Day 1: Chicago to Moshi

Our adventure to Tanzania began in the typical fashion: an Addison bus and a Blue Line to O’Hare. The rides went smoothly and we made it to Terminal 5 with plenty of time to spare. We attempted to get into the Priority Pass lounge, but it was only available for first class passengers at that time (lame). But it was for the best because from what we saw, that lounge was small, cramped, and probably included free Covid. We opted for lunch at Big Bowl instead. Yum!

Don’t be fooled by the Asia advertisements, we are going to Tanzania

We took our time eating and eventually walked to the gate for boarding our KLM flight to Amsterdam. The flight and crew were great! Bonus points to KLM. One in-flight KLM entertainment option was trivia with a community scoreboard. Matt spent most of the flight trying to post the highest score possible. But the entertainment value really went up upon discovering the other individual challenging those high scores was seated directly in front of him. After trying for hours to de-throne Matt’s high score, the guy failed in one last glorious attempt, threw his hands up, and quit the app to go play Yahtzee. Boom!

Making our way to the first stop

Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we had an hour to kill before the rest of our group arrived, so we tried another Priority Pass lounge. The last time we were at AMS for a Delta-KLM flight to Norway, they bumped us and would absolutely not give us lounge access. This time, we eventually found our way into the Priority Pass lounge, but like the one in Chicago, it was not very impressive. There was a waiting list, the food options were minimal, and the coffee machine was broken (no milk, then no beans, then overflowing). We guess Priority Pass kinda sucks now… except maybe for the one guy in there who poured himself a water glass full of gin at 8AM!

After the brief stop in the “lounge”, we walked back to the gate to meet up with almost the rest of the group who had arrived from Minnesota. Adam flew from LAX and met up with us a few minutes later.

Long walk from arriving at gate F9 to departure at F8

These seats are reserved for hikers

The Flying Dutchman

Boarding was a few minutes late, and we needed to wait another 30 minutes for the airspace over Germany to clear up, but neither were a big problem. We ended up getting bulk head seats so we were quite happy. Props to the KLM air conditioning guys because they had that unit running like nobody’s business! At least we got to put our cold-weather gear to use. And another shoutout for the KLM flight attendants who are WAY nicer than you’ll find with other airlines. When asked by a fellow passenger what the difference was between the chicken and the pasta lunch options, she kindly replied, “Well, a chicken is an animal and the pasta is pasta.”

It’s like first class for basic economy people!

Good idea to fly around Sudan

After landing at Kilimanjaro Airport in Arusha, we joined the crowds going through the very slow customs line. An hour later, we were all through, collected our bags, and met Damien, our Ultimate Kilimanjaro driver who took us to the Parkview Hotel. It is currently dark out, so no park views until morning. We did see a cat at the airport though, so we are already seeing nature.

Made it!

Group Shots need some work

Tomorrow we have the day to rest, buy/rent any gear we still need (like a sleeping bag), and get briefed for the hike.

Hotel room complete with princess net