Today it is time to return home. Its only been a week, but it seems like a lot longer. The day begins unlike any other day, with a lie in. 9am is a much more civilised time to get up than the 6am times we have been used to. We will leave for the airport at 12, and it takes a large part of the time to pack. I think there is a lot of extra weight in the dirt from the mountain on all my gear, and so I lighten the load by dumping a few bits and pieces. As I had another shower this morning, I feel I can finally dump the baby wipes, no more baby wipe showers. A few other bits and pieces also get jettisoned to make packing easier.
In the middle of packing we have our first goodbyes, because not all of us are heading home immediately. Three are heading for a weeks beach holiday on Zanzibar. When I was booking I thought I would be tired enough that I'd just want to come home so didn't book that option, but at this point in time it looks like a great option. However 12 of us are heading back instead.
The journey back to the airport is again along the Arusha - Moshi road. Having travelled 4 times along it in a week I think I know it better than a lot of others. This is just as well, because you have to be able to anticipate the speed bumps, especially if you are trying to doze. I've never seen a main road with so many speed bumps on it, and police checking for speeding, but as traffic accidents are one of the biggest causes of deaths in Tanzania it is not surprising.
We get to the airport and we have to say goodbye to our guide, as we are going straight through security going into the building. So there is nobody other than passengers allowed in departures. The airport is a bit bigger on the departures side that it was on the arrivals side, but there still isn't that much to do other than queue. This is probably the first airport I have ever arrived at 3 hours before departure as required, and found we really did need the 3 hours. Duty free is small, but I manage to spend my last Tanzanian currency (only received as change from beers paid for in dollars in the hotel bar) on some sweets. Overall I've spent a lot less than I thought I would, but there wasn't really that much opportunity to spend.
We are flying out on the return leg of the flight we came in on. Luckily for us this one is on time, unlike our one being 2 hours late last week. After we take off for the short hop to Nairobi we get some great views of the top of the mountain poking through the clouds. It is a fitting way to have our last view of Kilimanjaro. One of the only regrets of the week is that we have not been able to get any of the great distance pictures of the mountain towering over the savannah, but this fly past makes up for it.
While on the flight to Nairobi I get talking to the guy next to me who did a different route. He tells me that they were told a woman died on the mountain only a few days before we got there. Although I have since googled it and cannot find confirmation, it is probable, these things do not get publicised too much. From googling before I went I know a bloke from Wexford died in March, but I never told anyone in case they worried. The truth is this was a relatively dangerous holiday, a few people die doing it each year out of the 50,000 or so who attempt. Its not quite the danger of Everest, but it is a bit more dangerous than some holidays (although not if they involve going to the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney).
When we come in to land at Nairobi we get the same turbulence and hard landing as before. It is a sign of how used to hard landings on Ethiopian Airlines that we don't really notice. But an hour later when we pull back from the terminal what happens, yes a warning light comes on. After 2 hours sat on the concrete, we get taken off the plane and sent into the terminal. It is not looking good. Or it is. To be honest this holiday is finishing a day earlier than I expected (due to a booking change I was originally on a trip finishing the next day, but I did get £180 back instead). So if we are to stay a night in Nairobi it wouldn't bother me. Others might have problems, so if they look for volunteers to stay I am on for it. Nothing to do with the fact that if I clear customs I can claim to have visited Kenya, and another country, and in particular my first beginning with K, would be nice.
First though they make some efforts to cater for us, so we do get free softdrinks, pies (actual meat pies like you would get at a lower league football match) and some cake. With another duty free beside us to supply crisps and chocolate we are actually well supplied. It is only at this point that we realise that we haven't eaten since breakfast at 9am and it is now 8pm. For some of us, the two lads who hit the town last night, it is even longer as they didn't make breakfast. Although apparently in their night out they did have pizza at 2am, and a barbeque at 5am. Their adventures at the two nightclubs they visited sound alternatively scary and amazing, but as these experiences didn't happen to me they aren't for this blog.
After 2 hours in the terminal though they manage to fix the plane. As we had a 6 hour stopover in Addis anyway, we are still on target for meeting our plane, although the Americans have missed their flight to DC. When we get to Addis it is just midnight, so we head straight for the bar. It is now the one of the girl's birthday, so we sing happy birthday and have a few more beers. This is our last chance to be together as a group (less those who went to Zanzibar) before we get on the plane, where we no longer sit together, and the chances of all getting through Heathrow border control at the same time to have a big goodbye there are slim.
So this is really where the trip ends. We get on the plane at 2am, and it is a fairly standard flight. The queues at Heathrow are worse than I expected, and getting out of it takes a while, but eventually I do make it home and its the end of the holiday.
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