After more than a year of planning for our 4-month world trip it is finally time for us to grab our bags and head to the airport. It all feels surreal; as if we are only leaving on a normal week-long beach vacation. Despite the planning we don’t really know what the next few months will entail. Will it be a life-altering journey that takes us through three continents or will it just be an extended vacation that we cut short for one reason or another? With these thoughts in mind, we scramble out of the house and rush to the airport to catch our flight to Arusha via Istanbul.
The 10-hour, red-eye flight to Istanbul with Turkish airlines drags on as our neighbours on the flight yack away throughout the night. An intoxicated and boisterous American woman, keeps asking the stewardess for more Turkish wine, while a retirement-aged Persian man debates the politics and culture of the middle east with a young Egyptian. We are grateful for the small flight kit and earplugs provided by Turkish airlines.
The arrivals section of the Istanbul airport is dilapidated and looks a bit like Newark, but as we cross-over to the departures section, a modern terminal appears, replete with tons of great Turkish food options. We sit down and have a quick bit of falafel and bunch of different salads before we board the flight to Tanzania.
When we arrive in Arusha, we are greeted by George, our friendly guide for the duration of our stay in Tanzania. He drops us off at our hotel, the Zawati house, for some much-needed R&R before we begin our safari. We can’t wait!
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