Wheels Down in Abidjan
It’s been nearly three weeks since our return from Côte d’Ivoire – jet lag has passed, our inboxes are more-or-less managed, and our pets and families have adjusted to our return (less snuggles, more business as usual). Thus, we find ourselves reminiscing on our amazing African journey and thought our readers would enjoy taking a seat on our virtual tour bus as we share our travelogue with you in a series of Friday blogposts.
Today we’re joined by Alicia Koné, President and Owner of Koné Consulting, her husband, Sekou Koné, Vice President of International Relations, and Kat Brinschwitz, our communications intern, who recall their preparations and anticipation leading up to and including wheels down in Abidjan.
Kat: After almost a year of working behind the scenes, getting ready to pilot our Travel with Purpose tour to Côte d’Ivoire, it was finally happening! The night before our departure I was so anxious with anticipation that sleep was not an option and after a hazy blur of last-minute packing, the Edmonds, WA participants were all being chauffeured down to the SeaTac airport.
My lack of sleep the night before made the first leg of our trip a breeze and I was able to sleep almost the entire 10-hour flight before we touched down in Paris.
Since our participants hail from all across the country our departure gate became our rendezvous point and the first time that we were meeting face-to-face.
Having everyone together for the first time is when it became real for me. We were going to Abidjan! All the places that our team had been researching, all the people we were coordinating with to make this happen – we would finally be there in person after almost two years of preparation!
Our six-hour layover in the Charles de Gaulle airport turned out to be the most taxing part of the air travel. Everyone in the group began to feel the effects of the 8-hour time difference and we all joked that we had entered the Twilight Zone – funny what jetlag and a little sleep deprivation will do to your mental state! A lot of the work we do at Koné happens virtually, and all the prep work we did for Travel with Purpose had been online, so actually physically standing in line, getting ready to board the double-decker Air France plane was a surreal experience.
Alicia and Sekou: We left for Côte d’Ivoire on Christmas Day, 3-days ahead of our delegation so we could make final preparations for their arrival. We were very excited – our Travel With Purpose dream was finally happening. But at the same time, we were unsure we had made a good decision to bring a bunch of people to Côte d’Ivoire.
Would they enjoy the experience? What if something went wrong?
Alicia: Because credit cards still aren’t common in Côte d’Ivoire, we spent two days exchanging money and making cash deposits at hotels and at the bus company. It was easier and more tolerable than previous trips because for the first time we had our own car with air conditioning. We learned some new things about how to handle large sums of cash - like each transaction requires four people - one witness on each side of the transaction- to recount the money. Banking is difficult in CI – many banks lack cash on-site – so there’s a market for entrepreneurial money changers. With Sekou’s connections, we were able to get a very good exchange rate.
The tour group was landing at the airport at 8:30PM and we knew it would take a couple of hours for them to get through the eVisa process and customs. Even so, we were running around the Residence Touriste hotel with the manager up until the very last minute, making room assignments and distributing water and welcome gifts to each participant. By the time we left the hotel it was after 8PM and I was very hot and sweaty and feeling anxious.
Kat: The easiest part of the trip was the Air France flight, which turned out to be a nice long 6-hour nap, and only after we began descending into Abidjan did I wake. As soon as we stepped off the plane we were enveloped by the warm, humid air and ushered into a lengthy line where our eVisa applications were approved and we were granted access into the country (this requires showing proof of yellow fever vaccination in addition to eVisa paperwork).
Then we individually went through the first customs checkpoint, which was (thankfully) significantly shorter than the eVisa line. Guess that’s one perk of flying in at 10 PM!
Soon we were all standing around baggage claim, looking for luggage and eyeing the customs bag-checking process – many of us had distributed large amounts of medications and gifts for the St. Genevieve Orphanage in our two allowed 50-pound bags and were concerned about getting through customs without incident.
Sekou: At the airport, I tried to find a customs agent to go behind the scenes and help with the customs process because of the language barrier. Eventually we found a police officer who I told, “my children, who are Americans and travelling with a bunch of other Americans are inside and don’t speak French.” I put a little money in his palm, and before I knew it he was back with the whole group following behind. There were smiles and hugs all around as we celebrated our group’s safe arrival. I was very happy to see them.
Kat: To our relief, a police officer, hired by Sekou, appeared and guided us through the final checkpoint without a hitch. Sekou and Alicia were standing at the end of the hall waiting for us, a welcome sight, looking much more rested than our groggy, sticky group.
After 30+ hours door-to-door, we’d truly arrived!
Our journey continues next week with pictures and highlights from our first days in Abidjan.
Learn more about our Travel With Purpose tour and our 2020/2021 plans here.