Extra time in Nairobi?

Dottie D

We are booked on the Classic K&T for 9/17/16. We are hoping to use American Express miles for business/first air. So far, however, the only flights available for the return are three days after the tour ends. I've done the math, and it does make economic sense to do this, if necessary. We are going to wait until KLM releases their award schedule in a couple of weeks to confirm. In the meantime, does anyone have suggestions as to how to spend the extra time? Is there enough to see in Nairobi? Fly to Zanzibar? I'm a little leery of Mombassa. A short safari to somewhere not covered on the tour?

Or, if anyone knows the trick of getting the award seats you need, that would be helpful too.

Sealord

Dottie D wrote:

We are booked on the Classic K&T for 9/17/16. We are hoping to use American Express miles for business/first air. So far, however, the only flights available for the return are three days after the tour ends. I've done the math, and it does make economic sense to do this, if necessary. We are going to wait until KLM releases their award schedule in a couple of weeks to confirm. In the meantime, does anyone have suggestions as to how to spend the extra time? Is there enough to see in Nairobi? Fly to Zanzibar? I'm a little leery of Mombassa. A short safari to somewhere not covered on the tour?

Or, if anyone knows the trick of getting the award seats you need, that would be helpful too.

In Nairobi itself, Tauck recommends that you not even leave the hotel without a guard. I think spending your extra days elsewhaere would be a good idea.

vivamus

I travelled on the Kenya-Tanzania Safari last year and it was absolutely marvelous!! Cannot say enough good things. The animal viewing was so far beyond expectations!! The itinerary had shown us getting to Nairobi sometime around mid-day and I thought there would be time to explore Nairobi before our late night flight left. .... I was especially interested in the Karen Blixen Home/Museum (Author of 'Out of Africa') and perhaps the Giraffe Center there but when I posted on one of the Tauck K&T forums, a few people wrote back saying 'stay in your hotel' and 'traffic nightmares.' .... Upon arrival in Nairobi at mid-day, the bus was stuck in several lanes of traffic barely inching along. We finally got to hotel. Security swept the undercarriage of the bus before letting us in. ... I had decided to stay at hotel -- and did not regret decision. The drive to the airport took 3 hrs. -- which set a record for lengthy time per our Tour Guide who was headed back to the US for a visit with family (and I think about a 20 km distance (?)).

I have driven "been stuck" in traffic in Chicago and my sister used to live in DC, so I have spent lots of time on the freeway there, and was in LA area two years ago ... and none of the three of them were as congested, slow moving, and a little scary as Nairobi. I have never considered myself a bashful traveler, but I would definitely check with someone who has been there and perhaps get a reliable guide...... have a wonderful safari!!!

British

I would agree with everything the previous two people have said. I have been on this tour and also the Tanzania Zanzibar tour. I was glad I saw Zanzibar, but would not rush to recommend it as Must see, it was a great contrast to the rest of the tour and the Spice tour was fun. I think most people know how I feel about Nairobi airport, one of the worst airport experiences I have ever had and traffic dreadful dreadful. The tour is tiring, many early starts, I did not want to leave Africa, but having an extra three days in Nairobl would not be the best place to be stuck. How about going straight on to the South Africa tour while you are on the continent, that is a good contrasting tour and if it means you can do it with air mile flights, the tour could pay for itself with the money you save on flying.

Dottie D

Thanks for the input. You have convinced me to keep searching for ways to come back no more than one day after the tour ends (and stay put in the hotel if the extra day is required).

I wish I could take your excellent advice, British. However, like Mr. British, I can only take so much time away from work. South Africa is certainly on the list for another time.

Dottie D

An update - After several hours of searching with no luck, I decided to try one of the services that find award flights for you. They were able to find business class seats, mostly on Turkish Air, for only 150,000 miles each + their fee of $150 each plus taxes. The flights I had found with the 3 day wait in Nairobi were 375,000 miles each. The connections on the return do leave something to be desired. We leave Nairobi at 10:30 am the day after the tour ends and have an overnight layover in Istanbul. However, compared to approximately $14,000 to purchase two business class tickets, the 300,000 miles plus $473 in taxes and fees plus an extra night or two hotel and meals, I figure we come out way ahead. Now I can relax and enjoy the anticipation of a fabulous trip.

Sealord

Dottie D wrote:

An update - After several hours of searching with no luck, I decided to try one of the services that find award flights for you. They were able to find business class seats, mostly on Turkish Air, for only 150,000 miles each + their fee of $150 each plus taxes. The flights I had found with the 3 day wait in Nairobi were 375,000 miles each. The connections on the return do leave something to be desired. We leave Nairobi at 10:30 am the day after the tour ends and have an overnight layover in Istanbul. However, compared to approximately $14,000 to purchase two business class tickets, the 300,000 miles plus $473 in taxes and fees plus an extra night or two hotel and meals, I figure we come out way ahead. Now I can relax and enjoy the anticipation of a fabulous trip.

Just trying to compare apples and oranges. That is 150,000 Amex miles each for a round trip or just one way Nairobi to home ... and where approximately is home? Thanks.

Dottie D

Hi Sealord,

The 150,000 is for Houston-Kilamanjaro-Nairobi-Houston. The flights I had found for other dates for that itinerary that didn't work for us ranged from 300,000 to 400,000 miles each.

And the good news is we may have enough miles left for South Africa.

British

We do not rack up lots of air miles because my husband doesn't travel for work much theses days. We occasionally fly business class, and premium economy a little more often, otherwise economy.. If we want a flight using air miles, we tend to do so when we are going to have a more relaxing non- Tauck trip, a non-stop flight schedule is a priority for us. The Tauck tours are busy, and especially the Africa tours rising before dawn, like 5 am or so and even earlier for the balloon ride day. Another suggestion might be to fly premium economy or economy and arrive in Arusha early to recover from the flight that way, maybe two or three days early. The price of extra nights In the hotel is nothing compared to the price of a business class flight. I don't care how one flies, business or economy, the most difficult thing to get over on any long flight is jet lag, not the possibility of discomfort. By the time the end of the tour comes, you might be eager to get home as soon as possible, not a detour and an overnight, more flight changes, more chance of lost or delayed luggage. It's interesting to find out about a service that can help you with rewards flights. I am just about to fly to England for just 20,000 points, that's a deal!

AlanS

I agree with British. There is not a lot to do in Arusha (actually not the town, but the hotel), but there is enough (walk the lake, canoe, visit the nearby market WITH A GUIDE, or take a guided trip to Arusha National Park which we used as a warm-up for our main safari) to keep you occupied while you get over jet lag, etc. and recharge for your safari. After the trip from the small airport where your safari plane lands, through town and the traffic to the Serena hotel in Nairobi, you will be thinking that is is time to go home the quickest way rather than hanging around Nairobi. As far as frequent flyer miles, we keep building them slowly (Delta) but don't travel enough to achieve "status." We do enjoy the comforts of business class, however. On the other hand, the cost of Business can often pay for another trip.

Also, I don't know whether you can use your miles with Ethiopean Airlines (Star Alliance), but r/t (Dulles-Addis-Arusha and Nairobi-Addis-Dulles) was only $5200 ea. You can read all my old posts where I agonized over this decision. It turned out the planes and flights were excellent- roomiest business class seats I've encountered. A few others who post here have flown ET to K&T.

Sealord

Dottie D wrote:

Hi Sealord,

The 150,000 is for Houston-Kilamanjaro-Nairobi-Houston. The flights I had found for other dates for that itinerary that didn't work for us ranged from 300,000 to 400,000 miles each.

And the good news is we may have enough miles left for South Africa.

Looks more like apples and apples now. For our South Africa trip flying AA/BA we got business/first for 75,000 each way, but could not get that on the Capetown London leg so we upgraded to first class going CPT-JNB-LHR for 100,000 miles for the return trip. I'll make an extra stop to stay out of coach anytime. We did our K & T trip in coach, but we were able to buy some exit row seats from Nairobi to London, which helped a lot. I have found that the availability of seats for miles can vary daily ... and early booking is not necessarily the answer. Sometime the airlines wait to see how the seats are selling before they release seats for miles. I had been checking the availability almost daily for four months before the first class for miles seats showed up for our return.

rudidot

Lucky you to have that extra day in Nairobi. I traveled on this trip in July and only had a half a day in Nairobi and there are some great things to do. I am a 70 year old woman and once we arrived at the Serena Nairobi Hotel (a lovely hotel) one of my fellow female travelers and I hired a van from the hotel and went out to see the giraffe rescue where you can hand feed those lovely animals then went to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust where abandoned or orphaned Elephants are rescued and raised until they can be re-released to the wild. A wonderful organization. We were both thrilled to be able to do this and the hotel charged us $70 to go to both places and then drop us at the airport. Our driver even took us to a huge native Kenyan gift shop while there. One of the best days of my trip. I wish I had this extra day but nonetheless we got to see all we came to see. The DSWT has visiting hours at 11 am for the public but if you have adopted one of their babies there is an additional visitation that is not crowded at 5pm. We went at 5. All you have to do if you want to do this at 5 is adopt a baby which can be done for as little as $50. You must have a reservation at 5 and it's not too soon to do this now as they allow only a limited number of people. I highly recommend this. Don't listen to the naysayers. We felt so safe with our driver and because of this we gave him a generous $60 tip. Worth every penny. Enjoy your trip. It is truly one of a lifetime. Wish I could go again.
Jeanne

Sealord

I think us naysayers were referring to unescorted touring 'in' Nairobi. We had friends that went to Giraffe Manor (I think it's called) instead of the Serena ... different issue. The husband of our financial advisor works for USAID and was based in Kenya. We were going to meet him there, but we did not. He was pulled out for security reasons. I worked flying to Africa for a couple years ... the main reason we decided to go there with Tauck. We wanted to be with an outfit that knew what they were doing. They simply said not to leave the hotel without a guard/escort ... I believe you had one of those, and I am assuming these animals were not in 'metro' Nairobi. There were two minor terror incidents in Arusha during our safari that almost interupted our trip. And in 2013:

On 21 September 2013, unidentified gunmen attacked the upmarket Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.
Deaths‎: ‎67 (including 4 attackers)‎
Date‎: ‎September 21, 2013 (UTC+3)‎
Perpetrator‎: ‎Al-Shabaab‎
Non-fatal injuries‎: ‎175‎

If one is going to go touring 'in' Nairobi', it should be done with eyes wide open.

Trixie

Dottie... My husband Roy and I are on the same trip to K&T Sep 17/2016.. We fly out of Tampa FL.
I just bought our tickets a couple of hours ago.. A great connection with Delta/KLM over and Kenyan Air and AF back.
$6296 per person business class. 22hrs over and 25hrs back... Leaving on the 29th at 11:05 PM. I have been to Nairobi before and I believe it is not worth the risk! If Tauck does not spend time there I certainly would not on my own! I understand some hotels insist that one hire a personal body guard if you leave the hotel. I also agree with British about wanting go head home after the tour. We always get there a day early to adjust. I look forward to meeting you next year!!

JanL

I went on this trip on this wonderful trip in August 2015. I stayed an extra day in Nairobi. I made arrangements with the concierge to have a driver take me to the National Museum on the day we arrived in Nairobi after lunch at the hotel. I paid for the driver with the hotel, who negotiated the price (which was fair). Driver had good English, good driver, got me to the Museum within 20 minutes. He stayed at the Museum and waited until I came out (about 3 hours) and brought me back to the hotel. In that regard, I did follow the advice of all not to walk around Nairobi. Following breakfast the next morning, I once again went to the concierge desk and presented myself for a full day. I needed to stop at a pharmacy and the concierge communicated that to the driver. From there, the driver took me to Karen Blixen's farm which was absolutely delightful. The driver waited for me while I toured her home and the lovely gardens. Then he drove me to the location nearby where I had lunch. Once again, the driver waited for me. Then, at my request, he took me to a factory where mothers and other single women make jewelry. I always like to support small businesses benefitting women, so I enjoyed this. Finally, we made a very short stop at a craft location. Because I wanted to get back to Nairobi by 4:00 pm, I did not dwell long at this location, although it was actually lovely. It took about an hour to get back to the hotel (about 15 km from the hotel). So, I did not every feel in danger and was glad that I had stayed the extra time in Nairobi. I had seen enough wildlife that I chose not to go the Giraffe Center. I was picked up at the hotel at the time indicated by our tour director and spent about 2 hours getting to the airport. I had no trouble getting through the airport by myself as I had been advised as to what to expect. I hope this gives you some additional thoughts about your plans. Since I live near the beach in California, I did not want to go to Zanzibar. The driver was terrific and we had some really good exchanges while wiaiting in traffic.

Dottie D

Hello Trixie,

I have been offline for a while. Sorry I missed your post, but do look forward to meeting you on safari. We have started counting the days already.

Those ARE very good connections you have. I keep looking for something along those lines, but for now am willing to have a somewhat delayed return in exchange for saving $12,000.

We arrive in Arusha late in the evening of 9/15. We are sponsoring a child at the Intel School and Orphanage in Arusha and are looking forward to meeting her either Friday or Saturday. For the rest of the time, we will probably follow Alan's advice on some other things to do in Arusha. Maybe we will run into you.

I'm back on the forum going through old posts to make sure my shopping/things to do lists are complete.

Trixie

Dottie....
Good luck with finding good connetions! We will arrive a day early and may run into you!
Have a great reunion with the girl you are sponsoring All the best !
Trixie

Dottie D

I was able to change to an earlier flight home that doesn't require an overnight in Istanbul. The connection is now much better, and after today's bombing, we will feel safer too.