Girl Travels World

The people at the tour company based at Nairobi International Youth Hostel provided me with a wealth of advice and information about travel in Nairobi. Among other things, they warned me about confidence schemes.

Confidence schemes or scams can be elaborate. Like the names imply, aggressors use the victims’ trust to manipulate them. In Nairobi, it is common for people on the street to befriend travelers and offer to show them something ‘for free’. Eventually, they will ask you for money, or lead you to a place they are able to forcibly remove it from you.

Also, watch out for people to proposition you for something illegal – sex, drugs, etc. Inevitably, your ‘friends’ will turn out to be police…or fake police. As I was warned, they will appear very intimidating and have badges. They can almost always be paid off, but expect to drop a lot of money.

The final word of advice is don’t be afraid to be rude. Even Kenyans do not trust other people that approach them on the street. There is no reason for you to.

Yes, it’s true. I’m begining to stink. It’s a mixture of poor showers, random foods and living in a dorm with 18 other people. I’m hoping to ‘air out’ before Sean arrives…then again, I’m guessing after flying halfway around the world, he isn’t going to be smelling like a rose either.

For those of you familiar with the BootsnAll message boards, Xoom (aka Daisy) arrived late last night in NBO. I stayed up to meet her and was glad I did - she had one of those trips from hell. Air Canada lost her backpack on the way to London, so she’s been wearing the same clothes for the past 3 days, she almost missed her flight to Nairobi trying to track down her bags, she didn’t have money for her visa and the airport exchange wouldn’t accept travellers checks and the ATM also gave her a big fat zero. To top it all off, there was no water at the hostel for her to take a shower. I gave her $50 to get a visa into Tanzania, some body wipes and a big hug. Heading off to haggle for some gifts at the Masai market (probably won’t be able to take any pics here) and, eventually, the hotel.

EDIT - just realized I never posted this! Damn!

I have already noticed a frightening trend with my blogging....I see myself saying 'will update later' a lot. Eeek. Anyway, this post is just to give some inital impressions, will flush out when I am feeling the urge. Landing ... [Continue reading this entry]