WEATHER: In transit all day
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: My bag getting through check-in at 18.3kg - OMG
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Mt Flatulence
BUYS OF THE DAY: Not much bought today except food
WORD OF THE DAY: Are we there yet…..
When i booked my return transfer and told them i was leaving at 10.05am, you can imagine my surprise when the guy said your pickup time will be between 5.45-6.15am. But when i thought about it, i have always told clients to be at Heathrow 3 hours prior, so accounting for additional pickups and traffic/ driving time it really doesn't seem that absurd. At any rate it is always better to be early than have the stress of rushing and getting hot and bothered.
Having the extra time also helps for should anything unforeseen happen. Take for example me this morning. I am flying Egypt air - London, Cairo, to Nairobi. I even checked this morning on my way out the door on the internet, Egypt Air departs from terminal 3. So my transfer drops me out the front, I wheel in my little trolley to the departures board to check which counter I need to head to and there is no Egypt Air flight on the board and no flights to Cairo, as I thought maybe it is a code share and they aren’t showing the MS ( Egypt air code) flight. But it there were no flights to Cairo that was worrying me, and all the flights were listed till 12.30pm. Hmmmm okay, well I know it isn't a schedule change, as Chris is all over those and emails me as they come through and I am quite anal in making sure I update my itinerary, so there could only be one other reason and that it was i was at the wrong terminal AGAIN. The good thing with London is everything is so well signed and posted, you would really have to be dill to not work your way around, out, or find a help desk of some sort anywhere you go. In this instance the information counter was just to my left and I got a really helpful guy that said you are right it is a code share with British midlands and they depart from Terminal 1. Well of course they do. I'm a travel agent and I have these issues, can you imagine how normal people cope with all the terminals. The one thing I don't have is a printed itinerary from the reservation system which gives you the vital information on terminals, flight times and meals. I always make sure clients have a copy of this purely for that information alone and I didn't print one for myself. What a goose. The good ending to this story is that terminal 3 and 1 are connected by an underground walkway, so I literally just had to catch the lift down, follow the signs and I was at terminal 1 within 10 minutes. Problem averted and lucky I had the extra time.
Well the extra time also kicked in when I found British Midlands check-in. The queue was, I would say 50 deep already at 7am. But it is a bag drop queue for all their international destinations, so not only people on my flight. There were people in the queue stressing that their flight was due to leave in an hour, people trying to push in etc... I even had to tell one lady where the queue started as she tried to muscle her way in front, as if it wasn't half obvious, as it had now grown to like 100 people. No matter what language you speak, a queue is a queue and that in itself is one of those international signs that are not lost in translation. Hit the back of the queue lady!!!! It took me 40 minutes to get to the check-in counters and I am happy to report my bag only weighed 18.5kg!!!!!! My bag has not been this light ever! And that includes the sleeping bag that I was also able to fit into my backpack as well. SWEET... So I am probably not too far off the mark that I have left 8kg at the hotel. Yay me- I think i have come a long way with my packing and luggage since I left home on the 29th March- yes sir-ee. I tried to snag a window seat on the flight to Cairo when I self-checked in, but they were already gone, but I got a window from Cairo to Nairobi. When I was dropping my bag, I rechecked with the res agent and she said she see’s the same seat map I do, but let me recheck and what do you know she miraculously found me window, thanks check-in chick, you've made my flight!!!! I am transiting via Cairo, and apparently I will need to see my bag there, pass through customs and then pop it onto a conveyor belt to send it on its way to Nairobi. It is the same system as when you first enter in to LA on your way to interior USA. At least it is tagged all the way and I have my boarding pass all the way, so I’m fine with that system.
So for the first time ever, when I bought my Playbook, I got a tax back receipt, which entitles you to get 20% back off purchase over a certain amount. As my Playbook was a substantial purchase I was entitled to get 99GBP back on the scheme. Better than a poke in the eye and it makes my Playbook look that little bit cheaper. Well after looking at the receipt, there was a 30GBP fee to come off, well I guess everyone wants a piece of the pie, 69GBP is still worth the procedure. So you must have checked in before you can go to the tax office and you must also have the goods on you to show the customs guys. So I went to the office on the check-in side before I passed security and he said he could do the little one, which was the 10 SD cards i had purchased, but I had to do the Playbook through the other tax office airside due to the refund amount once I had cleared security. So security wasn't too bad here at terminal 3 and everyone seemed to know the procedure and we pretty much had no dumb arses in front of us. So through to duty free and I go in search of the other tax office which I walked past twice before finding the corridor I had to go down. They certainly don't make it easy for you, so I’m waiting in line behind an Asian man that wanted to claim the tax back on his accommodation, which if I heard correctly it has to be for business and you can, but not for personal travel. That’s good to know, but the funny thing is, it was the same guy that served me check-in side and is now serving me airside, hello again, I’m back as directed and he stamped both my receipts and then I had to proceed to the Travelex counter down the other end of the duty free hall, where I could now collect my cash. What a process, but at this point still worth the fluffing around. So I waited my turn in the VAT line. The guy in front of me had purchased something from Harrods that was 11,400GBP, firstly holy schmokes and secondly he got 1,400GBP back, totally worth it for him!!!! Well by the time Travelex also take their fee (of course) i was left with a balance of 56GBP. Still nothing to sneeze at, but if you don’t spend over 500GBP on the scheme, by the time everyone’s cut of fees comes out I really don't think it would be worth the hassle, but that’s just my personal opinion.
I then had to do spot of duty free shopping. Nothing to exciting unfortunately but as I had purchased a UK appliance, I now needed an adapter to convert my UK plug to South Africa. I had been looking all over London all week for the UK to SA plug and no-one stocked it all. Even the world wide adapters didn't have an African conversion on them. The airport was my last resort otherwise once my Playbook went flat that would be it for 3 months!!!!!!! It was the only one I needed to get as the place where I had bought my Playbook were nice enough to give me the Europe and USA plugs for free. Thanks Carphone Warehouse. I found the plug no worries, though of course it comes in a two pack when I only needed one, but beggars can’t be chooses, but while I was looking I saw this worldwide adapter that converts appliances both ways all in one contraption a quarter of the size of what I am currently carrying. So basically I can have an Australian gadget and plug it into a USA socket and then the next day I could have my UK gadget and plug it into a European socket. They all interchange on springs. What a great idea, so I’m going to make sure it works and then post my old as the hills adapters back home. Where ever I can save space I’m in..... So that was my only duty free shopping experience I have done all trip, not terribly exciting but i guess it still counts. Now could all this have been done if I hadn't got to the airport 3 hours before, I can tell you it would have been a rush if possible at all. So I had time to grab something to eat for breakfast which I did nearer the gate, as there were no people at these eateries which meant no queue which meant no madness. This is how to travel.
We left 40 minutes late, apparently they were short staff on the ground, so they were still loading the plane with freight as we waited. The captain made out it was still our bags coming, but I could see out the window and it was definitely barrels of freight. From experience they can make up more than an hour in the air, and I have over 4 hours layover in Cairo, no need to panic.
The British Midland plane is an Airbus A321 with a configuration of 3x3. The aircraft looks new and has in seat TV and quite a large business class section. I do have to mention, I think this is my 15 flight and I am embarrassed to say I had to ask for an extension seat belt, oh my goodness total embarrassment. I took comfort that the hostee was walking around with a bunch of extension belts over his shoulder, so I think in my defense that they just are smaller seatbelts and nothing to do with my size. Maybe the plane was built for skinny people by skinny people. SURPRISE we're not all Elle McPherson. My whole row has one, so at least it just wasn’t me!! When we had just taken off they were making the general announcements telling you where the toilets were and you’re not allowed to congregate around the toilets etc.. They also included that there was complimentary drinks for the whole flight. First time I have heard this announced over the PA system, I think as we are flying to a Muslim country, with 70% of the aircraft Muslim passengers, they probably think the bar is pretty safe!!
The gentleman I am sitting next to is a little robust and he seems to have a little bit of a flatulence problem aka farts, and I am telling you they are killers. He could kill a small village with them they are that lethal, and just to really test us in this row, we got omelet, sausage and BAKED BEANS for breakfast..........ahhhhhhhhhhhhh - maybe I should use my oxygen mask if it continues or gets worse ha ha ha.... I crack myself up. It could be a long 4.5 hour flight.
Well I’m using my Playbook on the plane at the moment and I think the purpose I bought it for is going to work out just fine. I will just need to keep an eye on the battery life, but this is going to save me time in the evenings as my plan will be to type over lunches, bus rides etc. There is a lot of driving time on the first 16 days of the trip, some days are up to 8-9 hours and it will be much easier than booting up my notebook. I am a smart cookie and still telling myself that I needed this purchase. I re-read my trip notes yesterday to make sure I have everything and there were only two things missing. One is my vaccination booklet from the travel doctor. I turned all my stuff inside out yesterday and I have a feeling it may have been posted home from Morocco. So I have emailed Dr. Deb to see if they can email me a copy of my yellow fever certificate, as I am pretty sure I need to have proof that I have had the injection. I wasn't sure if they would give that information via email, but they have replied and asked for some more info to identify myself, so hopefully when I land in Nairobi I will have it sitting on my email. What a goose, I had it and didn't need it for 3 months, now when I need it and I’ve sent it home. Boofhead.
So after 4 hours, Mt Flatulence seemed to have controlled his cheeks. Maybe the baked beans counter acted somewhere in there, but either way I am not going to argue. We arrived into Cairo at 4.30pm, and the signs for customs and transit passengers pointed the same way, so I followed it all the way to the customs hall and then there was a sign that said transit passengers branching off to the left. So I thought it strange, if I did have to see my bag and pass through customs, why would they have a transit sign? There was a transfer desk that was manned, so I thought I would double check with them before I went through. Well she looked at me like a crazy lady. I showed her my boarding pass that had the baggage tag, which I could see was tagged all the way through to Nairobi and she asked who told me this incorrect information, and I said the BMI check-in lady. So lucky I checked, which was good I didn’t have to tackle the customs queue, I got security stamped on my boarding pass and my bag scanned and I was back up in the departures area with 4 hours to kill. I ended up finding BK in the eatery and they had free Wi-Fi, so I made myself comfortable and I sat there for the 3.5 hours, till I had to make my way to my gate. Cairo airport is surprisingly good, it seems like it may have had a makeover the last couple of years, as there are plenty of food outlets and heaps of duty free shops as well. It could have been a lot worse that is for sure.
Well you can’t take the security measures away from the Cairo Airport. We had our bags scanned and passport and boarding passes checked to get into the lounge, when we were called to board they checked us again with passports and boarding passes to get onto the walkway to the plane and then at the door of the plane they checked our passports and boarding passes again AND then as we got on the plane the Hostees checked our boarding pass. Talk about a security check. I have to say it looks like Africans might board planes like the Americans. It was a shambles, with people having bags that were too big to fit in the overheads or because people had large bags all the room was taken. It took some minutes but everyone finally got accommodated. There was a Jamboree of Italian scouts (mixed gender) and I sat next to one of them and next to her was a German guy who didn’t stop talking to the scout all flight. I wanted to shoot him – he was talking crap and was quite rude to the Hostees. Egypt Air had a dated plane, it was in good condition, but there were the drop TV’s, the seats a little snug, but not too much to make it super uncomfortable and I am happy to report the seatbelts were big enough. In the safety message they still mentioned Walkman’s as portable devices and flashed up pictures of PDA’s that looked like they were 10 years old. Let’s hope the plane is more up to date than their TV presentation.
So after a delayed departure of 50 minutes, waiting on the plane for transferring luggage again, we left at 10.30pm for Nairobi for the 4.5 hour flight duration. We arrived into Nairobi at 4.05am and this airport is what you expect an African airport to look like. I am happy to report that this will be the last airport I see till the 17th September and I can’t say I am too disappointed about that. Just going to be covering a lot of mileage on the road now between now and then.
You can get a Kenyan visa on arrival for 50USD. Due to the time, there was just out flight, so I high tailed it and filled in my visa application form before the hordes of passengers arrived. He kept calling me Ruth, and he has scrawled Ruth on the visa sticker, but unless you know what it actually says it looks pretty un-readable – either way, there was no worries getting this visa.
The bags too FOREVER coming off the plane, and I was starting to worry that maybe I did have to see my bag in Cairo, but after about 50 minutes, my backpack was in sight. Phew. My 18.3kg backpack at that. I still can’t believe the weight of that bag, it makes me wonder if I left too much behind or forgotten something? Oh well I guess we will soon find out! My transfer was there patiently waiting for me, and the drive to the hotel only took around 15 minutes. It hard to tell what a place looks like in the dark, just a lot of shadows and lights. I haven’t really seen much of the hotel either. I checked in, purchased some internet and was showered and in bed by 5.45am. I’ll get some sleep and then see how I feel when I wake up. Breakfast finishes at 10am, so I will see if I can make that, but I have a feeling that I won’t.
Welcome to Africa!
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