I am travelling to Africa firstly to work with aid and development agency cbm New Zealand. Prior to starting the cbm work I booked for a wild life safari in Tanzania. More on both later.
It’s a long way to Africa at any time and I didn’t quite come by the most direct route – but used some Qantas airpoints for upgrades on the Auckland Sydney Hong Kong sector, then Emirates to Dubai and down to Nairobi (so can stop over in Dubai on the way home), then local flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Left Auckland 5.30 am Monday 14th arrived hotel in Arusha Tanzania 7.00pm Tuesday 15th. All in all a good journey – Emirates were particularly helpful both in Hong Kong and Nairobi making sure my bag transferred to the onward flights without me having to clear customs and retrieve etc. Hong Kong is a huge airport especially walking from end of one pier to the next! Dubai is very very hot – especially as had to disembark and embark onto tarmac and bus to terminal – very suprising that Emirates couldn’t find space for their own flights at the piers of their nice new terminal.
