Visit Every City

Day 2 – 15th January 2023

As long-haul flights go, this particular experience was average with a few very welcome perks. I had a whole row to myself on both legs of the trip! While I didn’t exactly stretch it across all three seats, I did move around as much as I needed to without having to worry about bumping elbows with anyone.

I managed to get some sleep before the plane stopped in Togo. The capital city of the West African nation, Lomé, is said to be one of the most beauty cities in West Africa. From the air half of the city looks like some of the towns in Zambia with a similar style of construction. The other half of the city has some beautiful looking buildings and tree-lined boulevards. I sat in the plane for an hour where I discovered that my phone plan doesn’t cover Togo. I’m just hoping my fifteen minutes of communication wasn’t too costly. Oops.

As I mentioned before, I’ve had m mixed experiences at the airport in Addis Ababa. I set my expectations at a certain level, and was pleasantly surprised overall. While I won’t get to experience the terminals until the morning, I did get to leave the airport! First I had to wait in line with about a hundred other people who has free hotel vouchers for their long layover. This made it easier to figure out where to stand. I got my paperwork situated, went through a short security line and a short customs line before heading out to the bus lot. That’s where there was a bit of organized chaos for a while. Guys with badges and walkie-talkies were walking back and forth. Travelers with their bags were dodging SUVs, minibus, and regular sized buses trying to find out which bus to get on. Even I thought they had forgotten about me and a group of people who were supposed to all go to the Jupiter Hotel, a man who had told us where to stand came over and started assigning us to a different hotel. In the shuffle he almost walked off with my voucher paperwork, but me and my bags made it in a bus!

In the bus I squeezed myself and my bags behind the driver next to another American. He had an accent but I couldn’t hear him when I told me where he was originally from (he lives in Washington DC). He was very excited to hear I live in Brooklyn, and even more excited to be in Ethiopia. He filmed as our bus drive through the streets and dropped us off at the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel. I might have ended up in his video a couple of times. Later in the evening a fellow traveler from South Africa mentioned he stayed at this hotel a number of years ago and it wasn’t very nice. To our surprise this hotel was very nice! Probably way too nice for a free night’s stay including a free dinner, free breakfast, free airport shuttle, and very comfortable rooms. The staff all did their best to show everyone the traditional Ethiopian hospitality even though there were so many people coming and going constantly, waiting in line for their rooms.

I ended the night with a free meal (not Ethiopian food, but still food in Ethiopia) before relaxing and enjoying not being in an airplane. I’m thankful that God has blessed my travels so far, and even worked it out so I could be a little more comfortable. No complaints here! Perhaps in the morning I’ll have a chance to try since Ethiopian coffee before I leave the country.

– Lewis VanAusdle