The Dainty Traveller

Conakry airport is interesting. I paused when writing this to think of another word but that is all that came to mind. My first time in Conakry was in July of 2005 and the airport was pretty much one big hanger. The Air France plane landed, we walked off the plane on to the runway and were directed where to line up to go through immigration. It was just that. The airport was not well lit, the staff was nice and our luggage was waiting for us when we got to baggage claim. It wasn’t a bad experience but it wasn’t anything great either. My second time using the Conakry airport was actually during that same trip. My mother and I were traveling to Dakar, Senegal to visit a friend for a weekend. We took Air Senegal which in Africa is known as “Air peut-être” (Air maybe) because sometimes they arrive and sometimes they are seriously delayed. So never bet any money that Air Senegal will arrive on time because you will probably lose all of it. Anyways, Air peut-être was the only airline that h...

This airport is like a smaller version of Pearson airport to me. It is very big, bright and modern. Once you land in Addis Ababa, you have to pay for a visa to enter the country, it costs $20 USD per person. That is the only way you can enter the country. We paid cash but they of course take credit. We didn’t know this when we left Toronto so we were a bit surprised. Getting through immigration and customs did not take too long and we were soon reunited with our luggage. Leaving Addis Ababa was an easy affair. The Staff for Ethiopian Airlines, the national airline, do the check in for almost every flight even if it is a non-Ethiopian airline flight. They were well mannered and almost everyone had a smile on there face. I also found it helpful that they would tell us where bathrooms and snack shops were located before security. Once through security and by our gates there were about 3 restaurants, two coffee shops and one was an actual restaurant with a large and varied menu. There are...