After 30 hours of driving, flying and sitting in airports, I arrived safe and sound in Nairobi this afternoon. The flying part is not a problem – I love flying, and I slept most of the way anyway. I had good seats on both legs of the flight. For the leg between Melbourne and Dubai, a lovely lady at the check in desk went out of her way to get me a window seat, even though there were none available when I booked in. And for the leg between Dubai and Nairobi, she got me a row by myself. Honey, I don’t even know your name, but I’ll love you forever.
But I hate airports.
Airports are definitely not friendly to older people. Would it really hurt them to put some seating along the miles of walking through the commercial areas? Surely it would actually help business if people could sit and rest a bit, rather that feeling they have to press ahead to the nearest seat some miles in the distance.
Dubai airport is particularly horrible. Go upstairs. Come downstairs. God upstairs again. Come down again. I was starting to feel like a yo-yo. Plus instructions on where to go are clear as mud, and most of the staff seem reluctant to assist.
Small testimony from Dubai airport. At one point I was really exhausted and I prayed, “Lord, please let me find an abandoned trolley” (I can walk much further if I have something to lean on.) Ten seconds later, there was a trolley just waiting for me. Thank You Father!
Nairobi airport was much better. For a start, it is a much smaller airport so not all the miles to walk. Of course, there are still the long queues for Immigration, but one of the officials pulled me out of the long queue and took me over to a much shorter queue, which was supposed to be for diplomats. This happened to me last year, too. I guess there are some advantages in looking old. 🙂
Anyway, the first pic is the outside of the arrivals terminal at Nairobi. The second pic is opposite the terminal. I’m not sure how clear they came out in the pic, but all along the central island of the road there are statues of various African animals.
