Well, it's 7:50 PM and here I am in the Lagos domestic terminal. It is the new MMA2 terminal that replaced a terminal that burned down many years ago. It is pretty nice and pretty modern. There are 2 small food courts--one in departures and one in arrivals. There are a few small stores--one selling magazines and stationery (but not The Economist or postcards) and one selling soccer merchandise. There is a restaurant which is rather pricey which I satin frm 4:17 to 7:39 called Double Four. I had hot chicken wings for N1100 (US$9) though having seen another woman get the cheeseburger I regret I didn't get that, 3 Star beers--the big kind (60cl) which were N500 (US$4) each which is better than the place next store which sells 33cl cans for N400 (US$3.20) , and a double shot machiato (I got charged for 2 N600 machiatos instead of 1 machiato and a N400 shot of espresso). So my total bill there was N3800. Since they charged me for 2 machiatos, I only tipped them by paying N4000 (US$32.00) which is high for what I got but probably not too excessive for airport captive audience food.
I chatted with the employees for a while. The tourist American coming through Nigeria is rather uncommon so they were quite interested in my story. Nigeria is not exactly the most welcoming country. And their lack of reliable connection to the Visa network helps that prickliness. But done right, it would be a fun place to visit. I look forward to another opportunity to visit Nigeria. Once I know they have ATMs that reliably dispense money from Visa or perhaps if I can bring enough money or prearrange some Western Union transfers, I'd like to see more. It is an interesting country. I really think they have done a lot to address the sources of their unattractive image. When I entered Nigeria, I certainly had a lot of questions to answer and a lot of forms to fill out, but I paid not one Naira in bribes (to government officials) so far the whole time I was here. Maybe the south is different from the north. I don't know. Also, I googled a bit and found a website dedicated to--believe it or not--how to sleep in airports. The consensus was that Lagos used to be one of the absolute worst places to even think about sleeping, but the new domestic terminal seems really nice and I think it is perfectly safe to spend the night here, though I have no intention of sleeping. I intend to stay up all night. The new MMA2 domestic terminal feels like a small US city airport security-wise. Maybe like Madison, WI. There are still empty storefronts here because it opened so recently. Anyway, anyone needing to spend a night in Lagos would definitely find the security situation in the MMA2 terminal to be quite satisfactory. And given the high cost of taxing into Lagos and taxing back the airport, it's a backer's dream even if the food and drinks are on the high side. Of course it is just a little past 8pm right now, and that may change, but so far, so good.
My day started out pretty good. I woke up at 5:30 am since I know that for some reason the International Hotel turns off the generator about an hour before daylight. Why not just run the damn thing until the sun comes out and we can see in our rooms? Who knows. But they don't so I made sure I was up in time to do all my last minute packing. At first light I left and checked out. In fact, I wish I waited about 20 minutes because I got a taxi which was waiting right outside the hotel (they wait outside hotels when people are likely to leave). It was still a bit dark and the route to the airport took us on potholed bumpy dirt roads and over rickety wooden ditch covers. It's the kind of trip you want 20 minutes more sun. It was a bit chilly too which was sort of nice. We made the airport in 10 minutes and it only cost me N200 (US$1.60) which was less than the highest price I was willing to pay (N300) and only N50 more than the Lonely Planet price. In general, the Lonely Planet prices for transportation are low since it was published before gasoline went way up.
So I got to the airport and waited a while and watch the Virgin Nigeria people set up their rolling counters. Exactly 90 minutes before the departure, they opened the gates and we all went up. I got my boarding pass and went through security which was harrowing because I kept having to enter areas where the signage indicated they were restricted areas open only to authorized persons.
At the screening I didn't have to take off my shoes or remove my laptop. In fact, I only had to show my ID when I got my passport. The security was not exactly encouraging. I could get a boarding pass and then hand it over to Osama bin Laden and he could board the plane after that. But I survived the first flight to Abuja with no problem in the aisle seat. They served a drink and a sandwich which was beef (or tuna) but which colored more like ham. A Virgin trick on the Muslims?
The Abuja to Lagos leg a couple with a baby came. They asked if I could take the window seat. Sure, I prefer the window. :-) The baby cried a bit. At the end, I found out the woman was from Washington DC and her mother was there, too and it was their first time in Nigeria. I asked the mother if she would be in DC for the inauguration and she said she wouldn't be and she already rented out her house for the trip. Nice. I hear there is a big demand. Smart move.
I headed for the various food courts and found my way around the airport. There are a bunch of banks. There is a Skye bank whose ATM still does the cool music but whose error message on my ATM cards is still "No Useful App". But then I tried the Access Bank ATM and voila! It gave me money. Yay! So there is a bank in Nigeria that gives money. The system still has a long way to go and I certainly wouldn't ever expect to use ATMs here until they get a little better connected, but there is at least one machine in Nigeria that works.
After that, it was wait. I tried the meat pies at Mr. Biggs (good) and the meat pies at the bakery on the second floor (not as good). I'll try the meat pies at TP tomorrow.
Other than that, it was wait. Hurry up and wait. Wait, wait wait. After my hellish trip from Mopti to Timbuktu, I can endure any wait less than 4 hours. If I can stand up and walk rather than being confined to the area of a bag of sugar, I can endure it.
So that's where I am. Waiting until morning. I have 1.50 liters of Star beer competing with 2 shots of espresso. They'll team up to get me into the bathroom, but hopefully the espresso with beat the beer in helping me stay awake.
At 10:44, an employee asked me if I intended to stay here all night. I said I did. He asked why and I told him it was because I had a flight in the morning. He asked where and I told him Calabar. He said they don't normally allow passengers to sleep there overnight. I told him I didn't intend to sleep but to stay up. I pointed to my stuff and said I didn't want to sleep and leave it all unattended. He looked a bit askance at me but seemed to acquiesce. He walked off. Then he returned. "The environment is safe enough, but if some funny men approach, you can always talk to a person with a blue shirt and with a badge like this" he said showing me his badge around his neck. So so far so good. He didn't kick me out. Which at quarter to 11 would not be good since I have no idea what I would do in that circumstance.
At 11:54, another employee came by and asked the same questions. He said passengers can't stay here. I told him the other guy said it was OK. He started to walk away and then came back. He said there was a place downstairs with a policeman where passengers needing to stay the night should stay. I told him I would be happy to go anywhere he needed me to go. He told me to stay where I was and right now I'm not sure if he'll come back and move me or if he'll just let me stay. I figure the airport will essentially reopen at in less than 6 hours and I can survive until then. Just so long as I look like the kind of guy they don't want to throw to nocturnal Lagos they should let me stay in the airport and not expect me to take a cab into the city where I'm vulnerable to whatever.
At 12:51, two more employees came by and asked more or less the same things. She asked if I missed my flight and I said I didn't--I was just waiting for a flight in the morning. She asked why I didn't stay in hotel and come in the morning. I told her that I sometimes stay in airports when I have connections between flights and I didn't think it would be a problem. She said that they don't encourage it. She suggested I head to the place downstairs where the people who miss their flights stay. I said I would and it's no problem.
Thursday, November 20, 2008 24:55 Nigerian local time
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