Why you didn't see me scrambling to get on the last flight out of Kenya
The last flight out of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, took off sometime on the evening of March 25. I did not attempt to get myself on it.
In recent weeks, travellers around the world, have been scrambling to get on the last flight out of wherever they were before the airports went down into lockdown.
If you believe what the media says, a BA flight arrived on March 27 to take out British from Kenya. Here is what was reported:
www.kenyans.co.ke/news/51347-uk-plane-turned-away-jkia?amp=1
I'm pretty Pro Kenyan right now. I know things are very difficult for many people but still, my first reaction was, "Too right! What part of March 25 didn't they get?"
I am not very sympathetic, I know but to peeps who missed that flight, you had plenty of warning!
Back to my situation, there are now no more international flights out and borders to Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania are closed. I am stuck here for the duration.
But why didn't you see me scrambling for the last flight out?
In a nutshell, where was I going to run to?
The UK is in a shit state along with everywhere else. My father is almost 80. He has been told to stay at home. That means, not going out. 24/7. He is observing the lockdown. My sisters are not even visiting.
I have never had a place in England. I never saw the point. Time spent in the UK since 2000 was only ever seen as a temporary measure. Why waste money on renting a place. I lived in the house I was born in with my father. We are both of an independent nature. Like father, like son. He somehow tolerated my presence but I knew he was looking forward to being alone again. Me being there interrupted his routine. I get it completely.
And now, imagine me returning to England with nowhere to live and no job. I could at a push, I think, got my old job back as a postman. I'd be in daily contact with too many potentially positive people. It would be impossible to live with my dad given the present circumstances. And I'd be working 60 hours a week just to survive, such is the cost of renting anywhere. I have no friends in England. I am not complaining. It is so. How can I ever maintain friendships with people there when I am never there?
So my reality is that I am here until Covid - 19 has been contained and the powers that be here in Kenya deem it ok to open borders with Uganda and other neighbouring countries.
We are all in deep shit. Some of us are only ankle deep. Italy, Spain and the USA are in, over their heads. As I type this, Kenya has 42 cases, 0 deaths. Italy, 97,689 cases, 10,779 deaths. USA, 142,746 cases, 2,489 deaths. The stats don't bear thinking about. I do appreciate the fact that there are many untested people here in Kenya, but then won't there equally be many untested people all over?
I could have escaped from Kenya before the borders shut down or before the last flight went. But, discounting England for the moment, where would I have gone. Where is safer than here? Nowhere.
I thank my lucky stars that I got out of West Africa when I did. West Africa is tough. Too tough for me. I bailed out of West Africa for much the same reasons as I did before and not cos of the Coronavirus pandemic.
East Africa is a breeze in comparison. I know Kenya having spent 4 weeks here in 2016. I like the food, they speak English here and for a budget traveller, it is affordable. So as a place to get stuck in, it's pretty ok. I have to be somewhere, and it might as well be here. No one is going anywhere. My dad ain't even going to the shop. A friend in Vancouver only goes out to get essentials. Her mum, like my dad, is 70+, so she stays at home. Travellers around the world are stuck. A guy I met in Grand Bassam, a cool guy, on the road for many months with his bicycle, he's going nowhere. Others I met in West Africa, holed up in Ghana, the last I knew.
I could travel in Kenya. There is not as yet a complete lockdown. People live hand to mouth here. But where in Kenya would I go? A friend reported that the hostels in Nairobi are closed. I know that hotels here are closed and in the next town. For now, I am safe.
More on my present set up here in Kenya, a little later but I will add, I am no longer going into town. Today is day 6 of my lockdown.
Tagged: Kenya
If you believe what the media says, a BA flight arrived on March 27 to take out British from Kenya. Here is what was reported:
www.kenyans.co.ke/news/51347-uk-plane-turned-away-jkia?amp=1
I'm pretty Pro Kenyan right now. I know things are very difficult for many people but still, my first reaction was, "Too right! What part of March 25 didn't they get?"
I am not very sympathetic, I know but to peeps who missed that flight, you had plenty of warning!
Back to my situation, there are now no more international flights out and borders to Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania are closed. I am stuck here for the duration.
But why didn't you see me scrambling for the last flight out?
In a nutshell, where was I going to run to?
The UK is in a shit state along with everywhere else. My father is almost 80. He has been told to stay at home. That means, not going out. 24/7. He is observing the lockdown. My sisters are not even visiting.
I have never had a place in England. I never saw the point. Time spent in the UK since 2000 was only ever seen as a temporary measure. Why waste money on renting a place. I lived in the house I was born in with my father. We are both of an independent nature. Like father, like son. He somehow tolerated my presence but I knew he was looking forward to being alone again. Me being there interrupted his routine. I get it completely.
And now, imagine me returning to England with nowhere to live and no job. I could at a push, I think, got my old job back as a postman. I'd be in daily contact with too many potentially positive people. It would be impossible to live with my dad given the present circumstances. And I'd be working 60 hours a week just to survive, such is the cost of renting anywhere. I have no friends in England. I am not complaining. It is so. How can I ever maintain friendships with people there when I am never there?
So my reality is that I am here until Covid - 19 has been contained and the powers that be here in Kenya deem it ok to open borders with Uganda and other neighbouring countries.
We are all in deep shit. Some of us are only ankle deep. Italy, Spain and the USA are in, over their heads. As I type this, Kenya has 42 cases, 0 deaths. Italy, 97,689 cases, 10,779 deaths. USA, 142,746 cases, 2,489 deaths. The stats don't bear thinking about. I do appreciate the fact that there are many untested people here in Kenya, but then won't there equally be many untested people all over?
I could have escaped from Kenya before the borders shut down or before the last flight went. But, discounting England for the moment, where would I have gone. Where is safer than here? Nowhere.
I thank my lucky stars that I got out of West Africa when I did. West Africa is tough. Too tough for me. I bailed out of West Africa for much the same reasons as I did before and not cos of the Coronavirus pandemic.
East Africa is a breeze in comparison. I know Kenya having spent 4 weeks here in 2016. I like the food, they speak English here and for a budget traveller, it is affordable. So as a place to get stuck in, it's pretty ok. I have to be somewhere, and it might as well be here. No one is going anywhere. My dad ain't even going to the shop. A friend in Vancouver only goes out to get essentials. Her mum, like my dad, is 70+, so she stays at home. Travellers around the world are stuck. A guy I met in Grand Bassam, a cool guy, on the road for many months with his bicycle, he's going nowhere. Others I met in West Africa, holed up in Ghana, the last I knew.
I could travel in Kenya. There is not as yet a complete lockdown. People live hand to mouth here. But where in Kenya would I go? A friend reported that the hostels in Nairobi are closed. I know that hotels here are closed and in the next town. For now, I am safe.
More on my present set up here in Kenya, a little later but I will add, I am no longer going into town. Today is day 6 of my lockdown.
Tagged: Kenya
