So Em & I were about to disembark from our overnight flight into Nairobe when a particularly lovely air hostess came up to us with a carry bag full of left over plane snacks. 'You might need these' she said.
Puzzled, we thanked her, took the snacks and headed off to the terminal. Here we were promptly herded towards a transfer desk where they told us we had missed our connection, and were now on the afternoon flight.
One by one, we (and the other stranded passengers) were offered the use of a broken phone with which to notify hotels or family that we would be arriving late. In each case this was followed by a discussion with the desk clerk in which he insisted that it was our phone numbers, not the phone, that were the problem. Being about the fifth person to have this discussion with him, I was a bit sceptical.
Em and I wandered around the airport for most of the morning as all the seats in the transit lounge were being used as beds.
By one pm our new flight had still not appeared on the departures board so we returned to the transit desk to find out which gate we should wait at. The young woman at the counter looked quite confused as I handed over my boarding pass. "No sir, this flight has been cancelled."
Having been up for most of the night, I suspect the disappointment on my face would have been pretty obvious. "Don't worry sir, we can put you on to the evening service" she said smiling and gesturing towards the phone, "perhaps you would like to call someone?"
Em and I sat on the floor for a few hours and looked at the defeated travellers slumped on their bags, and the lines of African businessmen down the corridor, sleeping with heads on their briefcases. No one, it seemed, was going anywhere.
At around three pm I noticed a flight on the departures board direct to Kilimanjaro - near where we had planned to head by bus the following day - with a different airline.
I approached the transit desk for the third time with greater resolve. Yes, I explained, I know our tickets are non-refundable. I know I cannot by a new ticket without clearing customs and I know I can't clear customs without a Kenyan visa. But we have missed our airport transfer and we will miss our bus and we are tired and we just want to get out of here.
This angel of a woman took pity on us, took our credit card and went and bought two tickets from the rival airline. And ten hours after we arrived in Nairobe, we raced past the crowds waiting for their connection to Dar es Salaam, and got on a tiny twin prop plane and from 17,000 feet watched the sun set over Kilimanjaro.
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