Kenya and Tanzania - Day 1
On Thursday morning we boarded our Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 575. We booked business class seats. The Yelp reviews of economy class were less than flattering. Let’s see how they treat the folks up front. When we arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after our fourteen hour flight we will have a two hour layover and a plane change. After another two hour flight we land in Arusha, Tanzania. Let’s hope our luggage gets on our same plane. Our Tauck tour guide warned that luggage handing at Ethiopian airports is hit or miss so we both packed a carryon bag with a two days change of clothes and toiletries.
We will spend two nights at the Gran Melia Arusha. It is a one hour ride from Kilimanjaro airport to the hotel. We have a full day on Saturday to explore Arusha. We booked a car and driver for a three hour guided tour.
Our experience with Ethiopian Airlines has been quite pleasant. Our taxi dropped us off in front of the check in counters at O’Hare airport terminal five. There were six counters with check in staff at the ready. We were immediately greeted and handed our boarding passes, connecting flight passes and a lounge pass for the Swiss Air lounge. The pilot approached the desk and asked “how many onboard?” Our gate agent replied 16 and 150. I assume the 16 are flight staff and 150 is the number of passengers.
We are on a Boeing 787. The cabin is cavernous with huge overhead storage bins. They are large enough for someone to sleep in. Our business class seats are lay flat pods. The cabin is set up with seats two, two and two across. The pods next to the windows require the person in the window seat to climb over the person on the aisle to get out. We booked our flight eleven months in advance so we have the two pods on the aisle.
The meal service was excellent and the cabin attendants are attentive. So far so good.
The breakfast crepe was delicious.
After reading that coffee was first discovered growing wild in the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia, I had a cup of coffee. Kaffa is the name of an Ethiopian province from which the word coffee was derived. The legend tells that a shepherd observed his sheep eating coffee beans and acting strangely. He took the beans to a monastery. The monks believed they were the craft of the devil and threw them in the fire. They enjoyed the aroma of the roasting beans and started using the beans in liquid coffee. Then they discovered the benefits of coffee that helped them focus and stay longer in their meditations. It was a good cup of coffee on the plane.
Our plane is flying a course that has taken us from Chicago, past Newfoundland, over the North Atlantic Ocean to Spain. We flew just south of Madrid and then over the Mediterranean to Tunisia. We looked out the window to try and see our friends Ken and Lynn Behr who are cruising the Med in their Hylas 56 Bistari. We might have caught a glimpse of their mast head light. We will fly over the Gulf of Sirte, Libya and Egypt on our way to Ethiopia. We will parallel the the Red Sea on our final approach to Addis Ababa.
Our plane flew over the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean to reach the Horn of Africa.
We flew parallel to the Red Sea and avoided flying over Sudan.
Our transfer at Addis Ababa was seamless. We cleared security and entered the Ethiopian Airlines lounge. There is an amazing coffee service in the lounge. They have taken coffee making the next level.
This is the coffee service in the Ethiopian Airlines lounge. It is really strong coffee.
Our connecting flight ET 815 departed the gate at Addis Ababa on time and proceeded to sit on the runway for 40 minutes prior to take off. We arrived at Kilimanjaro airport a little late but no big deal. Our Tauck representative Davis was waiting for us after we cleared customs. It was a 1.5 hour drive from the airport to the hotel. Our total trip was about a 22 hours door to door. The Gran Melia hotel in Arusha is stunning. More on that tomorrow.
This is our plane on the tarmac at Kilimanjaro airport. It is an older model Boeing 777.
Yes, we did finally arrive at Kilimanjaro airport in Arusha, Tanzania. Tomorrow we will go on a guided city tour and meet our fellow travelers at a reception on Saturday night. The safari begins Sunday morning.