An Afternoon at the Nairobi airport

28 November, Sunday afternoon; Nairobi airport, Kenya. Just how I wanted to spend a day of our honeymoon – hanging out at the airport in Nairobi. And by hanging out, I don’t mean at the Star Alliance lounge being plied with cocktails and snacks. Our bags didn’t show up on last night’s flight and our safari has officially left without us. It’s not just that we don’t have clothes; I can get over that. We are missing stuff that we absolutely need for our safari – most notably a sleeping bag and rain coats amongst other small things. I should preface that statement and say that we’re not being total snobs about wanting our North Face sleeping bags. We’re at more than 5000 ft in elevation in the spring, so having a warm sleeping bag is a must. Ben’s biggest regret from his last trip was that he only brought a 2-season sleeping bag. So, we arranged for a driver and made a pit stop at the airport, praying that we’d exit 20 minutes later with our bags and exuberant smiles on our faces. I imagined it might feel a little bit like winning the lottery. Not the BIG lottery jackpot, but a sizeable jackpot at least. Instead, we emerged from the international arrivals area without our bags and definitely without the victory smiles. Begrudgingly, Ben launched into discussions and negotiations with our driver and a guy I can only assume is his agent. One guy drives, the other handles the bid’ness. The worst part is that SA reported to the local office that our bags would be on this morning’s flight. I was so overjoyed with this news that I wanted to jump up and hug the agent. I thought it not wise, however, seeing as I don’t have deodorant and I haven’t changed my shirt in 2 days and, I’ll just be frank here, I have smelly pits. So, we watched in anticipation through the window as each bag was loaded on the conveyer belt. One truck load, two, three…then nothing. To our dismay, our bags were still not there. Small teardrops filled my eyes and I felt even worse than I had the night before. All of the sudden, all of my positive attitude had disappeared, just like our bags. After politely bothering everyone we could find, including the more-than-helpful SA airport manager, we found out that our bags didn’t make the flight from JNB-NBO along with 5 other bags. The computer report said the bags should have been on the early flight and there was no way to get an update. At least our bags have some friends to keep them company. A few interesting tidbits about the airport. I never expected they would let us into the international arrivals hall and was fully prepared to launch into full-blown crying attack, if necessary. All we had to do was flash a piece of paper from SA and we were in. We also talked our way into the departing-passenger-only area with the comment “we need to talk to SA customer services.” So different than what you’d expect at an American airport. And for today, I am more than happy for that. So now we sit and wait until the 7pm flight arrives and pray the bags are on that flight. We at least have a ride to our campsite and I’m really hoping to not see the Kenyan countryside tonight, cause that means we will be on our way with bags in tow. I know it could be worse. That’s what’s keeping me from not crying myself to sleep. It’s just some stuff. Nice stuff, but still just stuff.