Togo & Ethiopia
Mariah and I boarded our flight to Madagascar on Ethiopian Airlines from Newark, NJ (lol). Our expectations were set very low for this $900 roundtrip flight but we are pleased to report that it was very comfortable. What we thought would just be "snack" turned out to be 4-5 warm meals and the entertainment system provided a top tier movie selection. After 9 hours of occasional naps, lots of chatting, and most importantly, syncing movies up to the same second, we landed in Togo for our first stop.
Flying over Togo, we admired the vast green farm lands spotted with villages against red African dust. Also the roads which featured mostly (all) motorcyclists. The plane was only making a short stop of 3 hours and we were not required to leave the aircraft, but we vowed to return to Togo for more adventures. 6 hours later we landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a layover of 12 hours. At the airport, we experienced our first of many shocking experiences standing in line. There were maybe 10 people total standing in line at 3 counters to be given hotel vouchers (included in Ethiopian Airline flight!!). After standing in line for 1 1/2 hours, were still 4th in line. In the meantime, we had made friends with Bénis, a student returning home to Burundi for the summer, and Chris, a very fancy, corrupt businessman with homes in at least 4 countries who works for a gold mining company. An unlikely but true fam. Chris was one of many to point out my resemblance to a young Hillary Clinton. After finally getting our vouchers, which both had printed that Mariah and I are males, we headed for Destiny Hotel. By the time we arrived to Destiny it was 12:30am - the four of us were served dinner and continued to bond. Addis Ababa reminded me of downtown Jeddah, with its run-down malls and street vendors. We didn't see many people out on the street, probably due to our odd arrival (late night) and departure (early morning) times, so there's not much I can deduce about Ethiopian culture. I think I'll definitely be returning to Ethiopia - this layover was such a tease! We were shuttled off to the airport early the next morning (after Chris ditched us for the first shuttle, which we missed) for the remainder of our flight.
Flying over Togo, we admired the vast green farm lands spotted with villages against red African dust. Also the roads which featured mostly (all) motorcyclists. The plane was only making a short stop of 3 hours and we were not required to leave the aircraft, but we vowed to return to Togo for more adventures. 6 hours later we landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a layover of 12 hours. At the airport, we experienced our first of many shocking experiences standing in line. There were maybe 10 people total standing in line at 3 counters to be given hotel vouchers (included in Ethiopian Airline flight!!). After standing in line for 1 1/2 hours, were still 4th in line. In the meantime, we had made friends with Bénis, a student returning home to Burundi for the summer, and Chris, a very fancy, corrupt businessman with homes in at least 4 countries who works for a gold mining company. An unlikely but true fam. Chris was one of many to point out my resemblance to a young Hillary Clinton. After finally getting our vouchers, which both had printed that Mariah and I are males, we headed for Destiny Hotel. By the time we arrived to Destiny it was 12:30am - the four of us were served dinner and continued to bond. Addis Ababa reminded me of downtown Jeddah, with its run-down malls and street vendors. We didn't see many people out on the street, probably due to our odd arrival (late night) and departure (early morning) times, so there's not much I can deduce about Ethiopian culture. I think I'll definitely be returning to Ethiopia - this layover was such a tease! We were shuttled off to the airport early the next morning (after Chris ditched us for the first shuttle, which we missed) for the remainder of our flight.
Flying over Togo
Mariah in Ethiopia
Ethiopia fam minus Chris
Ethiopia
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