We have landed!

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Hello All!

Yes, as the title implies, we are finally here. London was pretty much a bust as we completely screwed up on getting our transportation figured out, but that was little fault of our own. I asked a gentleman working security for his opinion and he thought that with the time we had and the things we wanted to do, our time would be better served trying to get some sleep somewhere rather than hastling with security and customs a second time, especially during rush hour traffic in the tube and at the airport. As this seemed to make sense, we did as suggested and did get some sleep, but pretty much felt like we missed out there. As our next lay over there is longer than the first, we will definately get out and be more adventuresome.

The flight from San Francisco was perhaps the worst we as a group could have had. Lots of turbulance, very cramped quarters that made getting up and around not only a chore for us, but a complete annoyance for those around, and really very little to do but sit... Late night and bad movies only enhanced the experience. The drinks were good though, which did make the flight a bit more interesting, and the in-flight GPS showing our entire flight path did provide hours of entertainment, but on the whole a bad flight.

Our flight was then delayed from London to Nairobi, which made the fiasco of trying to get out of Heathrow even more of a bummer, but again, a couple of beers and good company made the time move a bit faster. The flight to Kenya was great. It went by fast, there was pleanty of room, and the world cup was on, so it was a very entertaining flight from my end. The true culture shock came when we landed at Nairobi International Airport and stepped out to overcast skies, 60 degree temperatures and hordes of gentlemen wanting to do anything for our money. They were literally running each other over to get our bags onto the waiting tour busses, and then once we did tip, they were like sharks in chummed waters, relentless and unforgiving at every denial. I did think at one point one of the elderly ladies in the group was going to get mugged because she couldn't put away her money fast enough. Tough scene really. Then we drove through downtown Nairobi... a chaotic scene of opulance, polution and poverty that combined breakneck traffic stunts in a bus filled with thirty tourists, a complete and utter disregard for human life, and a hardend gentleman at the helm who seemed completely disinterested. The rusty shanties and donkeys feeding on the remenants of the refuse that would never be picked up pretty much summed up the state of this union. The wierdest thing was that amidst all of the apparent economic and cultural upheaval, there were happy faces, hard work and genuine love... none of that reflected toward us as we received hard stare after hard stare, but when they weren't looking, one could notice a distinct pride and love amidst the people here. The landscape of the equator is truly stunning and rugged, lots of brightly colored flowers and oddly evolved trees abound amid a refreshingly calm and quiet retreat where we have come to stay for the next few days.

We are just now getting some of the photos together and will have them ready for viewing at the next publication on this blog. We will probably try to use a different site to get more pictures to everyone more quickly. When we know the site, we will publish it. For now, so long. I am going to take a nap.

SG

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Comments

[Bomber]

Yeehaw !
What up Greens? Glad to hear you've arrived safely. If you're using a high megapixel camera, I've found that shrinking the pictures to around 600 KB before posting them to this site speeds things up immensely. Many of the internet places I find have PhotoShop or ACDSee. Both easily resize the pictures . . . best done by choosing a percentage . . . you'll see when you use it. I can't wait to hear more about the trip. Take photos of yourselves too, just to prove that you're really in Africa and not at some swim-up bar, you degenerate bastards.