We just had the most stressful day yet on our way to Cairo, which feels like the perfect segue into a post about some of the bigger mistakes we’ve made so far in our first 15 days of travel—and what they’ve cost us.
1) I Melted My Underwear
In Paris, I cranked the washing machine to the hottest setting, thinking it would disinfect everything after our lice episode and subway rides. Turns out, the adhesive on my underwear seams couldn’t handle the heat—leaving me with scraps of fabric. Disappointing, but fixable. I’ll restock when we can.
2) We Got a Key Stuck in the Lock
European doors apparently use something called euro cylinder locks—no knobs, just keyholes on both sides. That means you need the key for everything, coming in and going out. As we were moving out our Airbnb in Paris, bags packed and Uber arriving, we shut the door… with the key still in the inside lock. The host explained that if a key is left in the inside cylinder, a spare outside key won’t work. Cue a €100 locksmith bill, with thankfully he arranged for while we headed to our next stop, and just covered the bill. Lesson learned: always double-check the lock before closing.
3) We Forgot Our Kenya Visa
Our plan: Paris → Cairo (24-hour stopover) → Nairobi. At the Paris check-in, the agent asked for proof of our Kenya Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA). I had noted it in our planning spreadsheet but I think I had confused it with more of an arrival form. In reality, it’s a visa by another name and it requires detailed information to be uploaded in a lengthy online form and normally takes 72 hours to process. We scrambled—stepping out of the check in line while one of us filling out the form and the other panic-Googling “expedited processing.” Thirty minutes and an extra $400 USD later, we had approvals in hand. The same agent looked relieved for us as she handed over boarding passes. We still had to survive an hour-long customs line, which was also very long and stressful, but we made it to the gate in time to hear them call last boarding.
4) Not Enough Malaria Medicine for Emmalyn
For Kenya and the Philippines, we were prescribed daily malaria pills. When I was packing I noticed that Emmalyn had received twice as many pills as everyone else, which I attributed to an error on the pharmacists part. In the final preparation for the trip, we were visiting the pharmacists nearly daily with different requests so I thought it was perfectly reasonable that they must have gotten a little confused in the chaos and made a mistake. So I brought enough for everyone to have 70 pills, which would more than cover our time in the malaria risk areas. Well we just started taking them, and I’m double checking the instruction on how and when to take them… and I realize that Emmalyn was assigned 2 daily pediatric pills due to her weight. Now we’ll need to find a pharmacy in Nairobi to top up her supply but these medications should be commonly available, so hopefully it wont be a issue. Update: This mistake cost us $170. The pills were easy to find, but not cheap. They would have free (covered under insurance) at home