It was quite late by the time we reached Nairobi. Originally I had planned to stay at a guesthouse near the airport, but when I calculated how short a time I'd really be there--less than 9 hours--I decided it would not be worthwhile to get a visa, and airport transfer, and no doubt a nervous night worrying about whether I'd get back to the airport on time for my 7 am flight.
Some of the more modern airports have in-airport hotels, which I've visited successfully before (in Qatar and the Emirates) but there was nothing like that in Nairobi. So I'd made arrangements to stay in an airport lounge, something I'd never done before. This one was run by Turkish Alliance Airlines, and it was REALLY nice. There were showers, a buffet, a bar, very comfortable lounge chairs, soft lights, and soft music. I was tired without being sleepy, having slept quite a bit during the flight, but it felt unimaginably good to relax the night away in this lounge. This was a fine idea, and I will certainly do it again if the opportunity arises.
The staff at the lounge keeps track of departing flights, and they let you know when it's time to go, so there was no anxiety about making the early morning flight to Harare, which was right on time.
On the flight to Harare, I was seated next to a well-dressed African man who was reading a ridiculously complex book dealing with political science (I couldn't help but notice.) When he took a break, we started chatting. It turned out that he was a Zimbabwean gastro-enterologist (which are very unusual words to go together in my experience!) returning from a conference in Kigali. I must have seemed like a TOTAL idiot to him when I told him: "Oh! A gastro-enterologist! I've met several of them! My husband has Crohn's disease!" He told me he did his advanced study in gastro-enterology in Capetown, South Africa, and was fascinated to find that while South Africa's "colored" (mixed race) population frequently suffered from Crohn's, black populations do not, leaving the conclusion that Crohn's must somehow be linked to being at least part white.
This led to a very interesting discussion of genetics and disease, and this gentleman was as learned, articulate, and insightful as anyone I've ever had the opportunity to talk with regarding this subject. His name was Leo, and I considered myself very lucky to have made his acquaintance and learned so much. The several-hour flight to Harare went by very quickly.
Marc, you've suggested I should have taken photos of my seatmates. I just didn't feel it was polite to do so, interesting as they were. Even so, I WOULD like to have in my possession a keepsake of their appearances!
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