Kent's Family Counts Down to Safari!

As we get closer to our departure dates for our family safari to Tanzania (Kelly, the boys and Grandma Bev are leaving 10 days after I am), we are scrambling to finalize last minute details such as what to bring and how many bags we can take. (What is the baggage weigh allowance again?) I now realize why so many clients call days before their departure with last-minute “urgent” questions about suitcases, packing, visas and more. Of course now, there’s the added question of the Swine Flu. I figure it’s best to get out of town before it gets too serious.

On the baggage question, we are testing three new bags on this trip. In addition to two old ones (a true duffel for me on Kilimanjaro and an old 2nd-hand Eddie Bauer duffel that we’ve had for years), we’ve picked the new bags from the high, medium and low price ranges. All of these bags qualify as carry-ons and are about the right size for keeping within the strict weight limits of most small plane flights in Africa (33 or 44 pounds per person). They are:

• Eagle Creek 22-inch Hovercraft model, purchased from Magellen’s via the link on our website’s Safari Shop. It cost $224 plus shipping and weighs 7 lb 6 oz with 2900 cubic inches of storage. We also bought the slightly less expensive 22-inch Load Warrior but returned it because we liked the Hovercraft’s pockets better.
• The Swissgear Zurich 22 inch wheeled duffle. It has a 10-year warranty and was purchased from Target for $89. This is a true rolling duffel in that is can be packed down. We don’t know the total capacity and can’t find it anywhere on the internet, but it looks about the same as the others.
• A Samsonite 22-inch wheeled duffel. This bag looks cheap and only cost $49 from a variety of sources. We don’t have high hopes for this one, but we’re be happy to be pleasantly surprised. It has a 3-year warranty and weighs just 3.5 lbs with 3100 cubic inches of storage.

The other things we’ve been thinking about for our upcoming family safari to Tanzania include seat belts, vegetarian meals and flight upgrades.

Seat belts: We have been wondering whether we need to bring the boys’ booster seats (bulky when you are bringing small bags) for the driving part of our tour. We have confirmed that while some vehicles have shoulder straps in addition to lap belts, some just have lap belts, so we are going to forgo the booster seats. If need be, we can use other things to boost them up there.

Vegetarian meals: You’d think after having been with Kelly for more than 10 years I would remember to order her vegetarian meals. Not so. But I’m rewriting everyone to confirm these, which are very doable even in the most remote camps.

Flight upgrades: We used miles to get business class seats for Kelly, the kids and Grandma. I have a lot more flying to do. For that reason, and to try to coordinate somewhat with their flights home, I booked some very reasonably priced tickets on United, Swiss Air and Kenya Airways. Now that the time is fast approaching for me to get on the plane, I realize I want business class too, so I contacted United about a travel agent upgrade. What was I thinking? Did I really expect that United (the airline for which I am a very frequent flyer, and the airline whom we book many flights with each year) would really give me an upgrade from economy to business class? When pigs fly…I’m in the middle of the bus.

Well, that’s it for today.