One is staying at THE Stanley, a place frequented by Royalty, America Presidents and people from Southend who speak Estuary English. It was built in 1902, the Queen (as Princess Elizabeth) had dinner here in 1952 the day before George VI died.
I had said to Linda I wanted to leave for the Travelodge at 1900 but she must work on a different time zone to me as she wasn't ready till 2100. The run to the Travelodge was good - although there were several existing roadworks plus a few more thrown in on the M25. We arrived at the Travelodge and the next problem was where to park, as it was full up - we eventually found a space in the staff car park.
We arrived at T5 about 0745 via the long stay car park, and the weather was cold and dreary. We had already checked in on-line and so only had to queue at the searching area, boots off, belt off, coat off and the alarm still went off.
We had a wander around the shops and then went to Starbucks for breakfast. We boarded the plan about 0945 and it left at 1005 which was not too bad. The seats were OK and the food was typical BA - Blooming Awful. I can't see what all this fuss is with the cabin crews - they work for about 2 hours at the start giving you some food - then disappear for about 4 to re-appear just before landing and give you a sarnie. They have a sleep in the middle or just chat. In fact if they do go on strike I could do the job and have a kip on the way back. Linda on the other hand would have no-one to chat to, at one stage she said she was going to the toilet, and then disappeared for half an hour. I later found out she had been chatting to a male cabin crew member at the back, over a cup of tea - even found out what hotel he was staying at (although it was not as good as ours!) - she will talk to anyone to get an extra cup of tea. The flight actually landed 30 minutes early - so the cabin crew had even less work to do. We are still waiting to see if we are flying back, although the rumours are not so many will go on strike - nothing to do with the strikers loosing their free flight entitlement of course.
We flew through immigration and then collected the luggage and Kamal was waiting for us. he was my driver from last time. We booked in at the hotel and Linda found out it was free internet - so it was "Simon can I go on my farm" - fortunately we have each got our own computer so I could set her up on her farm.
Breakfast was included and it was a nice buffet one and the Chef cooked eggs for you. About 10am we went out for the day, Kemal was driving and Linda wanted to go to the Bead Factory - but she wasn't quite sure where it was - in Karen somewhere. We ended up stopping and asking for directions. We eventually found it - she had the name wrong! We had a tour of the factory and then Linda took some photos - well several photo's - you can see a selection here. Unfortunately there was a shop there and Linda spent ages in it, I sat outside under a tree with the driver, waiting and waiting and waiting. The suddenly she appeared, only because she needed me to pay for the items she had chosen. I was waiting to pay and then she had disappeared so I finished paying and went and sat down. Another thing she has in common with Her Majesty is she never carries any money when travelling.
We had a coffee at the Kazuri centre before leaving and going to a shopping centre on the other side of Nairobi in Westlands. We did some shopping, bought some water and other things we needed. It was then back to the Hotel for a rest, however they were still cleaning our room, so we had a wander around the streets of Nairobi and of course time for a last latte.
We then rested for the afternoon - Linda did hers and Chelsea's farm (yes even the Dog has a farm!!) and I did some work on the computer in preparation. I have spoken to my friends and contact and everything seems to be organised. In fact I seem to have spent most of the day on the phone and email sorting things out.
We stayed at the Hotel in the evening and had a meal in the restaurant - we will have to be up early in the morning as we are leaving for Kericho at 0800.