Dec. 18 Nairobi to London

Well this day also began early, we left Camp Lukenya and the Weaver's home at 7:00 AM to allow enough time with the typical traffic to reach Jomo Kenyatta Airport for the 2 hour window for check-in. If possible, the traffic was even slower than normal, but with Paul's expert and daring driving we did make the airport with sufficient time to check our three suitcases. We were unable to check them through to Seattle since we had 20+ hours layover in London. The flight on Virgin Atlantic was trouble free, and the flight only had 98 passengers so there was room to roam. On arrival we waited patiently for our 3 pieces of luggage to arrive, dreading having to clear customs and then having to drag them through several terminals to try to check them onwards to Seattle. Not to worry! We waited till all bags were processed and claimed only to find that NONE of our three were anywhere to be seen. Over to the Virgin Atlantic help desk, we were assured that no luggage had been left behind in Nairobi and that our MUST be somewhere at Heathrow. This whold process took a bit over an hour to conclude, and we still had not managed to check in for our hotel. While we asked about the FREE transport to our hotel we were told that we would need to pay 4 pounds each (one way) to reach our hotel. Finally got to the hotel and were told by the front desk that we needed to pay. (Turns out the room had been prepaid by my wife, so we are still waiting for some type of refund to be processed). At any rate, Zach crashed and I met up with a friend of many years Tony Sheldon and his wife of 4 months Galina and had a delightful dinner and opportunity to catch up on events since we had last met. Back to the room by 10PM and a chance to rest up for the last leg home to Tacoma.