first time to travel abroad

dubai, uae 30 may 2007

first time to travel abroad

we beat the traffic to the airport. at 9pm i just arrived home to get my luggage for the trip.

we are going to nairobi, kenya for a mobile ativists conference. an african ngo invited txtpower.org and the computer proffesionals union. we are to provide some inputs on the mobile activists network they are creating for africans with the support of tacticalteh.org.

the check in and immigration officer interview were smooth. i am a first time traveler with a passport without any markings. usually, they warn, power-tripping immigration officers can interrogate you and deny you travel even with complete travel papers,

we boarded an emirates flight at 12mn. the plane was a boeing 737-300, its entertainment system allowed personalized delivery of content. but after an hour, i was asleep. i was so tired chasing people to get all my travel requirements. the in-flight foods were bland. i should have brought for this trip!

we are on air for about 8 hours. i woke up about 2 hours before the landing. majority of the plane's crew were british.

dubai airport is of course, bigger than the naia. a shuttle bus fetch us from the hangar to the airport building. we will be here for 5 hours to board again an emirates' flight to kenya.

we find a quite lounge and settled. the wifi signal connection from here is very low. my palm was able to connect though and i am able to check my email. internet browsing was impossible with the palm. my laptop is worst in detecting the wifi signal.
there are many passengers waiting for their flight. different nationalities are spread on the alley. some are sleeping on the carpet or on chairs. indians, arabs, africans are everywhere.

dunkin donuts' coffee got to my stomach after two hours. while i am waiting for the coffee an indian started talking to me, like i am his friend. i would later verify that most thought that i am indian.

we finally boarded the flight to nairobi. the emirates crew now are all local africans.

after five hours, we arrive in kenyatta airport. the airport is like the local davao international airport. it is busier though. kenya is a big tourist destination with many carriers from all over the world.

it is around 3pm in the local time, when we got to the cab waiting for us. the travel to the conference site is about the distance of quezon city to paranaque. the environment is a familiar countryside. karen in nairobi's temperature is like baguio city. it is sunny and hot but the blowing winds is cool and not humid.

we are staying in the kenya's commercial bank management centre for 3 days.