Because we knew we weren’t going to do much for the final few days before heading home, I thought it would be better to summarise that in one post, rather than trying to write three!
We did the imaginable, stayed as horizontal as possible, sharing our time between the sun, the shade and the air con!
We were a rather hot shade of red after the boat day, we also didn’t feel ourselves properly again – the motion really got to us! So instead of exploring, we stayed in hotel grounds, moving from sun lounger to sun lounger, getting to know the locals (arguing with Michael about rescuing a kitten), but more importantly resting and relaxing – not something that comes naturally to either one of us!
But it was very much needed and I’m grateful we added on these days in Zanzibar to counteract the whirlwind of Tanzania!
We enjoyed what the hotel had to offer – on Saturday night we were sung into dinner which was African night! Following which the Masai came in and were showcasing their dancing! It was great to see some of the culture here.
There were some downsides of not leaving the hotel – the power cuts! We had a 6 hour power cut on Sunday which meant no air con! When it doesn’t go below 25 degrees that constitutes a struggle!
On average we had around 5 power cuts a day!
The other downside, for us personally, was the food – we were so done with rice and curried something after our time in Tanzania, it didn’t really improve all that much at the hotel. The last 2 meals I had plain tomato pasta because that was all I could stomach – I am desperate for a cheeseburger!
So we sun and shade bathed all the way up to being collected by the car to take us to the airport – a 22 hour journey from door to door (not only do I desperately need a cheeseburger, I’m writing on perhaps 3 hours broken sleep since 6:30am uk time on Monday 19th October to the time this is posted!
Yikes!!!
It’s not for the faint hearted! I think British Airways have plans to do direct flights to Zanzibar next year which would make it a much more accessible holiday, but our flights undid some of that rest and relaxation we had worked so hard at!
First flight, Zanzibar to Nairobi, no plane issues at all – lovely. However, 2 power cuts at the airport, 1 of which left Michael 💩 in the dark, made for an eventful few hours! We are not going to miss those power cuts!
Second flight being Nairobi to Gatwick was supposed to leave at 9:40pm uk time, ended up leaving 00:20 uk time. Got to love a near 3 hour delay.
We found the lounge and Michael made me a makeshift bed, I sniggered because there was no way I was going to manage any sleep, but the solid hour and a half snooze I had did me a world of wonders!
As soon as we were in the sky and the seatbelt signs went off, we were in bed mode to try and get as much sleep as possible. I managed a couple of hours tops, Michael managed the same but his body clock had him up at 6:30am on the dot!
The staff on the flight were brilliant, I think they knew they were dealing with an exhausted plane of people, we declined dinner, but they were very attentive at breakfast – I had multiple cups of tea just being constantly topped up!
We also got though Gatwick with no issues too – security/passport control took no more than 2 minutes – it was deserted! Then our bags came through pretty sharpish!
We were at the Gatwick Train Station nearly an hour before our booked train – we looked at each other, grabbed a couple of drinks from M&S and then bought new tickets simply to get home half an hour quicker!
It took a couple of stops to get seats on the train, but after that it was smooth sailing and we walked in the door at midday.
No rest for the wicked (or exhausted), we thought it would be best to empty the bags and get a wash on, and all evidence of a holiday away before we went to collect Bentley!
My boy ❤️
He was so excited to see us and he also felt the exhaustion of a 2 week holiday! He’s been curled up in his blanket since we got him home – no complaints from us!
Now Michael, I need a cheeseburger! It’s time to recover from this adventure and plan the next one!