29th November

"Manchester Airport Terminal 2 to Brussels Flight SN 2184 (Sabena Belgian World Airlines) Economy Class confirmed. Depart 0645 Arrive 0905 (local)"

Jack delivered me & kit to the airport at around 0530, ie a little bit later than he requested check-in time, but nonetheless in plenty of time. (Bear in mind that I haven't really done any travelling as such, and at this point the experience is really quite new!)

We had coffee & said our goodbyes. It felt like I wasn't going to come back, or somehting. I smoked far too much, and could only see a void in my immediate future, not the familiar landscapes of the mind, just the unknown. It felt a little odd.

The flight was okay, if a litttle bumpy at times. Something the unseasoned traveller has to concentrae on to ignore, difficult when you're trying to conjure up a new religion to beseech regarding the unnatural looking vibrations of the wings, and the sudden lurches in your gut...But I'm sure I can't have been the only passenger who was diong that.

Then Brussels, and a two hour delay, on top of an hour & a half connection time, which gave me time to meet Neil Robinson, ex-Cardiff but now residing in Amsterdam, and his friend Tanja Cain, an Ozzie now living somewhere in the uK. They were waiting for the same flight, and being English speaking smokers, were easy to get to talk to.

They were travelling to Kenya to make use of Neil's father's timeshare, for a week, and although we got separated on the plane, when it emptied by half or so, when we got to Entebbe, I moved to sit with them. As it turned outI also shared a Taxi/Matatu (minibus) from the airport into Nairobi with them, as well as the hotel room...(!)


Added: As I write this, I can picture the meanness of the hotel room, hear the noise from the seemingly all-night bar downstairs, and remember being wary of absolutely anything that buzzed around in the room...I didn't know that Malaria carrying mozzies don't live in Nairobi, and worried that the whole trip was going to be ruined by the very first bite!

If I remember rightly I think that Neil had a bottle of scotch, which we helped him with....If it sounds odd me sharing a room with two complete strangers, it felt a bit odd too, but none of us had really organised ourselves properly, and hadn't figured on getting in to Nairobi in the small hours....Still it worked out pretty okay!