How quickly the school year has flown, and in a matter of days I travel back to Tanzania. This will be my third summer and I plan on spending two weeks with the Holy Union Sisters of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. On the way home my flight stops in Addis Ababa so I decided to stop off there for 4 nights also. For now, it's all about Tanzania and preparing to go....
The Galway Education Centre and former director Bernard Kirk have very kindly donated an immense amount for this trip. The LEGO kits from the LEGO League make up a good part of my luggage. I brought some LEGO last year and it was a huge success. 

Earlier in the year Bernard gave me this huge suitcase packed full of goodies. My only problem was how to bring it all to Tanzania and what to do with the LEGO once I get out there. 

So I started to sort the pieces by colour and function. There's a lot of LEGO and an awful lot of pieces so I decided to enlist some help and brought the whole lot into my class in school. They did trojan work breaking up all the projects from LEGO League and sorting the pieces into the correct boxes. 
But yet the question still remained: What would I do with the LEGO in Tanzania? It would have to be ready to go, easy to complete and educational. 
I found LEGO Challenge Cards online and with the help of my pupils, printed, cut and laminated the sets.  We had a few practice runs to see if they worked well!

Next big question was how to transport the LEGO to Tanzania ready to go. I felt it would be too complicated having all the pieces separated into different boxes. We decided we would make a pack for each challenge card. Pupils took cards, bags and selected the blocks and pieces they felt were needed for each challenge. 
Meanwhile I had pupils in charge of the case, making sure the bags were properly closed and even using the school hoover to attempt some vacuum packing!

I was delighted to get that all packed and organised but I hadn't reckoned on a second suitcase from Galway Education Centre.

More LEGO, USB flash drives, Pens (100s), t-shirts, pencil cases and skipping ropes. Another bit of organising, this time without my helpful pupils!
Added into the mix are footballs donated by Noel Mannion Sports in Ballinasloe, Internet Safety manuals from Webwise and some other donations from family and friends. 

All that remains is to fit in some clothes for myself and maybe some suncream. Though Sr. Annette reminded me it's winter in Tanzania.......I think she might be too acclimatised to life beside the equator!

The flights are booked! Tanzania here I come!
I had been tracking flights with Skyscanner over the last few months. I had set an alert and I find it handy to get an idea of prices. Just beware of extra brilliant prices on flights-often it means many stopovers.
I decided to book directly with Etihad as their flights were coming out  reasonable and I have flown with them before and collect air miles with them.
I rang the call centre. This would be unusual for me the techie, but as it is such a long flight I wanted to get it right and I also had two extra requests:

1. The flight stops in Abu Dhabi and I wanted to extend the stop for a few days on return
2. Could I bring extra bags of books and resources for the schools in Dar Es Salaam?

Both extra requests were sorted with no fuss. If you are on a long trip, it is a good idea to use the stopovers and make the most out of your flights. If you try  to do it online, you end up booking separate trips and one-way flights. Ringing your airline directly is your best bet.
Etihad's main hub is Abu Dhabi but they operate a free shuttle bus to Dubai which is an hour away. I have worked my flights to fly into Abu Dhabi at 8pm, shuttle to Dubai and spend 3 nights there. My flight home leaves at 2am so I will actually take the shuttle bus to Abu Dhabi at 10am the day before, have a full day there in the city sightseeing before checking back into the airport at midnight to fly home. The lady on reservations also told me that I can check in my luggage in Dubai on boarding the shuttle bus. 
After 6 weeks in Tanzania, the UAE will be a total contrast and a major culture shock but a lot of fun too.

On the tickets I have booked I can already check in two bags of 23kg each but Etihad have a department supporting charity work and it is possible to email them with proof of charity organisation and permission may be granted for extra luggage. 

 Now the research begins:
First stop is the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website for travel information for Irish citizens traveling to Tanzania.  
I have to double check the visa requirements and also need to book an appointment with my doctor to check all my travel vaccinations are up to date.
Of course my travel book of choice is The Lonely Planet. I usually buy the book locally but this time I decided to buy online to get the best of both worlds: hard copy and electronic format. The Tanzania travel guide bundle came to €27.95.