megtr

Ok, for those of you who are familiar with my posts...I am a "concerned" traveler...and sometimes downright paranoid. However, one thing that the lonleyplanet guide and frommers mentions is not to travel in Nairobi at night.
Turns out that our flights arrive at 9pm and depart at 11pm. In many ways it works out quite well and the travel agent said that most flights and all BA flights end up being late flights. We are only staying in the city 1 night (The Stanley Hotel) and the tour guide meets us at the airport. Does this seem to be a problem? Does anyone know the distance of this hotel to the airport? Thanks again for all of your help!

Patty

Our flights also arrived/departed in the late evening. If you have someone meeting you at the airport, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. The drive to the Stanley takes less than 1/2 hour.

Patty

BTW not ALL BA flights arrive/depart in the evening. BA89 (operates Tu/Th/Sa) departs Heathrow at 8:00pm arriving in Nairobi at 7:45am the following morning. BA88 (operates We/Fr/Su) departs Nairobi at 9:50am and arrives Heathrow at 4:20pm, so you do have those daytime arrival/departures available to you if you can travel on certain days of the week.

tashak

If your tour guide is meeting you, I would not worry! But I would ask them for phone numbers to call as a backup in case you can't find them. Honestly, I just returned from Nairobi--a woman travelling alone-- and it did not feel at all dangerous. I was on the BA flight, too. Just use a trusted driver (tour guide or a driver recommended by your hotel)...don't wander around at night.

BTW, I do believe that BA does have a morning departure from Nairobi (I was on it but I actually was trying to get on the evening flight so I'd have more time to spend in the city!)

megtr

There are some morning arrivals...but nothing that would work since we are flying overnight to London. Thank you for your responses....Sometimes I just have to double check my doubts.

cocco1

If nobody minds, I'd like to take the topic on a slight detour: seating on BA flights. Tashak and Patty, you've experienced the BA seating between London and Nairobi, is it cramped?

megtr

And to add on to that question...are there more than 2 classes of travel on BA. As I was speaking to the agent she kept refering to the this class and that class. Is it different than just 1st class and business class?

cocco1

megtr: I believe the breakdown is as follows:

First
Business
World Traveller Plus
World Traveller

I looked at World Traveller (lowest cost) and in Canadian $ it's running $1350 pp. The World Traveller Plus comes in at around $2200.

megtr

So are there four different/divided sections of the plane?

cocco1

check out this website:
http://www.seatexpert.com/_BA747_70.html

It gives you the layout of different airlines' aircraft.

Patty

cocco1,
I haven't flown BA on this route. We flew KLM last time, but I know BA flies 747's on the daily LHR-NBO flights and 767's on the 3x weekly flights.

nkh

I would not worry about being at the airport at night. From our experience and info we received, being driven around Nairobi at night is fine (presuming of course as anywhere you trust the driver - and your guide should be fine!).

The warnings we received applied to walking/being alone in unfamiliar areas of the city. As with any big city where you dont know trouble areas, walking at night can be dangerous and if you don't know where you are going you might end up somewhere it is not safe to be.

We felt no less safe in Nairobi that we did in New York or another large, unfamiliar city where we did not know the "ropes".

Avogadro

I'm also quite curious about the seating on BA flights between London and Nairobi - we're booking in World Traveller Class (WTC).

Has anyone done the BA WTC seating? Any comments on comfort? Service?

Thanks.

sandi

If you've made arrangements through a tour operator, it doesn't matter whether you arrive at night or in the morning. Someone will be there right outside baggage claim. They will introduce themselves, you'll walk to the vehicle and your bags will be load in the vehicle and be whisked off to your hotel.

Yes, Nairobi has a reputation of not being a safe city in which to walk around. Especially not so if you don't know where you are going. It's unlikely you will go anywhere in NBO without a guide/driver.

However, if like us, true New Yorkers, you know where you want to go, have the directions you go where you wish. But you leave your jewelry and money and camera back at your hotel. Have nothing but some ID and a credit card in your pocket and be on your way. We did this our last day and as mentioned before - we bothered no one, nor they us... they went about their business and we ours.

Later when we knew that a taxi was needed to get to The Norfolk Hotel, that is what we did - taxi to/from. It was a non-event - the taxi drive... took us to and from.

megtr... you'll be just fine whether you arrive at night or morning.