March 20, 2026, 10:24 am | Read time: 15 minutes

For weeks, if not months, we looked forward to this vacation. For the first time, my now-husband and I wanted to travel not just within Europe but really far away! We chose Zanzibar for our first long-distance trip. The island is off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Our plan: a budget accommodation right by the sea, from which we could take excursions and enjoy the sea and beach at the same time. Plus, a mini safari in Tanzania. Sounds pretty good, right? We thought so too! Well, things turned out a bit differently. Even though we had many great moments in Zanzibar, this trip brought everything but relaxation. Stress, tears, and a lot of money were lost. The chronology of a disaster.

With Packed Suitcases, We Headed Back Home

It all started with a text message. Our flight from Berlin to Frankfurt (from where we were supposed to fly to Zanzibar) was canceled. I couldn’t believe it—we were already in the car on the way to the airport. And I knew: If we couldn’t take this flight and there was no other way to get to Frankfurt quickly, we’d miss our flight there too.

So I called the airline hotline and was quickly connected to an employee. On the other end of the line, I was told that there were no more flights to Frankfurt that day—whether we could get to Leipzig quickly or directly to Frankfurt. A clear no, because there simply wasn’t enough time; you always have to be at the airport early enough.

The nice gentleman on the phone told me that the next flight would be in two days—great, I thought. We already only had about 12 days for our vacation, and now it was even less. Not ideal for a flight of at least eight hours. But what can you do in such a situation? Of course, we took the later flight. The service employee also offered to postpone our return flight by two days—then we would have lost almost nothing (except for the first two nights in our accommodation, which we would have had to rebook). Sure, we’ll do that! And so we drove back home with packed suitcases.

Hours of Phone Calls Without Results

The next day, I had a missed call from the airline. What could they want? The flight is tomorrow. When I called back, I had the same service employee from the day before. He explained that he had made a mistake. He wasn’t allowed to replace our return flights with new ones because they weren’t with “his” airline but with another. The problem could be easily solved by calling the other airline and asking them to release the new flights, so to speak.

And so began the back-and-forth phone calls over several hours and even the following day. Because the problem couldn’t be solved at all.

I kept calling both airlines, of course, each time with different employees who could provide more or less information. Sometimes one thing was claimed, sometimes something completely different. The other airline, which was supposed to “release” the return flights, had no idea what was going on and couldn’t communicate (even though both airlines are part of the same aviation alliance).

We slowly realized that the real drama didn’t necessarily start with the canceled flight but with the flight booking itself. We had chosen a portal that combines the best flights. However, it doesn’t ensure that you only fly with one airline. The service employees of the flight booking portal couldn’t help either, or they always said that I had to take care of it myself. Really great service, I thought. But well, we had no choice but to accept our old return flights and thus lose two days. We wanted to get to the island, even if shortened.

Failing Just Before the Goal? No Way!

I can tell you this much: That was far from everything! This vacation seemed absolutely doomed to fail. On the day of the new flight, the next bad news came: Our return flight was supposed to go via Istanbul and then to Berlin. And this last flight didn’t exist in the booking system. Or rather: We weren’t passengers on this flight. The flight booking portal couldn’t provide any information on this, of course. And we decided to deal with this problem when the time came.

Well, and how could it be otherwise? Things didn’t go smoothly at the Berlin airport either. Air traffic was suspended when our flight was supposed to leave: bad weather! In Frankfurt, we had only about an hour and a half to change planes. Eventually, we did take off, and we ultimately had about 45 to 50 minutes to finally board the plane to Zanzibar.

But apparently, Frankfurt wanted to have a say first. After running across the airport (why should you have the luck of the gates being close together), we arrived at a completely overcrowded security check for long-haul flights. I had previously checked online how this area was set up. It said there was an extra line for those whose flight had already been called for last boarding.

Well, what can I say: This fast lane was closed, and only one check was open. And about 150 other passengers were in front of us. I’ll be honest with you: At this point, I was in tears again because I just couldn’t believe it. But I didn’t want to give up so close to the goal, namely, finally sitting on this plane to Zanzibar!

Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky with the passenger coordinator there. Instead of picking out the few people who were about to miss their flight, he only shone with unfriendliness. And if he saw someone “cutting in line” (of course, asking beforehand if they could be let through), he punished them by sending them to the end of the line.

But what else could we do but ask every single person in front of us if we could please be let through? Exactly, nothing! So we did that, always worried about being “caught.” The end result was that we made it onto the plane, which could only take off with a delay because other passengers weren’t as lucky as we were and their luggage had to be removed.

Now you might think: “Great, made it!” But the story is, of course, far from over. Because you might remember: Part of our return journey was still uncertain. And we still had to have our vacation on the island first.

Room Change, Overly Punctual Drivers, …

Upon arriving in Zanzibar, everything initially went smoothly. A driver from our hotel was waiting outside for us, and we drove off immediately. However, as it turned out, to the wrong hotel. I should briefly mention that we had booked an accommodation, and the owner informed us a few weeks earlier that construction work was taking place there, so we would be staying at his other property. The driver apparently didn’t get the memo, so we ended up at the wrong accommodation with our suitcases.

But this problem was quickly resolved, and eventually, we could finally enjoy our first, in my opinion, well-deserved freshly pressed smoothie. We got a room on the ground floor with a small terrace, all in all, completely sufficient. The room was cheap, the comfort correspondingly low. I must admit, lower than expected, and after the rather hurdle-filled journey, I would have liked something nicer, but it worked for now. At least for us. Two days later, the owner asked us to change rooms because he wanted to do some minor renovations. Well, of course, we changed rooms. So, packed everything up and then unpacked again.

After a short break, our mini safari in Tanzania was on the agenda. We were quite glad that we had booked it for the third day of our vacation—due to the flight cancellation, we wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise, and wouldn’t have gotten any money back.

At two in the morning, a driver picked us up to take us to the airport. It seemed quite early to us, as the small propeller plane to the mainland was supposed to leave at seven, but we didn’t think much of it.

We arrived at the meeting point in the dark—and, of course, no one else was there. We were the only ones; apparently, our driver was too eager and wanted to be overly punctual. Specifically: about two hours too early. But we experienced something truly unique that day. Elephants, lions, giraffes—and all up close. It was really something special that we fondly remember—even though the negative feelings about this vacation still prevail.

The Credit Card Did What It Wanted

We were still plagued by bad luck. And I admit, at this point, I was probably not entirely innocent—or maybe I approached the matter too naively. I had only exchanged some money beforehand and otherwise relied on my husband’s credit card. I didn’t have one myself at the time. When we wanted to book an excursion, it suddenly didn’t work. My mother had to transfer the money to the provider from Germany—unpleasant, but not dramatic.

Things got worse when we realized that the credit card apparently only worked at its own whim. In a restaurant, it decided not to work. I scraped together the remaining cash—there wasn’t enough for a taxi anymore. So we had to walk about five kilometers back to the hotel. Along the beach, which is nice at first. But what I honestly didn’t have in mind: Zanzibar has strong tides. And we were, of course, there during high tide, and some beach sections were no longer passable.

I’ll keep it short: Eventually, after running away from wild dogs and climbing over literally sticks and stones, we arrived back at our accommodation. There, we asked our host to drive us to an ATM so we could have cash again—and lo and behold: It worked! I’ll say it again: It was a rollercoaster of emotions!

The card problem reappeared at the end of the vacation—we had decided to move to a slightly more comfortable hotel with a pool for the last three nights. At first, the card worked, but not at the end. What exactly was the problem? We still don’t know.

No Beach Vacation Thanks to Supermoon

But let’s return to the ebb and flow topic in Zanzibar. And here, too, I’m probably to blame for not being better informed beforehand. I knew about the tides, but apparently, we had bad luck in this regard as well. Because during our trip, there was a supermoon, which was truly beautiful to see. But: it also caused greater intensity during high and low tides.

So we could maybe swim in the sea once or twice. Either it simply wasn’t there, or it was so wild that the beach was no longer there. Annoying, but that’s why we moved again, so we at least had a pool.

This new hotel was really nice. However, we had to spend the first night in a bungalow further back because a “normal” room was only available the next day. We had moved quite spontaneously.

The first night ended there in the early morning hours because I was awakened by loud banging and crashing, which really scared me. I thought the ceiling was collapsing above me. Now you might wonder what was going on. And I can fortunately reassure you in this case. Because the loud banging was just the monkeys jumping from roof to roof in the morning. A group of about 20 animals. So, false alarm, nothing went wrong in this hotel.

Return Flights at Our Own Expense

But there was still the matter of the return flight. You might remember: Shortly before our departure, I was told that, for whatever reason, we weren’t booked for the last flight from Istanbul to Berlin. On the last day of vacation, I got the info from a very nice service employee that the flight had been canceled for us a few days after our booking months ago. But do you think we were informed? In my opinion, the flight booking portal should have been responsible for that, but no information came. We would never have found out if it hadn’t been for the whole flight drama at the beginning.

And I wonder: How would that have been? We would have landed in Istanbul and then found out that we didn’t have a flight. Alongside despair, anger slowly built up. So I called the flight booking portal hotline again and asked when they thought they would inform us, and what they planned to do now.

The answer was really more than disappointing: They couldn’t do anything; we should contact our travel agency. Sure, the travel agency, even though I booked everything directly through this portal. I was really just furious. To get home, we had to book a flight at our own expense. We never got the money back for that, of course. But more on that later.

Almost Too Early at the Airport

I admit, when the departure day arrived, I was a bit relieved. So much drama, so much stress, so many phone calls with people who really didn’t care that we lost money and vacation days. Relaxation looks different. So we headed to the airport—super early, to make sure nothing went wrong. Although we were probably a bit too early.

We were really among the very first in line for check-in. When we got to the front, the airport employee asked us what our final destination was. I tried to explain to him that it was theoretically Berlin, but we had now booked the flight from Istanbul at our own expense, so that was our destination for now. He then explained that there was a small problem with our plane, but it wasn’t a big deal. The plan was a stopover at Addis Ababa airport and then on to Istanbul. But now we should make another stopover.

I looked at him, and maybe he saw in my exhausted eyes that I couldn’t handle it all and just wanted to go home. Because suddenly he explained to me that our plane was going as normal and we should just forget what he had just explained.

Yes, I was just as confused as you might be right now. But presumably, our plane was overbooked, and they wanted to rebook the passengers who were already there so early. But he obviously had sympathy for us—and left it at the original booking.

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Next Time, Preferably Bavaria

Eventually, we landed in Istanbul, and after another four-hour stay there (we had booked a much later connecting flight, worried that something might go wrong due to delays), we finally sat on the plane to Berlin. And apparently, my body realized that not much could happen now. Because even before we were on the runway, I had nodded off.

Walking through passport control in Berlin was one of the best moments, as silly as it may sound. We were back home. Nothing could go wrong anymore—and I said to my husband: Next year, then to Bavaria, okay? Because I really didn’t feel like flying anymore!

My Personal Conclusion

I’ve admitted it myself in some places: Some things could have gone better if I had been better prepared. But I still believe that this whole flight situation wasn’t our fault. Another highlight was when we were back home, and I received a call from the airline whose flight was simply canceled at the beginning. They basically asked us where we were, for check-in in Zanzibar for the return flight. I really thought I was being pranked. But apparently, the “new” return flights were never completely canceled. Well.

But I didn’t want to let it go. We submitted our data to an online portal for flight compensation. And it took several years. Because the airline whose flight to Frankfurt was canceled didn’t see the problem, it went to court (which we had nothing to do with, thanks to the online service provider).

We never got anything back for the last flight from Istanbul. I also spoke with a lawyer who only explained how hopeless the situation was. The flight booking portal wasn’t responsible, even though they didn’t inform me of changes to the return flight, and they received the money for the booking. And the airline was also difficult to reach, as Turkey isn’t part of an EU flight rights agreement or anything similar.

In the end, after several years, we at least got some money back, and I’m just glad we chose a budget accommodation—because we didn’t get any money back for the missed nights anyway.