Obruni in Ghana

The journey was long. Getting to Accra from my home town took me about 25 hours. It all went pretty well, despite a delay on the way from Brno to Prague and then from Prague to London (they claim getting from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 at Heathrow takes 90 minutes, well, maybe it does when flights aren’t cancelled due to the British Airways strike, but it took me no more than 20).

Leaving from London was the first time I realized where I was going – Africa. There were not many people like me going to the unknown, most of the people were going home. It was scary and exciting at the same time. But Virgin Atlantic made it fun, too. J (I’ve never flown with them anywhere and I like this company!) I got to Lagos tired and nervous. After the immigration officer checked my passport and the paper I had to fill in, she asked for my address in Nigeria. Well – I did fill in that the reason for my coming to Nigeria was transit, so no, I didn’t have an address in Nigeria. So after pointing that out, I was told to get my luggage and come back. Which meant I left my passport there. After that, I was mainly nervous, and had no patience to appreciate how everybody is concerned if the white girl is gonna handle her luggage. Well, I did handle that. J

And I managed to get my passport back, too, after 2 hours of involuntary hanging out with the immigration officers because I wasn’t allowed to check in for my last flight by myself. They were very nice, though, and advised me to come back to Nigeria after I told them I’m not married. Welcome to Africa, I thought to myself. J

And then, against all the advice I got, I fell asleep at the airport. Out of all the airports I’ve been to, I fall asleep at the one in Lagos. I was trying not to but I was so tired that I didn’t even know what language I was speaking… And nothing happened, so it was all ok.

After too many security checks, I got on the last plane with Virgin Nigeria and they got me safely to Accra, Ghana. Finally. I picked up my luggage, changed some money, and tried to go outside where Harriet, my friend’s sister-in-law, was supposed to pick me up. Simple, eh? Yes, if I were in Prague, not in Accra. I wasn’t allowed to leave the airport until there’s really somebody waiting for me, for security reasons. So I waited until Harriet’s friend showed up.

I was happy to be finally in Ghana and meet my new family!