Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The day is finally here…Tanzania bound!  Woo Hoo!!!!  I am awfully tired in beginning this journey; I was so pumped last night that I didn’t go to bed until around 2:00 a.m.   Hated saying goodbye to Mike at the gate, love him so much….wish he were coming with me but maybe another time.

The flight from Charlotte to JFK-NY was uneventful and cramped.   I did see a good book though that might prove interesting. The young man sitting next to me was reading it and gave me a synopsis.  It’s entitled “The Winter King.”   I have managed to make it to terminal 4 and get some lunch….I’m starving!

So, I meet Buffy and Nancy in the bathroom …walk in and there they are!  I need to mention that Buffy and I met prior to the trip.  She actually is from Charlotte and on a visit home, she came to RH to meet me.  Gina created a facebook group for us, so we were able to at least know what each other looks like.  🙂  Here comes Andy and now Eunice;  it is time to board.

The flight so far is ok, but we do have a lot of turbulence.   We landed in Amsterdam- 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.  We are now 6 hours ahead of home and we are all tired!  Walking around the airport- very modern and full of things to do.  We have found a teacup restaurant and started taking pictures.

me in the teacup!

Andy and Eunice decide to eat miniature pancakes and yes, they did share!   There is a man playing the piano not far from us….how nice!  The tulips are everywhere and they are beautiful.  We have @ a four hour layover here so we are exploring. Finally, we settle down and play uno while Eunice finds a wi-fi hotspot to camp out at.   Andy, you’re probably reading about this for the first time….we meant to tell you but forgot to…Remember when you went to get something to eat before boarding?  We were playing UNO… well…we, that is me, Nancy and Buffy, decided to play a trick on you and ‘fix’ the cards in our favor so you couldn’t win.  Uh hemmmm….as you recall, you won! You can’t fix the game of UNO!  We forgot that the cards keep coming and there is no control over who gets what!  Oh well…you had to be there and in the know to appreciate this laugh.  But it WAS funny!   and the joke was on us!

Ok…it’s finally boarding time and our last flight of the journey.  We are flying KLM – The Royal Dutch Airline.  We all may try to get a little sleep. Good gracious, this airline serves more food and snacks!   Flight is more comfortable and no turbulence.

@ 9 hrs. later – – We have finally arrived at Mt. Kilimanjaro!  We made it!

"Big Bird"

We have been standing in line for about an hour waiting to get our VISAS.  So ready to see Gina – and there she is!  After about a 45 min. ride, we reach Gina’s house, have a nice dinner and it is bedtime!  Until tomorrow….