tues. dec 21 - What a Day

I have to start back at Sunday morning.  We were on the road to Mombasa at 5 AM , anxious to arrive at the beach...anxious to see Eileen and her 2 friends, Kim and Amanda...anxious to relax and listen to the surf.  The road has been improved quite a bit and it took us 8 hours.  It was cloudy most of the way which made it much more comfortable for riding in the Land Rover with natural air conditioning...as in open windows.

Our Cottage

The place we are staying at is a nice cottage on the beach front with a pool.  There is a large veranda on the front where we have been eating and reading and just hanging out because there is always a breeze and a gorgeous view.


There were a few things about the place that had been advertised on the web that were not ...as advertised. No biggies but one was that the bedrooms were air conditioned.  Well one of the rooms was not so we mentioned it hoping to get a discount on the price...yah right...no problem...they are installing one as i write !!  Overall its a very nice place we are calling home for the week...oh another nice feature...we have a cook...and he cleans up after meals...best part.

Waiting at Mombasa Airport

So..not everything so wonderful right now though.  as i am writing we are sitting in the Mombasa airport waiting for Kim and Amanda to arrive.  But as far as we know Eileen is still in Dubai trying to get on a flight.


I guess I need to back up.  The girls left China about an hour late and an hour later they had to return to the airport due to  a medical emergency on board.  All that caused them to miss the flight to Nairobi from Dubai.  That was Sunday...today is tues.  They have been trying to get on a flight out the whole time but all of them are overbooked...who would think in the mid east there would be a rush of travel this Christmas week.  But there is...

Kim and Amanda arrive in Mombasa

Last night a flight had 2 open seats and so Eileen stayed behind and Kim and Amanda are due to arrive soon.  We received the email indicating this at 11:30 PM Monday night. We are waiting to hear from Eileen and praying that she can get on a flight soon.  She was hoping for one 3 hrs after the girls left but did not get on.  We have peace and are reminded of the verse that says many are the plans of a man but it is His purpose that prevails.  We are so thankful for emails...phones...etc as they were key to communicating during this time.  They were in a large airport (Dubai) which is fairly safe place and there was a hotel in the airport paid for by the airlines.  But we miss our girl and know she is very anxious to be here with us.


Not a fun way to spend her Christmas break.

Jans view while reading on the lounger

(a little later)  Kim and Amanda arrived about 3 hours latter than we thought they would.  We were sure glad to see them.  Unfortunately their suitcases were or are still in Dubai.  We went and filled out the paperwork for the suitcases and went to find our taxi driver and taxi.  The taxi was there but the driver was nowhere to be found.  After asking around we heard that he was taken by the police for something....very strange situation.   Eventually we began to believe what people were telling us so we got another taxi to take us back to the apt.  We got back about 3:30 PM.  I was happy the girls were here but a bit discouraged and tired out and wishing we would hear something from Eileen.  We had not heard from here since a phone call at 8:00 AM.  We had no idea what the situation was with her.  We did call her hotel and found out she had checked out but were anxiously waiting to hear if she was able to get on a flight.

Ferry we road on to and from airport

45 min after arriving home, about 4:15 PM, she called to say she was in Nairobi and boarding the plane to Mombasa!!  I was so excited!!  We got a taxi and headed to the airport.  I must say i experienced a first...the driver pulled over to the side of the road part way to the airport and said he needed to stop and pee.  We said excuse me?  What was it you said.?  He  said it again and apologized for drinking so much water.  So he hopped out and went into the bushes...did his pee and came back.  As he got back in he pointed behind the bushes near the car and said You see the police station right there?  I stopped here so you are safe and nothing will happen to you while I am gone...  we cracked up!!  Especially after seeing the empty looking shack that was the police station.


We arrived at the airport just as Eileen was coming out...what a wonderful feeling to give her a hug.  Unfortunately she did not have her luggage either.  It will make for an interesting time until they get it.  Which we hope will be sooner than later.


There is more to the last several days but we need to get to bed after this long day.  Stay tuned.