“Don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time”

“Don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time” sums up today.

We feel that no trip has fully started without heading to the local supermarket, and so that’s exactly what was the first stop made on Kenya day 2.

Day 1 was the outbound flight from Heathrow into Nairobi arriving in Nairobi just before 2200 local time. Fully loaded with approx 7 bags and 150KG of kit in tow, we headed off to our hotel for an overnight stop before heading off to Kisumu and day 2 of travelling.

Stocked up with lots of water and snacks we headed off on the long drive of around 4 1/2 hours to Nakuru and then a further 3 1/2 to Kisumu. As they say, the “joy is in the journey” and this journey exceeded all expectations. Thankfully Dave the driver had wifi built in. Perhaps a reminder of how privileged we are when a major concern of an 8/9 hour journey was whether we could connect with friends/family and the outside world from the confines of a mini coach.

There were other distractions, plenty of cows and goats and a few getting excited when the monkeys and zebras were spotted, waking some of the sleeping travellers on the bus. 

A quick photo stop at the Rift Valley to see the stunning views of a valley which runs from Mozambique to the Red Sea and an opportunity for our first overseas team photo.

We continued the journey, which was full of chatting and getting to know each other, with random questions such as ‘what cake matched our personality?’ (mine was a nice fairy cake with icing) and what bugs we were (Tina was a butterfly) We’ll see if these assumptions that were  made would stay the same in the coming week.

We arrived in Nakuru, a natural stop for lunch and much needed stretch of legs. Food choices made, some were adventurous, whereas others were the safe option (burgers and pizza).

As we continued the journey West, we began to see the differing communities that people live in and the joys of the little things, children playing with an old tyre, families in their Sunday best and of course this was accompanied by some karaoke on the bus.

It was also interesting to see how the climate changed the scenery, becoming greener and tea plantations the further we ventured.

Reaching the last stages of the journey we watched the sun set, as the long day of travelling was coming to an end. We finally reached the hotel, where we meet the coaching team that would support us in the coming days and taking on the task of coaching teachers to continue our work once we returned to the UK

We were briefed on the coaching plans that were ahead of us, and the different schools that we were going to coach in. An early night was taken by most in readiness of an early start and a day full of coaching ahead.

Bring it on!!