Shots, Hotspots, and Whatnots

So, we decided to go to Ghana (March 1 - 11, 2013)!! So much to do, so little time.

Anyone who comes from a good sized family knows that it is extremely difficult to plan a family vacation. Everyone has their own schedules, their own agendas, and their own sense of deadlines. When you come from a good sized West African family, there is only one way to describe it: Wahala.

But, we'll get to that later.

So, when going overseas what do you need?

 

Airplane Ticket
Ok, so you're thinking it's a flight, what's the big deal? Right...we initially thought we would use a travel agent. The thing with travel agents is that they get a profit so sometimes they jack up the price of your flight. This particular agent said we had ONE WEEK to decided if we are going to purchase the flights he found. Please direct your attention to the second paragraph above. Not happenning.

After a week the "agent" tells us the tickets are sold-out. Mmmhmmm. I do a quick search online, find airplane tickets FOR THE SAME EXACT FLIGHT THE AGENT WAS TALKING ABOUT, for a little over 1k round-trip and that's done! Why didn't I open a travel agency? Umm...let's keep it movin'.

Shots
After a little more research, I realize we all need Hepatitis A, Tetanus, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, and we have to take Malaria pills. Are we going to war or going on vacation?!?! I mean, really (later, I realized we were doing both). On top of all that, most insurance companies don't cover travel immunizations. It's as if they are saying, "Oh, we care if you get sick, but not if you leave your country." AND not every clinic offers all the shots you need. Needless to say, this was an ordeal. Moving on...

Passport
This was one thing that wasn't a headache. Most of us had up-to-date passports.

Visa (and not the spending kind)
Ai yai yai (as my number one stick girl would say)...all I can do is shake my head when I think about getting our visas. First of all, when you go on their website to see what you need to mail in or bring with you to the Ghana Embassy, it's like going through a maze that makes you think you are going the right way and then you end up in a dead end. Looking at a wall. Except it's your computer screen.

Yeah, like that guy. Anyway, I digress. Some of us decided to mail in our applications. Some of us decided to go to the Embassy. The ones that mailed yours in...good job. For the rest of us? Team TOO MUCH. I get there and everyone is standing in the lobby staring at a counter with a glass wall up and nobody behind it. The Embassy closes at 5. I have been there since 1. The line hasn't moved at all. They tell us to come back the next day. We are leaving for Ghana in 2 days. Not an option. People start raising their voices. People threaten to fight. The guy shows up behind the counter and tells us 3 different things all of which I think he made up. Everyone was looking at him like my friend to the left. This should have been a foreshadowing of the trip.






Supplies to survive the conditions (I'm soooo not being dramatic)
SUNSCREEN. BIG FLOPPY HAT. SUNGLASSES. Enough said. Mosquitoes are deadly in certain parts of Ghana. Even if you are taking the malaria pills. To the extent that they eat through clothes. Oooo, our blood must be TASTY. So we needed some extra crazy strength mosquito repellent. That we had to spray on our clothes. That we couldn't spray directly onto our skin. That we can't inhale. I use it as mace now. :-) We also found DEET that we could spray directly on our skin. No mace there.

SPENDING MONEY
One American dollar is equivalent to 2 bucks. They are called cedis. We had fun with that. I'M RICH B!+*H!

Research on Hotspots
It was fun trying to see what trouble we could get into. Nightlife in Africa? Nothing like it. Stay tuned for more...