TRAVEL STORIES

Flying from Zimbabwe to Ghana, I had to go down to Johannesburg, up to Lagos, and then to Ghana. Not until I arrived in Lagos did they check my passport. Apparently, my assumption that a visa-on-arrival was possible was incorrect. By this point my Zimbabwe visa had expired, I had no Ghanaian visa, nor did I have a Nigerian visa. So for two days I was trapped in the Lagos airport, with them threatening to send me back to the US, while I frantically emailed/called people in Ghana to get me a visa, all with the batteries on my phone and laptop were dying. Eventually they kicked me back to JoBurg, and gave me some weird 5-day permit. I went straight to the Ghanaian embassy which immediately rejected me because they didn't recognize the permit. I waited all day and finally convinced them to let me talk to the head of the embassy. I showed her some of what I'd done on my travels, and she gave the visa on site. Since I'd already booked my plane ticket for Ghana 4 days from then, I took a bus over to Durban to scalp tickets to the World Cup semifinal and have a pretty significant party of sorts.

In Bangladesh, I befriended a rickshaw wallah named Anisur. Over the course of several weeks we got to know each other, and he showed me around Korail, the largest slum in Dhaka, where he lived. Eventually we joined in a small partnership in which he purchased two rickshaws (one to ride and one to rent) provided by capital from me. I promised to continue to support as long as he continued to pay back. Eventually his repayments faded, but the entire experience served as amazing insight into life in the slums and
as a rickshaw wallah, not to mention a good lesson about helping those in need.

Riding a 12-hour bus into Cote d'Ivoire with no lodging, no money, no French skills, and no contacts established. Arrived middle of the night. Figured out how to negotiate my way into a very basic room without any money and then figured my way from there.