Travel Tuesday: Moving From Cape Town To Nairobi

As you probably know by now, we’ve recently made the move from Cape Town to Nairobi. S received a job offer in Nairobi about nine months ago and moved to Nairobi seven months ago. This caused us to make many life changes that we hadn’t foreseen a year ago, but here we are. I was nervous to leave my family, but excited to start a new life.

The day finally arrived and we were set to leave. We had six luggage bags and four pieces of hand luggage. We said our goodbyes to my family and entered Cape Town International’s departure section, where we waited for a good hour or two to board the flight. A’s medication kicked in and he was sleeping on his father’s lap for most of the waiting period, which was good for us. We eventually boarded the Kenya Airways flight and circled around Cape Town for three hours, before we landed back at Cape Town International Airport. The aircraft was having technical difficulties, so we wouldn’t be going to Nairobi after all. We exited the plane and boarded the bus feeling bewildered and confused. We made plans the next day and felt disappointed that we couldn’t execute them. All the passengers looked at each other like “what now?”, because there wouldn’t be another flight exiting Cape Town International until Sunday. We were also angry, because we weren’t told what happened and what we should do next. Some people were ushered to a hotel, but we opted to call my parents and stay at their house for the night to work out our game plan. They told us they would text us what to do next or when we would be able to get on an alternate flight to Nairobi, but by 10PM S took the executive decision to call the airline himself and arrange for us to get a flight to Nairobi from O.R. Tambo Airport in Johannesburg.

We boarded a South African Airlines flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg at 6:00, we had breakfast and the flight was smooth. A was feeling a bit groggy and proceeded to projectile all over us, his seat and the floor. Fortunately, I had packed multiple sets of clothing for him and cleaned him up in the bathroom. S and the helpful flight attendants had cleaned the seat and floor when we returned. Everything went smoothly after that. We landed at O.R. Tambo and explored a bit while we were waiting for our Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi.

The flight was pleasant and the staff were very friendly. A slept throughout the flight, which was a bonus. The in flight entertainment was good, I watched a movie and slept a bit. I hardly slept in the 24 hours leading up to all this mayhem. The meal was good too, I loved the dessert of coconut cake. It was absolutely delicious! After about four hours we landed at Jomo Kenyatta Airport and our adventure began.

A and I arriving at Jomo Kenyatta Airport.

We collected our booked luggage, proceeded to customs and waited for our transport. We were so tired, but excited. A kept saying we were going on vacation. We could see how happy he was that we were all together as a family again. We arrived at our new and empty apartment, which is more like home now than I could have ever anticipated.

We had curry and naan from Grand Cafe in Lenana Road for dinner and called it a night. It was an extremely long 24 hours of travel. The next morning we headed to Ngong road, where we bought a temporary outdoor set of chairs and a sofa, until we found what we wanted.

We ordered all the basic appliances and furniture pieces from Game and Nakumatt, but they would only be delivered later on in the week. So we waited and mostly ate takeout until we had a fridge and stove, this is when I had my first nyama choma experience. It wasn’t too bad, different from South African chisa nyama, but still good. It was flame cooked goat meat cut into chunks and served with potatoes and kachumbari (a tomato and onion salad). I’ll share a photograph of it with you when I cover my favourite Kenyan food.

We bought a table and bench set from Game and I covered it in contact paper to give it a lighter and more modern look. It turned out better than I expected. We also assembled the rest of our furniture together one Sunday. It was very fun to build a home together again.

S and A hard at work assembling the furniture for our chill zone/ book nook.

We’ve settled totally settled in to Nairobi life and we are enjoying our space. There are always new things to experience on the weekends and new people to meet, but when we need some time out, the balcony or book nook provides the perfect reprieve.

The completed book nook. We’ve added a rug and books since taking this photo. 🙂

Have you ever relocated? What was it like? Have you ever visited Nairobi or stayed in Nairobi? Let me know by commenting below!

Love and Blessings,

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