Index
The human pin cushion
Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya trip report – pre-trip
The flights
Accra
Coconut Grove
The rain forest
Nigeria Air and Sheraton
Flight problems
Kenya
The trip home

I had to apply for a visa for Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya. I used a travel broker for all three but made a mistake with the Nigeria one. The travel broker told me to fill out the Nigerian visa form online and pay the fee. At the end of the application, it asked if I wanted to submit it to the Atlanta branch of New York branch. Not thinking that there was any difference, I picked Atlanta. I found out weeks later that I was supposed to have picked the New York branch.

Due to the error I had to do the entire process again, and this time I picked New York branch. I contacted the Nigeria Immigration Service and told them about the mistake I had made. They informed me they would be happy to refund the erroneous visa fee if I would provide them a copy of my receipt. I did that and after five weeks of no responses I ended up having to dispute the charge with American Express and got the charge reversed.

My routing to Ghana was SLC – MSP – AMS – ACC.

SLC – MSP
This flights was on a 767-300ER. This was a pretty nondescript flight though there was no video on demand system on the flight. There were economy comfort seats on the flight.

MSP – AMS
This flight was on a 777-200. The best seats in economy appeared to be row 10, 11, 12, or 14 in seat D or F.

Walking out off of the plane, there was plenty of time to go get something to eat. I went to the Dutch Kitchen where I had miniature pancakes (poffertjes).

After that there was still time to kill, so using my Priority Pass I went into the lounge.

AMS – ACC
This flight was on a Airbus A330-300. By the time we were close to Accra, I was completely worn out. Due to my height, sleeping on airplanes in economy is basically impossible. Some of it is self inflicted as I always prefer the aisle seat so I don’t have to climb over people on flights. I’ve always been reluctant to take Ambien or some other sleeping pill because I’m sure it would make me tired but I still wouldn’t be able to sleep. It makes these flights brutal.

I do actually enjoy these long flights. I don’t mind sitting there for hours on end as I have movies to watch, books to read, and an exciting adventure awaiting.