Mombasa at Last!

The morning was filled with lots and lots of packing. It’s a bitter sweet feeling packing up a room I have spent so much time in, practically two months of my life. Half of my stuff will be stored in the Guest House while I take the other half to Mombasa with me. Being Tommy’s last weekend, we said our goodbyes at breakfast. As hard as it was to concentrate with my building excitement, I managed to accomplish a few more paragraphs in my report.  I also headed to Naivis to look for some sun screen. I don’t think Africans wear sun screen because there was none to be found. They sure had quite the selection of lotions, however—more than any grocery store in the States. I am sure Mombasa will have sun screen.

The excitement got the best of me and I waited for the driver at least half an hour early. Eventually he came, right on time and drove me to the airport. His English was hard to understand and despite the fact of Karen telling him to help me at the airport, I was still in complete confusion when he pointed to a door and drove off. I followed his instruction and went through that door, met by the first measure of security. People don’t follow lines, as whenever I would step forward to go through, someone would walk right in front of me. I stopped being polite and eventually pushed my way through the crowd. Next, as in any airport, I checked my baggage at the counter and headed through the second security check point. This wasn’t much different from the first, but was substantially laid back compared to security in the States. Beyond the security gate there were two boarding gates. I was warned in advance that this could be confusing. I managed to figure it out, going to boarding gate one. By this point I was about an hour early for my flight and the ladies questioned me if I really wanted to go through. I had purposefully declined a seat on the early flight as to not confuse my driver waiting on the other end. I went through; just to make sure I wouldn’t miss the flight and took a seat.

For the hours sitting there, I read and waited. I watched one group of people board the earlier flight to Mombasa, closely as to repeat the process I had seen. An announcement came on; notifying passengers there would be a thirty minute delay for my flight. Thankfully, the one delay was all and within time I handed in my ticket and walked outside. The planes were lined up all over the tarmac and getting on the right plane could have been confusing if there wasn’t a line of people to follow. I wonder how many people end up on the wrong flight for this very reason. The line seemed to walk on forever. Of course we had the last plane closest to the runway. The service of the airplane was much like any plane taken in the States, with a complementary beverage and small drink. I was surprised by the emptiness of the plane. Few people sat around me. In fact, I was the only one in my row of three seats. Within an hour, I had landed in Mombasa, at last!

As promised, the driver met me after baggage claim. He introduced himself as Jimmy and was friendly and welcoming. By the time I arrived it was already dark out so anything along the streets was hard to see by the drive. From what I could tell, everything looked similar to streets of Nairobi, with constant traffic and street vendors. The place seems to have more of a tourist feel, though. Jimmy was very informative about the roads we were driving on and where they connected. He told me how we were going from Southern Mombasa, through the island, to the northern shore.

By the time I arrived at my hotel, I was exhausted. As soon as I arrived I was seated down and served some extremely sweet juice. In a ten minute talk, the man serving me told me just about everything there was to know about the hotel and what came with my room. Everyone in hotels here serve the guests to the extreme. At one point I think I had about three guys waiting on me, and there wasn’t even anything I needed. Finally I was taken to my room. The room is nice, about the same quality living as the Guest House. To my surprise the room has air conditioning. I think air conditioning is quite the luxury on the coast. After unpacking my things, getting organized, and figuring out my schedule for the following day, I was out.