nomadic in april

Africa. Day One!

The flight from Lagos to Accra was late of course, but fine. I fell asleep instantly so I can't tell you a darn thing about the flight. My arrival into Lagos from London was a little hairy. Fortunately the Jamaican Nigerian guy sitting next to me looked after me when we landed. In Ebo he told the immigration officer to take care of me and to let nothing happen. After being taken to a room that looked like an interrogation room, I waited as an older British man sat before three officers insisting that they give back his passport. They had already taken mine. They laughed and spoke to each other in Ebo, obviously taunting the man.

Eventually I was in the hands of airport security and escorted about. They'd say things like "cjlgoiual agoiaoidsfm transit alkjsd;lkago lagoiaojf". "Ehh, ehh" the other person would respond and point at me. I was lead, alone, down dark hallways with no one around. Scary at 5 am when you are sleep deprived. Then they took me to one room to wait for the Ghana Airways office to open. A woman was sleeping on a broken down bench. I waited and watched as several people came in and out of the dim and dusty room. They had taken my passport and plane ticket. So I kept my eyes on whoever had it.

The two lady employees began asking me about my hair. "Is that your hair? Is that all your hair? How do you get it that way? Are you Jamaican? How do you "bath"? Can you "loose" it? I figured after this discussion, we'd developed a bond and they would look after me.Which they did. I was escorted to the front of the long Ghana Airways check in line, where excess baggage of 8 pieces is the norm.

I was then escorted to the line for boarding. I thought it unusual that the plane was nearly finished boarding since the check in line had just begun and I was the first person checked in. But I thought myself lucky and handed my ticket to the agent. She tore it and the next agent waved me on. Still I thought something was wrong so I asked if this was a flight to Accra. He said yes, but I must have looked confused and he asked to see the remaining portion of my ticket stub. It was indeed the wrong flight. The wrong airline at that! I wouldn't have minded except that my luggage had already been checked into Ghana Airways. The agent began to randomly check other passenger's tickets and determined that I was the only one who had been wrongly boarded.

I sat down and waited for what became 3 hours for my flight on Ghana airways. I was nervous because of the things I had heard about Ghana airways and more nervous about the prospect of being stranded in Lagos (nicknamed the wild wild west) without a visa. When boarding time was called people rushed the counter like it was first come first served. As I was pressed into the crowd I asked the man next to me what was going on. He repeated what they had announced. Those with no seat assignment printed on their ticket had to step aside. They have overbooked! Trying not to panic I asked where on the ticket I should find the seat assignment. Mine was printed "8A". Whew!

An hour later I arrive in Accra to begin the first of many "negotiations" with taxi drivers. The taxi driver delivered me to the home of my friend's parents. I have arrived! My first day in Africa.