Hanging out waiting for the rest of the group to arrive

Sleep in this morning, got a good nights sleep so I am ready to go.
Just finished lunch and Jeff (my roommate for the trip) and I meet Joe and
Mary Ann who just arrived with the Rwanda group. Dropped our bean bags to be
filled with beans for the trip. These are used instead of tripods to steady
the cameras on top of the land rovers. Joe and Mary Ann are really
personable, but I guess I should have known that anyway. I will meet the
rest of the group tonight for introductions and supper. Lunch was good but
it is a problem trying to figure out what to eat, drink etc. after reading
all the dos and don'ts about how to avoid travelers "Montezuma's Revenge".
Tried to order a well done burger but they came back and said they were out
of hamburgers so tried to order a chicken burger with the same results. Oh
well, I didn't want a big meal but wound up with lamb instead, fortunately
it was delicious.

Here are a few snap shots of the hotel.

Arrived at the Hotel

Made it to the room at the Nairobi Serena Hotel. Really nice here, I need a wide angle lens on my iPad to get it all in but I don't want to get my regular gear out just to capture the room. Wifi is included with the room so for tonight and tomorrow at least I will have service.

Interesting place everyone has been worried about the animals, but when our transport driver came through the hotel gate the guards used CIA style mirrors to check the under side of the vehicle for stowaways.

The hotel has a pool, gym, meeting rooms etc. All really done nicely. I will rest tomorrow and reorganize my gear for the safari. We all meet tomorrow night for diner as the start of our excursion.

At Amsterdam airport in the Neatherlands.

Upgraded to business class on this leg of the trip . So I am upstairs on a 747 which is a real experience. This is the only way to travel. Motor controlled seats that fully recline. I wish I had these seats last night I might have gotten a little sleep.

Met two of my trip companions at the gate where we got to know each other a little. Carolyn has made 30 trips with the McDonalds, every year since 1984. It seems half of the participants have been traveling with Joe and Mary Ann McDonald for years. A true testament to the quality of the trip, which raises my expectations even more.

Travel security is a real pain I had to go through a complete scan and check again at the gate for this leg of the trip. If I ever did this kind of thing again I will check two bags and carry less on. The captain just said this will be a 7 hour and 30 minute flight. I never realized just how big a 747 is. There are a lot of people on this plane.

We are moving so I will have to put this away.

Sent from Chuck's iPad

First Hurdle Security Screening

Well I am on the way. Picked up a Hertz rental in Bangor and had an uneventful drive to Boston. Hertz drop off went smooth and then I took the shuttle to the internationals terminal E. After searching for any sign of my flight I asked and found out that the Internationals terminal is basically for arrivals. So I had to walk all the way back to terminal A for my Delta/KLM flight. I’m glad I am in reasonable shape, so I arrived at Delta only a little out of breath. Check in went ok my bag weighed exactly 50 pounds ( if you only know how many times I repacked it to keep it under 50 pounds). The security screening was interesting. It only took three TSA guys to unpack, and examine all my stuff. They were nice I don’t know if they were really worried about me or if they just wanted to check out my camera gear. One of them wanted to know if I could teach him how to use the new camera and lens he recently purchased.

At the gate now with a three and half hour wait for departure, although boarding is scheduled for 6:30 an hour earlier than the flight. The plane is here at the gate already.