If you're not in good shape before leaving for Kilimanjaro, you'll regret it!
 

Apparently, a large percentage of travellers who fly KLM to Nairobi do not get their luggage for long periods of time. The KLM office in Nairobi told us that delayed luggage is usually delivered on the next flight, but there were approximately 18 flights into Nairobi from Amsterdam between when we arrived and when we actually got our luggage. DO NOT FLY KLM INTO NAIROBI.
 

We flew into Nairobi, but if I could go back and plan this trip again, I would have flown into Kilimanjaro airport, which is just 45 minutes from Moshi. It would have saved us a day on both ends of the trip.
 
If you can afford the extra cost (Alison says that it's about $500 more than ticket to Nairobi) it might be worth it. Another option is to book a flight that arrives in Nairobi in the morning so you can hop on the afternoon shuttle to Moshi.
 

If you fly into Nairobi, you have to say overnight in order for the visa fees to be waived. I mistakenly told the immigration officer that I'd be in Kenya for two weeks (the total amount of time I would be in Kenya and Tanzania), instead of one day (we left for Tanzania the following day), which got me into trouble upon trying to fly out of Nairobi, because I had entered Tanzania before my time stated was up. The immigration dude was just being an ass for the hell of it, and eventually let me through without paying fees. However, he did accuse me of "cheating [them] when I arrived, and cheating [them] when I returned."
 

It is not easy to withdraw money using credit cards or ATM cards in Tanzania. In Moshi there were one or two places where we were able to get cash, but the surcharge was roughly 5%, and it was not convenient. US dollars ($) are accepted everywhere, so bring lots of small bills.
 

Do not carry more than you need during the day hikes. Try to carry only water, waterproof shell jacket and pants, extra clothing, camera, moleskin, sunglasses, hat, sunblock, your lunch, and some snacks in your daypack.
 
 
 

This means having good, waterproof boots, shell jacket, shell pants, gaiters, and some means of waterproofing your daypack and the contents of your duffel bag. It's really, really wet on the mountain.
 

It's really cold and windy at the top. Make sure you're warm, windproof and waterproof.
 

None of us had ever used trekking poles, but we rented some anyway, and found them to be very useful (especially in the rain forest -- they often kept us from falling, and were useful for prodding muddy areas to see how deep they were).
 

Wally and I switched to drinking hot water instead of black tea, because we thought that the caffeine was keeping us up at night. (Wally didn't sleep so well the entire time, but he said that he slept better after he stopped drinking so much tea). You're actually supposed to drink tea at altitude because it's a diuretic.
 
The altitude also prevented us from sleeping well, but as soon as I started taking Diamox, I was able to sleep through most of the remaining nights. Your mileage may vary.
 

Water boils very easily at altitude, and may not kill off all the nasty critters that need to be killed before tourists can drink the water without suffering later.
 

It will likely be painful to walk so slowly -- especially during the first few days, but it will help you to acclimitize better. Walking more slowly = fewer headaches and less vomiting. :)
 

This isn't really related to the climb, but if you do decide to book a climb/safari package, limit your safari to three days. Go see the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and maybe one other place. If you do book a week-long safari, you'll be bored by the end of it. (This sound strange, but... well, you'll see. We didn't take the advice of others who suggested the same thing, and sufferred because of it).
 
 

You'll meet others who are going, and will wish that you were going, too. (Alison said it wasn't crowded while she was there, because of a travel advisory against going to Zanzibar while we were in Tanzania.) It seems to me like it'd be the perfect wrap-up for a trip like this.