2/24/07

We left Erie around 3 PM and arrived in Detroit around 4 PM. By the time we got over to our plane leaving for Amsterdam (through the colorful "sight and sound " tunnel) we had about 30 minutes until boarding, so the timing was good.
We left Detroit on an "Airbus 330" around 5:30 PM. This plane seats two on each side and four seats in the middle so no one is more than one seat from an isle.

2/25/07

We traveled "all night" which was short due to traveling east and arrived in Amsterdam around 7:30 AM their time. Our flight to Kilamanjaro (Arusha, Tanzania) left in the rain at 10:30 AM and arrived at Kilimanjaro airport around 8:35 PM. This plane was a DC 11 which seats three on each side and three or four in the middle for nine or ten across in coach.
Eaustace, our guide/driver for the trip, met us at the airport and took us about 27 miles into Arusha for our two night stay at the Illboru Safari Lodge. We got in around 10 PM and to bed by 11:25. The road to Arusha was wide and paved but the half mile or so drive to the lodge
was a very bad bumpy dirt road. Until we arrived we were wondering where we were being taken. (There are no speed limits in Tanzania so whenever we were in a populated area, speed bumps are placed in the road to insure that you slow down)
We were amazed at all the lodges that we stayed at. After traveling over poor, dusty, roads you suddenly came to an oasis of civilization with all of the comforts of home (mostly) :)