Stonetown on a Whim

After a long process of finding a place to rest and relax in the north of Zanzibar. I started researching a place to stay in Stonetown. I thought this might be easy. There are lots of places but there should only be a few that we would be interested in.

I started about noon with a clear head and by 5pm my head was so full of info I had no idea what I had read. I looked at ‘hotels’, at B&B’s and accommodation noted as ‘other.’ There were a lot of properties that interested me. Costly places that were in the $250 US range to nice “plain jane” places that booked for about $50 US per room per night.

By 10pm I had a list of more than 20. Thankfully I had my own star rating system on notes I’d made and that list was quickly culled to about 7.

I’m not usually an Expedia, Hotel.com, Booking.com fan but I do use them to get an idea of the price of the rooms if the hotel website does not provide that info. There is one hotel that I ranked very high and Expedia had it listed for a very good price (I think.) “Only one room left at this price.”

We are lying in bed. It’s late for us, 11pm. I cannot get to sleep because “Only one room left at this price.” is running through my head. I get out of bed, turn on the computer and book a room at the Jarrerji House in the centre of Stonetown. $135 per night per room (plus taxes) expensive for us, but we are finding that Africa is just out and out expensive anyway. The plus taxes thing is a bit sleazy but I push the book button and the room booking is confirmed. I check first thing this morning and the room at that price has been removed from the Expedia website so at least I didn’t get scammed. I feel good about that.

Stonetown on a whim. I’m an optimist and think we did the right thing. Debbie words “Sometimes you just have to go with it.”

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