Birt: 28.02.2022
Finally, the worrying came to an end and our trip to Tanzania could start - admittedly, extremely turbulent - but at least everything worked out and that was ultimately the most important thing: because throughout December we nervously followed the corona reports and the first appearance of Omicron in South Africa. Affected countries restricted their air traffic and our destination was basically a neighboring country. But we were lucky, our flight was still scheduled to depart. So, just before Christmas, we got our booster vaccination and tried to isolate ourselves from others - as best as possible on the Christmas holidays. After all, we needed a negative PCR test for entry into Tanzania, not older than 72 hours. So, three days before departure, we went to the testing center and got tested for €50 per person. In less than 24 hours, we received the result - negative - phew, lucky us. Now, just fill out the online entry forms and off we go. Since we were on the Foreign Office's website again, we looked at the requirements for the PCR test and found that we needed one with an internationally valid barcode. That was the problem: we didn't get a barcode. And we won't get one. Not from this testing center, anyway. So, google again, look for a new testing center WITH barcode, get in the car and off to the next testing center. So, for another €70, we got tested again and finally got the desired barcode for entry. And so, on December 30, 2021, in the early morning, we took the train from Berlin to Amsterdam - for around €80 per ticket, which was okay, considering that we bought the tickets only three days before and had a seat reservation. The train ride was unspectacular, the train was not too crowded, and with only one change in Amsterdam, we reached Amsterdam Schiphol in the early evening. There we checked into the NH Hotel, which was only about a 15-minute drive from the airport, in order to fly to Tanzania the next morning with a direct flight with KLM to Kilimanjaro Airport. We were a bit excited - whether all our corona documents would be in order? We were lucky, everything went smoothly, and our 9-hour flight went well, even though we didn't really sleep. So, we landed in Tanzania at 07.11pm local time and our adventure could begin.