But today, we are quite happy to be negative!
On Saturday, a mere 28 hours after being tested, we received an email and a text message from the National Public Health Laboratory here in Tanzania.
We are NEGATIVE.
The very official looking certificate was dated March 13th so we are well within the 96 hour window given by our airline for compliance with their rules.
So... we are definitely off to Albania!
Cleared to fly...
Of course there is now nothing stopping us from getting Covid between then and the actual flight, so the whole thing is a little ridiculous.
Still, I am very impressed with the whole efficiency of the testing and procedures in this somewhat backwards country.
We didn't do too much yesterday. Went for a walk to the main grocery store about 20 minutes from here and picked up a few snacks for the trip. And a couple of beer for the evening. Then we went back to our new favorite Indian restaurant, the Chit Chaat Food Stall.
At the Chit Chaat Restaurant.
And so, we've got a long 36 hours ahead of us. We don't fly out of DAR until 9:35pm this evening, but we have to be out of the apartment by 11:00am. We don't really have anything else we want to do here, so we are just going to take an Uber to the airport and wait it out. We find that time passes quickly in airports and there is lots of people watching to be done!
Here's our flight map.
When we leave DAR, we are only in the air for twenty minutes or so because we make a stop in Zanzibar to pick up some more passengers. Then it's on to DOH, (Doha, Qatar) where we have a two and a half hour connection. Then we fly to FCO, (Rome, Italy) where we have a five and a half hour connection, then on to TIA (Tirana, Albania) for a 6:10pm arrival Monday night.
Of course we couldn't book our accommodation in Tirana until we knew that our tests were going to be negative. Now that we had those results, I spent quite a bit of time yesterday afternoon looking at the many choices. I found one place that looked like it would be perfect, but it wasn't available for our first two nights. So I've booked two nights at a nice place right in downtown, and then a week at a cheaper place on the outskirts of the city. Looking forward to showing you where we are staying!
Probably won't update you again until we arrive in Rome on Monday.
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Fantastic deal on the Echo Show 8 and Blink Camera Combo deal.
And in Canada...
Now that's a purdy picture! Those alps look fine indeed, and reminds me of the high sierras.
ReplyDeleteYep, that is a gorgeous picture! Hopefully when we get hiking up in that area we will have a beautiful day for picture taking. :-)
DeleteI notice you are eating in restaurants almost everyday. Very unusual for you. Groceries expensive? Poor availability?
ReplyDeleteYes we have been, I guess you missed the post a while back where Kevin mentioned that. First off the meals are pretty inexpensive and for the most part they have been really good. Secondly, the reason that we are doing this is that other than fruits and vegetables most of the other groceries are expensive and poor quality and availability. It works out cheaper for us to eat our main meal out, usually lunch and then I make oatmeal for breakfast and scrambled eggs with cut up onion, tomatoes and green pepper for our other meal.
DeleteAirports and Boardwalks - lots of people watching to entertain one!! Safe travels, friends!❤️
ReplyDeleteYes, you are totally right and you could add parks to that as well. :-)
DeleteNice to see the testing system is so efficient. I hope your travels go well and you enjoy people watching in all the airports you will be in. I'll be interested to hear how busy they are. I'm sure it will be nice to get to Albania knowing you will be in one place (sort of) for a few months. And the hiking potential looks spectacular.
ReplyDeleteWe were very pleased to see it work so efficiently.
DeleteThe Dar es Salaam airport wasn't too busy but then it is a smaller airport to begin with but so far Doha, Qatar and Rome, Italy airports have been busy but definitely not like they would be during normal times.
We will be traveling in Albania just like we have in both Turkey and Tanzania, trying to stay in different locations every one to two weeks for the most part and doing day trips from each location. I think we are going to be pretty busy in Albania, Kevin has lots of places marked off. :-)
What a long trip! Hope you are able to get some sleep.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a long trip and no, neither one of us has had a lot of sleep over past 36 hours. More on that in our next post!
DeleteGlad you are Negative and looking forward to your positive explorations.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy the flights.
It's about time.
We love the way you said that!
DeleteWe have no doubt that we are going to love Albania. :-)
Aren't they vaccinating folks in the area? I've finished my shots and so has the rest of my family. We still wear mask, social distance and washing hand thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe they vaccinating people in Tanzania, at least according to the news but we really can't be sure either way and they probably are in Albania but it would only be for residents of the country.
DeleteGood to hear your tests came back negative....yes, that's quite an impressive process and certificate given what we have seen there. Glad you found a decent place with good food to eat your meals. Ruth looks like she hasn't regained the weight she lost from the Kilimanjaro trek? Wishing you an uneventful trip and arrival into Tirana. Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteYes, we were very happy to get the "positive" negative news, lol! We were pretty sure that was going to be the case but there is always that possibility that it could come back positive.
DeleteThat Indian restaurant was fantastic and so were the prices. We have actually had quite a number of decent meals out over the last few weeks.
Kevin and I both lost a little weight on both of our hikes on Mt. Meru and on Kilimanjaro. I needed to lose a little so I wasn't worried and don't want to regain that weight back but Kevin needs to eat more, he really can't afford to lose any more weight than he has. Hopefully that will improve once we get to Albania and I can start cooking proper meals again. :-)
Catchy headlines always work!
ReplyDeleteIt sure does! :-)
DeleteI'm looking forward to Albania - it's not a place that I've ever really thought about so I will learn something. Tanzania was on my potential list for next summer but now I'm thinking twice about it! Although my objective was safari. I want to see the animals and then lay on the beaches of Zanzabar for a couple days.
ReplyDeleteWe are really looking forward to Albania as well. It has been on our list for a little while, actually all of the Balkan countries have been. I am sure that we will show you some fantastic places there and it will soon be up near the top of your list, lol.
DeleteWe enjoyed Tanzania but if you want to do a lot of the touristy kind of things then it is definitely going to be an expensive trip. We have heard though that the safaris there are wonderful but again very expensive. I think there are other countries where the safaris would be great as well but also cheaper. We really loved the Lushoto area and in hindsight maybe we should have changed locations there and stayed in another small town up in the Usambara Mountains as we really did enjoy the area. We weren't so fond of Tanga and Dar es Salaam despite the fact that they were interesting in their own way but just far too hot and buggy for us. There were also a number of other places that we would like to have made our way too but we ran out of time and energy. When you do things on you own there it definitely takes longer to reach your destinations, especially using public transportation and lots of research. We knew that Zanzibar wouldn't be our kind of place, too many tourists, prices are much higher and no really hiking to speak of and as we have said numerous times before, we really aren't beach people but we know that it is a favourite for most people.
Really glad to read of your negative test results. Ruth, you look so slim after your big hikes. Safe travels to Albania, you two!
ReplyDeleteSo were we! :-)
DeleteThank you Emily, I don't think that it was just because of our big hikes but from all the hiking that we did in Turkey as well. It was needed! :-)