How many travellers can relate to The Serpent?

Hanging over a toilet bowl, retching in the oppressive heat. Watching ‘true crime’ series The Serpent set in 1970s Bangkok brings back raw memories of the first year spent living in Dar es Salaam in 1999. We weren’t being poisoned by a sinister character bent on robbery or murder, but rather simply adjusting to life…

Working for DFID in 1999 – The Accommodation Officer

A recent announcement that the UK Foreign office and DFID are to merge will hopefully offer better value for money for the British tax payer. As a trailing expat spouse, opportunities to work locally in Africa are dependent on procuring a costly work permit, however there is a loophole, work at an embassy in a…

The Office

After emigrating to Dar es Salaam in February 1999. Our first quest was to find mobile phones amid a mobile phone revolution in East Africa. I hovered at the open doorway of our room, hoping for a breath of air in the heavy heat while Ben rearranged the cushions on the two-seater sofa, making it…