Leely

Hi Julian,

It must have been a rainy visit for you. I didn't realize you had family here--for some reason I assumed you visited for UCSF activities--you're a doctor, right?

I was actually in New York for the New Year and I think the weather may have been nicer there. Thought about looking up and bugging poor Sandi, but thought better of it.

jasher

Hi Leely,

I do occasionally visit for medical conferences, but I also have family in the Bay Area. I was there the week before Christmas (when it rained non-stop) and then went to New York for Christmas with my sister -- it was nicer in New York! I met Sandi for tea in New York -- we could have had a Fodors tea-party!

Cheers,
Julian

Leely

Oh, that would have been fun, but I was on a strict gin martini diet for the holidays. No tea; it's very, very bad for you!

lisa

Jessica -- We always use frequent flier miles for international air, so I am not much help there. However, we used Good Earth for our Tanzania safari and I do recommend them. We had a great time and saw more than I ever thought possible. We paid around $4000 per person all-in for 15 days in Tanzania, but that included a mix of everything from large tourist lodges to small luxury camps. My best recommendation for East Africa is to look at the Africa Dream Safaris website for info on the best places to be at the time of year you're going, then design an itinerary (with lots of help from everybody here on Fodor's) and then send it out to various recommended outfitters for pricing. (You will find lots of recommended companies here, and there is no harm in considering most of them.) There's not one right answer. We tend to use a mix when we travel, looking for the best value both on the high end and low end, and travel in "shoulder season" (Nov.-early Dec.). The truth is (in my opinion) that you can have fantastic wildlife viewing in almost any price range. You can stay at Lobo Wildlife Lodge and have the same wildlife viewing experience you would get at Migration Camp; at Seronera Wildlife Lodge you get the same wildlife viewing experiend you would get at Serena Serengeti; and at Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge you can have the same wildlife viewing experience we had at Serena Ngorongoro. Maybe the pillows are fluffier -- but to be honest we were hardly in our room anyway, and the Wildlife lodges had better locations than most of the high-end places. Don't get me wrong -- I loved where we stayed. Especially Migration Camp. It's just a question of how much more it is worth to you.