Total travel: 34-35 hours? Final prize: 1 chilly Kilimanjaro beer.

Kili deigned to come out for my first run

I have heard that flying via Turkey instead of through Amsterdam you can arrive from Moshi to the US in one day. After who knows really how many hours travelling, I am thinking this is an option that should be explored. I did manage to sleep about 3 or 4 hours total in all that time--something only slightly better than nothing. Unfortunately for me, I had a skirmish with the flight security leaving JFK getting onto my Amsterdam bound plane during which they refused to allow me my carry one, forcing me to cough up an obscene amount of money to last minute check it. Of course, I had not planned on checking it, so it had many of the non-expendable items--ie documents to prove my existence, camera equipment, hard drives, drugs, and cold hard cash. A veritable goldmine for some thief with very low standards.

I imagine had I not been agonizing over the it's travel and appropriate off loading at JRO I might have slept a bit more on either said planes.

At least as I tried to distract myself from analyzing over and over how I might have negotiated the situation differently, I had pleasant seat mates on both legs of the journey.  Traveling to Amsterdam I sat with a formerly of South Africa woman and her husband who were off to visit her newly immigrated to Europe sister and her 90 year old father who had travelled from Africa as one lust huzzah.

And the next leg was satisfyingly empty that I was able to have a free seat next to me. The man across from that was kind enough to collect things for me on the rare occasions that I dozed off.

I am not doing a terribly good job recovering from the jet lag, but if I can make through without passing out in the mid afternoon I should hopefully readjus.