Tanzania, December 2006

The plan: We would both leave from Kilimanjaro International Airport, near Arusha, on Thursday. Scott was flying on Ethiopian Airways through Addis Ababa, connecting to a United flight from Frankfurt to Chicago, arriving home Friday afternoon. I would fly out a few hours later on KLM through Dar Es Salaam and Amsterdam to London, spend the night there, and continue on to Chicago, arriving home Saturday afternoon.

The reality: I had no trouble with my flights or connection in Amsterdam, even though it looked like there might be some problems with fog in London. When I boarded my flight, Scott still didn't know when his plane would get there or how they were going to deal with his (and many other people's) broken connections (badly, and with little communication about what was happening, it turned out). After a lengthy adventure to Addis Ababa, Rome, Frankfurt, and finally Chicago, Scott got home just before I did, a full day late.

The lesson: Flying KLM into fog so bad that British Airways is forced to cancel all its domestic flights for the day is more predictable and likely to succeed than flying Ethiopian Airways in good weather.