All of the extremely small dust/sand particles in the air make me cough and have a dry throat so I find myself drinking a lot of water, which is probably for the better anyways.  I don’t cough that often, just on occasion, mainly after having been outside for some time.  The Hamatan creates havoc for airlines though, that’s for sure.  Often the visibility can be reduced so much that we cannot land.  Here in Nigeria, the airports report their visibility in meters, so we can then reference our instrument approach charts to see if we are able to land there.  If the reported visibility is below our “minimums” (each instrument approach chart tells us the minimum visibility needed for that specific runway and airport) then we cannot land.  In fact, for Part 121 airlines like Arik Air, we’re not even allowed to commence the approach if the reported visibility isn’t sufficient.  For other aircraft under different rules, they may be allowed to at least try the approach and see if they can land safely within the constraints of the instrument approach.  If they see the runway at or before their minimums, they can legally land and claim that the “in-flight” visibility was sufficient. 

But for us (Arik Air and other Nigerian airlines), we’re out of luck and have to delay flights or divert if the weather doesn’t cooperate.  Yesterday however, Paul (a new captain from Holland) and I were able to successfully transport hundreds of passengers around the country safely and relatively on time despite the visibility at each airport trying to deny us.

One of our new routes for the Q400 which we do 3 days a week I believe, is the Lagos-Asaba-Abuja-Ibadan and the same way back route.  It’s 6 legs total, and each flight is 40-55 minutes in length.  It’s a nice triangle as you can see, and provides us a wonderful tour of the Southwestern part of the country when the weather permits it.

Each airport, thankfully, had sufficient visibility for us to land, but in Asaba and Ibadan, it was barely above our minimums!  While in cruise, heading towards our destination, the PM (Pilot Monitoring) calls up the destination’s tower to get the latest weather and then shares it with the PF (Pilot Flying).  Paul told me the visibility and immediately I realized it wasn’t going to be easy.  We elected to do a flap 15 landing, which makes it a bit easier to execute a missed approach in the event that we could not see the runway.  We also carefully reviewed our plan for the missed approach, and what we’d probably do if we couldn’t land.  We set up our minimum descent altitude and speeds on our displays, and I briefed the whole approach.  I kept the approach the same as I always had, configuring the aircraft for landing far enough out so that we were stabilized and so that he could focus on trying to see the runway and monitoring me, while I flew the aircraft closer and closer towards where the runway should be.  At Asaba, we do this with the help of our FMS (Flight Management System) which provides lateral and vertical guidance towards the runway.  At about 200 feet above our minimum altitude, Paul said he saw the runway, I looked up and there it was! The wind was blowing steadily from the North creating a cross-wind situation.  I pulled back on the yoke, stepped on the left rudder and tilted the wing down slightly to the right and touched the wheels down one by one (typical of a cross-wind landing), slowed the aircraft down and transferred controls to the Captain so he could taxi us in. 

The Asaba airport is quite large, and even has jetways, although it is far from finished, as you can see from the photos.  Currently the passengers just pass through on the ramp level.  We sure get a lot of passengers on this route though!  I have a feeling I’ll become quite familiar with this airport over the next couple of years.

This picture is taken to the Southwest.  It’s quite desolate in this direction, but the surrounding area to the North and East are quite large, with some impressive bridges spanning across the nearby river.

I don’t mean to confuse anyone, but those three particular pictures of the Asaba airport were NOT taken recently.  These were taken about a month ago, so notice all of the clouds, and no dusty/hazy air.  The visibility was wonderful back then, as the rainy season ended and the Hamatan was yet to come.

Onto Abuja buja buja, and then Ibadan

In Abuja, the weather was much more reasonable.  Paul flew a nice ILS approach and we saw the runway at least 3 miles away.

Ibadan on the other hand had similar visibility to Asaba.  The approach was pretty much the same as Asaba, except now the crosswind was from the left, and it was quite a bit more bumpy as it was later in the day.  I wonder what goes through the passengers minds during the bumps (although perfectly safe) combined with the odd haziness we descend into. 8)

This photo was taken during boarding as I walked back to our aircraft.  Notice how the sky is cloudless, and very hazy.  The departure was a bit interesting. Right as we were about to rotate during our takeoff roll, we flew through about 15 birds who were circling near the burning grass likely looking for rodents and insects.  Whenever they burn or cut the grass, you can see birds nearby taking advantage of the opportunity.

Fortunately, we didn’t hit any of them, to the surprise of both of us.  After landing in Abuja again, we did a thorough inspection and found nothing suggestive of a bird strike.

So onward we went, to Asaba, and finally landed in Lagos, my home away from home.  It was fun flying with a new Captain.  He wasn’t new to the area though, he used to work for Denim Air, which flew Q300s for Arik, and he also flew Q400s for Olympic Air out of Greece. 

Twas a great warm-up to the weather and conditions I can expect for this final week of flying before I go home to spend Christmas and New Years with family.  I will do this same trip tomorrow, no wahala.

Egusi Soup

Eheh.  I was feeling adventurous today around lunch time, and after convincing the Nigerians taking my order in the restaurant that I was serious and wasn’t joking around, they took my order and watched me “try” and eat the Nigerian dish with big grins on their faces.  I had tried it once before over a year ago but just to show them that I wasn’t afraid to try their local food, and see if I still didn’t care for it, I decided to give it another solid effort. 

More specifically, I was having Egusi Soup with chicken, and Eba (the stuff on the plate).  It’s hard to describe how it all tastes.  It’s quite spicy with quite powerful flavors.  You take the Eba which is malleable, dip it in the soup and grab the stuff inside and eat it.  After I washed my hands and told them I was finished.  They gave me grief for “wasting” so much food, and failing to eat the bones.  I guess they eat the bones?  I’ve seen my Nigerian friends eat a BBQ fish bones and all, so I’m thinking they’re not joking around.  But I was full man!  Cut me some slack.  They also said that the food I eat looks and tastes just as strange as the Egusi Soup looks and tastes to me.  Interesting comment and I agree.  All around the world people tend to like and get used to the local food around them. 

Updates

I’ll be spending my first Christmas and New Years at home in 2 years.  I missed the last two because I had to be at work here in Lagos.  So Leanna and I are doing a road trip all over the West coast of the United States to see family and friends and just have a blast!

So if you don’t hear from me until January, I wish a VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY AND NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE!!!

Also, if you want more exciting Nigeria related stories, definitely check out my other blog which I share with my girlfriend Leanna:  http://cnlsnapping.wordpress.com/

Cheers!

Now isn’t that convenient, if anything goes wrong in a car, you can simply stop.  If you run out of gas, your car stops, and you pull over to the side of the road.  If the weather becomes too harsh, you pull over.  If you blow a tire, you pull over.  Obviously, things are a bit less complicated when you’re already firmly planted on terra firma.  I’d now like to have you try and put yourself in a pilot’s shoes.  A few weeks ago, I had a most eventful day of flying in Nigeria… Enjoy!

In a world where getting in a long tube with wings, traveling through the air at high speeds, and somehow landing thousands of miles away hours later is perfectly normal, pilots (the men and woman controlling those long tubes with wings) simply do not get enough credit.  Of course it is our job, to transport everyone from A to B in a comfortable and safe manner.  And flying really is safe these days.  Thanks to strict regulations on maintenance, pilot training, and adherence to certain standards on an international level, being in an aircraft is a very safe place to be.

What better way to earn respect for my fellow aviators then talk about this eventful day I eluded to earlier.  A day where we (my Captain and I) were tested on numerous occasions and faced with difficult situations, which if they had been mishandled could have led to serious problems.

Our route for the day was actually a CRJ-900 route, so each of the legs was rather long in length compared to our usual 40-55 minute flights.  Lagos – Uyo – Abuja – Uyo – Lagos – Jos – Lagos was our trip for the day.  The first two flights into Uyo and Abuja were fairly typical, easy-going morning flights.  On arrival from the East into Abuja, I requested a visual approach, which allowed me to save time and fuel by flying directly to a 5 mile approach to Runway 22, rather than flying 10-15 miles away from the airport and flying the actual instrument approach.  After landing and pulling into the Domestic Terminal, I did a walk around to inspect for any damage, then walked in to grab a meat pie and small ice-cream cone.

The flight times between Lagos, Uyo, and Abuja are all over an hour, which gives us time to sit back and enjoy the view, and maybe, just maybe, get a coffee from one of our friendly cabin crew members.

Now to say the least, our next leg from Abuja to Uyo is where the fun began.  There was a Q300 aircraft operated by Aero Contractors about 20 miles ahead of us en-route to Uyo, and they certainly proved to be a big help.  As we were cleared to our final descent altitude to begin the approach, the Q300 ahead of us announced at about 1 mile from the runway that they were going around.  The Uyo controller told them to contact Calabar which is roughly 25 miles to the NE, and that aircraft eventually landed there since whatever they saw (or didn’t see rather) on their approach at Uyo, led them to believe it wouldn’t be improving anytime soon.  Javier and I looked at each other and we quickly decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to even execute an approach until the weather was reported to improve.  This is when it would be nice to “pull over to the side of the road,” but we obviously don’t have that option in airplanes.  So our equivalent to “pulling over” is to hold.  No, we’re not going to hold hands or just close our eyes and hold on for our dear lives; it means we’re going to find a location and fly in circles!  I informed the Uyo controller that we’d like to enter a hold to the NW of the airport and wanted to climb to a higher altitude.  They told us it was approved, but in order to reach a higher altitude, we’d need to contact Calabar.  So quickly, Javier and I determined that we had enough fuel to hold for 20 minutes, and if the weather wasn’t improved by then, we’d then proceed back to Abuja.  We turned to the NW to get away from both Uyo and Calabar and were cleared to a higher altitude to save fuel and find smoother air.  I was the PNF (Pilot Not Flying), so I first helped program a hold in the FMS which has the capability to fly direct to a waypoint and hold there.  A standard hold will have you fly to the waypoint, turn right at a standard rate of turn 180 degrees, fly for 1 minute, then turn right again and fly to the waypoint again.  We decided to fly for a minute and a half on each wings level leg for the comfort of our passengers so we were not turning so much.  Once we had the flying and navigating part taken care of, I consulted the cabin crew and made a passenger announcement.  While holding, we kept in close contact with Uyo tower to see what the weather was doing there.  There was heavy rain, very low visibility, and lightning around the field.  After about 10 minutes though, the controller reported to us that it appeared to be clearing and that things were calming down.  A few minutes later, the heavy showers had passed and we decided it was ok to commence the approach.  I gave a quick passenger announcement to inform everyone of the good news, setup the approach in the FMS and, to our surprise, the weather had improved significantly. We saw the runway 5-7 miles out and Javier made a nice landing.  We both felt great about how we had handled the situation.  If we had tried the approach initially, we most likely would have done an unnecessary missed approach and entered a hold anyways, causing unnecessary concern for our passengers.  But just entering a hold, the equivalent to pulling over on the side of a road in a car in this case, really helped us slow down and assess the situation in an environment with fewer distractions.

Some of the passengers thanked us on the way out. I’m sure they appreciated our decision to play it safe and wait until the weather improved.  Although we all (us pilots) act as if it was no big deal, that we’re just doing our jobs, everyone likes a little pat on the back and a sign of appreciation.

Now that flight alone would have been plenty of excitement for one day, but we were in for more fun on our next flight to Lagos.  I was the pilot flying this time.  En-route, there wasn’t too much to avoid, a few slight lefts and rights to avoid some clouds, but the nasty weather loomed ahead.  A large storm was on its way from the North/ North-East making it’s way South-West right over the airport!  The weather radar on our descent wasn’t pretty. We told the controller that we couldn’t accept vectors to land yet, as we needed to dodge the worst parts of the storm before we could turn back to the West and line up to land to the South.

The cloud height was reported at about 400 feet with 2,500 meters visibility, thunderstorms, and rain.  Great day for flying eh?  We set up the aircraft during the lulls and bumps caused by the turbulence for an ILS 18L approach.  The sky grew darker and darker as we got lower but for the most part it had smoothed out.  At about 10 mile final, we could see heavy precipitation depicted on our weather radar laying over the 1-5 mile final range, so we expected heavy rain during the approach.  There was a very large crosswind from the left, so our aircraft pointed about 20 degrees to the left.  I got established with Flaps 15, condition levers max, and landing checklists complete much sooner than normal so we could be as stable as possible during the final miles of the approach.  We set our DH (decision altitude), which is a pre-determined altitude that we will execute a missed approach and abort the landing if we are not stable, in a position to make a safe landing and have the airport in sight upon reaching it (the DH).  We could hear the rain pelting the windshield and the windshield wipers on max screeching back and forth in a fury.  The clouds were thick and dark with moisture, preventing us from seeing anything.  At about 200 feet above our DH (roughly 400 feet above the ground), Javier reported that he was beginning to see the ground, while I continued to focus on the instruments.  My thumb positioned itself on the GA (Go-Around) button in anticipation of executing a missed approach, but luckily, seconds later, Javier reported the field in sight slightly to the right in front of us.  Everything was gray, no lights, darkened skies, heavy rain, but there was a runway, and I intended to land on it.  Upon disconnecting the auto-pilot, I got pushed slightly right of centerline due to the crosswind, but I quickly banked to the left while adding some right rudder to side-slip to the left and realign us.  The centerline of the runway was almost invisible with the heavy coat of water on the runway, but using my peripheral vision, I pulled back, touched the back left wheel, slowly lowered the right wing so both mains could touch, then while still holding left control input, I lowered the nose and reduced the power to begin slowing the aircraft down.  We had made it!  Javier took control of the aircraft to begin the taxi in and praised me for doing well. It wasn’t an easy landing, but twas “all in a days work!”  In hindsight, I think we both should have opted to land on Runway 18R mainly because that runway has runway lights and PAPIs (Precision Approach Path Indicators) to help you transition from the instruments to a visual with the runway.  The other Q400 which arrived 20-30 minutes later opted to do this.

Shortly after the passengers disembarked, the main part of the storm began passing over the actual field dropping very heavy rain on the tarmac.  We had arrived just in time. Other aircraft probably had to hold at that moment because the visibility would not be sufficient to land with that heavy rain.  But it passed through fairly quickly and minimal delay was experienced in the area overall.

To end the day, we had a flight to Jos and back.  Luckily that flight was uneventful.  It was quite pretty actually, watching the lightning reach across the sky, the sky turn to deep reds and oranges and, as always, the steady hum of the Pratt and Whitney engines to my left and right.

The arrival into Jos was beautiful!  I could finally see the area’s terrain.  On previous flights it was very cloudy and we were lucky to even see the runway.  The temperature is perfect there, although most of the Nigerians say it’s too cold, of course, because to them it’s about as cold as it gets in their country!

I flew us back into Lagos at night and after the 1 hour and 30 minute flight, we touched down on Runway 18R nice and softly, slowly lowered the nose, and turned left off the high speed taxiway.  Another day at the office and quite a memorable one at that!  Days like that make our job more challenging, but at the same time, most of us pilots enjoy the challenge and find it rewarding.

So there it is.  A day I just had to share with my readers and document for my own reading in the future.  And hopefully I made it clear as to why pilots deserve a bit more respect!  We can’t pull over to the side of the road when things go haywire, but you already knew that didn’t you.  A Q400 Captain who used to work for Arik once said he found airplanes more challenging than flying helicopters.  This guy flew both of them commercially, doing air-ambulance work in helicopters on his rotations and flying the Q400 for his main job.  Basically the main difference he claimed was that in a helicopter, you can come to a stop mid-air, while in an aircraft, if you attempt to hover, you’ll soon be spiraling towards the ground. In other words, he found airplanes more difficult overall because you’re traveling at higher speeds and cannot stop.

Speaking of helicopters, I aspire to learn how to fly them someday, just for fun.  But for now, I’m enjoying my position immensely as a First Officer on the Q400.

Quick Updates

I’ll be heading back to work in about one week now! All is well!  I am looking forward to another fun month of flying in Nigeria.  And I’ll be coming back in time to spend Christmas and New Years with family!  I have missed the past two years because I had to be in Nigeria for work.  Thanks for reading!  Ciao.

I’ve been busy!  I had almost 7 weeks of vacation, including 3 extra weeks because my fleet manager is trying to balance out rotations for the Q400 first officers.  It doesn’t make sense to have too many pilots one month, and not enough the following month, so he is modifying our rotations accordingly.  So I’ll skip all the mumbo jumbo and jump right into what I have been up to this rotation at Arik!

This is my 10th rotation here in Nigeria with Arik Air.  It’s a walk in the park these days, I’m very comfortable here.  I was more excited than usual this time to come back and continue flying the Q400.  It had been a longer time than usual without flying, and I was looking forward to being at the controls again and burning holes through the sky.  Unfortunately before I could do that, I had to be flown up to the UK for 6 days to do recurrent training.  Of course it really wasn’t too unfortunate, who else wouldn’t like a free and paid trip up to a foreign city to sight-see, eat awesome food, and fly a full motion simulator.  That’s what I thought.

Kelvin, my captain going with me to recurrent training was brand new to the company, but not to Nigeria.  He worked indirectly for Arik Air through Denim Air, which used to operate Q300s here.  He also flew for another company flying the Q400 before coming here.  I spent some of the time familiarizing him with the way we operate the Q400 here at Arik Air.  Since he just recently came from another company, he had to try his best to forget the old and learn the new where the procedures differed.  Our manuals are still a bit limiting and need a lot of work, so he didn’t have much available to him to study; however, the good news is that amendments have been made and will be implemented shortly.  It’s just too bad we didn’t have those before we went to sim. 

Anyways, for us, the most difficult part of the journey wasn’t the simulator sessions, it was first finding an efficient and economical way to get to Exeter, and later, how to get from our hotel to the training facility.  Where is Exeter?  Maybe you know, maybe you don’t.  I know I didn’t.  Exeter happens to be a city about 3-4 hours South West of London in the United Kingdom.  A fairly well known airline (Flybe) has a brand new training facility located at the airport, which is where we had our Q400 recurrent training. 

Kelvin and I arrived around 7pm at London Heathrow airport only to see an amazingly long line at customs.  We contemplated what to do, because it would likely take several hours just to make it through customs and we didn’t have several hours to spare.  We had a charter bus to catch.  Kelvin asked a customs officer if we could possibly bypass the line since we were Arik Air crew, and she said yes!  So up to the front of the line we went, and in minutes we were on the other side, phew!!!

We proceeded to catch the train to terminals 1 and 3 where after paying an extra fee, we were able to exchange our tickets for an earlier departure (which we never thought we’d make during our planning).  We each grabbed some sandwiches and snacks for the 3.5 hour bus ride ahead of us, hopped on board, and away we went.

We arrived at our hotel (pictured above) just before midnight, and went straight to our rooms to get some well needed rest after a long day of traveling.  The hotel was quite nice, very quaint.  It had free wifi, free breakfast, and a great inexpensive restaurant for which we had a 20% discount.  Arik Air gives us a certain amount of money per day which we must use for food, transportation and lodging, and the Flybe academy had scheduled taxis to pick us up on each day of training.  It was going to be about 24 pounds (12 pounds each) a day, amounting to at least 72 pounds not counting tips for the 3 days.  Just out of curiosity, I called a couple rental car companies and amazingly the rates were really good!  Even the person on the phone was surprised how good the rates were.  For 55 pounds, we’d have a car for 4 days and three nights, and could just leave the car in our hotel parking lot before we left on our last day!  So not only did we save some money, but now we had the ability to drive somewhere, and that’s what we did.  On our first day in Exeter, we had a day to settle in, so we picked up the car and drove to the beach which was about 20 minutes or so to the south.  We just stopped at a few beaches and walked around.

The funniest part was watching Kelvin drive on the left side of the road for the first time.  In Europe, automatic cars are scarce, and the cost to rent them, at least in the UK, is much more expensive.  I have never driven a manual car (although I know the principle of how to do it), so it would be a disaster to start now, driving on the left side of a road in a foreign country haha!  So needless to say, Kelvin was the lucky one who got to drive since he’s used to driving manual vehicles.  On a few occasions he wanted to go against traffic but luckily I was there to remind him to stay on the left.  On the highway we drove the speed limit yet cars were passing us 15-20 mph faster regularly, so I suppose the limits there are not too closely enforced.  Kelvin got better and better each day to the point where he looked quite comfortable (compared to the first day). 

I plan to learn how to drive a stick shift when I get a chance in the US so that when I visit Europe, I’m not forced to pay much higher costs for an automatic.  Plus it’s just a good thing to know.  Leanna and I have talked about living in Europe after she graduates for a little while.  Spain and Italy specifically to learn to speak the languages fluently (I hope).  I speak Spanish and she speaks Italian, so yeah, that’s that.

As you can see, it’s a beautiful place. I stupidly deleted all of the pictures I had taken with my phone when messing with the software trying to fix the GPS. We had wandered all around the downtown area which has beautiful buildings and architecture.  We were both very impressed. 

I bought a Vodafone sim card for 10 pounds, and it gave me 300mb data, and 300 free texts, along with 10 pounds of calling credit!  So I was set for the week, and will be ready for future trips up here.  Anyways, on to the actual training, which always seems to be the shortest portion of these simulator posts!  Probably because it’s all about the journey and destination, the simulator is just work, per se.

Recurrent Training

Training was great!  We had a very experienced ground school instructor who has been working with Q400s since the beginning for Flybe.  He gave us some study materials, including a Q400 system guide designed for pilots.  When I say “designed for pilots,” I mean that it doesn’t go any more in depth than what they feel the pilots show know.  We don’t need to know how to fix the thing!  We just need to have a basic understanding to help us better understand why the emergency checklists direct us to do certain things.

One thing that was different in comparison to the last two times I went to simulator in Sweden, is that there was an actual ground school and only two simulator sessions.  Training in Stockholm was just 3 simulator sessions without a ground school.  I much prefer the training in Exeter I must say.  Our instructor was very professional and seemed to care more about our experience and what we did in the simulator than the instructors I had in Stockholm. 

Despite Kelvin and I never having flown together and him coming from another company, we did quite well together.  We had landing gear, electrical, and engine failure/fire scenarios over the two days of sim.  Our simulator slot was super late though, we usually showed up around 9 at night, and finished around 2 in the morning!  My solution was to sleep in and stay up late the days leading up to simulator and it worked quite well, although I missed the free breakfast on numerous occasions.

Late at night, or early in the morning on our last day, our instructor shook our hands and sent us off into the cold dark night in Exeter where we drove back on the left side of the road to our hotel.

The Journey Back

After sleeping in until about 11 the next morning and driving home late the night before, I strolled down the street and found breakfast, only to run into two other Arik pilots!  Erik and Javier had just arrived the night before and were coming to look for us at our hotel.  I sat down and talked with them for awhile then went up to check out.  Kelvin came down and joined us but he and I had to leave to fuel up the rental car before we dropped it off in our hotel parking lot as agreed upon with the rental company.

I went to the post office while the guys waited outside and sent off some stuff to Jose in Spain that he had wanted me to get him from the US, and then we all sat down for some coffee.  After that, we walked over to the bus station and were soon on our way back to London on a National Express bus.

The trip back to London was uneventful.  We each had two seats to ourselves like we did on the way to Exeter which was nice.  I used my android phone to create a wireless hotspot called “buswifi” but only Kelvin and I knew the password haha.  By doing that I was able to share my internet plan with him and let him access the internet.

We had about 3-4 hours to spare in Heathrow before departing on our Arik Air flight back to Lagos, so we just relaxed and surfed the net.  I treated myself to some Starbucks coffee which eventually came back to haunt me, as I wasn’t able to sleep at all during the whole 6 hour flight back!  Luckily I had some movies on my computer to pass the time.

Flying A LOT!

Since returning from training, the only days off I have had were either mandatory ones by regulation (can’t work more than 6 days in a row, or fly more than 30 hours in 7 consecutive days), and a couple while waiting for my Nigerian License to be renewed with my new simulator and medical.  It’s been awesome flying though!  The weather has actually been somewhat like it is where I am from.  Rainy, cloudy, but good visibility when the weather is clear. 

I’ve flown to a couple airports for the first time, Asaba and Ibadin; done some exciting visual approaches in Abuja; flown through and around some crazy thunderstorms; landed in Lagos with a quartering tailwind, heavy rain, and clouds 3-400 feet above the ground; and almost had to divert on a recent flight to Uyo.

There are so much blog-worthy stories to write about and so little time!  One thing for sure is that I MUST write more about some of my flights this rotation. It’s been a lot of fun.

Homeward Bound

I hope to get the time to write another blog post, but I am flying home for rotation in a couple of days, and have 6 legs tomorrow.  Let’s hope for the best!

I traveled to Sweden for simulator training; attended my 2nd Nigerian wedding; played in a few football matches at a new pitch in Lagos; did a road trip with Leanna and her family to Santa Fe, New Mexico where her and I were photographers for her sister’s wedding; flew to Portland, Oregon where I spent many hours going through photos from the wedding and setting up our new website www.cnlsnapping.com ; went on a 3 day rafting trip with my family and some friends down the Deschutes River in Central Oregon; rafted down the Washougal River with Leanna and Jason a few days later; flew to Hawaii to watch and photograph my mom and brother do a half-Ironman on the Big Island; flew back to Las Vegas; flew to Nigeria for one night, then to London for one night, and finally to Madrid, Spain where Leanna and I were picked up by Abel and driven to Valencia, Spain to attend his wedding; sight-see around Valencia; then finally we flew back to Nigeria, through London, to begin my 8th Rotation! 

From the beginning, my intentions were to post mainly about my job, and not so much about what I do while on rotation back home.  But these days, I like to add a bit more since the blog has become more like a journal.  It’s something to help me remember things I have done and places I have been and great for keeping my family and friends updated.  With that being said, the majority of this posting will be to catch up since it’s been so long (as usual!).  Starting right where I left off, with my trip up to Sweden last April.

Sweden Trip (yeah, another one)

As much as I love going to Sweden for recurrent simulator training, this may have been the last time.  The company has found a place much closer (near London by train) to do our simulator training, and I think we’ll continue going there for now.  At any rate, I had an awesome time doing training in Stockholm again.  My sim partner and I did the usual one night stop in London on the way up since the Lagos-London flight arrives so late.  Fortunately, it was much warmer there this time of year as you can see in the photo below.

As usual, I treated myself to some lovely food from the beginning to the end.  Below are some Fish and Chips, with nachos on the side, which I ate at the airport while waiting to board our early evening flight to Stockholm.  Man oh man that stuff was tasty!  

Here is the inside of “the box,” or the Q400 Full Motion simulator I trained in at Oxford in Stockholm.  The instructor sits to the left and controls the simulator with the touch screen monitors.  There are also a couple more seats not in the picture for observing although those seats are typically empty.  Once the Captain and I sit up in the cockpit, we both do our best to block out everything behind us and pretend we are actually in the real aircraft.  This isn’t too difficult of a task since pretty much everything up there is exactly like the real Q400 flight deck. 

On one of the days, my sim partner and I made our way to McDonalds for lunch, the same location I went to 6 months ago.

We also went to the mall next to the McDonalds and bought some snacks to keep in our hotel room.  I always enjoy snapping photos in the grocery stores in different countries since they are so similar, yet have different currencies and languages, of course, which are easily noted by the plethora of signs.

The simulator sessions went really well. At one point in the simulator, the Captain was asked to simulate as if he had been incapacitated.  So right before an approach to land, the Captain slumped over like he had fainted.  I nudged him a few times to make sure he really wasn’t going to get back up, then, like I would in real life, I called for a cabin crew member to come up and stay in the cockpit.  He or she would then pull the captain away from the flight controls and lock his seat belt to keep him upright and secure.  After that was done, I called up ATC and declared an emergency and asked for an ambulance to be standing by to take care of my Captain immediately after landing.  A final issue is that I would be unable to taxi the aircraft in since the tiller (steering wheel for sharp turns on the ground) is on the Captain’s side.  So after turning off of the runway, I would shut the engines down and allow emergency personal to come on board to carry the Captain off, and then for a bus to carry the passengers to the terminal.  As far as flying the approach, I made all of the same call-outs, except I had to move the flap, gear, and condition levers myself since I had no PNF (pilot not flying).  In other words, since the Captain was simulating as if he was unconscious, I had to fulfill both the PF(pilot flying) and PNF roles.  It was fun flying the Q400 by myself, although I was a bit more nervous having two sets of eyes watching my every move (the instructor and my sim partner). 

After passing my proficiency check on the third day of simulator, I made an attempt to go into Stockholm by train, but after buying the ticket and heading down to the train station, I found that all trains had been canceled because some important person (I think they were from Russia) was in town…  Not sure why this required the trains to be stopped, but alas, they were.  So I got a refund and headed back to the hotel.  I figured that I had at least been into Stockholm the previous two times, so missing out this time wasn’t that big of a deal.

Lagos (after sim)

After an uneventful trip back from Stockholm – London, then London – Lagos, I was happy to see this site (see photo below).  Normally when I arrive into Lagos from JFK, it’s in the early afternoon and much busier.  The London flight arrives very early in the morning, so the temperature is much more reasonable and everyone is much more tranquil. 

The customs area is in the far back of the photo, above the yellow and black steps.  On arrival, the first person I go to checks my visa, then the second desk I go to gives me the stamp and slides my electronic passport through.  After you collect your bags, you have to prove that they are yours on the way out by giving your baggage receipts to a few employees who check the numbers against the number on your actual bag.  This is the only place where I have seen this procedure.

As I walk outside looking for my driver and the Arik vehicle, I am often approached a couple of times to be asked if I need a taxi, then once I spot the driver, I throw my stuff in the vehicle and am taken to my hotel.  Upon arrival, they already have my reservation so I just have to sign in and be taken to my room.  I have several bags that I leave each rotation in storage at the hotel, which is quite convenient since I have acquired so much junk and don’t have to carry it back and forth each time. 

When the porter arrives at your room, I have noticed they always turn on the AC, water heater, lights, and the TV (which is usually followed by turning it to a music or football channel). 

Nigerian Wedding

Well, calling it a wedding is a bit misleading because I only attended the reception where they were serving some food and dancing.  The bride (Mary) has worked at the hotel I stay at for a long time so some of the employees, Abel (Spanish Pilot at Arik), and I took the hotel bus there and spent a good hour having fun.  I spent the majority of the time snapping photos with my new camera which I actually bought in Sweden.  Here are some of the photos I took :

It was a blast!  I loved the new camera lenses I acquired.  A 50mm F1.4 Prime Lens, and a 50-135mm F2.8 Zoom Lens.  It was quite dark in the room, so those high performance lenses were a huge help.

Football, Frisbee, and Good Ole Alpha Beach

I found a new great place to play football.  Still no grass, but the sand is not nearly as deep as my previous go-to spot, and it is much larger with full size goals.  There are even some stands for people to watch the oyinbos try and keep up with the locals!  In the photo below I am about to clear the ball out over my head while Jose, a Q400 FO, looks like he is ready to fist fight.  Jose and I went on a few evenings and they always let us join in there matches.

Photo by Abel Mas

During some of the evenings while we weren’t at work, Jose, Chris, Abel, and I would play frisbee by the pool and try not to cause too much trouble.  I took these pictures below with my 50-135mm lens.  The 2nd one was taken while I was in the pool, so the camera is inches away from the water!  I normally wouldn’t do that, but the camera is water-resistant .

Also take note of the man behind Jose in the photo below.  It is not uncommon for people to swim and play football in their normal clothes.  And for the men, this usually involves them stripping down to just their boxers or briefs.

Since I found myself going to the beach so often, I figured, why not bring a body board!  I found one at a descent price in the USA, then went through the trouble of carrying it all the way over here.  But it was worth it!  I hired a driver and invited 3 friends from the area around the hotel, and spent a few hours there getting pummeled by the waves.  I wasn’t too successful in my attempts to ride the waves since they were all breaking at the same time, and very close to the shore, but I managed to get a few good ones in.  The other 3 just messed around in the shallows but were able to catch some small waves in the process. 

Smart Controller

As we descended from the East towards Lagos International Airport, the picture wasn’t pretty.  Over the complete approach path to runways 18L and 18R, there was a large thunderstorm.  It was quickly reaching the mature state, getting darker and meaner the closer we approached.  The Air Traffic Controller managed to get us and a lot of other traffic in before the storm was over the airport by having everyone fly parallel to the airport and fly North right towards the storm, then before entering it, have everyone make two quick left turns and establish themselves on a 3-5 mile visual approach with the runway.  As we made the first of our left turns, the clouds became incredibly dark, which the cabin crew noted was a bit scary later on, but the actual approach and landing were a non-event.  I snapped this photo of the approach path (to the North) of the airport just after all of the passengers disembarked.

After we taxied the aircraft over to the hanger, about 15 minutes later, Mother Nature provided a very intense shower for our beloved Q400 and the surrounding areas.

Malaria Walk

Abel suspected that he had Malaria and was going to walk down to the doctor alone, but eager to snap some more photos with the new camera, I joined him and got these shots below on the way.  This is just proof that a simple 10 minute walk here in Lagos is never lacking in interesting things to see.

Fortunately, the act of taking these pictures did not cause any accidents, because as you can see, all eyes are on the oyinbo.

After I snapped this photo, the police saw me and asked me what I was taking pictures of.  I showed them all the photos, even (accidently) this one of them, and they could care less!  Taking photos, especially of government/police related items is quite sensitive here in Nigeria, so it was nice for these innocent photos of mine to be taken so lightly for once.  It turns out that Abel did have Malaria, but it was a very mild case.  He enjoyed 3 days of rest and relaxation by the pool while taking the medication that knocks the Malaria out of your system.

Go-Karting… In Nigeria?

Yes, you read correctly, there is a very nice go-kart track with a tasty restaurant on Victoria Island near Shoprite.  It’s been around for at least a year now I’d say, and I’ve gone 3 times now.  On the 3rd occasion, I invited a lot of the pilots staying at the hotel near mine and we had an awesome time!  They wouldn’t let us all race at once since the track would be too small, so we did two races, each with a different group.  They don’t really have many rules; you’re free to knock friends into the walls and be as aggressive as you want.  The food there is VERY good.  They have wonderful smoothies and shakes, pizza, burgers, the whole 9 yards.  The prices are quite reasonable too.

After the go-karting, the majority of the group wanted to go to Shoprite, but Jose and I really wanted to go to the beach, so while they were there, we went to Bar Beach and just relaxed.  I stubbed my big toe on my right foot early in the morning really bad so when I put on these “way-too-small” inline skates, it was extremely painful and I was only able to skate for about 5 minutes.  At least I can now say I have body-boarded and roller-bladed in Nigeria, and both in one day! 

While I was busy with the inline skates, Jose snapped these wonderful photos with my camera.

And below is a shot I got after returning to the hotel while I was near a guy cooking up some Suya.  I love taking these shots where the background is blurred but the moving subject remains in focus.  To do this, you have to keep the camera centered on the moving subject as you take the photo. 

Introducing CnLsnapping!

The day after returning from Nigeria, Leanna, her parents and I drove from Las Vegas to Santa Fe, NM for Leanna’s sister’s wedding.  Shannon (Leanna’s sister) is an applied behavior analysis therapist and her husband, Jordan, is a magician and videographer (www.surrealmagic.com).  They both gave us the opportunity to shoot their wedding, which was an honor really.  Leanna and I love photography and getting this chance to shoot a real wedding was priceless.  It was very tiring, especially going through the thousands of photos we took, editing ones that needed adjustments, creating our new website, and sending a personalized photo album to Jordan and Shannon, all after the actual wedding, of course. 

Leanna and I now have a website as I mentioned earlier: www.cnlsnapping.com, we got the “snapping” term from Nigeria, which is the preferred word associated with taking a picture here.  “What are you snapping?  Will you snap me?  Snap me, I beg.  Don’t snap me ooo.”  I’ve heard all of this come out of Nigerians’ mouths, and I love the term. 

Our website provides a way for our clients to choose which photos they want, order prints, and show case some of our best work in hopes of getting more clients.  I would love to be a part-time photographer in Nigeria on days when I don’t have to fly, so if you need some photos, just send me an email!

At the end of the night, with the tripod and camera already in place, I snapped this photo of us.  Note how my tie matches her dress; it sure wasn’t easy to find!

Rafting and Hawaii

A couple weeks after the wedding, Leanna and I, along with friends and family, embarked on a 3 day rafting trip.  From left to right: Jake (brother), Keegan (friend), me, Leanna, Jade (Jason’s girlfriend), Jason (friend), not pictured: Chuck (my dad, who was taking the photo). 

At our campsite on the first night, all of the guys hiked up a very steep trail to this flag and I setup the camera to take this shot.  It was taking a picture every 30 seconds so we all just stood still, some smiling, some not, and hoped it got a good one.

As if 3 days on the river wasn’t enough, a couple days later, I got Jason and Leanna to run the local Washougal River with me.  The water was on the lower side which made it quite technical actually.  The first rapid called “The Big Eddy,” is class IV and we nearly flipped when the raft hit a big rock sideways and stood vertical for a minute or so.  I jumped into the water when I saw one of our bags floating down the river, then Jason managed to get the raft flat again by jumping on top of it.  He fell in briefly but got back in within seconds, and both Jason and Leanna came and picked me up downriver moments later.  Good thing we were wearing wet-suits!

What better way to finish off some vacations but with yet another vacation?  Leanna and I flew out to the Big Island of Hawaii with my dad to watch my brother and mom finish a grueling half-ironman (or half-triathlon).  You can see them crossing the finish line in the photos below.  A half-ironman consists of the following: 1.9 km swim, 90 km ride, 21.1 km… All in succession!  We were all very proud of them, and we spent the whole 6 hours driving around to get any opportunity we could to snap photos of them and give them support.

My dad, brother, and I in a photo Leanna took of us while perusing through a bike shop in Kona, Hawaii.  And below, you can see Miss Pentax photographer, Leanna, taken at the race.  The water temperature was lovely, even late in the evening as her and I stroll out of the water with big smiles on our faces.

On our last night before leaving the next day, we went up to the top of Mauna Kea, an extinct volcano which sits 4200m (13,796 ft.) above sea level.  It was very cold up there, but we were able to spend some time outside at short intervals catching some photos.  I was very happy to catch my first star-scape picture.  I first had to find the North Star, which remains stationary in the sky compared to the rest of the stars, and then setup my camera to take this 10 minute picture.  That’s 10 minutes of light all in one picture!

The next day, Leanna and I were dropped off at the airport and flew straight back to Las Vegas to begin packing for yet another trip!  And this time we’d be going to Spain, the UK, and Nigeria!

Spain Bound

It wasn’t the shortest, nor the fastest, but it certainly was the cheapest.  Arik Air provided tickets for Leanna and I to travel from JFK (New York) to LOS (Lagos), then LOS to LHR (London), for free!  We just had to pay for the flight to JFK for Leanna, and both of ours from London to Spain.  We were going to attend Abel and Maria’s wedding in Valencia!  I think the easiest way to explain the incredibly long journey we had to take is to simply list it in chronological order:

Monday: Fly from Las Vegas to JFK, Depart for LOS from JFK

Tuesday: Arrive in LOS, spend one night in Lagos.

Wednesday: Fly from LOS to LHR, take one hour charter bus from Heathrow Airport to Gatwick Airport, take short bus ride to hotel where we spent the night.

Thursday: Take short bus ride to Gatwick Airport, fly to Madrid, Spain, find Abel and drive 3+ hours to Valencia.

Friday – Tuesday: Enjoy Spain!

Wednesday: Fly from Valencia to Gatwick Airport in London, take one hour charter bus to Heathrow Airport, Depart for LOS from LHR

Thursday: Arrive in Lagos!

So it was quite the journey, it took a total of 4 flights to get from Las Vegas to Valencia.  A 5 hour flight with Delta, a 10 hour flight with Arik, a 6 hour flight with Arik, then a 2 hour flight with Easy Jet to Madrid.  That’s 23 hours on aircraft alone!  But once we arrived, it was an incredibly awesome experience. 

Abel drove all the way from Valencia to pick us up and personally take us to his place in Valencia.  We stopped at a small café on the way and had some delicious food.  This was only an introduction to the large amount of wonderful Spanish food I’d be consuming this trip. 

When we finally arrived in Valencia, we first stopped at Abel and Maria’s flat downtown to put some of the food we had bought during our drive in the fridge for later. 

I found this small frame’s placement to be quite hilarious.  It was the only picture of them for the moment in their new flat.  Abel then took us to the nearby market to buy some food to keep in our own flat.  Abel and his mother rent out a place about a 10 minute walk from his own flat, and he let us stay there for free!  So not only did we have our own tour guide, we had a place to stay!  We picked up some jamón, cereal, milk, bread, jam, and some fruit.  He just wanted us to get breakfast items since the majority of the time we’d be out having wonderful Spanish meals from the late morning to late in the night with him and his family/friends. 

Valencia was awesome!  It had an amazing blend of old buildings immersed in a modern society.  The people were very friendly and welcoming, and surprisingly, the majority of the Spaniards spoke very little English.  I was happy about this since I didn’t want to be speaking English, I wanted to be practicing my Spanish, which I got plenty of chances to do!  Leanna is studying Italian but still remembers quite a bit of Spanish from high school.  She let me do most of the talking though, which I didn’t mind. 

Even with Abel’s own wedding quickly approaching, he took us out on bikes to give us a tour of the city Friday morning.  Valencia used to be surrounded by a very large wall, and now all that remains are some of the old gates, without the doors. 

Something came up with the wedding and we had to let Abel go and continue on our own after this phone call in the above photo.  We took our bikes through the most beautiful park I have ever seen.  The park follows an old river bed and is several km long.  We rode nearly the whole stretch back and forth stopping only a few times to take pictures.  For more info on this awesome park, click here and read the excerpt about Jardín del Turia.

After a very long day of riding bikes in the hot and humid air, we rested for a bit back at our flat, then walked over to Abel’s place for our first home-cooked Spanish Meal!  

Only a few of the people there spoke English fluently, but it didn’t matter, Leanna and I were full of smiles.  The dinner went into the early morning actually, which we found is quite normal in Spain.  It’s nothing out of the ordinary to see people going out even past 11 o’ clock in the evening for dinner!  After dinner, Leanna and I walked back to our flat to get some good rest before the wedding, which was the next day in the late afternoon.

As you can see, the ceremony was in an amazingly beautiful church.  A friend of Abel’s, Leanna, and I were taking photos for the wedding; he didn’t hire anyone officially to do it.  Not a bad idea actually as long as your friends take good photos 8).

As they ran out, rice and confetti were thrown at them.  A lot of the rice was hitting me as well, which made it somewhat difficult but I managed to capture this awesome moment.

We shared a taxi with Alfonzo and Kelly (pictured above) to get to the reception, which started with wine and hors d’oeuvres, then we were led into the main dining room where we found our assigned seats and began eating a fabulous five course meal.  After dinner, there was a nice slide-show full of pictures of Abel and Maria, then dancing and karaoke.  I think around 2 or 3 in the morning, Abel’s brother dropped Leanna and I off back at our flat.

In that same park we had biked through days before, there is a really nice Zoo called “Bio-Park” that Abel, Leanna, and I went to late in the morning.  We spent a good hour or two there then had to rush back to pick Maria up to have lunch down by the beach. 

They took us to a nice place where we ate a bunch of foreign-to-us foods.  Whenever I would ask “Donde esta el baño?”  I would get a confusing response full of Spanish I didn’t know, so I began asking “Que dirrection es el baño?”  That way I would just get a gesture pointing me in the right direction.   

Our flat was walking distance to some really wonderful places, including the older Valencia, or the old downtown.  On our last night in Valencia, Leanna and I took a walk all around that part of the city.  It was easy to get lost with all of the small streets, but with a map and some luck, we found our way eventually.

Before heading back, Leanna bought a couple of post cards which she sent out the next day.  Abel dropped us off at the airport the next day, and while checking in my bags and handing over my US passport, the lady began speaking in English.  So I said “No hablo ingles,” which put a big smile on the lady’s face, as she began speaking in Spanish.  It was an amusing end to a wonderful first trip to Spain.  I plan on continuing to study Spanish using Rosetta Stone and practicing with Abel and other Spanish friends so the next time I go there I can get an even more immersive experience!

Updates!

Leanna and I are currently in Nigeria, and have been going to a lot of places around Lagos because we want to write a book on Lagos and/or Nigeria!  Most likely we will first complete a book on Lagos itself, then if we can find financial support, we will do the same for the whole country of Nigeria.  It’s been expensive getting transportation to all of the places we have wanted to go within Lagos, but there definitely hasn’t been any dull moments.

For updates on what we have been up to for now, and progress on our book, please go to www.cnlsnapping.com and click on “Our Blog” or eventually, you may also click on the “Casey and Leanna” picture located on the left side of the homepage.  Thank you everyone for your patience, I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  I considered just doing an “I am still alive” posting, but prefer to show I am still alive with a mammoth post like this I’d say.  It’s like I am yelling “I am alive, and I have been living!!!” 

Domestic flights (all flights within Nigeria) were not allowed either on election day.  Only flights that were leaving the country were allowed to depart, so the airport was littered with aircraft from every airline since they were not flying.  Normally the Q400 is utilized on more lucrative routes like our usual Osubi turns, but since we weren’t allowed to fly there on this particular day, they likely chose us as the most fuel efficient, to fly to Accra.  Of course those are just speculations, who am I to know why we were flying to Accra, all that matters is that we were!  And I was excited!

Why was I excited?  For many reasons: new airport, new country, first time flying a plane out of Nigeria’s borders, first time flying in a month, flying with a great crew, flying in general…  You get the point…  It really was a dream to be flying that day, and the weather and environment we were flying in couldn’t be better.  Normally, Nigeria’s radio frequencies are quite crowded, particularly on Lagos and Kano Control; however, since no one else was flying, the frequencies were crystal clear! 

It was good to be back with the bird, the mighty Q400.  I feel very confident and comfortable in the 72-seat turbo-prop and hope to one day fly it as a Captain for Arik.  After our pre-flight inspection, we had to taxi the aircraft over to the International terminal, which you can see in the background, next to the tower, in the photo above.  After crossing runway 18L, tower informed us of the “gate” that we would park at.  The international terminal is deemed “international” because this is where all non-domestic flights have to depart from.  Since the crew and I were also traveling to Accra, we had to go and sign a special crew logbook at Customs before our departure.  We couldn’t go all at once since that would leave the plane unattended, so we went in pairs of two. 

After the passengers boarded, we were soon on our way to Accra.  We departed Runway 18R with a right turn direct TYE.  The frequencies were quiet, the air was smooth, the visibility was great, what a great day for flying!  I never would have thought several years ago that I would be flying in between African countries, what a thrill.  We didn’t have too many passengers on board, so due to our light weight, we quickly reached our cruising altitude of 20,000 feet.  During the climb out, my Captain contacted Accra Control on 130.9 and gave them our details and we were soon released by Lagos Control to them near TYE VOR.  Accra gave us a squawk code for our transponder and announced radar contact almost immediately after continuing with them!  I never fully appreciated radar control until I began flying in Nigeria, where 90% of the time, you are flying without radar control.  This greatly increases the pilot’s workload and congests all of the more populated frequencies.  Instead of having to contact Accra Approach (119.5) or Accra Tower (118.6) ahead of time, Accra Control simply told us to contact them as they were already expecting us, all we had to do was check in.  

Soon after contacting Accra, they told us to proceed direct to ACC VOR.  Since I was flying, I had to calculate ahead when I would descend.  It’s not rocket science, but here was my thought process:

I take our current altitude in thousands of feet (20,000 = 20), and subtract the altitude of the point I want to descend to, like an airport, or a certain waypoint.  In this case, Accra is at sea level, but I knew we would be vectored for an ILS approach so calculating the descent directly to the airport wouldn’t be as accurate, instead we would have to be at roughly 2,000 feet about 6-8 miles out on our approach.  The planning doesn’t have to be exact, but in general you don’t want to arrive too low, too early since the fuel burn is higher, and there is more turbulence usually at lower altitudes.  Arriving too high is also not good, because you may have to do a 360 turn to lose some altitude which burns excess fuel once again, and wastes time. 

So I figured being over the VOR at around 2,000 feet would suffice.  Here is the rule of thumb:

(Current altitude (in thousands of feet) – Destination altitude (in thousands of feet)) multiplied by THREE = Distance from destination in which you should begin your descent.  In this case:

20,000 descending to 2,000:

20-2 = 18.  18 x 3 = 56.  I will begin my descent 56 miles from ACC VOR.

But now the next question remains, at what rate will you descend?  To keep a comfortable 3 degree glide slope descent, simply take your estimated GS (Ground Speed over the Ground) and multiply it by 6.  So if I estimate to be descending at 360 knots, I multiply 360 x 6, and get 2160. 

So when 56 miles away I would begin a 2,160 fpm (feet per minute) descent.

Now 2,160 fpm is a bit steep of a descent for the Q400, a more comfortable rate tends to be around 1,800 fpm.  This actually works out just fine, since once we are below 10,000 feet, we fly below 250 KIAS, which requires a descent rate of 1,500 fpm. 

I know I have made this sound way too complicated, so here is the simple version:

Multiply the altitude you want to lose by 3 to calculate the distance you should begin your descent.  Multiply your estimated descent ground speed by 6 to find the rate at which you should descend.

During the descent, you can constantly and accurately monitor whether or not you should increase or decrease your descent rate by doing the same calculations.  If I were at 12,000 descending to sea level, I would multiply 12 x 3 and get 36.  I should be 36 miles from my destination.  If I am currently closer than 36 miles, I may need to increase my rate of descent, if I am more than 36 miles away, I may need to decrease my rate of descent.  Anyways…

We made it!  I snapped some photos of my cabin crew with the ground staff while we waited for the passengers.  Everyone was very friendly!  I wasn’t surprised.

I wanted to see some of the local currency, and one of the ground staff gladly showed me their wallet.  I traded one US Dollar for one Cedi (the red one in the photo below).

I am pretty sure that this is the first time an Arik Q400 has landed in Accra, let alone any Q400 for that matter, but I am not sure.  I wanted a photo of the crew just in case, to document that day.  As you can see I forgot to wear my tie for the photo, it was tucked away comfortably in my flight bag 8)

On departure, we took off to the South, towards the ocean.  After passing 400 feet, we made an immediate left turn to a heading of 167 degrees until reaching the shoreline or 4,000 feet.  This is to avoid a noise-sensitive area apparently.

We were once again given direct routing, this time to TYE where we flew back at 19,000 feet.  Well before reaching TYE, we had to contact Lagos Control so they knew we were coming back into the country.  The Captain told me that if we didn’t contact Lagos Control ahead of time, it would be highly likely that they would tell us to hold at TYE upon initial contact.  It may be difficult to see, but in the photo below of the en-route map, our route is on the very top.  Accra is near the top left, and Lagos is just left of the top right portion.

The Captain landed the aircraft on 18R and then taxied to Gate D33 where the passengers are seen below disembarking.  Once everyone had left, we started the engines up and taxied back to the GAT (General Aviation Parking) and called it the day.

On the walk back to the hanger, I snapped this photo which is a window reflection of an Arik Air Passenger Bus.  Overall I was quite happy with the morning.  Waking up at 4:30 AM would have been a bit rough, but fortunately I have been getting up quite early naturally this rotation.  It’s always interesting how my body ends up adapting after the time change.  Usually I wake up later, but I much prefer to wake up earlier and get more daylight in to my day.

I am currently awaiting confirmation of when I will go to simulator, as I am due early next month.  If I do go, it will be to Stockholm, Sweden again, which I am quite happy about since I really enjoy going up there.  It will be especially nice this time of year since it’ll be a bit warmer!

So I am on a journey. I am on my 8^th trip to Nigeria in the past two years. Yes, two years. It was right around this time back in 2009 that I was finally given the opportunity to visit Nigeria. I left my worried yet trusting parents behind, and others who thought I was a bit too adventurous to come all this way to fly planes. Time has flown by remarkably fast. It’s been a blast and I am excited for what is to come.

As I sat at the gate in John F. Kennedy Airport, waiting to board this flight, I began calling a lot of people that I haven’t talked to in a long time. I talked to old college friends mainly, which also happen to be pilots. One is about to start their aircraft training in the Navy, another has begun training to fly a CRJ for Air Wisconsin, the third is currently flying freight in the Pacific Northwest and will soon begin a corporate job flying King Airs, and lastly, my old roommate is a bush pilot in Alaska. Navy Pilot, Regional Airline Pilot, Freight Pilot (and soon to be Corporate Pilot), Bush Pilot, and Regional Airline Pilot (working overseas) < that’s me. We all started out as flight instructors but then spread out and have done largely different things. What we do have in common though, is that we spend a lot of time alone. Yes, back to that lonely, non-social, depressing word: alone.

Quite a few pilots give up being a pilot to have a more typical 9-5 job where they sleep in the same bed every night, while others (like myself) can handle it and would do almost anything to keep flying and avoid that desk job. It is much easier for me not having a family or any major responsibilities back home. If I had kids for example, being away from home would be much harder, so in a sense, I still have not been fully tested. Not all flying jobs require that you spend nights away from home of course, but in general, the more lucrative jobs with travel benefits or other perks tend to require that you work for a company that has you spending a significant time away from home.

For me, I am spending more than half of the year, probably between 190-200 days, out of the country. On the brighter side, that means I am spending the rest of the 165-175 days where ever I want, and continue to get paid (since it’s salary pay) during that time. I really can’t complain. There isn’t anything out there that I am aware of that can beat that. But if you told anyone they could have over 165 days off a year and get paid while enjoying their vacation, they would probably say “yeah right!” I feel very fortunate to have this job, I love what I do. And I try to make the most of all the time I have off.

Over the past two years, I have noticed my friends becoming just slightly more distant resulting in them not putting much effort to stay in touch while I am overseas. I am just as guilty though, everyone gets caught up in what they are doing and months can go by without talking to a certain person. Typically when I come back, I call them all up (or text) and let them know I am still alive and that we should hang out. It’s quite funny really, I come back and start sending out mass text messages to see who is free, and it’s like I never left. Since I’m always going and coming, it’s just easier to come back and settle in right where you left off. So I’ll just hop into a car with some friends after not seeing any of them for over a month and neither of us will act like I’ve been gone.

I, of course, keep in much better touch with my girlfriend, Leanna. She has been amazingly supportive of this job which makes it way easier on me. I pay for 3G internet with MTN Nigeria while I am over there so that I have internet on my cell phone. This allows me to chat with her, and call her for free using the Skype application on my Android Phone. From what I have heard, pilots have higher divorce rates than other professions, likely due to being gone a lot of the time. I think you just have to find the right person. Because when they marry you, they are marrying your lifestyle as well, and they have to be prepared to handle all of that.

For the Q400 pilots at Arik, we currently have no overnights, so each of our trips starts and ends in Lagos. This would be awesome if I had a family in Lagos, but since that isn’t the case, I don’t really care where I spend the nights. Being away from home is away from home, there is nothing that can replace that.

It’s easy to get excited the closer it gets to getting home; but as pilots, it would be in everyone’s best interest if we kept are minds on piloting the airplane we are sitting at the controls of. Thinking about the first thing you are going to eat, the places you will go, and what friends and/or family you will see as soon as you get home is not what should be on our minds.

Right now though, I can think about back home as much as I want since I am sitting comfortably in this dark cabin somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean at 39,000 feet. But as I said before, I should really be sleeping. We will land in Lagos early in the afternoon, and I have to stay up until at least 9:00PM or my body will take longer to get adjusted to the significant time zone change.

More to come soon, the next post should be the more traditional kind with a lot of pictures! Cheers from FL390, and goodnight.

All jokes aside though, I really enjoy it here.  So much so that I decided to bring my girlfriend, Leanna, out here for a vacation in Nigeria.  First things first though, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, so I’ll be summarizing some of the highlights of the last few months with pictures and short descriptions.  Happy New Year!

Sweden Round 2

Halfway through my rotation, which is now 30 days on, 30 days off, I went with Sean to Stockholm for recurrent simulator training.  This photo was taken on arrival into London on the Arik Air Airbus A340-500.  We spent one night in London since there were no flights directly to Sweden in the evening.  The same deal as the last time we went.  We stayed at a nice hotel near the airport, and we both enjoyed having some excellent European food.  Below is my breakfast: an omelet with everything and smothered with syrup!

I have now had coffee at this particular Starbucks a couple of times. I get my standard Grande Caramel Frap and savor every sip of it.  In Nigeria they have fraps but only at a few up-scale places in the area.  And they are 6-7USD at least.

Again, we found ourselves at the Oxford training academy.  Only this time, our simulator slots were in the middle of the night.  We often ended at 3-4 in the morning!  That’s about as bad as it can get, but for me it was okay because it gave me more time to go out and explore the area during the daytime after sleeping in.

We had the same simulator instructor as last time, so the training went much more smoothly since he was now more familiar with our company’s procedures.

Sweden was just slightly colder than the last time I was here, and I didn’t have a coat.  So the first thing I did when I had a chance was take a bus to the mall and do some shopping.

I bought a nice coat and a long sleeve shirt which kept me warm for the rest of the stay.  Sean met me over at the mall and we ate some McDonalds for lunch.  It’s always fun eating at these foreign McDonalds, which always seem much nicer than the ones in the USA.

Notice how they don’t have any English (on the receipt and photos above). Almost everyone spoke it quite well, but they’d always begin by speaking Swedish to me first (just like last time).  I made another observation. When initially greeting each other, they would say “hey,” where as in the USA we say “hi” or “hello.”  Usually if we say “hey” to each other it is not taken so nicely.  It’s not a very warm greeting unless it’s said with excitement or positivity.  Anyways… just found it amusing to hear everyone say “hey” to each other all of the time.

“The box.”  Sean and I both had a nice time at simulator. It was just as much of a learning experience as last time, and a confidence booster for sure.  It’s always nice to walk into “the box” and do things right the first time.

Of course, on the day I decided to take the train into town, it rained really hard and the winds were quite gusty.  But the gear I had bought at the mall kept me warm enough and, luckily, the rain and wind subsided early enough for me to get plenty of walking in.  I snapped the photo above when returning to the train station to head back up north to the hotel.  I felt much more familiar and comfortable since I had been here before, so I was able to walk around less worried about where I was and more focused on what I was actually seeing.  The cold, crisp air was very refreshing after dealing with the smoggy and humid Lagos air.

I sent Leanna a postcard from Stockholm as a surprise, and it only took a few days!  I was quite impressed.  The picture above to the right is the road where I went for a run.  Stockholm sure was an awesome break from Lagos!

Birthday and Thanksgiving

I am really enjoying my work schedule of 30 days on 30 days off.  Although days spent traveling to or from home and time spent at simulator training (twice a year) take away from your 30 days off, it still ends up being 26-27 days off the majority of the time.  Before, I would spend 54-56 days in Lagos and 28 at home, so this is a big improvement in quality of life and will surely help keep more expatriate pilots around while decreasing attrition.

Anyways, because of the change from 56-28 to 30-30, I was able to come home for my birthday and Thanksgiving, but I spent another Christmas in Nigeria.

I was given a warm welcome back into the US by Leanna and her family.  We celebrated my birthday a few days after arriving:

This cake was amazing.  What a treat!

Thanks for a wonderful birthday!

Leanna and I were able to have two Thanksgivings meals on Thanksgiving.  Leanna, her sister, and Mom made some wonderful food with a lot of homemade items.  My favorites were Leanna’s homemade cranberry sauce and the candied yams with melted marshmallows on top.  We snapped the photo below before the feast.

From left to right: Liz (Leanna’s Mom), Leanna, myself, Jordan (Shannon’s fiancé), and Shannon (Leanna’s sister).

Soon after finishing our Thanksgiving brunch, we unfortunately had to leave.  Our destination?  The Grand Canyon!  My parents and brother were flying into Phoenix and then driving to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon where we would meet them that night.  It’s about a 5 hour drive from Las Vegas (where Leanna lives) to the South Rim, so we said our goodbyes to Leanna’s family and were off for another adventure… backpacking in the Grand Canyon!

Grand Canyon Backpacking

My family and I have backpacked several times in the canyon, but this would be Leanna’s first time backpacking here.  It was quite cold this time of year, with highs barely in the 40’s if I remember correctly.

We spent 3 days making the vigorous hike down to the bottom of the canyon and back up again.  The picture above was taken right at the beginning.

Leanna was a trooper.  I had taken her on two backpacking trips previously, but this one was quite difficult due to the amount of vertical, tough rocky trails and the long distance we had to travel.  I wasn’t sure how she’d handle such a tough hike but she made it through it with flying colors!  My family was very supportive as well which helped.  We didn’t want to scare her away from backpacking or something like that.  We spent two nights at the bottom of the canyon and made our way all the way back up to the top on the third day, which took us over 7 hours!  On the way up we battled snow flurries and strong winds on occasion.  Leanna said she liked it because it felt more like an adventure with all the craziness around us, haha!

My brother is a trooper (or stallion I should say) as well, this guy decided to take the 20+ mile route instead of the 9 mile route the rest of us were taking.  And he made it in less time than the rest of us!  He was used to these long hikes though, after doing many of them on his backpacking journey on the Pacific Crest Trail last summer.  Regardless though, it was no easy task!

Cheers!  Jake and I having some hot chocolate at camp.

We made it!  With big smiles on our faces upon seeing the parking lot once again, we made it back to the top!  After getting a nice big lunch and showering, we were soon on the road with my brother as well, back to Las Vegas.  And the next morning, Jake flew back to Bozeman, MT and I flew back to Portland, OR.

Mt. Hood Ski Trip

The next weekend, Leanna flew up to Portland to go to the mountain with my friends and me for some skiing and relaxation.  I found a good deal on a cabin and we all spent two nights up there.  It was great to finally get some skiing in, and I plan to get many more days in over the coming months since I bought a season pass.

David, Leanna, and Bobby grabbing some bowls of chili for dinner at the cabin.

A classic American breakfast prepared by Leanna! Yum!

This was taken on the drive home.  It’s called “The Bridge of the Gods” and takes you across the Columbia River which separates Washington and Oregon.  I will always appreciate the beautiful North West. It sure is a wonderful place to live.

Leanna’s First Time in Nigeria!

You read it correctly!  The company paid for her ticket across the pond so she could spend Christmas with me in Lagos!  We had to get her a passport, all of the vaccines, anti-malarial pills, and finally a visa to allow her to enter the country.  It sure was all worth it though!

Leanna is “travel size,” at least that’s what we say.  The flight from JFK to Lagos was almost full so we were forced to make do with our own seats, instead of laying down across several seats which I’ve personally had the luxury to do on previous flights.  It’s great to see the flight loads picking up though on the JFK – LOS – JFK flights.  We both managed to sleep quite well on the just under 10 hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean.  We were arriving 10 days before I had to start work so we could vacation around Nigeria together like I had always wanted to do. 

It was fun to see how Leanna reacted to everything that I normally see and go through in Nigeria and the trip to and from.  This was her first time truly out of the country, and her first long distance international flight.  It was a dream come true to have her with me.  She’s an excellent travel companion, very easy going and fun.

We landed in the afternoon in Lagos, and it took over an hour to get our bags.  It was very busy due to it being the holiday season.  The equipment just isn’t built to handle such a high load of passengers arriving at once.

After one night in Lagos, we left the next morning on an Arik Air flight to Calabar.  It is here that we would begin our 6 our drive to Obudu Cattle Ranch.  The flight was on-time and very comfortable. It was fun to travel as a passenger on an Arik Air flight for once.

Once we arrived in Calabar, we found the driver that works for Remlord Tours, and he showed us to a very nice 4 door car with nice air conditioning and would soon show us why air travel is such a convenience in Nigeria.  The majority of the roads along the way were terrible!  Bumpy, dusty, single lane roads, plenty of room for head on collisions!  We loved it though, we got to see a lot of the country side by traveling by car and saw things we would never have seen if we were in the air.  The airport near Obudu Cattle Ranch was under construction so we were unable to travel by air anyways.

This was taken after paying a few hundred Naira to enter the park.  We were tired from the long drive, but excited none the less to be there.  Behind us in the picture above are the pools with diving boards and water slides that we went to eventually during our stay.

We arrived just in time to see this beautiful African sunset from our African Bungalow styled room.  The room was very nice, had warm water, a TV, wireless internet, and a heater.  There was no real need for air conditioning up there because we were over 1,500 meters above sea level.  The temperature was very comfortable.  The power was not provided 24/7. Instead, they would turn off the power in the afternoon and during the middle of the night.  This actually wasn’t too big of an inconvenience at all.

We usually would eat 2 meals a day: a late breakfast (brunch) and dinner.  The resort can handle tons of guests, but we were there during a quiet period so at times we were the only customers in the restaurant.  The food wasn’t amazing, but nonetheless it was decent.

Nigeria is a cash economy and most places require cash.  Leanna is counting our remaining funds above to make sure we have enough.  She proved to be very useful again with counting the money since she had worked at a bank before.  She would get impatient with my ultra slow money counting skills and insist on counting it for me. I didn’t mind, haha.

After a hearty brunch, we took the 5 year old tram down from the top of the resort to the entrance of the park where the swimming pools were.

The tram ride was awesome, especially when you come over the ridge on the way down and are suddenly suspended 100’s of feet above the ground.

Leanna snapped this photo of me jumping off of the diving board.  We were the only ones there, and the engineer refused to turn on the water slides since we were the only people.  It wasn’t fair, but I have noticed that things like this occur regularly here in Nigeria.  This wouldn’t happen in the USA. If you pay for a ticket, you get all of what you are paying for, so I was a bit frustrated.  We managed though, and still had a great time basking in the sun and enjoying a very quiet and serene swimming experience.  It really was right out of a dream, swimming in the middle of these gorgeous mountain sides in the middle of nowhere…

A young photographer.

Playing ping-pong with some of the locals in the Obudu game room.

Leanna and I hired a local guide to take us on a 5 hour hike around the mountains.  The guide had been doing this for over 20 years since he was a young boy, so needless to say, he was very knowledgeable about the area and awesome to have around.  Below are some pictures from our hike:

Mid-way through the hike, we were invited into a small house full of Hausa people who had come down for a wedding.  They all wanted to take pictures with the Oyinbos (white people),which we found many people did along our trip.  The guys were particularly interested in Leanna. Not many white women come around these parts, let alone white people in general.  They were very hospitable and offered to cook us some food but we didn’t have time, so we politely declined.  Leanna and I got a taste of what being famous must be like, at least in the sense of everyone wanting to take pictures of us!

Here we are leaving the house, and saying our goodbyes.

At the end of the hike, back at the reception, a group of people asked to have our pictures taken with them (because we were white).

On our last day at the ranch, we took a short nature hike through a “Nature Reserve,” but we didn’t see much nature actually.  There aren’t any big game in the nearby area, but we were told there are leopards, elephants, and some other more exciting animals deep within the forest.  It was nice to just relax on our last day, especially before we left on our next journey the following day to Abuja.

Abuja Bound

Instead of driving back to Calabar to fly out, we used Remlord Tours with the same driver again to take us to Abuja.  It was another 6 hour drive but we were able to see some different scenery along the way.  The roads were a little bit better along the route, so we were able to drive at much higher speeds than the Calabar to Obudu drive.  It still took the same amount of time though due to the longer distance we had to go.

When we got there, Chris happened to be in town on an overnight so we met him at the Obudu Steak House (funny that we just came from Obudu Ranch) at the Sheraton Hotel for a wonderful dinner.

We wanted to go around Abuja a bit the following day, but unfortunately we had to focus on getting back to Lagos since I had to be there ready to work by the next morning.  So we flew on an Arik Air CRJ-900 back to Lagos and settled into the hotel.

Lagosooooo

Leanna had already seen more of Nigeria than most of my co-workers have even after spending years here.  And she had only been here 10 days!  We had a blast traveling all over the SE part of the country and plan to come back again to possibly visit other parts of Nigeria.  There really is so much to see here, not many seem to know that!  I’d say one of the big downsides is how difficult it is to get to certain places.  If it were easier, I bet more people would come to play tourist in this interesting country.

We walked the streets and found this little shop selling shawarmas (kind of like a Nigerian gyro).

Leanna got quite good at playing ping pong during her visit.

I took her to Alpha Beach on a very busy Sunday and she loved it!  She even had some barbequed fish!

The manual Ferris wheel.

Posing for a quick photo with some of the guys I played American Football with.

Everybody loves European football too!

Surprise!!!

Leanna generously agreed to provide her own account of her trip to Nigeria this December! I was going to add more of my own stuff, but her material is so much more descriptive and simply awesome.  So without further ado, here is Leanna’s Blog Post with pictures I have added in where appropriate!

Our African Holiday (By Leanna Duncan)

What can possibly be said about visiting a third world country halfway across the world? Suffice it to say that Nigeria is EPIC! I had an amazing trip and would not hesitate to go back. I actually hope that I can return sometime this year. Anyway, it’s an honor to be featured in Casey’s blog this time. He is a pro! He picks great photos and is a lovely writer, so it’s always a pleasure to read about his trips. I feel especially fortunate for being a part of this one.

First of all, I don’t watch the news or read about world events very often, so I admit that I’m slightly naïve about certain aspects pertaining to developing countries. I’ve heard of the term “third world” to refer to the poorest countries in the world, but the word never became real within my mind. Upon entering Nigeria, the word became a concrete image. Lagos looks poor. The best way to describe the environment is that a bomb hit the city and the people are trying to rebuild.

Buildings are broken, the roads are unkempt, and people are everywhere. They line the streets and can often be found IN the streets. Cars fly by, yet people still walk dangerously close to the traffic. It’s amazing to watch them drive; they are the best and the worst drivers at the same time. If there are two lanes, they will make it three or four lanes. People drive fast and don’t signal, they pass when passing shouldn’t be allowed, and the speed limit really isn’t enforced. It’s crazy how you get used to it though. As for the buildings, many are crumbling stacks of rubble. They are old and weather beaten and literally falling apart. I was amazed to see so many people living amongst these conditions, and the crazy part is, no bomb had hit the city. This was normal.

Just like Casey has mentioned before, I realized that Nigerians are extremely friendly and grateful people, even though they have very little. They work out of shacks on the roadside and try to make a meager living, yet they’re constantly smiling and approachable. I honestly expected them to be less warm towards white people, just because it’s not a touristy country, but it was quite the opposite. They were eager to say hello and even to shake hands with me. The Parklane Hotel staff treated me as if we’ve been friends for years. You don’t even get that warm of a welcome in the states.

Soon after we arrived, it was time to head off on our sojourn of Nigeria. Calabar was a lovely city, and I wish we had gotten to spend more time there. (If I make it back in December again, it would be fun to check out the infamous Carnival in Calabar around Christmas. It’s supposed to be exciting.)

But we landed with no time for dilly-dallying; we began the long drive to Obudu Ranch. Even though the roads were extreme, it was still enjoyable to see the countryside. I realized how the landscape is juxtaposed between crowded cities like Lagos and Abuja and serene, undeveloped, rural areas. The majority of the six hour drive to Obudu Ranch was in the middle of nowhere; however, parts of “nowhere” consisted of native villages built right alongside the road. I found it interesting that the villages were built so close to the road and not pushed back a few hundred feet. Another interesting thing about the drive was that people were always walking nearby, even when no village was in sight. I always wondered, “Where are they going?” Maybe they were walking to another village to trade goods, but many people didn’t have anything in hand. (A lot of people had wheelbarrows though… they like their wheelbarrows. Which makes sense – it’s a very convenient and lasting piece of machinery.) Another thought of mine was, “Where do these villagers buy their clothes?” Some of them wore the native clothing that is handmade from yards of fabric, but others had modern shirts and jeans. It just struck me as odd that they have access to contemporary clothing, but good for them!

Our driver drove FAST so there weren’t many chances to take decent photographs. I’d often hold the camera up to the window and snap aimlessly in hopes of getting a good shot. There wasn’t enough time to find a scene I liked, set up the camera, and snap the photo. I really would have liked to take more pictures during the drive, but that would have slowed us down too much. Then I thought that it would have been better if Casey and I had rented a car and driven ourselves but, overall, it was much better to have a driver who knew where he was going out in the middle of nowhere. We wouldn’t want two lost oyinbos out in the countryside of Africa. One of my favorite things was seeing random buildings in the grass. They were designed very specifically though. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of them since we were zooming by so fast, but try to imagine… stone ruins from many years ago sitting alone in the grass. The buildings looked like something you might find in England or Scotland. They were made of stone, falling apart, and often covered in vines. They were uninhabited and randomly spotted around the area. The “modern” village huts are made of dirt or clay, sometimes wood, but they don’t have anything made of stone. My only guess is that these buildings were from the time when Nigeria was a British colony. Hmm…

One highlight of the drive was stopping at a gas station in a larger town. Immediately upon pulling into the parking lot and slowing down the car, we were SWARMED by people selling bananas. It was incredible! Casey said that now he knows what it feels like to be famous and have fans crowd around your car. It’s hard to even describe the way you feel with twenty women and children surrounding your car, pushing bananas into the windows, and giving you very serious expressions. Of course, Casey can never sit still and mind his own business, so he decided to open the window and began to tell them to “scat” in Pidgin English. He repeatedly told them to leave but, quite quickly, he realized that the talking wasn’t working. Then he took a banana out of his backpack, one that he had from earlier, and tried to tell them that he already had a banana and didn’t need to buy one from them. They actually scoffed at him as if his banana wasn’t good enough. In the meantime, our driver had snuck away from the car to buy some candy in the store, so I got out and followed him to find a bathroom. The woman inside the store said it was locked and I couldn’t use it, so he and I walked back to the car. As if the moment couldn’t get any better, when we turned back to the car, there was Casey sitting ON TOP of the car! He was dangling his feet off the side and eating his own banana. Even in the middle of Africa, surrounded by women with stern looks and baskets of bananas on their heads, he still managed to stay cheerful and make a memory out of the chaos. That’s one thing that I really love about him; no matter where we are or what we’re doing, he makes it different and fun. He pushes me out of my comfort zone and challenges me to experience something new. He is a dork! But he never gets upset over the small things and can always find something positive about the moment.

The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. We had a couple instances of nearly running over some chickens, but I don’t think we ever did. Our driver was quiet but friendly and very handy around the area. Finally we made it to Obudu Ranch and were able to relax.

The ranch sits on the very top of the mountain, so you can see the surrounding hillside for miles. Little villages dot the landscape and the villagers work at the ranch. It might be a good time to mention that practically everyone in Nigeria speaks English. I was surprised since I didn’t think they had a lot of schooling, but it must just be taught in homes these days. It’s Pidgin English, but still convenient for us that we could communicate with everyone we encountered. Also, the different regions of Nigeria have their own language/dialect, so English must help to unify the country when people travel. I found it amusing when two Nigerians would speak to each other in broken English because it would be like Casey and me talking to each other in all the Spanish that we know (which isn’t a lot for me). It seemed very inefficient because their vocabulary isn’t extensive, therefore, it would take a really long time to get across what they wanted to say. I figured their native tongue would be easier, but since there’s not one native Nigerian language, I suppose broken English is better than nothing. 

Our time spent at the ranch was relaxing and quite peaceful. We had a very comfortable room with the outside modeled like a native African hut. I found out that Nigerians like big, firm beds. At the three hotels we stayed at (the ranch, Abuja, and Lagos), all three beds were huge and very firm. The meals were simple and tasty, mostly consisting of white rice, steamed/sautéed vegetables, meat, and rolls. I like meat and bread, so it was decent for me. They had Nigerian dishes too and I tried a couple of them, finding out that I like Egusi soup. It can be made with different kinds of meat, but mine was basically spicy chicken served with semolina, a wheat product made into something similar in texture to a ball of dough.

We went on a five hour hike with an experienced guide and had a great time! Clifford, or “Mister Cliff,” was extremely pleasant to be around and very knowledgeable. We passed the dairy farm, hiked to a small water reservoir called “The Grotto,” then continued onward over the grassy hillside. The grass was at least two to three feet high at times, so it was quite tall for someone short like me. We were able to see a beautiful waterfall, a distant jungle (where supposedly large animals live), and even across the border into Cameroon. We also passed a REAL German bunker!

The grass had grown over most of them, but this particular one was still open. I wish we could have seen farther down into it, but it looked pretty deep from where we stood. It was amazing to be so close to something so old and rooted in history. I didn’t even know the Germans were in Nigeria during WWI. We stepped over stones when crossing the river and I slipped and fell in, but luckily had brought an extra pair of socks.

At the end of our journey, we came back to the dairy farm and had fresh, locally-made, drinkable strawberry yogurt. Both Casey and I were a little hesitant to try it, since it wasn’t pasteurized, but it was pretty darn good! Cold yogurt definitely tasted yummy after a long hike. The next evening, we met the guide outside the restaurant and he said that if we ever make it back, we should bring our tent and sleep in his village outside his own hut. How thoughtful! Since Casey’s Igbo name, Kelechi, is from the south, the guide gave me a name from the cross river state where the ranch is located. He named me “Agofwu” which means “God is great.” Another very thoughtful act. I was honored.

At one point during our stay, we were walking with a little boy of about 8 years old. He was from one of the nearby villages. We were chatting and taking pictures, and suddenly his sandal broke. He didn’t seem to mind and just kept walking with it, but I was overwhelmed with emotion and started crying. Casey didn’t see it break, so I tried to tell him how bad I felt for the boy and that I wanted to buy him new shoes. Casey assured me that shoes are cheap and that we can’t start giving people gifts because they will want more. They are already very blunt about asking for things from us, so it’s best not to start buying people things. I understood, but it still made me very sad to see this little boy with a broken shoe. I couldn’t help myself though and kept tearing up over lunch. That was my first experience with the poverty of Nigeria. You have to be strong and not let it get to you because most local people could use some new clothes or new shoes. I felt bad that I couldn’t help everyone, but it made me remember that there are a lot of people in the US that need help… which of course begs the question of helping other countries or helping our own first. But that’s another story.

As Casey said, we had an overnight stay in Abuja with a fellow pilot, Chris. The Sheraton Hotel in Abuja was very nice and had lovely food, which I know is a favorite part of the pilots’ overnight trips. We wanted to tour the city and see Zuma Rock especially, but it just didn’t work out well with the timing of our flight back to Lagos. We ended up sitting in the airport for a few hours eating tasty oat biscuits while we waited for our flight.

Once back in Lagos, we settled in at Parklane and waited for Casey to be summoned to work. It was wonderful to be able to see his environment first-hand after hearing so much about it. The rooms at Parklane were small but had everything you needed: a large, firm bed; desk; dresser; nightstand; and bathroom. There are only thirty rooms in the whole building, so it’s fairly small. Again, the staff gave us a very warm welcome and I was able to get comfortable. One of the bosses there gave me the Igbo name “Tokunbo” which basically means “foreigner who travels into the country.” How sweet! Our days were basically just relaxing attempts at trying to find something to do. We swam, ate, went on the computer, fiddled with cell phones and data plans, and chatted with good company.

It was great to meet Casey’s friends and hang out with the locals. I was surprised to see so many American brands of food and non-food items at the markets, so it’s not as primitive as I expected. I think that the guys could have a decent time there for 30 days if they buy some treats and find things to do, which Casey does with his La Casera (sparkling apple soda) and beach trips.

We went to two beaches, Alpha Beach and Oniru Beach. Nigerians don’t like deep water so they don’t swim very far out into the ocean (likely due to the fact that many of them don’t know how to swim). However, some do like to get in the water and end up just sitting in the sand with their clothes on and letting the waves wash over them. They don’t wear traditional bathing suits, but get wet in their regular clothes or their boxers. Casey has mentioned it before, but they were amazed seeing us swimming out in the ocean.

It’s funny to think of being the only two people swimming in an entire ocean! Per se. The water was very warm and comfortable. We had good company both times as well, so that was nice. His Nigerian friends even bought us two wooden souvenirs to take home with us. How thoughtful!

Lekki market was also quite fun. It was an outdoor market with many vendors who sell similar things, so you have to pick and choose who you want to buy things from. Casey is a master haggler, so I would pick out an item that I wanted to buy and he would negotiate for a lower price. I got some lovely gifts for my family and friends. Every outing was enjoyable and helped to pass the time away from the hotel. I can understand why people get bored just sitting in the hotel for 30 days, but if you can get out a couple times a week then it’s not as bad. At least Parklane does have good food, and they’re always willing to try new recipes if you tell them what to do. They’ve made some lovely dishes like Casey’s favorite lemon chicken, sweet potatoes with marshmallows and, most recently, BLT’s!

One night, we decided to treat ourselves and went to the Sheraton in Lagos for pizza! It was delicious. The crust was very thin and there wasn’t much sauce, but the flavor was wonderful. The cheese was chewy and the sauce was zesty; Casey and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We also went to the Heritage Hotel for our Christmas dinner with his friend, Abel, and had hamburgers, which were also very tasty. Unfortunately, we were short a little bit of money, but the waiter was kind enough to give us some of his own money to complete the bill. You have to realize that they don’t make very much over there, so any little bit of money was immensely generous of him, and we knew we had to pay him back. We returned to Parklane and made him a little care package of chocolates, gum, and much more money than he gave us. By the time we took it to the hotel, he had left for the evening, so we left the package with the front desk. The next day, he came to Parklane and asked for Casey, Abel, and me. Casey was working, but Abel and I went downstairs to see him. He was beaming with gratitude and gave us a lovely thank you note for the package. It was so fulfilling to see how thankful he was for the extra money. That was the highlight of our Christmas!

Speaking of which, we spent Christmas in Nigeria! Amazing! Casey and I agree that the best gift we could have received was spending the holiday with each other. It was so special to be with him for three weeks. There’s no one else I’d rather spend that much time. He is the best travel buddy I could ask for. We both adapt very well and have a lot of fun with each other. I’m so thankful that I was able to go to Nigeria and experience a new country. I’d say that my first international trip was a success! Thank you, Casey!