Brussels - Monrovia - Abidjan

Breakfast

Still feeling full from the late dinner last night, I don’t do the breakfast buffet at NH Hotel Brussels Airport justice this morning.

Airport Shuttle

The 07:30 shuttle is very popular this morning, and oversubscribed, so a pre-paid taxi is provided for us instead, taking us on the five minute journey back to where we were picked up at the airport last night.

Brussels Airport

Having checked in all the way to Abidjan yesterday, including our luggage, we go straight to the Special Assistance counter on arrival, where we are asked to sit down and wait.

A porter comes along, and gathers up all those people requiring assistance, but there is no sign of a buggy, or any wheelchairs. This confuses me. It soon becomes clear. We are to walk – “just around the corner”, I am told when I query it – through security. It is a very large corner; thankfully the walking is not a problem for me, it’s the standing still, when my joints freeze up and my back soon starts to hurt. Although there is a separate lane for Special Assistance traveller at the security gate, everything takes very much longer when dealing with less able passengers. Chairs are provided while we wait, which I am grateful for, but one young lady is so unimpressed that she goes off to find a wheelchair for her mother. I have to agree with her – it is the most unhelpful Special Assistance I have experienced to date, almost to the point of being patronising!

The other side of security, a buggy is waiting to take us to our various gates. David is not allowed to accompany me at this stage, and the group transportation means no stopping for any purchases of Duty Free or food. The porter does stop, however, for someone to use the toilets. How very considerate (*Sarcasm mode on*). Our gate is the very last one in this concourse, and the last part of the journey takes place in a manual wheelchair, in order to get through another security check.

Having read a recent article online, stating that Brussels Airlines was recently voted best airline in the world, I had high expectations for this flight, but so far I have been bitterly disappointed. I just hope it gets better from now on. They can not be held responsible for the Special Assistance service (or rather lack of) at the airport, however.

Brussels Airlines flight from Brussels to Abidjan

We board first, and are greeted by the delightful crew. Things are looking better already. We take our seats, and unfortunately this flight is as good as full, so no opportunity to spread out, despite the air stewardess’ best attempts at finding spare seats. As usual, I fall asleep, this time before the flight has even left the apron, and only wake up when someone steps on the little toe I stubbed a couple of days ago. Not their fault, of course, I had stretched my leg into the aisle to get some relief from my painful knee.

My twice-bruised toe

After a short while, a crew member comes on the tannoy (PA system to my American readers) to announce that all the toilets on the left hand side of the plane are out of order. A couple of minutes later, she corrects herself: “on the RIGHT hand side of the plane as you are looking at it from your seat”. I guess from where she was standing, it WAS on the left. With 50% of the toilets being out of action, the queues for the remaining loos grow quite long, and it must be very annoying for the people sitting in the middle bulkhead seat, as so many of the passengers on the right hand side scramble over them to get to the toilets rather than walk all the way down to the back of the plane to reach the other side.

The entire rear of the plane seems to be one large group of African men and women who all know each other, and their chatter and laughter gets louder and louder with every drink they consume. By the time we reach Monrovia, the noise is so loud, it is akin to sitting in the middle of a chicken coup. As I walk past to reach the toilet, the smell of alcohol wafts across and reaches my nostrils before I get anywhere near them. At least they are happy and peaceful drunks.

In-Flight Meal

In the days before I needed Special Assistance at the airports, we used to eat a decent meal at the airport, then sleep through the food service on the flight. These days that is not so easy, so we make sure we are awake today when the trolley comes around.

David's Chicken Breast, Broccoli, Basmati Rice, and Tomato Cream Sauce

Caserecce Pasta, Cherry Tomatoes, and Light Tomato Cream Sauce. The pasta sauce is creamy, slightly spicy and not bad at all. The butter is rock hard, the roll not as stale as it looks, and the Coconut Tartlet dessert barely OK

Later on in the flight, small tubs of ice cream are handed out. Very nice.

The notice on the sick bag amuses me.

Monrovia

A great number of passengers get off the plane in Monrovia, mostly Americans. Intrigued why this would be, I end up looking up the history of Liberia and its ties to the US. About the same number of people board the flight here too, again a large percentage are from the US, travelling home via London.

Abidjan Airport

A decent wheelchair awaits me at the exit of the plane, and we head to the Pre-Visa office to turn our authorisation into a sticker for the passport. The office is small and we wait outside while the people in front of us are being processed. Because of furniture, the porter is unable to get the wheelchair near the desk, so he takes my passport and paperwork and hands it to the official. When it comes to me providing a fingerprint, one of the workers puts his hand on there instead.

Another pretty visa in my passport

From here it is straight to the passport control, through the ‘Crew, Diplomats, and Disabled’ line. Here I have my photo taken, and have to provide my own, real fingerprint. I am guessing these things are rarely cross-checked, or I could end up being deported.

At the Security point, all bags must go through an X-ray scanner, except the one I am holding on my lap in the wheelchair – they don’t want that one.

As soon as we exit the terminal building, we spot the instantly likable Mathias, our guide for the duration of our visit here in Ivory Coast, who greets us from behind a huge smile, wearing a shorts-suit in brightly coloured traditional cloth.

Not far away, Solo, our dedicated driver, awaits with the car, and after changing some currency, we are soon on our way to our hotel through the heavy traffic of Abidjan.

Hotel Détente

As Solo pulls over on a side road, I look for our hotel. There is no sign, no pretty lights, no windows lit with people mingling, just a high concrete wall and a sold metal gate with barbed wire atop, and a bored-looking security guard. The entrance is not exactly what I would call inviting.

The gate, taken the following day in daylight

Check-in is painfully slow. After both passports have been handed over, we are given a small tablet to complete an electronic form, where in addition to the usual name, address, phone number etc, they want to know our mother and father’s names; and then, just as we think we’ve finished, we are asked to take a selfie with it. Big brother is watching, for sure!

Eventually, we are shown to our room, 12B, which sits between 12 and 14, in lieu of 13, which it seems is considered unlucky here too (not for us, we got married on a Friday 13th). The room is fairly basic and a little dated, with a narrow double bed, but the AC works well.

We are told the restaurant closed at 20:00, but as still only just after 21:00, I ask if we can get some drinks from the bar. That too closed at 20:00. Mathias offers to take us somewhere for dinner, but all we want is a couple of Cokes to go with the Duty Free rum we bought at Brussels Airport. Mathias and Solo very kindly pop out to a nearby store to get some for us.

And so it is goodnight from Ivory Coast, our 150th country. Thank you to Undiscovered Destinations for helping us reach this milestone.