I can’t believe I’m finally in Africa! I’ve wanted to take this adventure for nearly 20 years. After constantly pushing the idea of climbing Kilimanjaro to the back of my brain — where all my other “someday I want to…” dreams seem to reside — I’m really doing this!!!
To be honest, getting from Kansas City to Africa was a lot easier than most people would expect. I was able to book a flight with just two layovers – one in Minneapolis, MN, and another in Amsterdam. These days, Europe has direct flights from Europe to the Kilimanjaro airport, so travelers no longer have to bounce around the African continent to get there.
Of course, minimal layovers didn’t mean the trip was quick though. All told, it was a 24-hour trip from Kansas City to our hotel on the outskirts of Moshi. Plus, I had the 8-hour time difference and associated jet lag to contend with.
As such, I really wish I could have slept on the flight over to offset the fatigue. But I knew sleep was never in the cards. It’s nearly impossible for me to fall sleep on airplanes, regardless of what time of day it is or how tired I might be. And when you add in all the excitement for a new adventure – I knew there was zero chance of shuteye!
But at least I had someone to share some of my travel excitement with. My best friend, Sean, joined me for this adventure. When our separate trans-Atlantic flights met up in Amsterdam, he seemed outwardly calm. But I know him. Inside, he’s just as excited to attempt the summit as me!
Kilimanjaro Airport
When our flight finally landed in Africa, it was pitch dark and close to 9 pm local time. Sean and I took our time getting off the plane and walking to the terminal. And it was great to feel the warm Africa air on our cheeks in early October.
Of course, that’s where the tranquility ended. When we entered the building to go through immigration, the situation around us could be best summed up as a hot mess. There were crowds of people from the plane. The stagnant air inside the terminal was sweltering. And chaos loomed around us.
Maybe it was just the sleep deprivation, but the bureaucracy at the airport seemed simply amazing. First, we stood in line for 45 minutes to pay for our entry visas. After handing over my money, I stood there waiting for my visa, only to be shooed away by the clerk.
Apparently, the person who collects the money for your visa doesn’t actually issue the visa. Instead, we had to go get into a second line to present our receipt and get the visa itself.
Then we needed to head over to a third line for immigration. And so it went… Everyone was so tired from the flight, we just shuffled from line to line, waiting patiently like cattle.
In the end, it took Sean and I around 90 minutes to get through all the wickets and get into the airport itself to claim our luggage. But on the positive side, at least we didn’t have to wait for our bags! And it was super easy to find our driver to get to the hotel, since we were among some of the last passengers exiting immigration.
The guide service we’d selected already had us booked us in a hotel in Moshi (about 40 kilometers away), so we had close to an hour drive to get there. It’s a shame it was so dark out though. We didn’t get to see a single thing but inky blackness during our drive to town. Yet I was so excited to see Kilimanjaro looming on the horizon, I was staring out the window anyway.
Our First Night in Moshi
Even though it was the late at night when we arrived, they hotel clerks were expecting us. With true African hospitality the front dest offered us a refreshing juice drink and quickly got us booked into our room so we could rest our tired bodies.
I’ll admit, our room was far more spacious than I expected. There were two 4-poster beds in the room, each of which had mosquito netting dropped over it just like you see in the movies. I knew we aren’t on a safari, but I couldn’t help smiling at the ambiance of it all – and then worrying (just a little bit) about Zika or some other mosquito-borne illness.
As I looked around figuring out what to do first, Sean and I took turns showering the 24-hours of travel funk off us, and then set out reorganizing our bags for the morning. Most of the other members of our group arrived a day earlier than us. So they had ample time to prepare their three bags:
- the daypack we’d each carry while trekking;
- a duffel bag for the porters to carry with the big items (sleeping bag, extra clothes, etc); and
- a suitcase or duffel bag of non-essential items to leave locked up in the hotel’s storage room.
Arriving so late in the evening meant we didn’t have that same luxury to leisurely re-pack as our fellow climbers. We had our first briefing with the lead guide at 8 am. Plus, Sean and I still needed to complete some last minute paperwork and get a baseline health reading before we could officially start our trip.
With such an early start tomorrow morning, we agreed to get all our packing done before we turned out the lights. That would be far better than to be rushing around trying to get it all done early in the morning.
We finally finished packing everything up just before midnight, and I was ready to collapse out of exhaustion. I felt so tired and punchy from the lack of sleep and air travel. But, at least I wouldn’t be lying awake all night anxiously thinking about this upcoming adventure.
