Nairobi Kenya

 We have experienced a blog gap because we had a massive travel day on Friday. We left our hotel in Jerusalem at 5:30am to get to Tel Aviv. A while back our connecting flight through Ethiopia was changed by the airline resulting in a 9 hour layover. Not a one of us was excited about it. When we checked in we were given vouchers for our layover in Addis Ababa for a day stay at a hotel and dinner. We still are a little unsure as to why they bus passengers out of the airport for long layovers. One of three explanations: no on-site services like dinning or enough seating for thousands of people to hang around all day, better passenger rights in Ethiopia, or something about visa requirements for stays in the airport over 8 hours. We really don’t know why we were bussed to a really nice hotel and given three rooms and a meal, but it was way better than sitting in an airport all day. Of note, social media banned in Ethiopia. We all felt a bit disconnected without it.

We fly in Saturday and land in Nairobi at 1:30am. No biggie, except the airline lost all 6 of our bags. Such a drag. You could literally see the shoulders of all six of us slump. We are pretty easy travelers but we were all instantly deflated. Took at least an hour to start the claim. To our hotel about 3:30am. Needless to say, none of us slept very well. First time the kids have seen a right side drive car and been driven on the left side of the road. That always feels odd.

Saturday morning Dave and I started pounding the phones, email, texts, and What’s App. In addition to Dave and I dialing every number we could find I had our travel insurance company working on it, our Israel tour company, Kenya tour company, and the receptionist at our hotel. We waited around the hotel most of the day hoping for word on our luggage. When no news came by 4pm we hoped in an Uber with the intention of replacing our most critical items: sleeping bags and camping pillow, long pants and warm jackets (as much as a 50 degree difference from Egypt/Jordan/Israel to Sub Saharan Africa). Luckily, text alerts started to roll in on our way to the mall that at least our bags had been scanned, somewhere, so we only bought toiletries and sweatshirts and grabbed some dinner. By the time we returned to the hotel we got news that the bags were found and Dave and I had a personal escort back to the airport to pick them up. Such an answer to prayer.

We attended worship at the International Christian Center this morning. We worshiped for two hours and were filled up with all the singing. Always fascinating to witness worship in a new community.

We hustled to a 1pm showing of the new Indiana Jones movie. Three thumbs down from me, Dave, and Alastair. The girls were indifferent. Not a raving review. I say skip it.

We leave in the morning for a long drive to Tanzania. We have a lot of unknowns about this second half of our summer. We are a little nervous and excited. Journey mercies as the McLains hit the road again.

Jll