Going Home (skip the text and just see the pictures)

Tuesday 3-Jan-2006

The flight from the Seronera air strip was fun - I got to sit in the copilots seat and a giraffe crossed the runway as we were taxiing to the end for takeoff.

The flight took an hour. Seeing Ngorongoro Crater from above emphasized how big it really is. It was also interesting to see the Maasai villages, which from above form a circular pattern that looks like bacteria cultures under a microscope. Part way through the flight the man in back of me started asking the pilot a bunch of questions about the altimeter. He thought it was broken because it showed at 12,000 feet, and the pilot had said that we'd be flying at 6,000 feet. The altimeter wasn't broken - it displays feet above sea level, so you have to know the altitude of the ground (which at the time was about 6,000 feet) for it to be meaningful. Stop bothering the pilot - he's busy!

We landed in Arusha around 11:30. The sign on the "tower" proclaimed Arusha to be "the Geneva of Africa" - we haven't been to Geneva, nor do we know what aspect of Arusha is supposed to resemble it. We met Simon (whom we'd met in passing in the Serengeti) and Edward (whom we'd met at the Namanga border) and headed for the Kigongoni Lodge, where we'd spend the day before our evening flight.

We passed through Arusha and arrived at the Kigongoni Lodge in about 20 minutes. The lodge is off the main road situated on a hill in the middle of several rose farms. Our room (#3) was the largest and possibly the nicest we'd had so far. It had a terrace overlooking thick tropical foliage, two mosquito net-covered beds, a desk, a sitting area, and a huge bathroom with an oversized soaking tub and separate shower big enough for about six people. We were a short walk from the pool and dining area.

We had lunch which was good (tomato/mozzarella/basil salad and a burger with fried) but the service was very slow. It was nice to order off a menu :) After lunch we sat by the pool for a bit before showering, changing into our last remaining clothes, and posting a quick update to the blog.

Simon picked us at at 5 and we headed for the Kilimanjaro airport. About 10 minutes into the drive, we got our third and last flat tire. We were quite an attraction for all the folks passing by, although this time neither Andy nor I got out of the car because we were on a busy road. Simon has to hold the Tanzanian record for changing a tire - we were back on the road in less than 10 minutes.

The drive to the airport took less than an hour, and we arrived with plenty of time before our flight. The check-in counter was kind of confusing, we had Air Kenya tickets but there were only signs for Kenya Air. It turned out that you could check in at any counter for any airline. We checked our two duffel bags all the way through to Chicago, and carried the camera wheelie, backpack, and shopping bag of souvenirs.

The flight from Kilimanjaro to Nairobi was open seating and took about an hour. We deplaned via stairs and had to walk up a long flight of steps to get to the airport. We then had to find the transfer desk for Sabena - there's only one terminal, and most people are flying KLM so you just keep walking until you find it. We checked in and were told that our flight was delayed about an hour. Ugh - now we had to kill time and stay up until almost 1am!

We followed the signs to the restaurant, which was a long walk down a few deserted corridors, up a few flights of stairs, and past what we assume is where you are forced to live if you aren't granted a visa (STRANGE area where it looked like non-local people were living indefinitely, unpacked their luggage, hung flags and other decorative items - think a Pakistani version of Tom Hanks in The Terminal). The "restaurant" was pretty deserted, and the menu looked sketchy - we weren't interested in sampling exotic curries before 18 hours of international flights. So we left, walked back down the flights of stairs, through the freaky foreign neighborhood, and back to the gate area. Since we had three hours, we walked to the VERY end of the terminal (Gate 14) and found a great cafe down there. I'm a fan of any clean place with CNN where I can get a grilled ham and cheese. We stayed there as long as we could and eventually made our way back to Gate 10.

Like most international flights nowadays, there was an additional security screening before entering the gate area. They scrutinized our passports, asked the security questions, made some snippy comments about us having too much carry-on luggage (which is ludicrous since between the two of us we had the camera bag, a backpack, and the small shopping bag of souvenirs), and x-rayed our bags.

Once in the boarding area we could barely keep our eyes open. We'd been up since 4am, and had been operating on only a few good hours of sleep a night. We had horrible seats - two rows from the back and I had the middle seat, but we were both asleep before takeoff. I woke up midway through the flight when the woman next to me spilled water all over me, but I still think I got 5ish hours of sleep.

We arrived in Brussels around 7am and hung out in a cafe for a while before trying to find our gate. The airport was confusing because it's huge and they don't tell you the gate (or terminal) until an hour before. Then you have to go through security to get into the terminal (the typical x-ray and pat down), and then AGAIN before reaching the gates where planes depart for the US. This security check was much more thorough - they hand inspected all carryon bags, including unwrapping all of our souvenirs, and powering on all electronic devices. THEN you wait in line at the gate and get the normal questions (did you pack your own bags, had they been with you all the time, etc.). Problem is, we were so out of it that we couldn't remember simple things like where we'd packed our bags. "We checked our bags in Kilimanjaro - wait, What's today? Wednesday? that was yesterday - but they've been locked the whole time." THEN you wait in line to check in and get a boarding pass. Luckily this was an American Airlines flight so we'd pre-reserved the exit row. Unluckily it was across the aisle from a sick child who'd been screaming since the boarding area in Nairobi. But 8.5 hours later we, and our numb asses, were home.

(click any image to see larger version)

Return to top