Kilimanjaro--January 9-10

Unlike my tale of Aconcagua, the story of this climb contains no villain. Well, I take that back. The villain was not a fellow climber; rather, the villain was the ticket agent at SeaTac, clad in a United uniform, size XL. Tom and I left Seattle early on the morning of Sunday, January 9, on separate itineraries (we didn't have enough frequent flier miles to travel together). I arrived at Kilimanjaro late Monday night; Tom was due in midday Tuesday. All three of my flights were delayed, two for mechanicals. The departure from Chicago to Amsterdam was tenuous as a mechanic tried to replicate our cockpit's oxygen system problem on a 747 in a hangar in Amsterdam. We finally got the green light, assuring that I was likely to make my next flight. Connected in Amsterdam to a
9 1/2-hour flight to Kilimanjaro that left two hours late.

At how many airports in the world can you land on a 777, drift all the way to the end of the runway, turn on a dime, and then taxi down the same runway to a space outside a tiny terminal; disembark via a steep set of stairs, not another plane in sight; and watch all the lights in the airport go out as you walk across the tarmac? Pitch black and more than a tad bit surreal. I was the first person through Passport Control, exhausted after my United flight to Chicago, and KLM flights to Amsterdam and then Kilimanjaro. Twenty-eight hours had elapsed since takeoff from Seattle. Waited patiently at the baggage carousel; the power went out one more time. Waited a little longer, watching as all the other passengers grabbed their duffels and backpacks. No neon yellow North Face duffel. No dark green canvas Wilderness Travel duffel either.

If bags were going to be lost, they were going to be Tom's. After all, he flew three different airlines and connected through Toronto, London, and Nairobi. He even had a 15-hour layover at Heathrow. But, unfortunately, my inept United agent in Seattle needs a refresher course in Baggage Tagging 101. When I later witnessed the way she had attached the tags to my two duffels, it was was no surprise that they weren't transferred correctly to KLM. Instead of attaching the tags in long strips with the barcode visible, she rolled them, covering up AMS, JRO, and most of the barcode.

I waited in line at the Lost Baggage desk at Kilimanjaro, only to be informed that KLM had "Bags: 0" registered on my record in their computer system. United had clearly dropped the ball. When I arrived at the Arusha Hotel late that night, I bought some Internet time, plugged an adapter into my laptop in my room, and tried repeatedly to log on. No networks available. At that point, I gave up, was reduced to tears, and figured I might as well try to get some sleep. After extensive investigative work over the next couple days and help from both Lindsay and Sandy back in the States, we determined that one bag was due in on Wednesday night from Nairobi and the other from Amsterdam on Thursday night, the night before we would leave for the trailhead. So much for the TSA's policy of passengers traveling on the same planes as their luggage.  

If only my bags could talk, they could explain where they sat for endless hours and recount how they were split up and routed through different cities. I had recurring visions of not being able to climb and how devastating that would be after all the training, organizing, and cost. It would be nearly impossible to gather up enough gear in Arusha. But, at long last, I had both bags safely ensconced in our room at the Arusha Hotel. Another member of our group dropped out of the climb when his bags were delayed. KLM couldn't promise that he'd have them until five days after his flight. The rest of us would already be partway up the mountain by then. I was lucky.

Notes to self: (1) In addition to checking the accuracy of the baggage claim checks, watch the actual tagging of the bags. If the tags are rolled into little cylinders, they can't possibly be scanned. (2) Try to reach a destination via the fewest airlines possible, and make sure they have daily flights to your destination.