Departure and Arrival

Departure and Arrival

Saint Paul, MN USA to Moshi, Tanzania Africa

1/5/13 to 1/6/13

Our journey began with our good friend Paul providing us with a ride to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport (MSP).  It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when Paul arrived at our doorstep.  Deb, Greg, Justin and Therese were finishing up their last minute preparations for the trip.  Our bags were sitting in the living room and Paul kindly loaded them up into his car  A short time later, Paul's vehicle was loaded with luggage and we were off.  As Paul wound his way through the streets of St. Paul, the four travelers were anxious to arrive at the airport departure area where we joined up with our six fellow passengers, Jake, Beth, Sun Woo, Tami, Ken and Lynn.

Once we were all gathered at the airport, we sorted out our luggage and prepared to check-in.  All told, we had twenty bags to check-in; one bag per person for clothing and personal items and a second to transport the school supplies and other items our group had generated for the people of Tanzania.

 

The check-in process was for the most part orderly and pain free.  The only casualty was a pair of beautifully hand carved walking sticks that belonged to Therese and Justin.  It turns out that TSA considers such items to be "club-like," and therefore ineligible to be carried on the plane as a personal item.  Faced with the option of paying $200 to have the walking sticks added to the checked luggage or leave them at the airport in a secured area for one-tenth the cost, Justin and Therese opted to leave the sticks behind and proceeded on the journey without them.

 

The ten of us gathered at the gate at MSP and an impromptu photo session broke out.  There were pictures of the group all together, pictures of flags and memorabilia from companies that contributed to our fundraising efforts, and photos of our pile of carry-on bags and "personal items" that represented each traveler's safety net should their checked luggage not make it the entire way to Africa.

 

The first leg of our flight was from MSP to Amsterdam.  The flight was approximately eight hours long and featured some fairly inattentive and borderline rude flight attendants.  Everyone sat next to their "travel buddy" and watched movies or their eyelids.  We flew through the afternoon and into the night time as we headed east across the ocean.

 

Upon touching down in Amsterdam,  we began a five hour layover.  Some folks passed the time shopping for chocolate.  Others found a cafe or food stand for a variety of beverages or snacks.  Deb and Greg took the opportunity to jog, yes jog, in the airport.  It was a solid workout and I would imagine provided other travelers with a sight to behold and a story to tell.  Greg weathered the experience by convincing himself that he was passing as a traveler who was running to catch a flight.  Deb didn't care what other's thought.  She was ready for some exercise after sitting on a plane for so long and because she knew there was an equally long flight ahead of her.  Whatever the mindset, it served as a good way to pass the time and kept our blood flowing in preparation for another eight hours on a cramped plane.

 

 

 

The group reconvened at gate G4 (pictured above) and we passed through screening, waited some more, boarded the plane and planted our keesters in our seats for the second and final flight of the trip.  By this time Deb and Greg were equally excited not only for the flight to be over, but more importantly to arrive at the place we had prepared so long and hard to visit.  After eight more hours of flying, a few movies, and significantly improved service from our European based flight crew, our journey to Africa was over and our adventure was ready to begin.

 

We were greeted at the airport by Evans from Evans Adventures and his many contracted assistants and guides with whom we would spent a lot of time with during our travels in Tanzania.  Evans and the crew were gracious and helpful from the beginning.  Our driver, Elvis, and his door man, Hassani, coordinated efforts to load our bags on top of the miniature bus that would transport us on the hour drive from the Arusha, Tanzania to the Parkview Inn in Moshi, Tanzania.  The Parkview Inn served as our home base for much of our first week in Africa. 

 

 

 

 

Once we were all loaded into the bus, we were introduced to the remainder of the crew.  Evans provided a warm welcome and his sincere hope that we would enjoy all elements of our trip.  We began our hour long drive to Moshi and reflected on the nearly 24 hours of airline travel we had just experienced.  A short time later, we pulled into the hotel parking lot.  Our bags were unloaded, room keys were assigned and we each retreated to our rooms for a good night's sleep.  Well actually, we all went to the bar first for a drink or two and then headed off to bed.  It had been a long trip since departing the cold winter weather of Minnesota to the warm city of Moshi, but we had finally arrived and could not wait for our adventure to truly begin.