Day 1 - Departure / Arrival (Feb 10/11)

Unfortunately, I did not have consistent or reliable internet access while in Africa (no real surprise there), therefore, I will attempt to provide a retrospective day-by-day account of our trip over the course of the next few weeks.  The added benefit of doing this after-the-fact though, is that I can include some of the photos from each day as well.
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After the debacle with the camera battery charger, the rest of my travels seemed to go more smoothly (at least until I arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport).  Granted, it was a long travel day(s) - a 7.5 hour flight, followed by an 8.5 hour flight with a nearly 3-hour layover in between, but I have to say that connecting once in Amsterdam was the best possible way to do this trip.  There are daily flights between Schiphol (Amsterdam's international airport) and Kilimanjaro International airport and Schiphol isn't a bad way to spend 2+ hours.  They even have day showers, so for the price of about 10 euro, I was able to shower, freshen up and feel somewhat rejuvinated in time for my 8.5 hour flight to Kili.

Step 1 - Check!

So, this week it all became real. Flights to Africa are booked! I've never traveled somewhere so far that there are no possible direct flights from the US. The most direct way to get to Kilimanjaro is to fly KLM from New York (JFK) to Amsterdam (AMS) then on to Kilimanjaro Airport (JRO). Unfortunately booking this late in the game meant that I could only get this direct flight on the way TO Kili, as the daily flights from JRO - AMS were booked for both the Saturday and Sunday that I was considering returning. Therefore, I'll need to return via Nairobi, Kenya before traveling on to Amsterdam and eventually back to New York.