As the world began shutting down in March, I found myself in Accra, Ghana. While I considered aborting the remainder of my trip and heading directly home, I opted to remain for a couple extra days and enjoyed an incredible time in Togo and Benin, two nations on Africa’s west coast. I came home to a very different world than I had left. What an amazing African adventure I experienced.
My African Adventure
March 2020 seems so long ago now. The purpose of the trip was an inspection for my other business in South Africa and an opportunity to review South African Airways in business class. Little did I know that South African Airways would go under (or not?) about a month later and the A330-300 I flew from Johannesburg to Accra would be returned to the lessor.
I spent two nights in Cape Town at the Westin. Lovely property. In Cape Town, there was one not-so-lovely person who tried to take advantage of my good nature.
My biggest regret was missing the great Sean Mendis (not Shawn Mendes) while I was in Accra. With United Airlines resuming service to Accra next year, I look forward to returning and hanging out with him. Ghana was the highlight of my trip as well, particularly my daytrip to Cape Coast Castle, per the recommendation of Trevor of Tagging Miles.
Then the news hit. This COVID-19 thing was serious. I spent one more day in Accra, then headed overland to Lomé, Togo (such an adventure). From Lóme, I headed to Cotonou, Benin, another great city…and an extremely humbling experience there. Oh, and I got to explore an abandoned Lockheed L-1011 rusting away on the beach.
Trip Report
Expect the following segments and reviews in this report:
- Air France – KLM Lounge Washington Dulles
- British Airways Lounge Washington Dulles
- Turkish Airlines Lounge Washington Dulles
- Chef Geoff’s – A Washington Dulles Priority Pass Restaurant
- United Club Washington National
- United Airlines 787-9 Business Class Newark to Cape Town
- Flying With United’s Most Loyal Customer
- My Thankful Uber Driver In Cape Town
- Westin Cape Town
- Great Coffee In Cape Town
- The Old “Coming Out” Scam In Cape Town
- South African Airways Lounge – Cape Town (CPT)
- South African Airways A320 Business Class Cape Town – Johannesburg
- Mashonzha Lounge – Johannesburg (JNB)
- South African Airways Lounge – Johannesburg (JNB)
- South African Airways A330-300 Business Class Johannesburg – Accra
- Accra Marriott Hotel
- A Journey To Cape Coast Castle
- Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City Accra
- Overland Journey To Lomé, Togo
- Crossing The Ghana – Togo Border
- How To Obtain A Visa On Arrival In Togo
- Hôtel 2 Février Lomé
- How I Turned The Tables On A Prostitute In Lomé
- Exploring Lomé
- Air Burkina Embraer 170 Economy Class Lomé To Cotonou
- Onboard A Lockheed L-1011 TriStar In Cotonou, Benin
- Exploring Benin
- Humbled At The Voodoo Market In Cotonou
- AHS Business Class Lounge – Cotonou (COO)
- Turkish Airlines 737-800 Business Class Cotonou – Abidjan – Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines 777-300ER Business Class Istanbul – London
- United Airlines 777-200 Business Class London – Washington
- United Airlines 737-700 Business Class Washington – Los Angeles
I think this is going to be one of my favorite trip reports. It’s also going to be a very long one. This also marks my final pre-pandemic trip. I’ve put it off for months hoping traffic and ad rates would return to pre-pandemic levels, but since that is unlikely to happen anytime soon, let’s roll. This trip gets to the heart of why I love to travel.
This is going to be epic!!!
Can’t wait to get reading!
you are in my favorite part of the world! i can not wait for the report.
30 years ago I spent 3 years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo… haven’t been back to Lome since… can’t wait for your report
Why! (I mean I know why) But WHY have you been holding back on this??? So looking forward to this. But would have preferred it when I was bored and stressed in lockdown and needing to dream of faraway places!
Finally, something worth reading on Boardingarea.
I look forward to reading the reviews. That said, it took you until March to figure that this COVID-19 thing was serious? I was on a guys trip in Malaysia in late January and things were turning serious enough that we were concerned about getting home before the wave of infections reached us.
I was a late-bloomer when it came to the virus. You may recall some of my earlier blog musings on it.
Fair enough. I stand corrected.
No, nothing to be corrected. I just really didn’t start taking it seriously until Trump banned European travel right in the middle of my trip.
This is exciting! I do agree with Stuart though that it may have been better to read these reports back in April/May when we were all “shelter-in-place” (at least here in NYC.) Not an expert on internet traffic here but I would presume internet traffic to blog sites such as yours increased during the lockdown/shelter-in-place when people remained indoors?
That is a logical deduction, but traffic tanked for awhile. Not only were people not traveling but apparently not thinking about it either. Thankfully, the traffic is now back. I do sort of regret not writing the report then, but it seemed inappropriate at the time.
Looking forward to this report! Always enjoy your posts that focus on a general travel experience, not to say i don’t enjoy flight/hotel reviews either.
Wow that is one amazing itinerary! Hope this site gets to inspire readers on such journeys again soon.
Bring it on! Looking forward to reading! 🙂
Should be some interesting. reading I rode the wave out of Africa last Spring.
Superb can’t wait
My kid’s school has a “sister” school in Ghana. I also help on an agriculture non-profit that provides tractors to farmers in Ghana. We do a lot of work with them. Fantastic people and culture.
Very excited for the overland potion of this trip. Exciting stuff on the horizon on LALF. Can’t wait, buddy!
This is so divine I am leaving next month to go to Benin Republic to Cotonou. I am meeting my husband there whom I have not seen in almost a year. Thank you for sharing this.