It was bound to happen – after flying for 64 segments (that is, individual take offs and landings) in the past 10 months, I finally did the thing that I thought would have only taken me 20-30 segments to do: I totally forgot where I was. Now, this is not like when I wake up in a hotel room and it takes me a millisecond to remember where I am, this was full on forgot, like I claimed to be in one country and was in another. It wasn’t really all that embarrassing, but I’ll explain.
Last week, I flew from Addis Ababa to Dar es Salaam. This counts as 2 segments, because there’s a 45 minute stop in Kilimanjaro. I’ve taken this flight and its reverse flight like 14 times, and I have to say it never gets old. I don’t care who you are, flying right next to the snow capped top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, all the while knowing that your kids will probably never know that Kilimanjaro was capped with snow at some point in history, is just cool. Anyway, I spent about 2 days in Tanzania, then I flew to Rwanda for about 6 days there. I’m going to write more about Rwanda in the next couple of days, because I’ve been thinking about it nonstop and am still digesting how to accurately convey my feelings to others. Anyway, I spent the 6 days in Rwanda, but because I didn’t know I was going to Rwanda until I was in Tanzania, I had to fly back to Tanzania for 1 night in order to fly to Addis the next day to make round trip ticketing easier and cost lower.
SO. There I am in Kigali, Rwanda, waiting in this interminable line for check in, and I finally get on the plane only after waiting in line for the entire 1.5 hours between when I got to the airport and when we took off. So I never sat in the airport, didn’t have my traditional local beer while I wait in the airport, never really drank in the Kigali international boarding area. I got to Nairobi and had a 5+ hour layover there. Luckily, I had some movies to watch and the layover was a breeze. When I went to the gate when our boarding was called, it was the usual. I didn’t take off my belt or my watch, even though they both contain metal, because I know that neither one separately nor the two of them together will set off that stupid metal detector. Yet like 1 penny in my pocket does. I collect my belongings from the conveyer belt, and the nice airport worker man says to me something like, “Did you enjoy our country?” I very sincerely replied, “Yes, Rwanda is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever seen.” I registered the looked of confusion on his face, looked up at the “Kenya Duty Free” sign right outside the gate, and realized my folly. There’s really no way to recover than that other than the obligatory 5 minute conversation that ensued, which was like “Oh, I was in Rwanda, just a layover in Nairobi, now to Dar, um, I want to come to Kenya, it seems really awesome” and stuff like that. It was a full throttle babble, but the nice guy eventually let me go.
Last week, I flew from Addis Ababa to Dar es Salaam. This counts as 2 segments, because there’s a 45 minute stop in Kilimanjaro. I’ve taken this flight and its reverse flight like 14 times, and I have to say it never gets old. I don’t care who you are, flying right next to the snow capped top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, all the while knowing that your kids will probably never know that Kilimanjaro was capped with snow at some point in history, is just cool. Anyway, I spent about 2 days in Tanzania, then I flew to Rwanda for about 6 days there. I’m going to write more about Rwanda in the next couple of days, because I’ve been thinking about it nonstop and am still digesting how to accurately convey my feelings to others. Anyway, I spent the 6 days in Rwanda, but because I didn’t know I was going to Rwanda until I was in Tanzania, I had to fly back to Tanzania for 1 night in order to fly to Addis the next day to make round trip ticketing easier and cost lower.
SO. There I am in Kigali, Rwanda, waiting in this interminable line for check in, and I finally get on the plane only after waiting in line for the entire 1.5 hours between when I got to the airport and when we took off. So I never sat in the airport, didn’t have my traditional local beer while I wait in the airport, never really drank in the Kigali international boarding area. I got to Nairobi and had a 5+ hour layover there. Luckily, I had some movies to watch and the layover was a breeze. When I went to the gate when our boarding was called, it was the usual. I didn’t take off my belt or my watch, even though they both contain metal, because I know that neither one separately nor the two of them together will set off that stupid metal detector. Yet like 1 penny in my pocket does. I collect my belongings from the conveyer belt, and the nice airport worker man says to me something like, “Did you enjoy our country?” I very sincerely replied, “Yes, Rwanda is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever seen.” I registered the looked of confusion on his face, looked up at the “Kenya Duty Free” sign right outside the gate, and realized my folly. There’s really no way to recover than that other than the obligatory 5 minute conversation that ensued, which was like “Oh, I was in Rwanda, just a layover in Nairobi, now to Dar, um, I want to come to Kenya, it seems really awesome” and stuff like that. It was a full throttle babble, but the nice guy eventually let me go.
More info on Rwanda to come soon...
