So about a week ago, I found an excellent deal for a flight to Kilimanjaro airport, near Moshi, on the Travel Cuts website. $1619, taxes in. Now, most flights to Africa cost somewhere over $2000. To Dar Es Salaam, it's generally $2300-2500, somewhere in that price range. So this price? Unheard of.
Of coruse, there's always a catch. The earlier I could leave would be July 31, and I would have layovers in Washington D.C. (overnight), and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before landing in Moshi two days after leaving Ottawa. (To be fair, part of that two days is crossing so many time zones) As for leaving...the two dates I tried didn't affect the price. August 31 or September 4, both were valid.
I ended up going into the travel agency, rather than book online. I have booked online, and had no problems, but I wanted to see about staying in Addis for a few days. I've never been to Ethiopia, and I figured if I was going to be there anyway....just do it. It added about $100 to the total price - an extra $30 to stay in Addis for three days, and then another $70 for dealing with a real human. For me, it's totally worth it to pay that money to see a new city.
So here I am, with a ticket to Tanzania, leaving July 31 and returning September 4. I decided a few days extra would be a good thing - that way I'm not rushing to climb Kili, do a safari, get to Zanzibar...I can take my time to see Moshi, Dar, maybe fly to Kilgala, Rwanda for a few days.
So I've got a ticket, and it's now a reality. I'm going to Africa, I'm going to climb Kilimanjaro.
No comments:
Post a Comment