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Nola to Everywhere

Living The Island Life on Paje Beach

in 2016 RTW, Africa, Tanzania on 27/10/16

Our week spent swimming, playing, and eating on Paje beach was exactly what I hoped it would be: a vacation from backpacking the Tanzanian mainland. As it was the last time that I will be near a beach until the end of December, I wanted to soak up every moment of this no stress island life.

new teddy's place

paje beach

We stayed at New Teddy’s Place which, at $22/night for a bed in a seven bed dorm, is anything but a bargain and wayyy more than I would normally ever pay. That said, it’s located mere steps from the beach and has a pretty chill atmosphere with hammocks and palm trees everywhere. And the floors are sand!

We ran into our friend Annibelle from Moshi, met a group of intelligent 21 year old British recent grads who are now my travel role models, and spent a night getting into some shenanigans with our German roomies. And a Great Dane. This happened to be the same night where we witnessed a few Maasai warriors in traditional clothing hard core grinding with some mzungus (Swahili for a person of European decent).

Other than that my time in Paje was spent relaxing, without the guilt that can plague travelers of feeling like we “should” be doing something or exploring at all times.  I skipped the Zanzibar “must do” activities like the dolphin tour, spice tour, and kite surfing. I don’t feel any regret and actually heard from my peers that these organized tours were quite mediocre.

img_0674 img_0676 img_6452

On our last night in Zanzibar, and my last night on the African continent for this trip, we went to the famed The Rock restaurant for drinks. In high tide, the ocean surrounds the restaurant, and sometimes diners even need to take a boat to reach it. When we arrived, it was low tide and wasn’t exactly the novelty we were expecting. After we had drinks here, we went to a different restaurant not even 50 meters away where my seafood entrée cost less than what my domestic beer did at The Rock.

the rock restaurant zanzibar

In other news, I’m a solo traveler again! Did Allison and I decide that our friendship couldn’t take the strain of traveling together and have a travel buddy break up? Hardly. She had already booked tickets to South Africa, a place that I’m not itching to go to. I’m currently back in Thailand and will be heading to Myanmar soon before we meet back up again in India.

Are you a fan of taking mini vacations within a backpacking trip?

 

Related

9 Comments

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Comments

  1. Megan says

    October 27, 2016 at 1:53 am

    i love mini trips during longer trips 🙂 i do them all the time. and as weird as this sounds- i just want to pet that cow lol. i think i just miss my dog 😛

    Reply
    • nolatoeverywhere says

      October 27, 2016 at 8:23 pm

      Mini trips within longer trips kinda keep me sane 🙂 and I totally get it about the cow haha. I tried to pet him too and I’m not even an animal person! Do you get to be reunited with your dog any time in the near future?

      Reply
  2. Cely says

    October 27, 2016 at 5:17 pm

    That looks totally fabulous!!

    Reply
    • nolatoeverywhere says

      October 27, 2016 at 8:29 pm

      It was! I forgot to mention that the bathrooms and showers were outside, but it was actually a cool setup.

      Reply
  3. Allison Yuen says

    October 29, 2016 at 11:40 am

    Can’t wait to meet up in India my dear! Met my first AMERICAN dorm buddy whose flying out to Mumbai tomorrow!

    Reply
  4. Tamiria says

    November 5, 2016 at 5:18 pm

    I love the “relax and be nowhere unless you want to” kind of vacay! You are doin’ it right ! Miss you ❤️

    Reply
    • nolatoeverywhere says

      November 6, 2016 at 6:15 am

      Thanks! Miss you too 🙂

      Reply
  5. Rachel says

    November 6, 2016 at 4:50 am

    I totally feel this. I LOVE not having to do any “activities” in a place that’s beautiful where I can just chill. I’m thinking that might be Goa for me…

    Reply
    • nolatoeverywhere says

      November 6, 2016 at 6:11 am

      For sure. I’m definitely thinking that Goa will be the same sort of thing for me as well!

      Reply

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