Preparing to leave

After having made your decision to travel and choosing a date, there are things you must have sorted out.

To be allowed into Kenya, you must possess your Yellow Fever vaccination card which is issued at the Ports Health Department of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport for a fee of N1, 000.00 (as at last year when l got it last). I strongly advise you go get your card days before traveling because some of us Nigerians love last minute rush and I MUST CONFESS, I HAVE BEEN A CULPRIT!

On the 11th of October 2013, My Ethiopian airline flight was scheduled to take off at 1.35p.m as at 12.55p.m I was still around Gbagada heading to the Airport like a madman and still had not gotten my Yellow Fever vaccination card as l had lost the card l used for my previous traveling. Don't ask me why, I didn't leave home early but l do remember that I woke up by 4a.m!

 Life do happen to our plans! l was the last person to be checked in for the flight! I still had no card, I rushed to the Ports Health Department and it seemed the entire Lagos was struggling to get the card. My Flight was being announced and was struggling to get vaccinated with no hope. It was an insider who helped me get that card, a close shave! So get it days ahead and be at the airport some hours before departure!

We live in a global world and everything is inter-connected. So whatever you have in your bank account you have access to it wherever you are as long as you have your MasterCard or Visa enabled ATM card. So after paying for your ticket, make sure your ATM is still valid so that when you arrive Kenya, you can still have access to your account  and if you have not gotten your visa sticker before departure you pay $50 for it at the point of arrival here in Jomo Kenyatta International Airport here in Nairobi. 

With your regular ATM cards you use in Nigeria, you can withdraw your money from ATMs here in Kenya, Pay for your shopping in many stores. when you withdraw from an ATM your Nigeria bank charges you a fee just like Fidelity bank charges me $4 for ATM withdrawal but am not charged anything when l make payment with my card  over the P,O,S, l am charged nothing. 

Do make sure you are traveling with an ATM card that bears the same name with the name on your International Passport. Here when you are paying with card you are expected to present an ID and for you it is your International Passport, which means you must have it always with you.

If the name on the card you present is different from your passport, you will arrested and as a foreigner you may be labeled a terrorist! BE WARNED.

Coming over to Kenya, come with your Airtel sim because Airtel roams for FREE and you can receive calls from your contacts and they still pay the local rate for local calls.

It depends on how long you plan on staying in Kenya, If you are visiting and you intend staying in a hotel for your short stay, then you need not bother to go shopping for foodstuff but note Kenyans are not into pepper, so be prepared for "pepperless" dishes. 

If you intend staying for a longer period, I advise you go shopping for foodstuff. Now what you buy depends on what you eat. For an Igbo, I can easily list out must buys such Egusi, Ogbono, Achi, scented pepper, crayfish, dried cocoyam, Uziza, Uda, dried bitter leaf etc and all must be grounded as there are no service of grinding all these in the local markets here unless you want to buy blender immediately you get here, my advice-grind everything in Nigeria.

So buy what you eat though Kenyans do not know what PALM OIL is but DO NOT COME WITH IT as it will be seized right at the Airport in Nigeria, have had an experience. There are some Congolese who bring in Palm oil from Congo though more expensive than back home and the quality not really as ours but that is the nearest you can get here. When you come here you will be grateful that you came prepared food wise  as Kenyan meals will look so odd to you as you will see cooked bananas, steamed cabbage and carrot, green peas, chapati and rice, no stew as you are used to back home or you come across Ugali (Kenyan version of swallow, made from corn flours but stronger) and spinach!