Africa Wins Again - and so the adventure begins.....

There is an expression in Africa, AWA, Africa Wins Again meaning that anything can happen even when you think you have the best laid plans. It seems that Africa's influence traveled many miles beyond its borders today as we headed for Kenya.

I started out with a wake up alarm at 3:45AM for my 7AM flight. Little did I realize how small Munich Airport is. I was more than two hours ahead. Not even the check-in counters or passport control were open! I found myself a nice cappuccino and settled in to wait. My flight to Heathrow was uneventful.

Brad and I planned to meet at a British Pub near our departing gate for our flight together to Nairobi. We had gone on line and paid extra to ensure that our seats were together. When I arrived at the terminal I checked that his flight had arrived. They said it had come in at 6:30AM. So I started looking for Brad in the British Pubs, then all the restaurants and finally in all the seating areas.

No Brad.

We had agreed to meet at the gate if we missed each other for breakfast so I sat down and got something to eat. Afterward I headed to the gate and still no sign of Brad! Well now I started to wonder what was going on so I went back up to the service desk to have him paged. I found out that the service person checked the wrong arriving flight - from BWI, not Dulles (BTW they have no arrival screens in this terminal). His flight was delayed and he had just landed but he WAS NOT going to make our flight!

He did not bring his computer or have an international cell phone and I began to wonder how I would tell him I was going on. They put a message on the computer but I wasn't sure he would get it so I texted and emailed him in hopes that he would find a place to check email.They rebooked him on the evening flight to Nairobi which means he will have flown two overnight flights in two days. I hope he gets some sleep!

Sure enough when I landed I got an email from him. He will arrive at 6:30AM with plenty of time for our flight to Mombasa. So there is no harm done and Africa Wins Again.

Photos: my cappuccino in Munich and my view of the African coast as we flew over.