I've been planning this trip for months. For years actually.
Planning the route, the perfect plan.
And now I feel anxious by it.
In fact in the last few months I've felt so scared by it all that I've not wanted to go at all.
But in the week running up to leaving, anxiety has become excitement, which has become preparation.
Now I feel so prepared that when I left for the airport yesterday and boarded my flight it didn't seem real.
I don't think in my mind it felt like it was happening.
It certainly helped that my friend Emma from the Zambia project was at the airport and we caught up where left off.
I was feeling very emotional and had a bit of lump in my throat.
Waiting for Sarah to join us helped to take my mind off things and killed time a bit and soon we were boarding.
Qatar airlines is great to fly with and what lovely food for a plane.
However, I am regretting all my nighttime flights as I seem to be having extreme issues sleeping at night on planes, as demonstrated by my ineptness the other night.
Yet, I fell asleep on the connection!
I like nighttime flights because the scenery is often spectacular and on long haul flights it means you get sunset and sunrise.
The sunrise was particularly spectacular when flying over the Middle East and Iraq - the sky was so beautiful.
When we flew into Doha it became another world. Like someone had been given some clay and had modelled loads of large estates in the sand. There was plenty of clay left over so plenty of soace ti build more houses on the sand.
It just seemed so different from anywhere else I've ever seen!
We didn't have long in Doha airport and I'm not a fan. Half the stop was spent on a parade lap of the airport in a bus (in something we could easily have walked!) and it was so so hot - at 6am in the morning.
"22/07/2011"
From Doha I caught my connecting flight Dar es Salaam where I suddenly realised my passport was missing.
I always take my passport with me in my hand onto the aeroplane so couldn't understand where on earth it was.
I hadn't left my seat during the flight so figured it must be about my person.
I was incredibly anxious as there was no way Tanzanian immigration would let me in without a passport. I also felt really stupid for being so careless, so soon into the trip.
Having searched every single book and my entire bag I finally found it inside one unlikely book!!!
We left the plane to enter immigration greeted by the familiar smells and run down appearance of African life.
Passport control out of the way and we entered arrivals to be met by Mark from Read International.
He'd got confused and thought he was meeting me too...so goodness knows what cross overs of emails had happened. At least he had Emma and Sarah to pick up so his journey wasn't wasted.
I had another few hours to wait before a short flight to Zanzibar and was keen to get myself checked in asap and away from the melay of Dar es Salaam (of which I was NOT a fan).
I treated myself to some ice water and pepsi in the air conditioned cafe before checking in for a slightly delayed (or perhaps on time in African terms) flight.
It was beautiful flying across to Zanzibar. I could see all the islands in the archipelago and the scenary was stunning. It seemed so perfectly situated with the sun setting.
I was worried about arriving in Zanzibar, as although I had a place to stay and an organised pick-up you couldn't count on it.
The car pulled up just outside a very lively area, darkened and in what seemed very run down. The driver's chilren came to assist as he asked if this was okay? I began to panic thinking, oh God what have I let myself in for! Then we walked up a street and the Princess Salme Inn was straight ahead.
After a fairly apprehensive "Karibu" I was really pleased to see a Canadian traveller. (That I wasn't the only solo white female traveller staying there).
My room was lovely and after a quick nap I went straight upstairs to the balcony to socialise with some other guests.
I spent a lengthy time chatting with my fellow room mate about education and travelling before crashing for a well-deserved sleep!
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