Hotels

Just my impressions of each of the following...

Fairfield Inn - JFK

I chose the Fairfield Inn near JFK based on reviews of area hotels in TripAdvisor and that they offered a 'Stay, Park and Fly' package that allowed us to leave our car at the hotel while we were gone for 2 weeks.

I was REALLY impressed with this hotel. The two main things I noticed was the lack of crowds that I expect at most airport hotels, and the great service from the staff, especially at the front desk. I suspect the two go together because if it were crowded, the staff wouldn't have been able to spend so much time making sure we were taken care of.

The building and grounds were clean and modern. The food in the restaurant was good standard American faire, which is exactly what I wanted. Parking was valet-only which I'm not used to living out in the country, but it wasn't a problem. The location was only slightly farther from the airport than other hotels. There really wasn't much within walking distance to visit but we didn't have time for that anyway.

The only concern I did have was upon returning to JFK we needed a ride back to the hotel. We decided to take the hotel's free shuttle. However after we called for a pickup, we ended up waiting for 40 minutes in the cold, unsheltered pickup area for it to arrive.

Overall I was very pleased and would definitely stay there again. I'd just take a cab rather than the shuttle.

Emin Pasha Hotel - Kampala, Uganda

The Emin Pasha Hotel is definitely an oasis of calm in the middle of chaotic Kampala. It is very British and proper and as a middle-class American I never felt comfortable there.

The staff just assumed that we knew how things worked. For example, there was along discussion about which bottles of water in our room were free, and which ones we had to pay for. Another example of this was with the restaurant. We showed up for dinner, but were the only ones there so we weren't sure if they were even open. In restaurants I'm used to, someone immediately comes over and greets you. Here we stood around looking for help for about 5 minutes before someone decided to assist us. After dinner we were brought our bill and I pulled out my credit card. They said instead I should just put it in my room bill. OK, so we did and we got up to leave when they brought over another bill. This bill was for our drinks. At the Olive Garden and Chili's they put your food and drinks on the same bill, so I wasn't expecting this and it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. The next morning for breakfast we sat there waiting for our bill (sorry, bills) for quite a while before someone finally informed us that breakfast was included in the price of the room.

Meals were very proper and not very good, at least to my middle-class American tastebuds. Most of the food was extremely dry, especially the breads, which I first thought were stale. Passion fruit juice was the only juice option at breakfast. And the hotel restaurant was the ONLY choice for eating. It wasn't like there was a Dunkin Doughnuts down the road that we could go to for breakfast. So I ended up not eating very much at all, especially carbs. I got sick as a result.

The room itself was a nice size with a good view and air conditioning. The bed was hard and uncomfortable so I didn't sleep well. There was very little privacy between the room and the bathroom. If it were just my wife and me this wouldn't be a problem, however we had out 10 year old son with us so it was rather uncomfortable.

I was excited because their website promoted free internet access in each room. I wanted to upload all my photos to a server back in the states so I would have them just in case something happened to my camera or laptop. I connected my laptop using a standard Ethernet cable (cool), but was very disappointed to find I had an extremely slow connection. The upload speed was only 3 kbps (which is much slower than those old 14.4 kbps dial-up modems from years ago). It took 5 minutes to upload 1 photo. I ended up running my upload program overnight just to get 70 or so photos uploaded.

Overall I was not impressed. If I go back to Kampala I will be looking for a more American hotel (if there is such a thing) close to downtown do I would have more food options.

Serena Mountain Village - Arusha, Tanzania

We didn't stay long here (14 hours total) so we couldn't see too much of the place. It's located about a ½ hour drive from Kilimanjaro Airport. The last 5 minutes of that drive are on a mile-long pot-hole-filled dirt driveway.

At check in we were greeted with a glass of pineapple juice, which was a very nice surprise. Our room however was a good 10-minute walk from the reception and restaurant building, and at night that was just a bit unnerving.

The food here was better than at the Emin Pasha, but that's not saying a lot. The atmosphere was a bit more American. In fact maybe a little too much. During breakfast (2 days after Christmas) they were playing the Dolly Parton Christmas CD over and over again. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Dolly fan, but hearing "White Christmas" while sitting just a few degrees latitude from the Equator was a little surreal. At least they did have a choice of juices, but you did have to dodge the occasional yellow jacket.

The room was average-sized. The beds were really uncomfortable and I didn't sleep well.

Serena Seronera Lodge - Serengeti, Tanzania

I enjoyed staying at the Serena Seronera Lodge. The lodge is actually a main reception and restaurant area surrounded by a few dozen small buildings each with 4 guest-rooms in them. Some of the rooms were a bit of a walk from the central area, but ours was right nearby which was nice.

The lodge is located about 30 minutes from the nearest airstrip and park visitors center (which is near the best animal-viewing areas) so every trip out started with a 30 minute drive along bumpy Serengeti roads. The lodge is situated on a mountaintop and would have spectacular views of the Serengeti plains except for all the dense foliage blocking almost all of those views.

The buildings, built in the 1960s, had just a bit of that feel to them with very dark wood stain used everywhere, but they have held up well. They had a distinct African feel to them (or maybe a Disney-version of Africa). Either way, we liked it. They even played African music rather than American Country, like they did at the Serena Mountain Village.

The best part of the Serena Seronera Lodge was the food. Every meal was a buffet (all included in the price of the room) and most of the choices were good. My favorites were their beef stroganoff and their spaghetti with meat sauce. Another real surprise were the box lunches they give you to take on your game drives. They were packed with good eats.

The only drawback to this lodge (and I suspect any place to stay in the Serengeti) is the Tsetse flies. They weren't disease-carrying, but they are big and very annoying. Also apparently their bite really hurts, but I was fortunate enough not to find out. I wanted to hang out by the pool, or to sit and have a drink at the one spot with a view of the plain, but the flies were so annoying I ended up running out there, getting one quick picture, and running back in.

Every night some of the staff puts on a show in the lounge area: mostly singing, dancing, and acrobatic stunts. It's pretty good if you are in to that sort of thing. I'm not, but my son and most of the kids there loved it. The beds were hard and uncomfortable and I did have trouble sleeping because of it. (This seems to be the case everywhere in East Africa)

Overall I enjoyed the Serena Seronera Lodge. If I go back to the Serengeti, I might try a different lodge, just to compare, but I would still recommend this one.

Airport Sun Intercontinental - Johannesburg, South Africa

This is an extremely nice hotel attached to the Johannesburg Airport. In fact it's probably one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in (nicer than most hotels in America). It was very modern with a luxurious bathroom. The beds were soft and comfortable. For three people the room was small, but for 2 it would have been fine. We really wanted to stay here longer, but we had an early plane to catch.

The Kingdom - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

The building and grounds of The Kingdom are very nice and modern. The problems I had with the hotel I think stem more from the general economic problem with Zimbabwe than with the hotel itself. But those economic problems resulted is a rather unpleasant stay. I never felt unsafe, but I did feel uncomfortable.

Because the economy is so bad (early 2008) many of the harder working and more talented Zimbabweans have left the country for South Africa or England. This left a workforce that is on average weaker than it otherwise should be. The result is that even though occupancy was less than 50%, the staff seemed overwhelmed. The reception and dining staff especially so. Meals were a buffet and some items were slow to be repleanished. Other items (like eggs) were cooked to order and we ended up waiting in line for 10-15 minutes just to get some. At the reception desk we stood in line for over a half hour just to check out. It just felt like people weren't trying their best.

The exception was the porter staff (who work for tips). They were a little too aggressive in their willingness to help, which also made us uncomfortable.

Because The Kingdom is physically so large, it took a good 5-10 minutes to walk from our room to the reception and dining area. There were also a bunch of children running around, seeming without parental supervision.

Attached to The Kingdom is a large building called the The Great Room, which contained restaurants, shopping, and a casino. This was physically a nice area but the food wasn't very good. It was strange eating a $14 million hamburger and a $23 million pizza. Like most places in Zimbabwe, none of the restaurants took credit cards but they were eager to accept US dollars. We were fine as long as we didn't run out.

And running out was a bit of a worry since bottles of water cost 2 US Dollars each. That's a bit steep, especially since the plastic bottles were clearly reused MANY times. They were scratched and old looking and I have a suspicion that someone was just collecting them from trashcans and refilling them with tap water.

The TVs in the rooms only get 4 or 5 channels. This shouldn't be a problem as TV watching isn't something you would normally do a lot of. But the weather was rainy, and without tons of US Dollars (cash, not credit cards) we couldn't take part in any of the tours and adventures offered in the falls area.

There is no in-room internet connection, but there is a little internet shop in The Great Room where for just a few bucks you can go online and even use Skype to call home. (You need you own Skype account.)

Under better economic times I'm sure The Kingdom would be a great place to stay. But for now, I can't recommend it. I suspect the same problems would exist at all hotels on the Zimbabwe side of the falls.

Bantry Bay Luxury Suites - Cape Town, South Africa

We stayed in the 5-star penthouse suite, so you know it was nice! We loved our room. It was huge with a living room and kitchen downstairs and the master bedroom upstairs (yes, upstairs!) This was especially nice for us as we had our 10-year-old son with us. He stayed downstairs giving us some much-needed privacy after 10 days of him staying in the same room.

The breakfast buffet was excellent but this was the only meal the hotel served. Lunch and dinner we were on our own, which is generally the way we like it.

The Bantry Bay Luxury Suites are located only a block from the beach and offered a great view of the ocean out front and the mountain Loin's Head out back. The city's double-decker tour bus stops just a few feet from the front doors and provides a nice way to see the city. Just remember to wear sunscreen.

Catty-corner to the hotel is a nice little Italian-Greek-Spanish restaurant that doesn't look all the impressive, but we both enjoyed our meal and it was nice to sit outside.

The staff was friendly and helpful. The building was clean with modern remodeling. The beds were soft and comfortable. Wireless internet connection is available for a price. I very much enjoyed my stay there and strongly recommend it.