Back to Back Marathons
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Nairobi,
Kenya
Friday, July 11, 2008
I have suddenly been inflicted with insominia. I cant understand why I cant get one good night of sleep anymore. I woke up at 2 am - wide awake. For 2 hours, I just read some material I had on Tanzania and Slovenia to help me fall asleep. It did the trick - but it took 2 hours.
I woke up at 7:30 am and prepared my backpack for my flight out of Africa. I always get paranoid when I have to go through immigration when travelling overseas. I always think about that movie Brokedown Palace where these 2 girls were caught with drugs in their bags and they had no idea it was in there. So I unpack my whole bag and pack it again before I lock it up for good.
Because my flight was only at 11:30 pm, I had the rest of the day to run some errands. First, I went searching for the spot where I could find a shuttle bus to get me to the airport. It was a bit challenging to find but I eventually found it. Touts would stop me along the way and ask me what I was looking for and when I told them they all said the shuttle service to the airport no longer existed and that I should let them organze a cab ride for me. I didnt believe them (as I knew they just wanted to make commission from the taxi ride) so I kept searching. I knew I was in the right area, I just had to find the exact location. I eventually spotted the exact location of where the bus would pick people up to go to the airport. I found out the cost would only be 50 KS (about 80 cents) which was great as the cost of a taxi was 1000 KS.
After understanding where I needed to be to catch the bus to the airport, I went looking for a bookstore. I finished my Che Guevara book a few weeks ago and needed some reading material for my flight. I found a bookstore that had some decent books. I got my hands on 3 books I always wanted to read - Freakonomics, DaVinci Code and Banco. They were a bit expensive but probably still cheaper than what I would pay for them in Europe.
After buying my books, I headed to an Internet cafe so I could confirm my flight as well as reserve a room in Ljubljana (Slovenia). Rooms are definitely more expensive in Europe than Africa! I am paying 22 Euros a night (about $35) for a dorm bed! In Moshi I was paying $7. I guess I will have to eat less in Europe to stay within my budget:).
Before heading out to the airport, I went to a local fast food place and had some roasted chicken with fries. It would be my last African meal. I just couldnt eat rice again. I actually do not want to see rice for at least another month.
I arrived at the airport at about 6 pm. Before I checked my bag, I opened it to see if there was anything I could throw out as I was concerned the bag may have been overweight. I did throw out my East Africa book as I no longer needed it. It was strange just throwing it out. It was my bible for 10 weeks but it now found itself at the bottom of a trash can in the Nairobi Airport.
Because I had close to 6 hours to burn, I just started reading Freakonomics. I like it so far. I was so glad I bought some reading material.
My flight took off at 11:30 pm. I wasnt feeling anything particular as I was leaving AFrica (or going to Europe). I wasnt sad about leaving Africa or excited about heading to Europe. I felt a bit numb. ACtually, the best way to describe how I was feeling is the following: I felt like I just finished a marathon and just as I crossed the finish line I was told I had to run another one. No time to enjoy the end of the first marathon and no time to really think about the next one. I just have to go and do it.
