Right now, I'm sitting in the Virgin Atlantic first class lounge at Gatwick airport in London. After I leave here, it is unlikely I will ever indulge in this level of first-class travel again. It's going to be hard to give up but it's about time to get back to the real world. At least I've got another long-haul luxury flight to look forward to.
I arrived in Gatwick with a 16-hour layover to look forward to. Staying in the lounge was not an option because it is not open overnight, so I stayed in this interesting and adorable little cube-hotel called Yotel right in the airport which was recommended to me by the Virgin Atlantic staff. It's based on a model created by the Japanese, and each guest is basically issued a little cubicle with a bed, a fold-down desk, and a tiny bathroom/shower combo thing. Each bed unit, which looked a little like a bunk bed, also had a flat screen TV with 50 channels and movies and free wi-fi. And it was relatively inexpensive to stay there so I ended up with an unexpectedly comfortable night and got an awesome amount of sleep.
Anyway, the trip is wrapping up. Our final game drive to the airfield took us through the migration and I got more video and photos of huge herds of wildebeast, zebra, gazelle, and topi. Our flight was on the same small charter plane that brought us in to the Serengeti and when we landed in Arusha, we were met by our earlier guide, Festo, who took us to a coffee plantation for lunch and for some local shopping before taking us to the airport. By the way, I FINALLY saw Kilimenjaro from the ground, although I was not in a position to get some photos. Once back at the airport, civilization intruded and we were back in the crush of annoying passengers, of which the most annoying were fellow Americans. The flight to London on Virgin Atltantic was great - there was only one other passenger besides myself in upper class so it was like I had my own personal fight attendant. And that's about it - I'll be headed back to the states soon and my next update will come from Orlando.
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