Zanzibar Meetings 2 - Reconnecting

In the end, my flight arrived in Zanzibar late evening. I was stunned at how the airport had changed since the old days. 

The airport back in 2006...

It felt like it was the size of a large house. Most transactions were done on paper. It was rather quaint.

 

... and now, twenty years later

I'm told that tourism has increase fourfold between the time that the two photos were taken. Very impressive.

We arrived at the hotel by midnight. I made my way to my room, tired but happy to be back in Zanzibar. My room was large, clean and had everything I needed. I didn’t realize until the next morning that I had a view of the Indian Ocean (and the pool). Things were looking up.

 

* * *

While I enjoy meetings in locations like this, the problem is that we don’t really have much opportunity to take advantage of it. You have limited time to take a dip in the pool or go for a swim in the ocean. I suppose that there’s a feeling that the organization has spent all this money pulling people together that we need to squeeze in meetings sunrise to sunset. Though there have been complaints in the past that there hasn’t been enough unstructured time, they haven’t been heeded. The temptation is too great to load up the schedule and not feel like you’re wasting people’s time. Case in point, after getting in late the night before, I had an early breakfast meeting with my supervisor prior to the full day of meetings.

It was good to reconnect with people, some of whom I’ve known for almost twenty years. It was strange at times. The comradery. The discussions. It all seemed normal after all these years except that, given that I’m leaving at the end of the month, it’s not.

 

New Room

At the end of day one, which was day three for those who hadn’t been struck in Nairobi, I went back to my room, considering maybe a dip in the pool. There was a knock at the door and it was one of the organizers of the meetings along with a guy from the hotel. He told me that there was a mistake the night before when we arrived and I was put in the wrong room. After telling him that I was perfectly happy with my room (ocean view, spacious, etc.), he assured me that the change would be an upgrade. So I packed up my bag, met them at the reception and we took the elevator towards my new room.

As the elevator took us to the top of the building, I thought that at the very least, the room was going to have a nice view. That ended up being an understatement.

We went through the double doors and the view was stunning. Not only was it the penthouse, it was the top two floors of the building. I’ve had a few decent hotel rooms throughout the years, but this was in a different league. It will easily be the biggest hotel room I will ever have.

There was a massive common area – the width of the entire building – which included a second-floor loft. Floor to ceiling windows offered amazing views. There were about six TVs, three dining areas, a kitchen area, etc. I would share the room with two of my country director colleagues though I never ended up seeing them in the room. It was a bit of a shame that I didn’t get to spend much time there given how nice it was. Apparently, it was at no extra cost so I didn't feel bad.

I was on the top two floors of the high-rise

 

Dhow repair guy working near the hotel

Sunrise from my room