... but sometimes it feels like it's never going to end.

It's a while since I last wrote about a trip away with work. Mainly because I've either been visiting countries I've been to many times, so it isn't quite as exciting to write about, or that they are places where you can't really say much because it aint such a good idea!

This trip, hopefully, is different. A while back it was decided that I needed to go to Kenya with work. Tickets were booked, everything seemed fine, then I got a call into the HR office to find out that not only did I need to register my trip with the insurers, but also I needed to register with a hostage negotiator and private jet service. Just in case, you understand. A few years ago this would have had me running and screaming, never to travel again. Now, it just seemed quite funny. In my wallet is a card with my own personal hostage negotiators number... 

There was also the fun of the vaccinations. The Kenyan embassy said I needed a couple of jabs, the Swedish health system said 7. Most were uneventful. There are two that aren't much fun that are necessary for Kenya (or at least, highly recommended). Firstly, Yellow Fever. It's a dangerous disease, and the vaccination - like most vaccinations - doesn't hurt or anything. What you're not prepared for, though, is that you can feel really very ill for days afterwards. I got feverish and thumping headaches for about 5 days afterwards. After a little research I found out that about 25% of people get these symptoms for up to 10 days, so I was lucky. The other one I wasn't expecting really to be a problem - the cholera vaccine. You dissolve some powder in water to make a buffer solution, then add the vaccine and drink it. No problem, just like the old polio on a sugarlump. Except you have to do it twice at least a week apart. I did the first one, then did the second one. It was only after the second one that I put two and two together. The cholera vaccine seems to really dislike your guts. Not in a running for the bathroom way, but a scary red bowl sort of way. It lasts about 24 hours from drinking it. 

 So the preparations were all done. I went to the airport, what could possibly go wrong. I checked in, received my first boarding pass and was told to collect my second one in Brussels. I should have known something was wrong then. Everytime I've been told to do that something has happened, usually a lost connection or a delay. I boarded my Brussels Airlines flight to Brussels, and got off at Brussels, went to the service counter only to be told that my flight had been cancelled and I should have been told 3 days ago, and certainly should not have been flown to Brussels, but now I'd started to use my ticket, tough. All she needed was a maniacal laugh to finish it off. I was had and seemingly trapped. I could fly back to Copenhagen and fly back tomorrow, but I wouldn't get home till nearly 9pm and then have to get up again at 3am - hardly what I needed. Or I could stay in the airport hotel for 24 hours, and lose yet another day.

Seemingly I was trapped - all because Brussels Airlines tricked me into starting to use the ticket. If I'd not used the first part, I could have got the ticket refunded and bought a new one with another airline. But I'm not the sort for giving up.

 There then followed a battle royale. The travel agent said only Brussels Airlines could sort it out, Brussels Airlines I had to accept it or talk to my travel agent. I was stuck in the middle, but eventually I got them working. I knew from when I was looking at tickets that there was a route through Amsterdam or Paris with KLM Air France, or London with Virgin Atlantic. I asked the travel agent to just tell me if there were spaces on those flights. There were. So I bashed Brussels Airlines around the head with it, pointing out that as the flight had been cancelled at their choice, I was entitled to the long distance compensation and sorry they weren't going to wiggle out of it because I'd done the first leg, because I'd only done that as they'd tricked me into taking it and hadn't told me my flight was cancelled. They even tried to claim the travel agent had been told 3 days ago. The agent had actually been told about the same time I had. Eventually, after a lot of harranging and battles to get my bags back, they rearranged my flights. So late Friday morning I took a flight to Heathrow (many thanks BMI for being very helpful indeed, and putting me onto an earlier flight to make it easier to get through security at Heathrow) and then spent possibly the most tedious 7 hours or so in the lounge at Heathrow waiting for my flight.

The flight with Virgin was great, it was comfortable, and I even managed to get some sleep. I still felt dead when I got here, but at least I had had some sleep. Baggage and passport control was uneventful, and the car was waiting to take me to the hotel, and as we pulled away from the airport the sun was just rising across the plains. That alone made it worth the hassles.