Experience, they say is the best teacher. Guided by that principle, I got myself prepared for the trip to Algeria despite the short notice. I must refresh your mind, in case you have forgotten that I was a victim of ignorance (maybe innocence, if you hear my gist) in Addis Ababa the last time I travelled to Maputo in 2011.

Our flight from Lagos transitted through Addis. When we landed the Ethiopian capital, we were ferried to a 5-Star hotel. After dinner, I went straight into my room to sleep. Before going to bed I saw a small fridge which contained assorted drinks. Innocently, I brought out one Crystal beer, afterall, I  was a guest of the airline, I thought. How wrong!

Checking out in the morning the receptionist asked, ‘’did you take anything from the mini bar?” With a tinge of pride, I answered in the affirmative. ‘’You will pay 9 USD,” she said. I brought out a 100 dollar note. All efforts to get me 90 dollar change failed as they did not have enough money in their safe, particularly, as it was still early in the day. At last the smart receptionist decided to complete my money with Ethiopian currency. Till date I still have the Ethiopian money as a souvenir.

Guided by this misfortune, which my boss Tony Ubani has  embellished  into a first grade joke, I took a bike to the Apapa  parallel forex market. Mukaila, a light complexioned foreign exchange dealer provided a pre-emptive solution to any eventuality. ‘’You say you are travelling quo,” he asked, in a northern accent. ‘’Then I know what to do.”

He went in and for 100 dollars, he brought numerous denominations beginning with 5, 10 and 20 dollar bills. Armed with this, I rushed to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport to board a flight to Algeria on Thursday, March 21. We flew to Cairo where we spent the night. Again we were taken to a hotel for the night. From the airport I noticed the city was bubbling. You can only imagine my thoughts regarding what I would do when we get to the hotel.

When we eventually reached the hotel, we checked in and I was handed the key to my room. When I entered,  I noticed a small fridge in one corner of the room and I smiled to myself. After a light shower, I rushed down for dinner. After dinner, I couldn’t stay with the rest of my co-tavellers as I had different plans. Up in my room and full of anticipation, I dashed for the fridge. I opened it. Lo! what did I find ? An empty fridge!

I slumped into my bed in disappointment. Uptil now, I am still wondering what to do with these dollar denominations.

Algiers, March 22 My Visa Wahala

We arrived Algiers International Airport 11. 30 am Friday March 22. Soon, we were in a long queue for immigration formalities. The queue was gradually thinning out and it soon got to my turn to be attended to.  ‘’Next,” a smart looking immigration officer in an equally neat navy blue uniform said behind a thin glass separating us. I advanced my green passport, placed it in front of him.

He picked the passport and took another glance at me. ‘’Nigerian?” he asked. ‘’Yes,” I answered. He flipped through the pages. Now getting serious, the officer began checking the pages again in slow motion . He looked up again to have another view of me. ‘’Where is your final destination,” he asked.

‘’I am going to Oran,” I answered. ‘’What for,” the conversation continued. ‘’To cover the African Youth Championship. Where they are playing football,” I added, gesticulating with a kick of an imaginary football because I felt we had communication problem.