I Almost Missed Work Because Kenya Said “Welcome Home” 🇰🇪
30 days out. 6:30am. One passport photo and a full-blown identity crisis about my life choices.
Here’s a fun fact about me: I was born in Jamaica, but I don’t hold a Jamaican passport. Which means when the rest of my Caribbean people get to breeze into Kenya visa-free, I’m over here at 6:30am — pre-coffee, pre-everything — hunched over my phone taking a “natural morning light” passport photo like I’m shooting content for the Kenyan government’s Instagram.
Because that’s the vibe of adult life now, isn’t it? You don’t just decide to go somewhere. You decide, then you remember there’s paperwork, then the paperwork remembers there’s a deadline, and suddenly you’re doing visa admin before your first alarm snooze wears off.
“This’ll take 10 minutes,” I said. Reader, it did not.
I opened the Kenya eTA application thinking I’d knock it out before work. Cute. Naive. Adorable, really.
It was smooth sailing until I hit the accommodations section — where I needed to list every single place I’m staying, with check-in and check-out dates, for the entire trip.
Nine. NINE listings. Plus the train. 👀
At this point I’m googling like it’s a group chat emergency: “do I really need to upload confirmation for all 9???” Shoutout to the internet stranger who saved my morning by confirming — nope, just the first one. Bless.
What they actually want from you:
• 📸 A photo of your passport bio page
• 🤳 A selfie (yes, an actual selfie, for your visa)
• 🏨 Confirmation for your first accommodation
• ✈️ Your flight, cruise, or however you’re rolling into the country
All in — passport photo, selfie, uploads, the nine-stop itinerary typed out in full — 25 minutes. Not bad, considering I thought I was going to cry at one point.
The verdict? Worth being late for.
I arrived late. My manager side-eyed me. Worth it.
Because somewhere between the parking lot and my desk, my phone buzzed with an email that just said:
”Welcome Home”
And listen — I don’t care how many nine-accommodation forms you make me fill out, Kenya knows how to make an entrance feel personal. One step closer to a trip I’ve been manifesting for months, and honestly? A great story to tell while I wait to board.
Anyone else procrastinate visa applications until the eleventh hour, or is that just me? 😅
