8 days, 36,000 kilometers (21,600 miles)

Daily Diary

Yeah, right. I’ll just sum it all up for you. There was no way that I was going to be able to cross from Cameroon into Nigeria without an actual visa. I had the e-visa, but the only port of entry that would allow me through was Calabar, which required me to put my bike on a fishing skiff from Limbe, and set off to Oron. The issue with that plan was that the company running the boats didn’t open for the season until December 1st, and all routes start in Nigeria and then pick up people for return. When no boats are running, you need to hire a charter, which meant paying $2,200 for the boat to make the roundtrip. Um, no.

Heading to Benin

Got up early to take the shuttle to the airport. There were a couple of drunks running around, but much quieter than usual…

View of the cabaret across the street from my hotel.

Instructions on how to properly mine and export diamonds in Cameroon.

So, I booked a flight to Benin, well, I was working on it when I got the call that I needed to be stateside to sign some paperwork. I could have signed from anywhere in the US, but I figured why not make a quick trip back? I needed to go through Benin anyway, so in the end it all worked out.

Flying in Africa always has a surprise waiting for you.

You can’t check in to a flight until it’s about to leave. Good thing I showed up almost three hours early! Then, once it was time to check in, the woman told me I needed the full ticket number and receipt even though I already had a boarding pass. I had to run to an office in the main terminal area, wait for them to print my ticket, and then sprint back. Luckily nothing is on time – ever!

My flight from Douala to Cotonou went through Libreville, Gabon! We didn’t have time to deplane, so sitting on the runway in 90+ heat was not much fun. Whatever, it was a pretty quick turnaround and we were back on our way.

Interestingly enough, our plane and entire crew was from eastern Europe – Chechia in fact. Note the alternate language….

They gave me a windows seat because I was only one of 3 people on the plane who spoke English and “Pavel”, our flight attendant, didn’t speak French so he couldn’t give out instructions to those seated in an exit row.

Cheese sandwich with butter was all you were getting on this flight!

And a nice warm soda.

We eventually landed in the scorching heat and humidity that would be my home for a few days – Cotonou.

I checked into my hotel and noticed the Mongolian symbol of my tattoo everywhere….

Firs time I have seen the exact symbol, which either means “satanist” or “good luck” depending on who you ask.

I hopped on a moto taxi the next morning and headed over to the Nigerian embassy.

One hour later – done! I couldn’t even believe they issued it right on the spot.

I figured while I was here I should check out Togo embassy as well,.

After 5 hours of walking in the heat and humidity and ending up a location that didn’t even exist, I found another moto taxi and he got me to the right place. Turns out, Togo is e-Visa only. Ha!

Time for another moto taxi back to the hotel.

I had eaten at the hotel a couple of times already purely out of convenience, so I figured I would get out and try a spot around the corner.

Fish skewers with green beans. Wait – a vegetable in western Africa??? I believe this was the same night that I received a call from the boys back home having a Goldy’s reunion with the world’s best bartender.

In the meantime, I mean the time between when I arrived in Benin and the morning when I was due to head to the US, I received a message from a friend about dinner reservations for his mom’s birthday:

What a perfect surprise I was planning up!

Did some sightseeing, well at least of the beach and this amazing Amazonian fighter monument – yes, those are people in front of it!

Off to Ethiopia > Rome > Chicago

It was a pretty cramped 5-hour flight to Addis, but at least I had a bulkhead and window seat.

We arrived around 1AM and when I landed I found out my flight had been canceled and I was going to have to stay in the airport for about 13 hours.

I decided to head to the connection desk to see what was going on and the woman rebooked me on a flight leaving in 40 minutes!! Time to run! The problem was that the boarding pass she printed wasn’t even mine, so when I was trying to go through one fo the security checkpoints they stopped me I was hearing the “last call” announcement for my my flight, but luckily Ethiopian airlines emailed me a copy and my phone had signal!

Time to get a move on! It was nine hours to Rome….

View of Luxor, Egypt at night…..

For this leg, we didn’t need to deplane. Just waited for the passengers to board and we were back on the way… for 11 more hours.

Not much to report on this part of the journey, other than I made it to Tom’s for a cockatail.

And yes, they were definitely surprised.

Back in the good ‘ole US and A.