So…i did finish one of my Bucket List items, but operating this Blog felt klunky at best from the phone and i didn`t have a Laptop with me – on top of that Internet was kind of instable for me. So i will now try to report about my trip daily and include some of the nicer Photos.
Day 1 was rather short. Flight was scheduled from 11:30 in FFM to 21:30 in Nairobi (local), but started of with an delay of roughly 2 hours and was overbooked, which they announced about an hour after the plane (luckily not the one Grok generated) was supposed to take of.
When they announced a 600€ Voucher for someone that was willing to take a flight via Egypt, arriving 4 hours later, i made my way to the counter, but was too late. That would have been some nice boost for my travel budget…
When finaly arriving after an unspectacular flight with midseat, it felt as if it took for ages until Passport control and taking of Biometrics was done. New to me was scanning if luggage uppon arrival.
I bought a “Safaricom” (owned to 40% by Vodafone) e-Sim with prepaid Data and Calls for around 10€ to be able to use MPESA, which i heard before is a common means of Payment and does not require a Bank Account.
When leaving the entrance hall, i was surrprised to see police looking like military and haggled one of the drivers at the exit from 30€ to 15€ to get to my Hotel “Airport Landing”. When exiting, that would have been the first time i would have needed Money on my MPESE…driver didn’t have a Card reader and i didn’t have Cash. Luckily enough there was an ATM right next to the Hotel.
Personal was friendly and welcoming – they where amazed about me knowing about MPESA, but didn`t want to let me go to an Agent to get some cash onto my account alone.
Plan was to go to Mombasa and in extension to Diani Beach on the next day by Madaraka Express SGR, but you can only book that with MPESA online. I figured out i should have done that some time ago – due to peak Seasson (in December), all trains for the following day where booked out and it was already around midnight.
After some research i decided to opt for a Bus ride with Dreamline Express and went to bed with my eyes already closing on the way.
The Hotel room was clean, but not on European Standard. I recommend using bottled water for brushing the teeth, but that differs localy as i learned later.
