Adventures in NBO

Today I am sure I broke several airline and airport safety regulations. I thought things were going smoothly as I disembarked from my plane upon arrival in Nairobi. I had no trouble getting through passport control or obtaining a visa. As I approached baggage claim, both of my bags were just coming around the carousel and neither appeared to have been opened. I then exited the airport and began to scan the crowd of drivers and taxis holding up signs with names on them. I walked from one end of the giant crowd to the other, listening to offers of “taxi?” and “where are you going?” and “which hotel?” And yet I never saw a sign with my name. It would be a replay, I thought, of my last visit to Nairobi, during which the hotel forgot to send a driver to pick me up at the airport. Except this time, since I hadn’t made the travel arrangements myself, I didn’t even know the name of the hotel where I was staying, so I wouldn’t be able to take a taxi on my own to get there.

Thank goodness my Rwandan cell phone works in all of east Africa. I called one coworker from Kigali, who quickly sent a text back that she was in a meeting; I called another coworker, who sent back a text that she was in the same meeting; finally I spoke with a third coworker. She agreed to call the travel agency and then call me back. As it turns out, the hotel reservation was being made by Kenya Airways, not separately by the travel agency, so I needed only to contact Kenya Airways.

The only trouble was that the Kenya Airways office was back inside the airport, which I had just exited, so I broke my first safety regulation. I went back into the airport without going through any security, showing any identification or doing anything else one might expect. When I arrived at the hotel reservations desk, I was informed that I had to actually check in for my flight (which didn’t leave for 14 hours) before I could go to my hotel. Checking in meant breaking another regulation. I had to go backwards through the visa counter and passport control. Without showing any identification, I passed through, explaining that I had to check in for my flight so I could stay overnight. Since the regular airline counter was quite far, I decided to try my luck in the business-class lounge (no, I was not traveling business-class). So I walked straight in, tried to hide the awe on my face at the sight of wine and fresh fruit and various other snacks, and checked in for my flight. Then it was back through the visa counter and passport control (again without showing any identification or a ticket or anything at all), back to the hotel reservations desk and finally I was ready to go to my hotel.