The journey to africa is a long one, but so worth the effort!
It is a long journey to get to and from the African continent. From the time we leave home until we arrive at our first nights lodging in Africa is generally close to 24 hours.
We have a few strategies for these long flights to help us cope. First, we wear safari weight clothing on the flight, but that may leave you chilly, so we make sure we have our heavier layer, a lightweight fleece, a sweater or sweatshirt with us on the plane. Our safari clothes are comfortable for the long flights. More importantly, if our luggage doesn’t make it with us, we have lightweight clothing to wear and wash and dry quickly to wear again, if necessary. Kim and I tend to go a little tired from the lead up to departure. We take a late afternoon/early evening flight whenever possible. We are good at sleeping on the plane or at least listening to an audio book, music or watching a movie and just resting and relaxing after the race to departure. For my awake time, I usually take something along to work on that I have been anxious to find time for, whether that is finishing a book, working on something I want to write, looking through some photos on my phone or computer whatever it may be. If you have a great book you have been anxious to finish, enjoying it on the plane will help the time fly by.
My sleep tips for planes include noise canceling headphones if you’re bothered by noise. You can just have them on to block the plane noise, or listen to your favorite calming music from your phone. If a neck pillow works for you, bring it! I personally can’t find one that is comfortable. Make use of the blanket and pillow they give you! Even if you use a neck pillow, the blanket and airline pillow can be used to soften your armrest so your arm doesn’t fall asleep from a pressure point, or fill in the small of your back for added comfort and so on.
Stay hydrated. Especially because you will have started taking an anti malarial. It is very important that you drink plenty of water while on that medication. So, drink water and get up and stretch your legs to use the restroom during the flight.
Bring a snack. I personally cannot stand airplane food. I bring along crackers, a protein bar, nuts, pretzels… something to snack on. We eat a meal before we get on the first flight. We eat a meal in the airport whenever we fly through Amsterdam. We have a favorite sit down restaurant there, but there is also a good sandwich shop we have frequented when our connection time is tight. We prefer to eat in the airport, or bring a sandwich on the second flight with us to eat later.
We book our flights so we will arrive in the evening. We like this timing. We transfer to the hotel, get check in and enjoy a light snack. My favorite is a nice homemade bowl of soup. African soups are scrumptious. With a little warm, comfort food in my tummy I find that I get a good nights sleep and wake up the next morning on “African time” ready to set off on our adventures. We jump right into our activities on most of our safaris. It is best to avoid taking a nap the first day or two to help your body clock adjust to the time change.