Was it crazy for Ben and I to fly half way around the world in February of 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic was still making travel complicated and uncertain? Maybe. Was it worth it? Absolutely! We made the bold decision to travel internationally after several cancelled international trips and because we were just desperate to go somewhere, anywhere. Turns out, our safari in Kenya was pretty much the ideal trip to take during the pandemic, with flying being the riskiest part of the trip. Here’s our experience flying to Kenya in early 2021.
*Note- this post is not meant to serve as a guide, but is rather a record of our experiences travelling internationally during the Covid-19 pandemic. Check your embassy’s website for the most up to date restrictions for traveling to Kenya.
So the drama of our flight to Kenya really began about two weeks before we left, when the Netherlands announced that all passengers transiting through AMS would need to provide both a negative PCR test and a rapid antigen test taken no more than four hours before your flight. We were, at that point, booked on a flight that transited through Amsterdam, and while we had already scheduled a PCR test, we were not sure how we would be able to get a rapid antigen test before our flight. We were scheduled to depart Albuquerque at 6:00 in the morning, meaning getting to the airport around 5:00. I don’t know that we would have even had the option to get this test. To make matters more complicated, we were also supposed to transit through AMS on our way back to the US from Kenya, and I had no idea where to get a rapid antigen test in Nairobi.
All this to say we ended up booking an entirely new flight that transited through Frankfurt instead of Nairobi just two weeks before our trip. So far, we were not off to a smooth start.
Flying During the Pandemic
The day of our flight rolled around, and the actual travel was relatively normal, other than a few things. At the time we visited, Kenya was requiring a negative PCR test conducted no more than 72 hours before your arrival in the country. We had to show airline employees our negative Covid test results at every step in our journey, including when we checked in for our flight and at every connection along the way. We learned that Kenya is very strict about enforcing the 72-hour limit when we watched a young woman be denied boarding because her Covid test results were two hours too old!
We also had to wear masks for the duration of our travel day. Some legs actually required us to wear medical masks and did not allow fabric ones. This was not a surprise to me, and no one on our plane seemed to have any issues with this requirement.
The plane itself was quite empty, and Ben and I each got an entire row of seats to ourselves for our transatlantic flight! Being able to stretch my legs out across three seats is the true definition of luxury for an economy flier like myself.
Another inconvenience was that food service was pretty drastically reduced on the plane. It’s not like airplane food is all that great to begin with, and I was just happy to be given anything to eat. But I would have appreciated having more to drink, since I often got thirsty during our long flight. I probably could have asked a flight attendant to bring me some water, but they made a big deal on the plane that they were trying to limit the interactions between staff and passengers as much as possible.
Arriving in Nairobi
When we finally landed in Kenya (after 22 total hours of travel), it was about 10:00 at night. We had to wait in a long, chaotic line where our Covid documents were checked and our temperature was taken before we could proceed to immigration. It took some time, but was a relatively easy process.
After a number of cancelled trips and a failed attempt to get to Hawaii just a few months earlier, I wasn’t certain we would make it to Kenya until we landed there. I did all my research (really, probably too much research), but I couldn’t help worrying that something would go wrong. It was so exciting when we actually entered the country, and our trip could begin. It was my first time in Africa, so that was a major bucket list item to cross off, and I couldn’t wait for all the exciting adventures we had planned.
We were scheduled to fly out the next morning to start our safari in the Maasai Mara area, and spent the night in a cheap Airbnb not far from the domestic airport. Getting there proved to be a challenge. I can only say that it was late, and I was tired, but I did exactly what any experienced traveler in the world would tell you not to do, and just got into an airport taxi without settling the price ahead of time. He told me it would be the same as an Uber (which was just a lie) and that it was a metered taxi (also a lie). When he dropped us off in the middle of the night in front of our Airbnb and told me it would be $50, I almost lost it! He said there was an extra charge because we arrived after curfew, which was not true. I had looked it up beforehand. I argued with the guy for at least ten minutes before giving him $40 and heading inside, furious, but too tired to argue any longer. The lesson here is just get an Uber. Or if you do get a taxi, make sure you know the price beforehand.
Anyway, our Airbnb was definitely not the nicest one I’d ever stayed in, but it cost less per night than our taxi from the airport, so I can’t complain too much. We slept well, and were ready to start our adventures the next morning.
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