One night in Kigali

 Hi guys,

As mentioned earlier, we had a bit of a delay on our way back to the UK from Naija. Not sure exactly what happened, but Rwanda Air sent us a message weeks in advance (Ibom Air, you see your life in the outside??) about our return flight being delayed by about fourteen hours.

Wow! Due to all the burial prep and other issues in Naija, It didnt really sink in at the time, but as our departure date got closer, it really started to dawn that we would have a really long layover.

No one on earth who flies ever likes that. (well, maybe except that guy who lived in one US airport for years)

It obviously couldnt be avoided, so we steeled our minds for the experience. 

Oh God…of course there had to be drama at MMA on our way back. Most of it, tbh was self inflicted. We(Chioma and I) had meticulously weighed our luggage to make sure we were within the allowance but unfortunately, Ify had excess luggage due to some irrational requests from her friend to help bring back some stuff. Seeing as we were all travelling together as a unit, the staff at the counter bluntly refused to check us in.

Chioma and Ify started reshuffling things in the bags to see if the weights could be redistributed among the various boxes (you see this a lot in Intl airports from Naija), however, physics cannot be cheated (even with both of them hilariously removing heavy clothing items and wearing them physically).

The only option was to pay an extra 120 GBP for luggage. However, I could see the green gleam in the eyes of one the staff there and long story short, let’s just say she was very useful in ensuring that our luggage got checked in.

Our layover was in Rwanda and it was a smooth flight on an albeit crappy plane. We got to Kigali around 8pm.

We had prepped our minds for a long night in the airport terminal, and as sharp peeps that we were, had even located the choicest airport benches near charging ports to sleep.

Unbeknownst to us, the lovely folks at RwandaAir had other plans for us.

As we were settling in on the hard bench, and being the inquisitive, righteous person I can very annoyingly be sometimes, I went up to the service counter to see if there was going to be any compensation for all our suffering. The guy at first looks confused by my anger. He then smiles at me and reacts calmly to my self-righteous indignation by informing me that they’ve already arranged meals and lodgings for all of us all along.

This news happily stops me straight in my tracks and it’s great to hear.

However, in my happy glow, I suddenly mentally acknowledge that this is what should be the norm worldwide and just three weeks back home in the dysfunctional Nigerian system has got me looking at regular things as huge favours. (Ibom Air, you are all mad in that your Uyo office!)

We are whisked away in a chartered bus to a fantastic hotel in Kigali and proceeded to have an extremely enjoyable evening.

Registered as a couple, Chioma and I were given a lovely suite.

We then went for a buffet dinner at the restaurant downstairs.

It was delicious!. We sat with this charming South African man who kept giving Ify the eye all through and he bought drinks for us, We had to retire to catch whatever wink of sleep we could as we were scheduled to catch the airport charter back the next day to resume our flight back to London.

All in all, I really enjoyed our brief night in Kigali. Hopefully, we get to return to a longer stay sometime soon.

Cheers!!