We were up very early at 6.45am to arrange everything for our departure back to Nairobi. We went upstairs for breakfast and had a larger one than usual. We made our farewells to all the staff including Mr. Tom (Green). We were thanked for being lovely guests. One couldn’t be otherwise as the hotel was comfortable and all of the staff attentive and kind, always smiling and welcoming. There was a prearranged driver to pick us up and when we arrived at the airport at 8.15am we learned that our flight scheduled for 9.20am had left at 7.30am. We were given this information by a young Belgian honeymoon couple who had arrived ahead of us from Emerson and Green Hotel. The young man made a classic comment, he couldn’t recognise the person in charge as all Africans look alike!!! We were told to go upstairs to the restaurant until the situation was sorted out for a complimentary breakfast, which we declined and had a coffee.
The restaurant was a hygiene, health and safety nightmare. The whole place needed to be sanitised and given a coat of paint. At around 10.30am there was a flurry of checking in and paying airport tax, US$40 for two. By now two other parties had arrived to swell the passengers, one of young Japanese and the other of Spaniards. At midday we were loaded onto the plane bound for Dar es Salaam where we were to change planes for Nairobi. On arrival it was organised chaos, being sent from one place to another and no one seemed to know what to do with us. Finally Boarding Cards were issued at 1.15pm for the flight on a Boeing 737. Then we had our hand luggage searched and the customs officer said, “You have a torch or something in there”, we had two, one large and one small, John was asked to remove the batteries before we were able to leave. Finally we reached the tarmac and were asked to identify our luggage before boarding the flight. We were amused by the fact that on the flight the Japanese girls were all sporting tattoos they had done in Zanzibar and wondered what their parents would think. Perhaps they were variety that faded. On arriving at the airport we hired an Authorised Airport Taxi and arrived at the Emmett’s at 4.40pm. They were worried as we should have arrived there around 11o’clock. Elsie had emailed the hotel in Zanzibar to enquire as to our whereabouts and was advised that we had left the hotel.