Victoria Falls, ZW - Day 8
Our maps now have more custom features! As we are carrying a GPS unit with us, everyone can now follow our trip's adventures in more precise detail. For example, the tear-shaped icons are particular "waypoints" during the day; click on them to see where we were and the exact time we were there. The new maps also allow you to zoom in to see specifically where walked, drove, flew, etc. for that day. Zoom in as tight as possible to see where we wandered and explored the areas, or zoom out to see a travel overview of our daily adventure.

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Day 08 – Friday, October 9, 2009 - Flight From Amsterdam to Minneapolis and then Home to Denver

The KLM B-777 flight was surprisingly easy. The KLM staff worked hard to keep our full flight content for the long 10.5 hour journey out of Africa and in to Amsterdam.

The flight arrived 30 minutes early at 10:10 and we only had a short walk from our arrival concourse F4 to E20. We were required to go through security and immigration right at the gate, simplifying the process.

The flight boarded and we found our seats. We had slept a bit on the Amsterdam flight and then we tried to stay awake for most of the flight to Minneapolis. It was not hard because our seats were in the very back of the first economy section – right next to the rest room!

We were delayed a bit getting in to Minnesota and did not land until 3:20, instead of 2:50. Immigration was smooth, but remembering all of the countries we had visited took some thought.

Our brains did not seem to be working very well after 41 hours of flying! We did not have anything to declare so Customs was a walk through. The stickler was rechecking our bags as they had only been tagged to Minneapolis.

Beth and Phil had collected their bags first so they had the process all figured out for us. We received our new bag tags and put the bags back on the carousel to go home to Denver.

We said goodbye to Beth and Phil and Ellen and Stewart who also had close connections to go to Portland. Our gate was all the way on the other end of the terminal.

A very kind cart driver took pity on us and asked if we wanted a ride. Did that ever make a difference?

We made it to the gate only to find out that the aircraft had been delayed in Wisconsin. We had time to spare so I walked around to stretch my legs and Gennie typed the notes from the last leg of our journey home.

Compared to our other three flights in the past two days, the short hop home to Denver was easy! After getting our bags, we jumped on the Pikes Peak Shuttle and found our car.

Rush hour was over in Denver so we took Highway 225 through the city. We made a short stop at Chipotle for a light dinner and then Safeway on Lincoln to get a few groceries and we were home by 9:00.

Great to be home as always! Great memories of our last 26 days in Africa! Great new friends and thousands of photos to share!

Accommodations: Flight - - - Meal: B, L, D

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Comments for Victoria Falls, ZW - Day 8


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Marv
October 11, 2009 - 06:16:35 PM
Great diary. However, what is ZW--is this Zimbabwe?
Patricia
January 14, 2010 - 12:34:20 PM
Enjoyed your journey. I have done the Ultimate Africa, enjoyed not being around lots of other people. Seems the trip you were on, there were a lot of other tourist, this is true?
Patricia
January 14, 2010 - 12:34:25 PM
Enjoyed your journey. I have done the Ultimate Africa, enjoyed not being around lots of other people. Seems the trip you were on, there were a lot of other tourist, this is true?