It may be obvious statement, but I still feel the need to explain.
SFO to JFK: 5-plus hours in the plane. I left on Friday afternoon, taking Virgin America to New York. I was a late-joiner to the trip, and could not book the same flights as the rest of the team for anything close to a reasonable price. We did find a decent flight on KLM from New York that connected me with the rest of the group in Amsterdam, so I flew to New York on Friday, stayed overnight and took a Saturday flight that left at dinner time and landed at breakfast time. The Boeing 777-300 is a large plane, with 3-5-3 seating. I got a window seat, and a couple of hours of sleep.
I connected with the group in Amsterdam at about 8 AM, and we wandered round for an hour or so, and then climbed aboard a 777-200 for our next leg. Security in the Netherlands is different – I didn't have to take off my shoes, but they did insist that the water bottles be surrendered.
Okay, back to the calculations: SFO-JFK, 5 hours, plus 3 time zones. New York to Amsterdam, 6 hours, and 6 more timezones. Finally, Amsterdam to Tanzania, 8 hours, plus one more time change. Grand total: (at least) 19 hours in the air, and 10 time zones.
My new definition of a "Long Trip" is seeing sunset, sunrise, and sunset again before you get to your hotel.
I tried not to sleep on the last flight, hoping that arriving exhausted would allow me to quickly adjust to new time zone. I ended up sleeping a couple of hours anyway. Lois, Terre and I sat near the back of the plane which means we were the last ones off and at the end of the Visa line. It took almost an hour to get to the window, pay our $100 and get stamped. The good news is that our luggage was easy to find. Our guide from JM Tours, Thomas, met us and directed us to their bus. An hours drive down a dark, 2-lane highway and we were in Arusha.
The Equator is a decent hotel – I've stayed in much worse hotels in the US. We got settled, relaxed for a bit in the hotel bar, and went to bed just before midnight local time.
I managed to get six hours of sleep before my body insisted on getting up. I'll let you know how Brad's Jet Lag Cure works out.
