Wednesday Sept 17th - 10:30 AM ET: I receive an email from my colleague Carsten from the Danish Missionary Organization, "Mission Africa" (formerly "Sudan Mission) stating that we have received funding for our pilot project!
Monday, September 22nd: I submit my payment and pre-application for a Visa covering the trip to the website of the Nigerian Embassy. This begins one of the most frustrating processes of my 27 year long life: Tracking down the unpublished support email address for the 3rd party technical support at socketworksglobal who handle online transactions for the Nigerian Government, countless useless emails are passed back and forth between socketworks and myself (perhaps not entirely useless, because they convince me to pay my visa pre-application fee to the Govt TWICE during this process) fruitless phone calls to overflowing voicemail boxes at the Embassy (as well as random extension dials in vain attempts to reach a live person), paying a Visa expedite fee, paying a 3rd party professional (Duke Brobee of "Duke's Visa Service", recommended by the travel agent of Lutheran Missionaries based out of Minneapolis) to hand carry my paperwork to the Embassy in D.C., paying to overnight that paperwork to and back from said professional, and paying said professional's expediting fee.
I call Duke, my Mercenary Visa Procurement Specialist Extraordinaire in D.C.
to receive the final Verdict. After 16 days teeth nashing, head banging and nail biting, I had finally been
granted a Multiple Entry Tourist Visa for the grandest nation on the African continent.
Tuesday Oct 7th - 1:30 PM (30 minutes later): Visa is on the way, time to buy a ticket...
All of the cheap flights "to Abuja" went to Lagos via a major
international carrier, but would require that I switch to Virgin
Nigeria to get from Lagos to Abuja. This included a 10 km drive
between airport terminals in an unfamiliar city with a reputation as
being quite dangerous for foreigners. All of my contacts in country
very strongly discouraged me from going that route on such short
notice, because they probably wouldn't be able to find me a
trustworthy driver and/or a place to stay (in case the flight from
Lagos to Abuja was delayed or canceled).
When it became clear that not only would the drive between terminals have to be made, but that an overnight in Lagos would be required as well (Virgin Nigeria wasn't running any of it's late day flights this week from Lagos to Abuja), I opted to pay the extra dollars to fly British Airways. They had the only direct flights from Europe to the capital city of Abuja, where I have friends who have friends that could help me navigate the situation, and find me a place to stay for the evening if anything didn't go as planned (in Nigeria, nearly nothing goes as
planned, ever.)
After British Airways refused to process my card to purchase the ticket online because I didn't have a "Verified By Visa" account linked up with my Capital One "No Hassle" Visa Card, I attempted to sign up for Verified by Visa. When this process failed repeatedly I was directed to call a helpline at Capital One where a woman told me that they no longer accept applications for the service, but that I could call customer service to complain or get more details if I wanted. Why isn't a robot doing this woman's job? Catch 22. So, I called British Airways to see if I
could purchase over the phone. They tell me that Verified by Visaisn't really my problem here, it's purchasing a ticket to Abuja with a credit card. Abuja has made their "Comten" list of destination cities. This means that the rate of credit card fraud occurring in purchases of tickets to this destination is high enough that tickets must be purchased in person.
The woman on the line was nice enough to "hold" a ticket for me at the gate for Thursday morning, I'd just have to purchase it day of.
Wednesday Oct 8th - 9:37 AM ET: Fedex rings my doorbell and drops off an express mail envelope containing my Visa. Thank you Duke for making perfect use of my pre-paid self-addressed Express Envelope.
I close down my business, pack, and prepare frantically until 3:30 AM Thursday morning.
Thursday Oct 9th - 6:00 AM: Cab picks me up at 10 Moore St, destination Logan Airport
Thursday Oct 9th - 8:20 AM: We take off for Heathrow Airport, London!
Thursday Oct 9th - 10:15 PM GMT: We leave London for Abuja
Friday Oct 10th - 4:20 AM GMT: Arrive in Abuja - David Attah (whom I have never met) and his
unnamed friend pick me up at the international terminal and bring me to the domestic terminal 20 minutes away.
David waits with me until the airport opens around 7:00 AM, and helps me find the ticket purchasing office for Arik Airlines, which is far more difficult than it ought to be.
Friday Oct 10th - 5:00 PM GMT: My flight from Abuja to Yola (capital of Adamawa state, and the city where I'll be headquartered for the trip) is delayed approx 2 hours.
Friday Oct 10th - 9:00 PM GMT: Approximately 60 hours after getting word that my Visa was approved and 32 hours after departing from Boston I arrive in Yola where Carsten and Zwriglee pick me up and bring me back to our accommodations at the American University of Nigeria.
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