There are six of us, all Baby Boomers, on this ‘no husbands, no children, no grandchildren’ end-of-year vacation to Senegal. We had considered Kenya/Zanzibar, Morocco, South Africa and Rwanda. In the end, the cost of plane tickets settled the matter for us.
Day one started with four of us arriving early at the Abuja airport for our flight to Lagos. (The others were to meet up with us in Senegal.) Check-in was efficient (Kudos to Ibom Air). My bag was weighed, and I followed the porter for it to be x-rayed.
Screener: What do you have in your suitcase?
Me: Only my clothes and toiletries, Oga.
Screener: Madam, you have some powdery substance in your bag.
Me (heart suddenly thumping): What?!
Screener: Yes, see?
Me (peering and then remembering): It’s just sorghum flour. I’m travelling to Senegal and I’m not sure I’ll find it there.
Now, those who know me, know that I eat ‘tuwon dawa’ (a healthy swallow) for lunch every day. And before you conclude that I’m boring, know that I alternate between okro soup and ewedu.
The screener looked at my innocent face and passed the bag through.
We boarded on time; the cabin crew were courteous. I was seated by the emergency exit and was shown how to open the door in case of ‘incasity’. I fastened my seatbelt, wondering if I’d be composed enough to play my part if the ‘incasity’ were to happen. I’m still working at improving my calmness quotient.
All went well, the flight was smooth, and we landed safely around 08:00. As our flight to Dakar was to be at 20:30, we drove to Ikoyi to pass the time. Our driver said we had to leave for the international airport latest by 15:30 since, due to some VIP movement, there was traffic congestion that day.
Later at the airport, a porter loaded our luggage onto a trolley and wheeled it to the SkyBlue desk for payment.
Woman at Desk: Two trolleys? That will be N4,000.
Me (whipping out my bank card): Here you are.
Woman: Our POS is not working, but you can make a transfer.
Me: No problem. Give me the account number.
Woman (To the porter): Give her your account number.
Me: His account number? What of the company’s account number?
Woman (rudely): Just send the money to his account.
Me (Giving her my most vicious side-eye): No POS? No company account? Madam, I’m not going to help you cheat the company you work for.
We took our bags off the trolley and rolled them (with great difficulty) to the Air Peace counter. After checking in, we went to the business class lounge. We were travelling ‘cattle’ class, but we believed we could pay to sit in that lounge for the few hours we had to wait.
Woman at Desk: Boarding Pass, please.
Me (handing her my BP): We’re travelling economy.
Woman: You’ll have to pay.
Me: Of course. How much?
Woman: N50,000 each.
Me (Looking at my companions): Remind me again how many people we can help with that amount of money.
We chuckled and ‘jejely’ retreated.
Downstairs, we found a restaurant with comfortable chairs and ordered drinks to nurse for the duration of the wait.
To be continued…
