Kenya - Days 1 & 2 Travel Days

Well, we had an incredible time and made it back. It is, sadly, taking me some time to go through all the pictures and video, but I wanted to get started on this update.

We flew Air France from Toronto to Paris, and then Kenyan Airways from Paris to Nairobi (I love to say "Nairobi". Try it, go ahead.). The first pleasant surprise was the Air France person offering to let us use the VIP line and take advantage of the lounge for a paltry sum. Naturally, we took her up on it. Lines? What lines?

...And the lounge. With its tasty snacks and serve yourself bar. A dangerous place, but we survived somehow. Interesting side note: if you are in the VIP lounge, they tell you they will call you when your plane is boarding, but they wait until last call so you don't have to stand in the line.

We tried to sleep on the flight with mixed success, but at least the food was good (the bread! I could snarf down a whole basket of that bread), and we had exit row seats with tons of leg room.

Charles De Gaulle was the airport we made our connection in, and, in the spirit of full disclosure, I would recommend transferring somewhere else. When you get off your plane, they make you go through security, taking any bottles of water, or duty free liquids you may have purchased inside your previous airport's secure zone, or even on the plane itself. Not impressive. Equally unimpressive was the obscene prices they were charging. 4.50€ for a small bottle of pineapple juice.. 13€ for a "continental breakfast". 

We weren't here long on the journey out, however; and soon we were on Kenya Airways for the final leg of our journey. Again, good food, good service, and the added bonus of being on the final leg of our journey.

Getting Close

Arrival at Jomo Kenyatta Airport saw us finding our way to Passport Control to get our visas. I must say, I liked the fact that they paste the visa into your passport. It makes a fun souvenir. it also didn't take that long. Then baggage, and through the double doors, as described, to find our Odyssey Safari representatives who would take us to our first hotel.

There was traffic on the way, and a small road closure misadventure, so it was late when we arrived at the Wildebeest Eco Camp. All we really wanted to do was relax with a beer and go to bed. So that is what we did.

Our Ensuite Bath

Our King Size Bed

In Our Tent

Countdown to Kenya

In a couple of weeks, we are going on safari with this company. This came about almost by chance. A friend is a member of Team Buy, and she saw a purse she thought I might be interested in and sent me a link.

The purse wasn't quite my style, but I saw a link for travel deals. Dear Reader, one thing this blog should tell you about me is that I will always click that link. I am constitutionally incapable of *not* clicking that link. Under the deals was an air-included safari for a price substantially lower than I had thought was possible. Since the plan had been to go 2 years later anyway (when I will turn *gasp* 50), I spoke to the World's Greatest Husband, and he agreed now was as good a time as any.

One of the animals we hope to see

If you are not familiar with Team Buy or Groupon, the way it works is something is offered for sale at a low price if x number of people buy it. Basically, strangers on the internet band together to get group discounts. The number of buyers necessary for this deal wasn't specified, and it said that the deal would expire in 4 days. I signed up, honestly believing that there was no way enough people would sign up for something so extravagant.

It will be nice to see hippos, but not too close

So, feeling virtuous about all the money we would save not going on safari, I started planning our consolation trip to New Orleans. I hadn't quite decided which hotel to stay at before I got an email saying our safari purchase had gone through. Apparently we were the minimum number of buyers. I was very surprised and said to TWGH in a quiet voice, "Apparently, we are going to Kenya."

It was only a couple of days later, when the shock wore off, that it occurred to me to find out exactly what it was we had bought. Curious? Stay tuned.

Housekeeping: The pictures are from our trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2010. Not sure if I had mentioned it, but I will happily respond to questions and comments.