The hardest goodbye

So I don't think I've ever been more scared in my entire life. What the f**k had we done?! I had been saying goodbye to friends and family over the previous weeks but I wasn't ready for this. I was going to paradise crying my eyes out like a little boy!!

I was having to leave Kristen behind in London and get the hotel up and running alone. For 3 months. We had guaranteed on selling our flat to generate a chunk of the cash we needed but that wasn't happening, the housing market picked the perfect time to crash to leave us in the sh*t! We hadn't been able to make all of our deposit payment and didn't even know if we had enough money to get the place up and running or even open. I had left behind a well paid job to risk everything that could turn to dust in a couple of months - we were absolutely stark raving mad!

But we were commited now. I had to get on that plane and I did. And when I arrived at Imani I had to focus on getting the place open and building the relationships with the staff, so I did.

Day by day we slowly started getting the place ready - repairing the restaurant floor, adding paths from the kitchen to restaurant, changing the garden to make it look nicer. Even the power cut - which happened on my second night here (welcome to zanzibar!) and lasted for a month - didn't stop us. By the time the power came back we were almost ready to look after guests (properly!)