After long last, it was now time for the journey back to New York City.
Unlike the trip out, where I flew direct from Amsterdam to Kili, this time I would have to take an early morning "puddle jumper" for a short flight to Nairobi. I don't like propellers!
I snapped this photo of the mountain from the plane.
Then onto Amsterdam and New York. My ride home from JFK was obstructed by anti-Trump protesters, who were blocking all vehicular traffic in and out of Terminal 4.
So I outsmarted them by taking the Airtrain to Terminal 2, where I caught the bus to Grand Central Station.
Despite all my physical travails, I truly enjoyed scaling Kilimanjaro. Apart from the Summit Night, climbing Kili is but a string of day hikes. However, the hiking is in cold weather and thin air. It entails overnight camping in sub-freezing temperatures with no showers or property lavatory facilities (I will spare the gruesome details).
The summit night and day are a tough physical and mental challenge -- but doable if you are in decent shape and not debilitated by the altitude.
If you like being in nature, and wish to experience a beautiful environment in a unique place, I highly recommend this trip.
Travel blogger Lee Abbamonte (who has traveled to every country in the world), ranks climbing Kili only behind the geographic South Pole in his list of top 30 travel experiences.
I do wish I had added a trip to the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengetti National Park. I would have loved to have seen all the animals!
If you enjoyed these pictures and videos, please also take the time to read the posts about brain aneurysms. If I had been aware of all this information, I can only think that Sueyoung might still be with us.
Sueyoung was truly a wonderful person whom I miss very much. If you can, please make a small donation to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation through the webpage I set up in her honor.
Thank You!
Greg Harden
