The Journey

Just a quick post to say we are here in Kenya safe and sound. Well maybe not ‘sound’ but we’re getting there.

We left our homes in Rose Creek Village, Tennessee after a couple of very busy weeks getting ready to go. We got to participate in Noah and Dassi’s wedding because of their love and thoughtfulness. They set the date considering our departure. What a lovely couple they are! Truly a picture of Godliness in marriage.

Our first stressful moment was realizing I had read the itinerary wrong thinking our flight was departing at 2:30pm. When I went to check in on line I found that we were to depart 2 hours earlier. I was grateful to catch that mistake the day before. We regrouped and left the village at 6:00 am instead of our plan for 8:00 am. We also had a change in drivers. Tabach and Hashachar called Doug and Tara at 5:30 asking if they could be replacement drivers because their daughter was in labor. Good reason. Doug and Tara were right on time. So we headed out for the 3 hour ride to Nashville. As we finally boarded our first connection we were pretty wound up. It was fun watching Nikki. She got a little nervous on take off…. as in, her knuckles turned white from gripping the arm rest. But she told us she was our good luck on this trip.

Next stop, JFK international airport in New York. We took the tram to the next ‘terminal’….I never liked to use that word upon departing the country…We went through security again with our carryon baggage, then had our last American meal for 6 months. I had a really good pepperoni/mushroom pizza baked in a brick oven while Noah and Nikki had, you guessed it, Mac Donald’s burgers and fries.

As we boarded the plane for London we were still pretty wound up. It was an uncomfortable 8 hours and 40 minute flight, trying to rest but too tired to succeed. We were 40 minutes late because of tail winds but still had a 3 hour layover. We had to go through security with our carryon baggage again in London. We were finally starting to relax so we boarded the plane and took our seats. After a while we realized that Noah had 2 empty seats next to him. We were holding our breath as the last few passengers trickled, in hoping those seats would stay empty. They did. Yeah! I took the window seat leaving an empty seat between us, and Nikki moved over to the aisle seat giving her an empty seat between herself and another passenger. We got some rest on this 9 hour flight and felt pretty good by the time we reached Nairobi at 9 pm Kenya time, after about 32 hours of travel.

George was there waiting, and so was all our luggage, according to Nikki, because of her good luck. We checked in to our favorite Santon Palace Hotel in Nairobi, went to a little take out place for some samosas and chips (home fries). We went back to the hotel and slept all night.

Next morning we got up, had breakfast and left for Nakuru. The scenery was breathtaking. There’s been a lot of rain so everything was green and beautiful. We stopped halfway at our favorite rest stop for some chai then continued on to Nakuru. We were greeted by Nellie, Michelle and Beatie, and Simon, Kenford and Lloyd.
It’s good to be home!