The last weeks in Germany rush past in a flurry of moving, sorting, packing and visiting friends and family. Everyone asks if we’re excited but so far the feeling of being busy and the cold snowy weather outside have kept any serious excitement at bay. It feels like we’ll be back in no time – a year goes by quickly after all – moving through very similar routines.
When the bikes are stored in their boxes, all the packlists checked twice and the last coffee and cake time enjoyed, there is nothing left to do but put our trust in the Deutsche Bahn… For once she doesn’t disappoint. We arrive at Frankfurt airport only half an hour late. We had planned 2 hours of buffer time. Somehow this melts away while we wheel the big boxes through miles of airport halls, getting lost a couple of times. We cheerfully blame the airport. After checking in the bikes and going through security twice (we’d forgotten to get some dinner) we board the luxurious economy class of Ethiad Airways. It’s a Boeing though, so fingers crossed.
On the plane we each do what we do best. Lina falls asleep instantly with her mouth open and stays that way for a few hours, Ben nods off for five minutes here and there. Abu Dhabi airport (our stopover) looks way fancier and better organized than any place we‘ve been to in Germany.
Hours later (after Ben had also gotten some sleep) we finally descend towards Nairobi with a view of Kilimanjaro on the horizon. The boxes are mainly intact and we quickly have our SIM cards sorted too. Outside the air is warm. 24 hours after leaving home in Germany we are standing in the sun, unfamiliar birds chirping, taxi drivers vying for our attention and any thought of snow and extra layers long gone.
Nairobi is surprisingly green and quiet. The traffic is horrendous yet somehow the people make do without honking constantly. The taxi drops us off at a fenced-in apartment block with security guards all around. Arnav and Mireille, our Warmshowers (like Couchsurfing but for cycletouring) hosts for a couple of nights graciously welcome us to their home. After a delicious Ethiopian dinner where we swap traveler stories and our rookie approach to cycling through Africa becomes apparent, we fall asleep instantly in the comfy bed.
The next day is spent reassembling the bikes, food shopping and packing all our worldly goods for the next year. Over dinner we estimate that everything (including the bikes, food and water) weighs around 50 kilos. Lina swallows hard. We‘ll each be pedaling almost her entire bodyweight around. Suddenly the prospect of 60km and 700m uphill tomorrow seems not just daunting but scary. But let’s not be hasty. We‘ll take it pole pole (Kiswahili for „slow slow“).
