Arrived in Yola After 4 days of Travel

The plan almost worked.  The plan was to book my flight to Abuja, Nigeria on Ethiopian Airline (United express to Washington DC) and overnight in Washington, DC where I can visit my Granddaughter. The Ethiopian connection through Addis Ababa was scheduled to arrive in Abuja at 12:20 PM and the Arik Airline flight to Yola leaves at 2:20 PM.  The flights I have taken before through Europe have all arrived after 4 PM so I had to overnight in Abuja. I once made the connection on IRS airlines when their flight was running late. IRS is no longer flying in Nigeria. The Ethiopian/United tickets were $400 cheaper than flying through Europe. I did not book my ticket on Arik because I had not ever taken this route and I heard that immigration was doing health checks.  I did not want to miss the flight and then have to try to re-book.

The plan seemed sound except on this trip I will be traveling heavy. I had a Drawtite trailer hitch (with packaging it weighed 58 pounds) with me as over-sized luggage. United from Minneapolis to DC would not check my luggage through to Abuja because my layover in DC was more than 10 hours. So I ended up spending Tuesday night at Dulles airport with my luggage. The Ethiopian Air flight to Addis Ababa was a Boeing 777-300LR and new and comfortable airplane. Good food and service. They give you a sleeping mask, tooth brush and some socks.  

The transfer at Addis Ababa went smoothly; I even found a live electrical plug to recharge my computer. The flight to Abuja was a new Boeing 777-200. We arrived early in Abuja.

I had expected the immigration and customs to be slow. I was surprised that the health check was a form we filled out on the plane, that nobody read and a guy that took my temperature with remote thermometer. He just shined a light into the side of my head or on my ear from a couple feet away. It took less than a minute. Immigration lines were shorter for people without Nigerian passports. Customs wanted me to open the box and wanted to know how much it cost. I told him it cost $178 and I showed him a picture of the hitch. I said it is a big piece of steel than connects to a Hilux so we can tow a compressor and repair bad borehole. I told him I was working with a church to bring clean water to villages. He said “God bless you” and sent me on my way.

I arrived at the Arik ticket office at 12:30. The Governor of Taraba State had had a meeting with a large number of his staff members in Abuja. They had reserved all the seats on the Arik afternoon flight to Yola. While, I arrived at the Arik ticket counter with plenty of time, there were no tickets. I purchased a ticket for the Friday afternoon flight. I called Bishop Benjamin Fuduta and he arrange a room at the DRACC Guest House near the airport.  By taxi it is only a 15 minute ride.

The Arik flight has a limit of 20 KG (44 pounds) for you checked luggage. The box with the hitch was 26 KG and my suitcase was 21 KG. I moved as much of the heavy items (ball mount, ball, torque wrench and accessories) from my suitcase to my carry on. I was only 18 KG overweight and it cost me 9000 naira ($54). With the $200 excess luggage cost for the flights to Abuja the cost to transport the trailer hitch was $254 to Yola. This about the same as the cost of the hitch, ball mount, ball, electrical kit, and other accessories). This is still cheaper than the alternative methods of shipping we had found. 

When I went through security check at Abuja to get on the flight to Yola they x-rayed my carry-on and wanted to inspect it. When she saw the ball mount she told me it was too heavy that I would have to go back and check it in as luggage. I went into my story of just being a volunteer with the church to help bring clean water to villages and my over luggage was already checked and I might miss my flights. She finally, said “Go”. I took her “Go” to mean to go to my flight.

We arrived in Yola a little late. The box with the trailer hitch was last to be brought from the plane on a cart by itself. The new terminal building’s roof had been blown off in a storm. The baggage area was back outside. Fortunately, there was only a little sprinkle. Yakubu picked me up in the Land-Yota. 

Regina and her family had cleaned up the house and weeded the area in front of the house. Most to the sandy area around the house is now gardens.

We brought my luggage into the house and then went Luka’s Supermarket to get some drinking water, canned meats, oatmeal, breakfast cereal and other items to get me through the weekend. After we got back I realized I had no dish soap or chorine to wash the dishes. I will make a shopping list and walk to the local shops for the basics.

Regina and I fetched water on Saturday morning from the faucet by the pump house and I have a full barrel of water. The power situation is much improved. The church is hosting a youth convention and had their generator going until almost 8 last night. The power from the grid came on sometime after midnight and is still going at 11 AM. I may get ice in my little refrigerator.

Construction of the roof has started at the Deaf Church. I won’t see Pastor Ruth or the Vicar until Sunday. I will take some measurements and update the drawings of the floor levels from as designed to as built.