Flight Risk

D-Day: August 17, 2008

Travel Day was very eventful and I’m happy to have had the real “Traveling Pants” Duo, Jaco & Tia, with me! These guys do a lot of international traveling so they are well versed in ways to make shit fit in your suitcase even when you think your bags are already busting at the seams. My pal, Rozi, was there as well and discovered a hidden talent – TSA lock prep extraordinaire:-) Needless to say, I still paid $400 in excess baggage fees but it was ok – at that point, I was just ready to get out of dodge! The lady at the KLM counter was very helpful and she looked over Joi’s paperwork and set him on his way after he and his kennel received special “inspection” from the immigration folks. They tagged his paperwork, food and kennel and sent him on his way to the air-conditioned van to await flight boarding. We even had a lot of extra time to eat at Houlihans and ponder on how I was going to get my heavy carry-on bag into the overhead cabin (this thing weighed almost as much as I did)! Of course, even after all the boxes I shipped, I was still overweight when we got to the airport and had it not been for these guys, I probably would never have had my bags ready to be on the flight.

My flight was supposed to leave at 4:40pm so I said my goodbyes and headed to the terminal. However, due to some unknown reason, our flight was delayed until 5:40pm so that was cool because I was able to make my last minute calls to some of the friends who had been blowing up my phone all day! When we got on the flight I made sure that Joi had made it as well and was surprised to find out that the lady sitting behind me was allowed to carry her cat (Orange Tabby, 8Ibs) on board! Mmhhh, I had been informed that during an international flight, no carry-on animals were allowed on board. The lady’s cat was agitated the entire flight and cried most of the way there however since she was a kitten, the cries were barely discernible. Believe it or not, the whimpering provided solace to me since I was wondering how Joi was faring amidst all that luggage...I really felt like a bad mommy:-)

We made good time and made it to Amsterdam by 7:40am. It was a rainy, dreary day out but being at the Schiphol Airport makes you forget how crappy the weather is outside. Schiphol is one of the best planned out airports and it operates on a one terminal concept where all the piers and departure halls are all interconnected. The airport is also the lowest commercial airport and sits 3m below sea level. Schiphol has large shopping areas that are accessible to even those who are not flying. In addition, the free luggage trolleys are a welcome (At Atlanta Hartsfield you have to pay to get those trolleys) and trust me…I needed to off load my carry on luggage - my bag was so heavy that if you stood it up, it toppled over due to the weight. I was very lucky that both times I needed to get the bag into the overhead cabins, I had really tall and strong people to help me…a lady actually helped me on the flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi.

This however, is where the drama begun. As I did in Atlanta, I made sure to ask the flight attendant to ensure that Joi was ok and that he had boarded the flight. She comes back to me and says, “they say there is a problem but 'they' cannot tell me what it is at this point!” She indicates that she will check to find out what the issue is and report back to me. Needless to say, she does not come back so I flag down another flight attendant and ask whether Joi was on board. He tells me that he does not know of any animal on the flight but will check. Sure enough, both flight attendants come back and tell me that the cat is not on board but the airport authorities were checking on his “paperwork” because something was missing. I inquired what 'they' thought could be missing seeing that I got the requirements from the Embassy of Kenya in DC and the KLM Customer Service Agents. The flight attendants goes back to check on the progress and that is when I hear the captain’s voice on the intercom indicating that we were going to be delayed. I think to myself, “Yes! They must be finally loading Joi (because he is SOOOOOO important)”. WRONG. We were delayed due to an influx in air traffic - the usual reason for a delay in the absence of bad weather. Hey, I knew that…I was just trying to be optimistic about the situation. Well, 20 minutes later, we are pulling out of the gate and I flag down the flight attendant (everyone else is buckled in at this point) and she says, “I’m sorry to report but your cat is NOT on the flight. He has been held by Animal Control and someone will give you more information when you land.” I’m thinking, “SHIET! Is she kidding? Does she know where we are landing? Does she know that where we are landing, not too many people care that I have imported a cat into the country? Does she know that people will probably be laughing at me instead of sympathizing with me? OMG…I could not believe it! I think she sensed my distress and comes back after 10 minutes to assure me that my cat will be okay and that the animal compound in Schiphol is a top grade animal compound and that the cat will get VIP treatment. Although I'm doubtful of anything referred to as "animal compound", I felt a little better (throwing big words around like VIP) but was still pretty bummed out because I can only imagine how agitated Joi was (think about this – he had been in the kennel for about 11 hours at this point since we left my front door!). I think anyone at that point would just slit their wrists if they could – good thing cats cannot do that because Joi would totally off himself!

The flight comes to an end with little fanfare and we touch down in Nairobi at 7:40pm. I'm not sure if this happens on every flight but as soon as we touched down, tons of people were clapping. I didn't know what to make of this - were they happy that the pilot had landed the plane safely(!?) or were they just happy to find out that an African country had an actual runway and we didn't land in the "jungle?" Errr, not sure what the clapping was about...Anyway, as we taxied to the gate, I couldn't help but notice that it was DARRRRKKKK outside. I know it was 7:40pm but aren't there white, yellow-white, red or blue lights that line the taxiways? Didn't see nada but that was when I knew I was really in Kenya...maybe someone had thugged the lights on the runway or maybe there was power rationing going on. Ok, Ok, I know...that is not a good assessment of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport but I'm being honest about the million things that were running through my mind at that very moment!