A bitch of a travel day to paradise with kitten 10/21/18
I don't feel bad for myself but I'm going to complain anyways because it was a MFer of a travel day. We were up super early like always, breakfast at the hotel and then we took an actual taxi to the Kigali airport. It was a good thing we didn't take the boda boda since 1) my bag is heavy and I don't want to die, and 2) this airport xrays all vehicles dropping/picking people up so it took a bit. The fog was in the air this am which wasn't an issue until our plane was delayed, all planes were. I think our plane could have actually taken off at 10, but I guess we had to get in line after the earlier flights that were delayed. Our 10 takeoff turn into 12, also due to them loading the wrong food onto our plane or some bullshit like that.
2 hours later we landed Dar es Salaam Tanzania. One hour time change and our almost 3 hour layover turned into 50 min. Only an issue since we had to recheck our bags since it's a different airline. There's no way we are going to make it. We were the first ones into the immigration line, got kinda quickly through (although the officer was trying to act like he really needed to know the hotel we were staying- don't kid me guy, you don't need that info, but I was obedient to get through quickly). The baggage pickup area was a shitshow. People and carts everywhere, it was hot. I'm usually nice but I was pushing people out of the way. Our bags came off a different carousel so it took a bit for us to find them. The line for customs xray was long so we cut and through our bags on since they are mobile. Then we ran.
We got to the checkin 15 min before 4, our departure time. We definitely could have made it if people gave a shit, no one was manning the line and then everyone takes their time, but they didn't so we didn't. Outside the airport we paid the cost of new tickets bought in advance for a 6:40pm flight. No biggie, at least we'll still get there today.
Then that fucking flight was delayed and we had no idea when we were taking off. We left at 8, landed by 8:40, then we had a 1.5 hour drive to the hotel that's in the middle of nowhere. We got to the hotel by 10:30 and they were nice enough to make us food. Such a long travel day for going not that far. Well we weren't going to take a bus but we could have taken a ferry. It's OK, it's bound to happen at some point. Might as well happen today, it wasn't that bad. We were going to an island after all.
We woke up to the sun rising over the Indian Ocean. So beautiful. The hotel is small, maybe 7 rooms and they all face the ocean. We splurged a bit to make up for the $30 hotel in Kigali (it wasn't bad). We really are out in the middle of nowhere, the closest town is 5 miles away and that town really has nothing. Today was an R&R day. No plans but nothing. Breakfast at 8 forces you to relax in the am. We saw a baby bird on the ground. Not sure how he got there but he was a baby. Andy picked him up and put him in the rafter where we might have come from. Hopefully he mom will find him- we found him later on the ground again :(. Poolside for the day with a book overlooking the ocean. This is nice. Then we found the kittens! 2 white, 2 calico/brendle. Their eyes were open but I don't think they could see very well. We saw their mom feed them throughout the day. We petted them. So awesome. I could do this all day. Tomorrow we'll rent a car since it's cheaper than $50 taxi rides one way, and we can only do nothing for so long before we get antsy.
2 hours later we landed Dar es Salaam Tanzania. One hour time change and our almost 3 hour layover turned into 50 min. Only an issue since we had to recheck our bags since it's a different airline. There's no way we are going to make it. We were the first ones into the immigration line, got kinda quickly through (although the officer was trying to act like he really needed to know the hotel we were staying- don't kid me guy, you don't need that info, but I was obedient to get through quickly). The baggage pickup area was a shitshow. People and carts everywhere, it was hot. I'm usually nice but I was pushing people out of the way. Our bags came off a different carousel so it took a bit for us to find them. The line for customs xray was long so we cut and through our bags on since they are mobile. Then we ran.
We got to the checkin 15 min before 4, our departure time. We definitely could have made it if people gave a shit, no one was manning the line and then everyone takes their time, but they didn't so we didn't. Outside the airport we paid the cost of new tickets bought in advance for a 6:40pm flight. No biggie, at least we'll still get there today.Then that fucking flight was delayed and we had no idea when we were taking off. We left at 8, landed by 8:40, then we had a 1.5 hour drive to the hotel that's in the middle of nowhere. We got to the hotel by 10:30 and they were nice enough to make us food. Such a long travel day for going not that far. Well we weren't going to take a bus but we could have taken a ferry. It's OK, it's bound to happen at some point. Might as well happen today, it wasn't that bad. We were going to an island after all.
We woke up to the sun rising over the Indian Ocean. So beautiful. The hotel is small, maybe 7 rooms and they all face the ocean. We splurged a bit to make up for the $30 hotel in Kigali (it wasn't bad). We really are out in the middle of nowhere, the closest town is 5 miles away and that town really has nothing. Today was an R&R day. No plans but nothing. Breakfast at 8 forces you to relax in the am. We saw a baby bird on the ground. Not sure how he got there but he was a baby. Andy picked him up and put him in the rafter where we might have come from. Hopefully he mom will find him- we found him later on the ground again :(. Poolside for the day with a book overlooking the ocean. This is nice. Then we found the kittens! 2 white, 2 calico/brendle. Their eyes were open but I don't think they could see very well. We saw their mom feed them throughout the day. We petted them. So awesome. I could do this all day. Tomorrow we'll rent a car since it's cheaper than $50 taxi rides one way, and we can only do nothing for so long before we get antsy.