Travelling to Tanzania and our First 2 Days in Arusha

 We left our home in Bristol mid morning on Tuesday 28th of January. It only took about 40 minutes to drive to Bristol Airport. Bag drop and security were all very smooth and so we had plenty of time to grab a snack before our 1.40pm flight to Amsterdam with KLM. The flight actually departed about 15 minutes late but the flight was smooth and we landed at around 4pm local time. There was a short queue for passport control but we only had carry on luggage for this part of the trip so were at the bus stop for our hotel shuttle bus within about 30 minutes.

We had booked a room for the night at the Corendon Hotel which we have used before. The shuttle bus runs every 30 minutes and takes about 15 minutes so we were soon at the hotel and checked in. We had a nice room on the second floor. The hotel was busy but has a nice feel to it. We had dinner that night in the hotel restaurant where they have a large ‘All you can eat” buffet including wine, beer and soft drinks for Euros 37. Peter and I had been doing “Dry January” but had already agreed we would end this a few days early so we enjoyed several glasses of wine with our meal.

We slept well and were up and on the shuttle bus back to Schipol airport at 7.30. Again security and passport control all went smoothly and we had plenty of time for breakfast before our 10am flight to Kilimanjaro with KLM.

We had booked Economy Comfort seats this time which gave us more legroom and a seat that reclined a bit more. We found these pretty comfortable and worth the fairly small extra cost. The flight was good and landed on time at around 8.30pm local time. We had got eVisas in advance this time and that worked well. It took about 45 minutes from touching down to exiting the airport.

On walking out of the airport you are always met by a large number of people holding up signs with names on them. I was still scanning these when Eddie from Researcher’s Rest appeared through the crowd having already seen us. 

Researcher’s Rest is a guest house in Arusha where we are staying for the next three nights. The drive takes about an hour and 15 minutes, the last 20 or so being up a fairly rough road. On arrival Eddie offers us a drink and a toasted sandwich which we gratefully accept before going to bed.

The next day is Thursday and we have planned to spend a leisurely day at Researcher’s Rest. We sort out our bags, prepare some of the paperwork for our school visits and catch up with Robert from ACTT (Affordable Computers and Technology for Tanzania) and our family at home.

Researchers Rest is a small place having only 5 bedrooms. The lounge, dining room and garden are nice places to relax and Eddie and Joseph cook some lovey meals. I would highly recommend it as a place to stay in Arusha.

Friday is another fairly quiet day for us. I spend some time in  the morning writing this blog. There are no other guests around so we have the place to ourselves. Joseph makes us a nice lunch and then late afternoon we get a visit from our friend and safari guide Alladin. Although we are not doing a safari this trip it is great to see him and catch up over a cold beer.

We had also been expecting Robert and his daughter Diana to call in but they were delayed and didn't make it until about 6.30.

 Diana has now finished university and is a qualified radiographer. She is about to start a job in Dar es Salaam on Monday so she called in to see us before heading to the bus station to catch the overnight bus to Dar. We hadn’t seen her for a couple of years so had lots to talk about. 

 

Once Alladin, Robert and Diana had left we had dinner. Tonight there was only one other guest eating with us, an Italian photographer who was interesting to talk to.

After dinner we retired to our room to do our packing as tomorrow we will be off to Singida.