Booking the Trip

This is not so real-time as I actually booked the trip several months ago but I thought I'd mention a few things about it.

The big decision is who to book with. It seems there are innumerable adventure tour companies offering Kilimanjaro trips. I noticed some people actually just booked their trip to Tanzania and then signed with a guide at the last minute. No way I was doing that. There are two adventure travel companies that heavily promote themselves here in Vancouver, Trek and Gap. Both of them hold regular travel shows where you can watch slide shows, etc.. I went to one by Trek on Africa and to my surprise there was a sea of grey hair in the audience. Aside from the fact that I'm turning grey at 44, I found this alarming. I soon figured out that most of them were interested in luxury safaris.

I ended up booking with GAP for no reason other than I happened to drop in one day and got a very friendly rep who had lots of time to spend with me. I have since noticed so many more around North America including some really impressive looking ones such as Tusker Trail (check out www.tusker.com - they have a very cool video).

I am flying Air Canada from Vancouver to London and then Kenya Air from London to Nairobi, Kenya and on to Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania. Booking the flights was a bit different than booking a standard business or personal trip. They had to wait for days to confirm availability and pricing, mostly because the flights and various tours I was taking all had to be coordinated and that can't be done on the spot. So you let them know what you want and wait for them to confirm.

I won't comment on the cost of the trip other than to say it is expensive. I justified it partly because I knew I was going to receive a 10-year bonus from my company which took a big chunk out of the cost. Also, it is clearly possible to do this trip for less than what I paid. In addition to Kilimanjaro I have a week on "safari" and a week in Zanzibar, both of which are going to be in relative style. (Picture enjoying a gin and tonic at sunset on the Serengeti while you're watching a pride of lions)

One other point: I never figured myself as being a stickler for detail but I was a little uncomfortable at first with the number of details that aren't nailed down before you leave. You just have to wing it when you get there. I'm ok with it now but if you're used to business travel where you have control over every detail, this took some getting used to.