London, Amsterdam or Dubai before and after Kenya Safari?
 

A group of "mature" ladies is planning a trip to Kenya in August of 2013 and we think that the flights might just kill us! We are thinking about flying to one of the above cities before and then after the safari. Or a combination of two???
Any suggestions? Our safari will be a 10 day trip so we are looking at an overnighter in one or two of the cities.
Thanks!

Where will you be coming from?

3 more questions:

Are you planning just a day or two in one of these cities to regroup or another whole vacation?

If just a short stop, can you give the flight details of the options you are considering? Some might work better for a spare day than others.

What do you plan to do your first day in Kenya? Perhaps arriving a day early and giving yourselves the opportunity to individually crash or to explore would be better.

And now a safari question. Are you planning the 10 days now or is the 10-day intinerary set?

We just returned from a safari in Tanzania but first flew to Amsterdam and spent a few days to get over jet lag (we flew from San Francisco.) We also returned to Amsterdam on our return trip back and spent a couple more nights. We really enjoyed our stay in Amsterdam and I was so glad we broke up our trip that way. I think London would also be a great alternative.

It may also depend on what you're looking for in your layover.

Last June I stopped in London staying in a hotel close to Heathrow for one night just to break up the flight from Vancouver. London was chosen because I have friends there so on the way back stayed 3 days to visit.

For June 2013 I strongly considered Dubai for something different until finding out June July & August are their hottest months! I'm not a fan of extreme heat & humidity.

Suspect it'll be London again in June 2013 and a nice visit with friends.

Dubai is very hot/humid but I like it for a stopover in the summer as the hotels and almost everything else is on sale! For me, Dubai feels like a Jetsons set(do you remember that cartoon?) and there are cultural things to do there as well as malls, pools, etc. But, if you haven't been to Amsterdam or London, those are great cities too, but much more expensive.

Depends on the air carrier which of these three cities you can stop, as British/London, KLM/Amsterdam or Emirates/Dubai.

However, as lynn mentions, maybe build in the entra day on arrival Nairobi/NBO to recoup... you are going on holiday and often just want to get there. Then, if you wish on the return, stop a day or two at one of these cities.

As to DXB, in summer... no, no no ... too hot/humid regardless everything indoors has a/c, but being outside is brutal. I only transited thru the airport early-June, with plane parked on tarmac and it was brutal.

My preference would be AMS, which small & compact, easy to get around, great sightseeing, varied cuisines and even shopping.

Flights for August '13 travel won't be posted till sometime late-Sept '12 forward... then you can decide.