Tanzania - Travel

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Day 1-3 (Oct 31-Nov 2) Travel - Probably the most grueling flying experience of my life. Due to the airline screw up we had to change our flight from LAX to SF and buy a one way ticket for our San Fran departure. So we left LA at 1:30pm for our short jump up north, where we had a 4hr layover to recheck our bag and have a couple beers. We took our seats in the very last row of the plane for the 13hr journey. Plenty of movies to watch and free beer although we only had a couple. Half way through we had a medical scare. I fell asleep on my arm so my hand fell asleep. Normally not a problem, but I couldn't move my wrist one bit and this lasted for hours. So I told the flight attendants who asked if a doc was on board but none were. Meanwhile some kid came to the back and blew chunks all over the floor of the galley.

Made it to Istanbul, hand still unable to move, and no time to stop at first aid as we had to jump on our next plane. We were in row 5, but unfortunately just one row behind business class. And not one but TWO babies in our row (one screamer), for the 7hr journey to Dar Es Salaam. It's now over 12 hours since the hand issue so I asked the crew for a doc again, thankfully there was one on board and said it was probably just a pinched nerve and to give it time. Made it to Dar at 3am, got through customs in no time, only to have 6 hours to wait around outside the airport in the humid air, as the airport was puny. We took turns napping and finally checked in for our flight. Luckily there was free wifi where we researched the pinched nerve to find rest and immobilization is the only cure.

Finally made it up to Kili airport after the 1hr flight, where we arrived slightly early and got our bags in no time, only to find our ride not there. So we spoke to an Arsenal fan cab driver who called the company for us but no answer. Thankfully our driver did show up right on time and drove us the final hour to Arusha. Interesting ride, very 3rd world, until we reached our private secluded compound of Planet Lodge. We had a beer, jumped in the pool, grabbed dinner (where I felt too sick to my stomach to eat much) and went to bed.

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