Nairobi with luggage

Thu, 3 Jan 2002 05:15:09 +0800

Ah, the luggage gods aren't simply angry at me. I shared a taxi to the airport today with another traveler whose baggage had been delayed. Not as long as mine, but still. It seems KLM is infamous. Their baggage cage was rather full. Of course the baggage problem queue at British Air was also rather long. But now I have my stuff.

My Credit Union ATM card doesn't seem to be working right now. The BofA card works but I hate to use it. It's Visa check card (the new card was a dud, no time to fix). I would rather it stay locked in a safe. My guess the CU card's problem is simply that my deposit hasn't cleared yet. It worked on the 1st. So maybe I exhausted the funds available on that transaction.

Yesterday in Nairobi was kind of unpleasant. The tauts will flat out chase you around the city. If I were a small woman, I probably be freeked. As it is, they are just extremely annoying and mildly disturbing.

Travel agencies weren't as helpful as I had hoped. Noone seems to deal with more than a single operator. This afternoon, I looking up the background on the tour operators I learned of yesterday. Tomorrow I will have to make another trip into the center city. I need visas for Uganda and Tanzania. I also need to look up a travel agency that was closed yesterday. (I simply arrived too late).

One of the agencies I visited yesterday looked like the best bet for a gorilla safari. 14 days starting the 20th. I would rather it be sooner but it's the best I can do. Maybe I will head over to Arusha (Tanzania) in between. Humm. I wonder I can pick up the tour in Kampala (Uganda). That's supposed to be a nice place. Hanging around Nairobi for 17 days would not be fun.

The hostel is starting to return from the dead. I now have a room mate in my 18 person dorm. It's still weird that absolutely no-one at the hostel has been on a tour. They're all fresh off the plane. One group is 4 helping out some missionary friends and not really on tour at all. I'm kind surprised that there still are missionaries, especially in Nairobi.