Flight to Kisumu

Good morning!Leaving bright and early at 6:30 this morning, I lugged my 54 pound suitcase, backpack, and another suitcase down the stairs and to the Guest Centre where a driver was waiting for Rico and I. He put our luggage in the trunk and we were on our way to the airport! I will never ever ever ever complain about traffic, road conditions, driving, other drivers, etc. AGAIN and if I do, just say Kenya and I'll stop. Every time I've been in the car it's scared me half to death but it's been an experience that this trip wouldn't be complete without. Whenever we first arrived here, it was dark and we couldn't really see the surroundings - it was quite different during the morning hours. There isn't many rules it seems on driving here and I'm glad (regardless of how much I don't like being pulled over) that America has a safe transportation system. ​​[wpvideo sANOGY58]​Here is the video of the journey to the airport. ​One thing that I've noticed about Kenya: it smells in the cities! There is just a smell that I'm uncomfortable with, I guess, because every time I've been outside I get an awful headache. I can't describe it to you...sometimes it smells like electrical burning and other times just sweaty and muggy...but it has made me certainly appreciate America and the air that we have. I'm sure the locals are used to it, but it's taken a bit to adjust. As we got closer to the airport, there is a security checkpoint and we were required to get out of the car and go stand in a long line of people...by ourselves. We got out, crossed through the crazy traffic, and squeezed into the tight line of Africans. We went through the security and got back into the car to continue through the airport. I didn't really see the purpose of it, but it was nice that there was some sort of precaution. Joseph, our driver, dropped us off at the domestic flight terminal (how weird is that! I'm not an international person anymore, I'm a domestic traveller!) and we went through security again. It was a little scary going alone just because it's hard to understand people. The language here is often times a heavy mix of Kiswahili and English and they seem to get really irritated when you ask them to repeat something. PS-Mombasa took my suitcase to a repair shop and got it fixed! It cost me about $1000 Shillings, but Mombasa was so nice and stayed with my luggage and travelled to get the stitching and new zipper to repair it on my behalf. I am very appreciative of my new friend, Mombasa! I forgot about my suitcase having large liquids and accidentally went through security with it. I had to turn around and go check it, and that was a very confusing process because no one wanted to speak English or clarify what was going on. I went back to the security and checked it -- worrying that they would only accept Kenyan Shillings. I didn't get very many Shillings to begin with (only about $50 USD worth) and Rico didn't have many left either. Luckily, it was $50 USD for my extra checked baggage, and having no choice, I paid the fee and handed over my luggage. Going back through security for the second time was easy. Security in general was much like the United States...there are conveyor belts that X-Ray your items, a scanner, and bins to store your items, but otherwise that was the extent of the security. While it was slightly better than what I had imagined, I was still a little weary of how secure this whole thing was going to be. It didn't help that at 1AM I was looking up airport security ratings and just happened to notice that Malaysia Air ranked higher than Kenya Airways! (To refresh your memory, most of the recent "lost" planes...yeah, those were Malaysia Air) But, the flight was fine. I felt fine about it the whole time. We found our gate (there were only 3 gates) and waited for an hour or so to board the flight. There was complementary wifi for 15 minutes so we both took advantage of that to update our blogs, talk to our friends/family, and search Facebook. Kenya has a geofilter on Snapchat, guys! The plane was pretty nice. Every international plane I've been on so far has the little screens in the back of the seats for videos, music, and audiobooks which comes in handy. They have us Kenyan mixed nuts, vey good apple juice, and I read one of the booklets we  received from icipe in Nairobi. We were only two of four Americans on the flight and we made an effort to talk to the older couple before boarding. They were going to visit their son who is a doctor in Kenya for a few days and then going on a safari and then coming back home before the middle of next week. The middle of next week...I almost wanted to say "take me with you" because all of the talk about the States and being home made me want to go back now and not finish out my almost two whole months of internship. I sucked it up, and obviously I'm still here.

The point of this experience (and my little motto of "do one thing everyday that scares you" is to be uncomfortable. And, yes, it's uncomfortable when everyone stares at you when you walk by, when people speak to you and you don't know what they're saying, when you get 11 bug bites on your feet and worry that you'll get malaria, when you know no one and arrive at an unfamiliar place...it's scary and uncomfortable. Yes, it would be much easier to just go back home and spend my summer with Joey and my friends and get ready for college like the traditional student. But, I've always been the one who pushes the envelope and challenges myself and that led me to 2 months on another continent across an ocean I've never even seen!