Travel and Arrival

Left Toronto October 15 and arrived Nairobi October 17, 2014.

Thankfully the air travel was largely uneventful and we managed a few hours sleep on each flight. We had 8 hours to kill in London and so went into the city to revisit an area of Covent Garden, specifically Sophie's Steakhouse, where we'd been with James in 2012. I had a bit of a meltdown as soon as we got off the plane at Heathrow. We had a couple more together at Sophie's as we shared memories. I'm looking forward to the time when reminiscing will be less sorrowful and more about the happy times we shared as a family.

We are staying at House of Waine, a small, quaint boutique hotel in the Karen area of Nairobi. (Karen is named for Karen Blixen of Out of Africa fame.) The staff here bend over backwards for your comfort. We had the full English when we arrived and then went back to our room where, despite plans to the contrary, we fell asleep for a few hours. We saw monkeys from our terrace! They keep them off the property with fences as they (the monkeys) behave like, well, monkeys, stealing food from guests and other naughty things.

I mustn't forget to note that Skip had his first African road experience as we bumped and wound through large red muddy potholes, and all this only a half hour from the international airport!

We enjoyed a couple of Sierra Platinums from a local micro brewery by the fire in the charming lounge. There are lots of local and general African books to look at there. Heaven! We've seen a few showers today and the thunder we are hearing at the moment adds to the atmosphere created by the scent of the fire. We are going to enjoy our dinner I think - the first solid meal in a couple of days.

BTW London was not as warm as the weather we left in Canada and despite the forecast it rained while we were there. It's all part of its charm!