Security went unusually well. Not many people going through and the TSA agents were actually smiling and friendly. We were soon at our gate and settled in for a comfortable and quiet wait for our flight to Heathrow in London, UK.
The flight to London was enjoyable with good food, good service, and personal entertainment centers which were really great. An abundant number of choices for TV, movies, games, etc. plus personal controls over the operation made for a fun time. Of course, sleep was experienced as the majority of the flight was at nite. We had purchased extremely comfortable travel pillows which fit around our necks. These sleep aids made slumber much more comfortable and possible.
We landed routinely at Heathrow and proceeded to "Flight Connections" and security. Our carry-ons and ourselves were subjected to the routine security check procedure. Greg's carry-on contained one iPad, an iPhone, several chargers and connecting wires for these devices, a couple of AA batteries rattling around, and a roll of Duct tape. My carry-on contained routine clothes and an iPad. Which one, logically, would look more suspicious under an X-ray examination? Yep, you're wrong. MINE! A very polite and friendly female BA security agent proceeded to totally empty my carry-on. Then she swabbed both the carry-on and the iPad with a device designed to detect chemical residue of illegal drugs and/or explosives. Having completed that procedure, she then sent my carry-on and iPad through the X-ray machine again. This second pass yielded nothing unordinary. Therefore, I was declared safe to be welcomed to London and urged to have a wonderful day. In the meantime, Greg was having breakfast while all this was transpiring. Just kidding!
We did have something to eat at one of our favorite dining spots in Heathrow, the Giraffe, located directly across from the security area. I ordered a yogurt/fruit cup and Greg a bowl of porridge/strawberries & bananas. The cost with tip: $25.00! You have to love international travel. Fortunately, when charging overseas, we don't incur any foreign transaction fees. I think they are built into the prices we pay, but I have no way of proving this.
Our connecting flight to Kenya was, praise the Lord, uneventful. We landed at 9:50 p.m. Wednesday nite, Kenya time. Again, praise the Lord, all five pieces of our luggage arrived intact and undamaged. Jeff and his friend Ryan Dahlman were there to meet us. Greg substituted for Ryan, a Social Studies teacher, during one of our trips to Rift Valley Academy. We safely arrived at Kijabe around midnite and after unpacking our carry-ons were in bed by 12:30 a.m. Thursday.
Friday morning Greg was awake at 5:20 and away by 5:45 with Jeff and Todd Dubber, a fellow teacher friend of Jeff's, to search for and find the checkpoint for that day's leg of the East African Safari Classic involving classic off road cars racing roundtrip from Mombasa to Naivaisha. After driving around a bit down in the valley, they spotted a rally car zipping by. They "gave chase". Soon they were passed by another racer, the famous Ian Duncan, known by all in Kenya for his superb off road racing with both cars and motorcycles.
The guys were able to follow close enough because at this point the racers were on the heavily travelled tarmac so Ian was not able to drive very fast. They spied him turning onto the off road portion of the course and followed. Soon they came upon the long-sought checkpoint and saw Ian and his driving partner out of the car and checking the vehicle.
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Ian Duncan and his partner talking strategy at the checkpoint.
One of the 54 off road rally cars the guys watched racing by them. Their cameras were clicking away with photos and videos.
Our 13th trip to RVA and Kenya was indeed underway with a quick start. Stay tuned. More to come.
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