Kenya Day Two -- Getting Out of Nairobi

Tuesday, February 18

Slept like a log and was up and at 'em when the alarm went off.  This hotel has waterfall showers, which, as some may know, is one of my most favoritest things ever.  To go from this to a bush shower in mere hours will be a shock to the system, among other things.

After my last non-bush shower and a quick pack up, I hit the breakfast room.  It was a tremendous buffet of mostly Western (agreeable to US and UK folks) foods.  I had the chef whip me up an omelet, put that with fresh pineapple and a couple of pastries and indulged in the delicious Kenyan coffee.  Oh how I miss that!

My hotel, the Eka, backed up on to the perimeter of the Nairobi National Park, which also abuts Nairobi city center.  So if you were to go inside it for a game ride, chances are you'd see any one of the Big Five (except elephant) with the skyscrapers of the city in the background.  Just odd to me that wildlife manages to coexist with the city environment.

Oliver from Gamewatchers picked me up at 7:30 for my 10:20 flight to Nanyuki, despite the airstrip being not more than 2k from the hotel.  But traffic here is notoriously bad and this morning was no different.  There are no Nairobi natives, so to speak, so everyone who works here is driving in and out together, which creates chaos on the roads.  Oliver asked if I minded "rough roads" and took me on an all mud ring road that was being built to ease congestion on the main Mombassa Road.  So it took about 40 minutes to make it to the airstrip where now I sit and wait.

I'm allowed 31 pounds of luggage on these mini planes and somehow managed to be 6 over.  I did some shopping in the gift shop at the hotel this morning, figuring I wouldn't see another shop for a while.  That couldn't have put me over, but after chastising me, they let me through.

I've just managed my first mosquito bite of the trip.  I lightly applied repellant this morning figuring I wouldn't be out in the wild until lunchtime.  Apparently that's not the case.

A comment on security here, as I know folks are wondering and/or concerned.  Security is ever-present.  My hotel was behind a locked gate and guards swept the vehicle and me on my way in.  Same thing here at the airstrip.  I'm told that they do the same going back into Nairobi airport.  I guess it is for good measure, but it is disconcerting to see armed police just about everywhere.  I'll be happy to be where my biggest threat is a lion.  Ha!

So, going off the grid until next Wed/Thurs.  I'll be writing all the way though and will post updates as soon as I am connected again.

Kenya Day One -- The Getting There

Monday, February 17

After sweating it out on Saturday with a dusting of snow that was predicted to be 10-12 but ended up being only 3, I was up and out for my 630pm flight.  Thankfully for snowstorms we managed to make it to Amsterdam in a little over 6 hours, which was pretty quick.  Too quick to sleep with any substance.

A very quick 2 hour layover at Schipohl passed with a flash and off I went on KLM to Nairobi.  The Economy Comfort on this plane was great, about 10 rows 3x2 in its own separate little cabin.  Extremely comfortable and a very smooth flight down, 7 hours and 20 minutes.  It seems as though they did nothing but feed us.  Started with a snack of almonds, then lunch of vegetarian gemelli, then an ice cream snack, then a calzone with pasta salad.  I only managed to watch two movies, I dozed for a lot of it and it went by quicker thank I expected, thankfully.

I'm looking forward getting to Nairobi and getting settled in.  And tomorrow off to the bush!

Arrivals at Nairobi were chaotic...understatement of the year.  Since the fire in August that destroyed the arrivals terminal, they retrofitted a parking garage for customs, immigration and baggage claim.  It is exactly what you're picturing, I suspect.

I stood in line for the visa.  Despite my conscientiously filling out the visa form, as usual all they really cared about was the $50 fee as they hardly read the form.  I then went and exchanged $580 for 48,000 shillings, which makes me feel rich for about 10 seconds.  With my three inch wad of bills, I then made my way to the baggage carousel where I stared at the same 50 bags for an hour.  Staff had been yanking bags off and piling them up seemingly indescriminantly.  Finally I realized my bag was in a pile behind the carousel.  How I was supposed to find it is beyond me.

I grabbed my bag and met my Gamewatchers rep outside.  A Kenyan club football team had just returned from a victorious away game, so it was more chaos still outside in the parking lot.  We made our way about 10 minutes to the Eka Hotel, where I settled in for the night.  The bed was hard but it didn't stop me from sleeping, thank you Ambien.  I cannot believe I'm here and this is all happening again.

Nearly there!

Well, I'm just about into single digits now.  The snowstorm panic is in full bloom.  We're in a particularly stormy pattern the next week or so, and all I can do is hold my breath and hope that I can squeeze in my pre-trip haircut and on time departure.

It should come as no surprise if you've read this blog at all for past trips that I'm essentially packed,  with piles of clothes and miscellaneous stuff all over the upstairs. I'm waiting for new mosquito repellant to arrive and then get my cash, yes I'm that ready. I'll fetch my duffle from storage and pack and go.  It's a great feeling.

Yet I've gone through the usual homesickness before I even leave, feeling more of a homebody and missing home despite sitting right here.  It's a strange feeling, wanting to go but feeling the ties to home so much more strongly than if I was not going anywhere.

But in the back of my mind I'm so looking forward to being warm, seeing the wildlife, the landscape and meeting new people, that that is what is carrying me.

I'll be thee soon enough....

Safari closer still

I'm now about five weeks out from safari.  As I mentioned before, there isn't much to do but wait once it's all booked.  I have managed to get a few chores done as I wait though.  I visited the travel clinic again and got my yellow fever vaccine and the anti-malarial prescriptions as well as a prescription for Cipro, for all the intestinal bugs that might ail me.  I'll renew prescriptions for things like vomiting and insomnia due to jet lag and the pharmacopeia will be replenished.

I'll admit that the increase in violence  in Kenya is somewhat unsettling but as the advisories for travelers haven't really changed I'm going to keep plans but keep aware.

I've started my packing pile in the back bedroom, with my carryon and the new convertible pants and fleece that I bought new for this trip.  My first camp is at the base of Mt Kenya and is allegedly cold early and late day even at the height of summer on the equator.  I guess cold is relative given that it will be literally sub zero when I leave Boston, most likely.  I've started to eye movies to download to watch on the plane and I'm debating whether to take my new iPad instead of my iPod and mini PC...trying to minimize and travel lighter...  At some point soon I will start to cull the cosmetics needs and place an order with minimus.biz to round out my packing.

I know I shouldn't be wishing this all away, but now that I know what awaits me, it's almost worse than last year.  I'm waiting to see it all again, the big cats, the preyed upon, the gorgeous sunsets, the white fluffs of cloud that hang over miles of flat nothingness, the warmth of Africa's beauty and sunshine...it's almost too much to imagine, but it'll be here soon enough.

Travel Year in Review: 2013

January
Brooklyn, NY
Atlantic City, NJ
Reading, PA
Port Chester, NY

February
Tanzania, Africa

March
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Chicago, IL

April
New York, NY

May
Los Angeles, CA

July
New York, NY
Washington, DC

September/October
Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, CA

November
New York, NY

Which came out to:
42,342 miles traveled (3,295 by car, 39,046 by air) across eight states, three countries, two coasts and three continents
72 museum exhibitions
5 Morrissey shows
7 other shows (plus a few we had tickets to and bailed on)

For a travelholic, 2013 proved to be a stellar year, with a bumper crop of trips I hardly expected last year at this time.  Not all of them got airtime on the blog, mainly because they were concert-related without much sightseeing or real enjoyment other than the shows themselves.  But it’s still worth looking back to see where I’ve been and savoring every moment, again.

Our first road trip of the year found us winging our way down to Brooklyn, NY for a Morrissey show at Brooklyn Academy of Music.  We were blessed with just perfect driving weather (indeed, we’d be just as blessed every weekend we drove out of state, which is a near miracle in New England winters!) and made it to Brooklyn to check in and head right out to Brooklyn Museum of Art, which was wonderful.  We’d seen some of its collection in other shows (notably, the Monet exhibition in Paris in 2010) but it’s always nice to revisit old friends.  Morrissey’s Brooklyn show was mentioned by him as one of his best ever, and I’m inclined to agree.  The atmosphere was intimate, he delivered a spectacular performance and it was of course helped by the fact that it was our first time right up against the stage, so it felt like we were the only ones there.

The next day we drove to Atlantic City for the next Morrissey show.  It was a fairly quick drive compared to driving down from Boston, and we were both struck by how ravaged the area still was from the hurricane in October.  After walking the boardwalk – hey, we can say we’ve seen it -- we stayed in Trump’s Taj Mahal, which was a ridiculously obscene cookie-cutter hotel (every floor looked like every other, all 40+ of them) and found that schlepping through casinos humming with slot machines like bumble bees was a necessary evil to get to the House of Blues, where Morrissey put on another great show.  We were eager to escape the casino madness the next day and drove directly home.

The very next weekend, we were back on the road, driving first to Reading, PA for Morrissey yet again.  We enjoyed the weather which was almost spring-like and sunny.  We hit “cow country” and were pretty astounded by a whole lot of flat nothingness the last hour into Reading.  We stayed at what was apparently the only hot spot in Reading (read: it served drinks after the show) as the rest of the town was zipped up tight on a Friday night.  Indeed we found out after the fact that the band themselves stayed there.  This show will go down in history not only for our front row seats, but also for my sister speaking to Morrissey on-stage during the show.  Truly, memories being made in Reading!

The next day we backtracked to Port Chester, NY.  This town right on the NY/CT border was a little more exciting than Reading.  It had plenty of restaurants for post-show rehydration and nutrition.  It also was gloriously warm (nearly 60) so we waited outside the venue in the general admission line with no coats required!  After a tremendous show here, we headed home knowing we had a few more shows in our future in San Fran, Chicago and LA.

Most of February was spent on safari.  I was having near heart failure only 48 hours before we left, when this part of the country was clobbered by a nasty winter blizzard.  Snow drifted so high I couldn’t get out my back door, but I was fortunately on one of the first outgoing international flights as scheduled. 

Safari changed my life.  Safari made me realize how lucky we are in a first world nation, how casually we consume water and throw out perfectly edible food.  Safari made me realize that clouds just hang over expanses, thunderstorms really do approach in a cell with sun on either side, and there is nothing more beautiful than a late night chorus of lions around camp.  Yes, I will do this again.  In fact, I am doing it again.

In a fit of insanity, five days after arriving home from safari at the beginning of March, I got back on a plane for a mere 36 hours in Los Angeles, for yes, another Morrissey show.  We’d hardly landed in the gorgeous warmth of southern California when we popped into the Getty to see its massive collection and Vermeer’s traveling work “The Milkmaid” and then headed to the show (culture shock of the massive Staples Center after the intimacy of our four previous shows) and then slept and turned around to head home!  If I didn’t succumb to massive jetlag then, I never would.  My poor body clock.  This was, however, the first time we rented a car and got a convertible (of course!) and how we loved riding around in the warm sun and just breathing in fresh air after being cooped up all winter.  This would get addicting, as you will see.

A week later, we were jetting across the country yet again, this time to San Francisco.  We had tickets to a Morrissey show which unfortunately was cancelled due to illness.  Somehow we managed to still have a pretty good long weekend there, crossing the Golden Gate bridge on the open upper deck of a bus, seeing the Dutch Masters at the DeYoung Museum and enjoying the sea lions on Fisherman’s Wharf.  Despite making the most of it, I think we both knew we were southern Cali girls.  We heard the concert was rescheduled here for the end of May and planned to return, but when we found out the concert wouldn’t happen, we gladly redirected to LA, again.

Two weeks (and a minor surgical procedure) later, we hopped our way to Chicago, where a concert was to have taken place but was cancelled as a result of the San Francisco illness.  We decided to go anyway, as we’d never seen Chicago and were desperate to get to the Art Institute.  Graham Elliott Bistro was our splurge restaurant of this trip, and it was worth the wait.  As wonderful as the museum and the food was, the memory burned into our minds was of how gosh-darn cold it was, and we are hearty New Englanders!  So while we loved the Bean and AIofC, I think it’ll be a much warmer day before we return.

I finally got the time to catch my breath for about six weeks as I stayed home for most of April.  There was a quick day trip to NYC to see Edvard Munch’s The Scream at MOMA.  We worked in a trip to Laduree for the world’s finest macarons, and headed home, stopping in Port Chester for some of the best vegetable tempura we’ve ever had.

In May we were off to LA for a proper (ie: week-long with time to settle in and get to know the place).  We made a point to book some great meals (Gordon Ramsay’s London hotel for his famous Beef Wellington, Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali’s Osteria Mozza, Gordon Ramsay’s Fat Cow for fabulous short rib!).   We were in WeHo for cinco de mayo, which wasn’t all that exciting…probably should have gone to a Mexican neighborhood instead!  But our museum going and sightseeing was exceptional this time, given all the time we had:  Space Shuttle Endeavor, dead celebrity sightings at two cemetaries, LACMA, Griffith Observatory, Norton Simon museum in Pasadena and a day spent riding the PCH from Redondo Beach up to Malibu.  That was the day we discovered Zuma Beach, which was our grounding spot in LA thereafter.  No where did we feel as home as there, I think probably because we grew up on the Atlantic and feel the ties to the water.  But Zuma is a beach like no other, and one we’d return to again on future trips.

July found us winging our way first to DC for a day to take in the 150^th retrospective on Edvard Munch at the National Gallery and the JFK Assassination exhibits at Newseum.  Then it was back down to NYC for a few exhibitions (Hopper at the Whitney) and again with the pit stop at Laduree and Port Chester for our favorite Asian stop.

September turned to October and we were back out in LA for a longer holiday still.  This time we hit other museums we’d not seen (Hammer Museum, Huntington Library) and some we’d seen before (LACMA) while also working in day trips to San Diego and Santa Barbara.  Our best meals (ever, some would say) were at Spago, where we got to meet Wolfgang Puck himself, and were treated to the most wonderful food and service I’ve ever experienced.  The next day we were at Nobu, where we had the most amazing shrimp tempura.  I mean really, this was the stuff of dreams.  Of course there is a lot to be said for lunching on a porch right over the Pacific, watching dolphins and seals and sea birds living their lives in the sun…but the food was just spectacular.  We ended our stay at Rick Bayless’ Red O restaurant, sipping $50 margaritas (and worth every penny) and having some very high end, tasty Mexican food.  We of course stopped at Zuma Beach again to say goodbye, but not for long.  We hope.

November had one more trip to NYC in store, as we went to see Johnny Marr (former Smiths bandmate of Morrissey) play at historic Webster Hall and we caught up with Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring one more time as we saw the Dutch Master’s exhibition on loan at the Frick.  We topped the weekend off with a breakfast at the delectable Norma’s at Le Parker Meridien.  I didn’t think breakfast could be so decadent, but it can…and it was.

So after a year filled like that, I’m anxious to see how, or if, 2014 can measure up.  I thank my sister, who was with me on all but the safari, for the many laughs, lessons learned and life experiences we shared over the many miles.  I hope we continue along this line in 2014!

All This Waiting

Since I last wrote I haven't been up to too much, except a whole lot of waiting.  No, scratch that, I did wing my way out to sunny Southern California for a week and spent a weekend in museum and concert heaven in NYC.  But other than that, it's waiting.  And waiting.

As I've said before, the one thing about signing up for safari is that once you've chosen your tour operator, set the itinerary, paid the deposit and gotten your airfare, that's all there is to do until you go.  At least last year with my first safari, I could busy myself with buying all the safari gear.  Not now.  I'm old hat now.  I only need to buy toiletries and I can go.

That's not to say I'm not reading up or trying to stay abreast of things.  I found all of the conservancies I'm staying at on Facebook and follow their wildlife updates.  It is exciting to hear about recently born lion or cheetah cubs and know that they'll be toddlers by the time I get there.  Or hear that a pack of the very rare African dogs have made their way just outside one camp I'm staying at.  But still, that can't really keep me preoccupied like researching museums, restaurants and daytrips on a non-safari trip can.

So I remedied that.  About 3 weeks ago I was messing around on the internet one Sunday and decided to see how possible it would be to cash in some of my 90,000 United miles for a flight somewhere.  Anywhere.  Not thinking that it'd be possible to anywhere remotely palatable, I plopped Rome in and some random dates in May 2014 and lo and behold, I could do it, with miles to spare.  Hmmmm.  Maybe there's something to this.  So I played a bit more, slept on it and decided it's been 7 years since my last trip to Rome and 8 since my last trip to Florence, and I walked away with a round-trip ticket to Rome and Florence in May, for the grand sum of 60,000 miles and $85.  WOO-HOOO!  It's sort of nice to have that to look forward to a few months after safari.

And finally, the very initial plans of a lengthy fall trip through the UK and Ireland, with a quick stop in Amsterdam is being bandied about by my sister and me.  Since it will be a Milestone Birthday for her next year, she wants to celebrate in style.  Amsterdam and the Hague will have completed massive renovations on the three major museums there (Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Mauritshuis) so we'd start there to hit those, and then hit London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin in the remainder of the trip.  Still initial phases but feeling very possible.

Celebrating twenty years of travel

Twenty years ago tonight, I was winging my way on an Aer Lingus jet to Dublin for my first ever trip out of the country.  With that trip came a new passion for exploring the world, learning more about myself and broadening my world view.  And there doesn't seem to be an end in sight to this little obsession of mine.

I traveled with a girlfriend from college and two pen pals I'd met through a U2 fanzine.  We met in Dublin for the last two shows of U2's European tour on their home turf.  The shows were, of course, amazing.  I survived general admission crowds in a European football stadium.  That's nothing to sniff at.  But I laugh now when I think of that first trip to Dublin.  We were only gone for 7 days, but I packed enough clothes, indeed, a complete clean, new outfit, for every day, and then some.  My suitcase was massive.  I'd not even take it now on a 2 week trip.  We were silly naïve ignorant tourists, who didn't know that just because your room wasn't ready at your hotel when you arrived off a red eye flight, that you didn't have to sit in the lobby and wait.  You can, and should, go out and see the sights until your room is ready.  But we didn't.  We sat, with all the other newly arrived U2 fans, and waited.  And wasted our first morning in Dublin.  Nearly 10 more trips to Ireland would follow, with three of those being on successive U2 tours.  And so it began...

Twenty-seven foreign trips, seventeen countries on four continents and three passports later, I'm still completely infected with the travel bug.  I'd like to think I've become a more savvy traveler:  someone who packs more efficiently and can squeeze every last usable minute out of a day.  Someone who knows enough to try the local food and not be too afraid to admit that I like it (Haggis?  LOVE IT!)  I still get jumpy at in-flight turbulence and will always hold my breath until my luggage drops down on to the carousel at my destination.  I'm still disappointed that I can't bring my three bottles of frozen spring water from home on the plane after 9/11, but I've adjusted.  Somehow.  But as my confidence as a world traveler has grown, so too have my experiences.

So what exactly has all this travel gotten me?  Let me count the ways, as they say.....I learned quickly the overwhelming surge of joy at a long-overdue "hello" and the utter sadness and regret of an airport good-bye.  I've seen wild horses running on a Dublin strand, poppies in bloom in the Tuscan countryside, and 21 lions staring back at me from under a shade tree in Africa.  I've learned there is nothing more melodic than a Irish accent and nothing more heart-melting than Irish eyes.  And there is nothing smoother than a fresh Bailey's over two ice cubes served up in Ireland.

I've been extremely fortunate to have seen the best art in the world:  rooms full of Rembrandts in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam and New York, Michelangelos in Florence, Picasso's Guernica, American Gothic, Whistler's Mother, Mona Lisa, hundreds upon hundreds of Monets in one weekend in Paris, Caravaggios in situ in Rome, a Degas to die for in Moscow, glorious Vermeers in Holland, London, Berlin, and nature's own display of art and beauty: tulip season in Amsterdam.

I've held a panda (twice!), fed a giraffe and petted a rhino.  I watched Lipizaner stallions rehearse in Vienna and have seen the Changing of the Guard in London twice.  Two elderly men generously made me their date for a rare stage performance by Liam Neeson, and we were front row!  I've seen Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Nicole Kidman and Brian Dennehy in Broadway shows.  I've seen U2 in 3 countries and five states.

I've tasted Haggis, Borscht, Jenever with gold dust, Serrano ham, Lechón, Cocido, Frikadel, Profertjes, Caviar, Pici, Sacher Torte, Croque Madame, Bangers and Mash, Berliners, Peking Duck and hot pot in their home countries and I loved them all.  I've eaten on the porch of a local Tuscan family, imbibing in the fresh pasta, crushed tomato, house wine and homemade lemon gelato all sourced right on their property.  There are days I'd kill for a good Irish fry or even just a Crunchie.  I adopted Dutch coffee with sweetened, condensed milk as my caffeine of choice.  It's been my duty, no, obligation, to sample as many gelato flavors as I can in Italy; I think the trip record is 30-something...

My feet have taken me up Paris' Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame towers, Florence's campanile, Rome's Vatican Dome, Edinburgh's Scott Monument and China's Great Wall and  I've plunged down a road on a bike at 30 miles an hour in the hills of Pisa.  I've walked in Red Square, Trafalgar Square, Times Square, Dam Square, Grafton Street, Plaza Mayor, Kufurstendam.  I've run up Edinburgh's Royal Mile while chasing the sound of bagpipes.

I've seen nature's miracles...wildebeest births in the Serengeti, amazing sunrises, sunsets and thunderstorms coloring up Tanzania's sky, the awe-inspiring burial ground Newgrange, Pike's Peak, Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, Giant's Causeway.  I've seen man-made miracles...the Rosetta Stone, Xi'an's Terracotta Warriors, the Endeavor Space Shuttle, the Great Wall.  I have also seen how man can go terribly wrong at the Anne Frank House, Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and the US National Holocaust Museum.

Lucky I was to share trips to England, France and Italy with my Mom.  It was the sweetest pleasure to share with her Paris, the chateaux of the Loire, Mont St. Michel, London, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Florence and Rome.  Her knack for attracting stray dogs (Pompeii) and partying young Spanish men(Florence) can't be underestimated.  I then got to break my sister in in Europe with fabulous trips to the Netherlands and Cologne and Paris and Vienna before taking on our own United States of America in sisterly fashion.

I caught a vile intestinal parasite in Spain that took two weeks of antibiotics to cure and got scammed of $200 cash just to get on my plane home from Tanzania.  I've had a head cold from hell in Spain, a fever of 102 in Ireland (first trip, it was a doozie) and fought my way through China with a herniated disc in my neck that I didn't know I had.  I've had my credit card rejected in a leather shop in Florence, which, well, may not have been such a bad thing. So see, not all the trips were flawless but I've enjoyed the heck out of all of them.

What you read is more than just a laundry list, at least to me.  These are slide shows of memories and smiles and tears and joy and fears that I can and do play back in my head all the time.  I've been questioned more than a little about my travel habits and why I do what I do.  I say it often, but I truly work to feed this travel monster of mine, but completely without regret.  If this blog is even the slightest hint of what the next twenty years of travel holds for me, I'll consider myself incredibly blessed indeed.  Looking back to that flight 20 years ago tonight and how much I've grown and changed with every trip, I'm reminded that "a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."