Tanzania 2015 - Homeward Bound

Back To Arusha - Tuesday, 11 August 2015

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast and headed back to Arusha. We stopped at a couple of shops along the way and bought more stuff.

At the first stop, we bought a small painting and an elephant statuette. The second stop was an artist coop. We talked to an artist, bought his painting and took his picture.

We stopped for lunch near the local airport. We had one of the best meals of the trip. We could see and smell it being cooked. Rice and lots of vegetables. This was the final meal for us as a group, as two of us were leaving for Zanzibar.

Back at the Moivaro Lodge in Arusha, we sat with the others as they ate a light dinner. They left for the airport at 4 pm. We bought some OAT T-shirts. We hung around our cabin and then ate a nice dinner. Another OAT group had just arrived for their main trip. We sat at a small table with charcoal burning under the table. It was very cozy.

Off To The Airport - Wednesday, 12 August 2015

The next morning, we ate a late breakfast and had a late checkout at 11:30. We ate a light lunch, like the light dinner that the others are yesterday. We were the only ones at lunch and ordered from a limited menu.

We took a taxi to the airport at 1:30. Our flight was on time and we arrived in Addis Ababa on time. We had several hours to wait and did not make the same mistake twice: we got through security early. The plane for Toronto departed 30 minutes late.

The flight was listed as 16 hours and 40 minutes. I doubted a plane could stay aloft that long. As soon as we boarded, the pilot announced we were going to Dublin, not Toronto! We checked with the flight attendant. Dublin was for refueling and changing crews, no passengers would embark or debark. We left late from Dublin but arrived early in Toronto.

Toronto - Thursday, 13 August 2015

We took a short shuttle to our hotel in Toronto. We ate a delicious and complete breakfast buffet. We napped and took a short walk in the neighborhood. We were too exhausted to explore Toronto and the train to town was expensive. We ate dinner in the hotel. We fell asleep watching Big Bang reruns. Early to bed.

Final Leg - Friday, 14 August 2015

Up early the next day. We arrived 2.5 hours early for the flight. On the last flight of our trip, I had a problem with the name on the ticket not matching the passport. It took an extra 45 minutes to get our boarding passes.

Next stop was immigration into the US, which is on Canadian soil. Even if we had not had a problem with boarding passes or had arrived three hours early, it would not have mattered. People could not queue until the agents called the flight time. This kept the line as short and quick as possible for catching planes, but annoyed people who arrived early to avoid a rush. As it was, everyone was rushing to the gates. We arrived five minuted before boarding started.

Back in Miami, Jack picked us up at the curb with some delicious iced teas. It was a wonderful welcome. We regaled him with tales of Africa as he drove us home.