Although Her Majesty's Government has now helpfully dropped the need for testing before we return to the UK, we are still required to produce a negative PCR when we land in Kenya. Until just before Christmas this could be done up to 96 hours before departure, but with the Omicron variant taking the world by storm, on 21 December this was reduced to 72 hours.
We decided to take the most stress free option and to actually visit a Randox testing centre near Heathrow and have our results in 1-3 hours. This was clearly not going to be the cheapest option by a long way, but the thought of waiting around for results was too much for us and our imaginations would have been going wild wondering a) had we swabbed correctly b) had the sample been collected from the drop box c) what if the courier had an accident before he delivered the sample to the lab - these were just a few of the pitfalls we could visualise.
So we booked our tests for mid morning, 47 or so hours before departure. On checking the M25 traffic when we woke, there'd been an accident en route and delays of 39 mins were showing so we gulped down a quick breakfast and hit the road early. Thanks to some super smart driving and excellent lane choices by Ian we managed to avoid most of the queues and actually arrived almost 1 hour early. We parked in an adjacent McD and walked to the centre to find out where it was and the procedure as you're not supposed to go together or early. But it didn't matter at all and the delightfully helpful staff did all the necessary registering of our kits and then duly swabbed us, although Ian did have a mild panic when his mouth swab came out all red - you're not supposed to eat/drink 1/2 hour before and not realising we'd be "done" early he'd recently had one of his famous catarrh pastels - but the operative assured him it would be OK. We then headed to a nearby Tesco superstore for a cuppa and to wait for the results which were told would likely be 2.5 hours. We got to the 3 hours and still no results so we went back to the centre and spoke to the same staff who went and found our samples which were still waiting for whatever and put them to the top of the pile, ensuring us another 15 minutes and we'd have them. After 25 mins Ian's email came through but nothing on mine, so this time we decided to drive into the testing centre car park and hang the parking charge, but typically just as I got out of the car the email came in. We'd been there such a short time the ANPR hadn't had time to work so the payment machine threw a wobbly and the gates opened and closed instantly without giving us a chance to drive through. Fortunately someone was right behind us so we got out on her opening and, I'm glad to say, so did she.
Heading home the satnav told us there were "traffic disruptions en route", one of its favourite sayings, but in fact we sailed along and got home just after 3pm. We spent the next couple of hours making sure all the correct website forms had been completed and the appropriate QR codes downloaded and printed off - Kenya seem to love QR codes and take bureaucracy to another level, requiring us to check in daily via an App and report how we are. But Michele at Safari Consultants has told us we don't need to bother with it and as the App doesn't work on our iphones we won't worry, especially as phone signals in the bush are pretty rubbish.
Clearly for Track & Trace to work efficiently where you are seated on the plane is important and before completing the forms, we'd double checked our seats were 10A & 11A . However this morning when we checked in, bl**dy BA had decided to relocate us to 16A & 17A which we don't want because a) they are over the wing so you can't see the terrain below and b) they are at the end of the cabin and the food choice may be bad. There appear to be two Business Class cabins, one with only 4 rows and so we are now in the front middle seats of that one - not remotely what we wanted but the best left on offer. We shall be having words at the airport - why allow us to select them if they are only going to be changed and what about our Passenger Locator Forms grrrrrrrr.
Other than that we are all packed and our luggage weighs in very slightly under the allowed 30kgs and so we may not need to take out a couple of the heavy camera lenses before weigh-in at Wilson after all.