areas on both 'legs' of the airport leading to a common baggage area. Nairobi airport also smells and has little or no ventilation making not-so-comfortably hot in most areas. Visas were obtained in the USA, so going through customs was no problem. By the time John arrived at the baggage area, the others had already found his luggage and it was in a pile with the rest. Mike and Cindy were still waiting for their luggage, but fortunately both received theirs approximately 10 min later.
Steph and Mike had enough points from Hilton to get all of us a free night at the Hilton Nairobi. They had arranged a shuttle for us prior to flying there and there was someone from the hotel with a sign with our name on it when we arrived. They loaded our suitcases into the van and we were off to the hotel!
They do drive on the 'wrong' side of the road and our driver seemed to slide between lanes somewhat arbitrarily. There were some roundabouts which could only be described as chaotic at best. On the way to the hotel, the driver taught us some basic swahili phrases such as:
Jambo = Hello
Asante sana (sp?) = Thank you very much
He also pointed out the site of the US Embassy bombing in Nairobi (the US embassy has since moved out of the city). When we arrived at the Hilton, we stopped at a gate and guards had to check the underside of our vehicle with mirrors to check for bombs before allowing us close to the building.
After checking in and going to our rooms, we met on the 'executive' floor for complimentary drinks. We tried our first Kenyan beer - Tusker. It is not very good. We used Steph's IPAD to send short e-mails home. We only had about 30 min in the lounge before it closed at 11 PM. The team in the Hilton lounge:
Back in the rooms, we had to repack our luggage for the flight tomorrow to Kilimanjaro. Also, wrapped a towel around the faucet to remind us to use only bottled water for drinking and brushing teeth. To Tanzania tomorrow!
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