After a morning at the L&D, Sue drove us to Barton-le-Clay to collect Tony & Ann with six suitcases weighing over 20kg apiece. The Alhambra took the 4 of us to LHR 4 to rendez-vous with Bjorn & Anne-Marie who had refreshed themselves at Cafe Rouge after their arrival from Oslo. We had drinks together, and Sue shared wedding and engagement photos before driving home via Sainsburys.
The terminal 1-3 luggage handlers strike had only been for postal services, but the Norwegian SAS had allowed their main cases as cabin luggage, but all sharp items were lost at security.
Check-in and security went OK: Tony had a random thorough search, which he said was usual for him! We then found an enjoyable Lebanese cafe to get some food before boarding.
KQ101 to Nairobi boarded from gate 8, and i exchanged messages with Naomi & Sue before boarding. Right hand side over the wings in a 727; The Pettersens to my right, and the Giles behind. The Master & Commander movie stopped half-way, so I gave up on in-flight entertainment after seing a little of Entrapment. Sleep was fitful with walks up the aisle more for stretching and comfort. Having left LHR at 2000, we landed in Nairobi at 0630. (0430 UK). Altitude about 5,200ft. Visa queue took close to 90 minutes; we should have got the paperwork and queued rather than written everything first. It was slow as they fingerprinted right and left hand! We could see our colourful cases on the carousel for an hour before reaching them.
Ann led us out to the Orange & Airtel kiosks and we got SIM cards for our phones, before wheeling our luggage trolleys to Domestic Terminal for KQ654 to Kisumu at 1020. We had all taken our doxycycline by then. There was just time for a catnap and a snack and we were landing at Kisumu at 1100. The rock formations on the hills around lake Victoria are amazing. Massive boulders strewn across the landscape near the hills, but rich green vegetation elsewhere except for maize (corn on the cob) crops that looked as if they had not had enough water when needed. This dry season has been wet. Becky met us in a Pajero, and Amos took the luggage in the IcFEM van with Ann & I. It was about 2 hrs at up to 50mph on mainly good roads, and we could see mount Elgon's foothills as we got to Kimilili, the IcFEM Hospital and guesthouse. Jomo & Mary will look after us for meals, but Becky gave us a bread, cheese and ham salad feast with some welcome drinks. At 1500 after 15 minutes of T&L, the predicted rain came! We ran back through the new puddles to the guesthouse to unpack and rest before supper at 1830.
We have arrived safely; Tony has had significant side-effects from his medication for repeat thyrotoxicosis; anne-Marie has a crooked finger after a recent cycle accident in Norway, and Bjorn has had a redo TURP correction this week! My bent thumb is minor!
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