In this episode, we are going to talk about my first international trip experience, where I traveled to the West African country of Senegal, the city of Dakar.
So first, let's talk about how it came about that I took this trip to Dakar Senegal. It occurred in the year of 1987. I had started working for a small Airline, well first let me take a step back.
When I was younger and I was fantasizing about being able to travel, and came to the realization that what I had in my wallet was not able to support what I had going on in my mind.
So, I recall reading an article a year so earlier, where employees for Amtrak and Greyhound, which by the way are two main staple local travel organizations within the United States; Amtrak being the rail service and Greyhound being the bus service. Other employees would talk about being able to use the fringe benefits, and be able to travel to the different cities that these companies served.
Well, I wasn't exactly looking to go to Poughkeepsie, throwing no shade at Poughkeepsie. That's not where I was looking to go. So instead of looking for a job with Amtrak or Greyhound, I said let’s see if I can get a job with an airline. So I put in multiple applications, and this Airline gave me a call. Interviewed, all went well and I started working there.
I started working there in August of 1986. So, but a few months later, they had the Christmas party in December. It was nondescript, except for the fact that they had a raffle, and in this raffle, were a variety of different prizes…
And how it was supposed to be set up was that the individuals with seniority would choose from one bucket of prizes, and ones with much less seniority would choose from the other. Well somehow things either got screwed up, or there weren't enough people with seniority because, at this particular job there was a high turnover rate. I didn’t know at the time.
But I got to choose from the bucket that was reserved for the people with seniority. So just to give you an example, the individuals with lesser seniority would choose airline tickets that were domestic, or you would win gift certificates, things of that nature.
Whereas, the more seniority a bucket would be International trips, and it would be kind of large ticket items and televisions or something like that. Anyway as I said, either there was a mixup or there was not enough people on the side of the seniority, and they wanted to make sure that they gave away some of their nicer gifts and not let them go to waste.
So I picked, and there was an envelope. So, of course I’m thinking that it’s a gift card, and it turns out there was a letter in there saying that I won two round trip tickets on Air Afrique. Air Afrique is now a defunct airline, and operated out of JFK to Dakar Senegal. Dakar, I believe was its hub, and it served other cities within Africa. So this is how I got the opportunity to go to a place that I had never heard of.
So I begin the research process, I had one year to use it. So… actually I can't even recall if there was a time limit on it, but I began the research process figuring out where Dakar, Senegal was…what was the weather like… what would the experience be like.
So for example I found out that the national language was French. So it was colonized by the French, and there were other multiple other languages spoken there widely, but French was the main language. So I learned about the customs, the religion and things of that nature in preparation for this trip.
The next thing that I did was… I boned up on learning some French phrases. By no stretch of the imagination was I fluent or even conversational, but I wanted to be able to say some things in French. I was going to say it in the native tongue, but I'm pretty sure French was not the native tongue but it was the language that was widely spoken. So I learned several different phrases.
The next thing that I did was research the whole process of getting a passport, because I did not have one. And that was an ordeal most of the time when you're dealing with government agencies, it is, and this was no different.
So I began that process filling out the forms, making sure that I had everything that was needed getting the passport photo taken and I believe, I can't recall if I took it down to the passport bureau, which they did have in New York City, especially back then, or if I mailed to them but I did all of that. And it was only once I got my passport back that I reached out to Air Afrique to set things up.
Before I did that, or rather in conjunction with doing that I sought to make reservations, find out what my accommodations would be like, the cost, and just think…back then, the internet was not what it is today. So, this was via… it was emailed I believe….actually I don't think so.
So it would have probably have been via phone call, or snail mail believe it or not to try to secure all of that. And for people that I was probably in my twenties, so this was pretty new to me. I had to worry about time zones and all of that stuff. So I was able to get that all coordinated and get that all set up.
And then in conjunction with the individual that I was working with at the Air Afrique ticketing department, so she got me the tickets and the way that it operated was, it was employee ticket, there was no reservation, you would list yourself or call up and list myself for the day that I wanted to travel, checked out the availability all the phone and get myself all set up and that is what I did.
Let me take a little bit of an interlude right here. I'm pretty sure it's not the same as it was 20 or so years ago, but I would always make the comments that if you have either yourself or a young adult in your family that is interested in travel, have them work for an airline. The travel benefits aren’t as robust. As I said it's not as it was when I first started in the industry, but I still get the opportunity to take advantage of my travel benefits. And if it is something that someone you know or yourself is interested in, you can take a look at it.
Especially if it's someone in high school or early in college, and do not have a whole bunch of bills because I can imagine that the starting salary is not that great, but the fringe benefits are.
And to get back on to the story, I mention that because I was, and to a large extent, I'm still a rule follower, and recall the dress code was really strictly enforced back in those days. And it was really unreasonable when you look at it now, but those are the rules. And you had to wear a shirt with a collar, you had to wear a jacket…slacks.
Because even though you were not supposed to let anyone know that you worked for an airline, I did not work for Air Afrique, I worked for another airline. But the bottom line was…I was flying for free. And so, they don't want that readily available, especially sitting next to somebody who just paid the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to travel because I'm sure it's still the case where traveling to Africa is pretty expensive in comparison with flying to other places that may be of equal distance. So I get on the plane.
It is the first time I am on one of these larger planes, by the way, it was a DC-10. That DC-10 is a wide-body, 2 aisles. I cannot remember the configuration of the seating and whether it was 2-5-2 or 3-4-3, I do not recall. But I know it was a double aisle, a twin aisle airplane. Had three engines, two on the wings, and one up on the dorsal fin.
It probably carried between 275, 300 passengers, somewhere in that range. And so it was the first time that I was on a plane of that size, and working for the airline that I worked for, we operated 737s, MD80s, which are smaller aircrafts, holds between 150 or less passengers. So that's what I was accustomed to, and so now I'm on one of the big boys.
And I get a window seat, so the gods are on my side. And I believe that there was nobody sitting next to me either, so I had a little bit of space too. I was in economy, and yeah so I'm off to Africa.
Take a step back, yes I did need to get a Visa. I did get some shots, malaria or not malaria, but the yellow fever and some malaria pills that I had to take and complete 10 days prior to traveling, but all of that was taken care of, that satisfied those requirements and off I was with my brand new passport.
So the plane takes off, everything is going according to plan, I'm sitting at a window seat and I'm checking it out. The flight departed sometime in the evening, so it was a nighttime transatlantic Crossing with the arrival being the early morning, the next day.
So I do want to tell you about an experience that I had. I believe it is called vertigo, where I was completely disoriented and panicked for a moment. Because what happened was I had fallen asleep, and when I woke up, I was sort of half awake and I looked out the window just to check on our progress. Well, when I looked outside I was completely dismayed. Confused, on the verge of panic although I did not want anyone else to know that I was on the verge of panic.
Why was this occurring ?
This was occurring because when I looked out the window, and I looked at what should have been down, I didn't see anything, just blackness. But when I looked up, I saw lights. So my first thought was, why on earth…How is it possible that we’re flying upside down, because the lights that I see when I look up I thought were street lights…and when I look down that was the blackness of the sky. So what advantage do you have flying a passenger plane upside down, and why are we not falling out of our seats?
This is what was going through my mind in that moment. Well, I took a little bit of time, gathered my thoughts and then quickly came to the realization that those lights that I thought were the street lights, were stars. And the blackness that I saw down, wasn't the sky, that was the Atlantic Ocean. So it took me a minute or so, being in the fog of sleep to realize what was going on.
And so needless to say, I'm glad that I didn't panic, and start calling people and the flight attendant, and trying to figure out why we're flying upside down. I don't know if I had any alcoholic libation, but I'm pretty sure they would have cut me off at that point.
Anyway we arrived in Dakar, in the morning. We go through customs, and while it was a chaotic zoo, it was invigorating. I could just see different movie scenes and I was like they got it right in those movies! Where somebody lands at some airport in the middle of, wherever and it's chaos… it's chaos. Kids screaming, air conditioning like they're reserving it for somebody else and not for us. Because you knew it was on, but it was not doing anything!
So that was the experience at the airport and once I got through customs, and now I have to try to figure out a way to get downtown where my hotel is…I've done all of my research, and being tight on funds, I actually found that there was a local, like a Metro city bus that came through the airport. And I took that, and it was Pennies on the dollar…and I took that. It took forever, because it must have made like a thousand stops. But I did make it.
I did make it down to the hotel where I was staying, and was able to check in. And to my surprise my reservation was there. Everything was good… checked in. I could turn up the air-conditioning American style, which is like…10 degrees colder than need be. So…did that I probably like took a nap or something like that unpacked, took a nap, took the shower and then went out for my venture.
So let me tell you about that. Initially, I didn't catch on to what was going on. But I went to I was just walking around, probably looking very touristy even though I was trying my best not to. Can't remember what I was wearing, but the reason that I say probably looking touristy is because after being out there for about an hour or so, going from shop to shop, I did go to a restaurant…
No, no…. this was beforehand…
So I'm looking around at different trinkets and souvenirs. My process back then was, let me get all of the trinkets and souvenirs that I'm going to get for people out the way first. This way, I can just enjoy the rest of the trip. There was never a situation where I was like, “Oh, I got this for this person but, this might be better…Not! ”
I just got the first thing that I could and I'm not the same thing, but got as many items as I could for as many people that I said I would or asked and then I was done with that.
My mind would be in a completely different place after that. So I'm doing my shopping around, and I noticed that there’s someone following me. And I remember noticing it. And then, I remember one time I went to go and buy something, and they quoted me the price, and not knowing that everything was a haggle.
I'm like “Okay…”
And this guy comes up and he starts talking with them, not in French, because although I don't speak French, I recognized French. So I'm assuming it was in Swahili. And he's going back and forth with them. and whatever price they said. he haggled them down.
So I'm like okay, and I paid the haggle down price, but still I'm kind of weary and I'm like okay you did that but I got my eye on you…”
So I went to several different places, and this continued. And then it was time for me to go and eat and I went into the restaurant by myself, and got an opportunity to use what little French I did practice and learn.
I remember ordering something…. bourguignon…… I can't remember. I ordered rice…carrots and rice with beef bourguignon. And so the waiter then says to me, in French, which I only found out later… how did I want my bourguignon prepared. Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about, because I practiced saying my order, but never paid attention to questions that the waiter might ask me.
So I was like, ‘I'm sorry I have no idea what you're saying.”. And then he’s like, “Oh you do not speak French?”
I said, “No”
“Oh but you said that so well.”
Something that I've coined, or maybe somebody else said it before recently is that, when I'm learning phrases because I'm going to a country, I let them know that my vocabulary is not large. But what I do say, I say well. I learned the accent, the cadence and things like that, but so it sounds as if I speak the language when I say what little I can. But that's about it.
Anyway, I ordered my meal, I ate my meal enjoy it, and paid for all of that. And then when I come out of the restaurant, that guy is still there… So, I'm sure he has a game plan, and my thought process is, if your game plan does not impede my game plan then maybe there is space to coexist.
But anyway, I go back to my hotel and crash and sleep for the night. Next morning, that mofo still there. So this goes on for a little, while I'm not going to beleaguer the point. This goes on for a while, and then finally I tell him, “Okay look, you don't have to stay five steps behind me, if you’re going to be helping me out, that's fine.”
Now some people might think that that's a bit naive and I would agree. However it worked out now some people will probably be asking wellwhat did he get out of it. Well what he got out of it was, I never gave him cash money, but whenever I went to eat, he went to eat.
That's basically it, because like I said, I never gave him cash money for anything. And then we ended up striking up a friendship. But that's how it started, is by him doing it. And it's probably a racket, or something, or his hustle or anything. He was always there, so obviously didn't have a job, but it worked out. Like I said, there was space for us to coexist.
He took me to places, or recommended places. Of course, I was very wary of it when he would make a recommendation, you know, “Is this guy setting me up?”. But I'm still here, so… It did work out. And the trip turned out to be better, because he exposed me to things that I would not have seen otherwise.
Now I went to Dakar twice. Once I came back from my trip, I reached out to the person at Air Afrique in New York that actually wrote the ticket for me, basically to thank her for her efforts, and whatever information she might have given me to make my trip better or facilitate things, smooth things out. And giving me advice on this, that or the other.
I don't know if I called her…I think I did call her and let her know that I was back. I had a great time, thank you appreciate it. And that was the purpose of my call. And so she said, ”Would you like to go again?” and I was like, absolutely!
So about a year later… the first time I went was working for this company in 86, I went there in and ‘87. And then in January or so of ‘88, I went back again.
Now the second time around, I'm going to just mush these into 1 episode, one long episode, the two visits.
The second time I went there was interesting, because I told the guy that I was coming out there so he's like great. And I got my hotel paid for it in cash. They did have credit cards back then, but I paid cash. I didn't have one credit card, so I paid cash. I think I paid for 18 days… that's how long I was going to be out there.
So he comes and he’s like, “No, no no no, you going to stay you going to stay with us.”
I told my family, my friends and everything, “you’re going to come and stay with us”. So you know you agree with that, and I'm like, “Uh yeah, I'd like to. You know it’ll be a very, very different experience.”
Again, young naive. But first of all, I'm here, so everything went well. It could have turned out differently, but it didn't. What I ended up doing was taking the money, because first of all, I didn't think it was going to happen. The hotel gave me back all of my money.
Give me back all of my money, and then I used that money to rent a car. So now, it wasn't about getting around via whatever public transportation this, that or the other…. I had a vehicle. And it was a side story - that was the first time that I had driven a stick. Prior to that, I'm on a manual. Prior to that, I had only driven automatics, and so, in my head going to get the vehicle.
“Yeah I gonna rent a manual, so I can learn on it, learn on the rented car in another country.”
Perfect right ?
When I got there, I chickened out…”Uh, like you guys got an automatic?” And they were like, “No.”
So that is how I learned how to drive a manual or a stick, so that was that. Anyway I stayed out in the bush with this guy and his family, and I was like the celebrity. Not like, I WAS a celebrity. When I came, everybody came out and greeted me, and they literally was…I shouldn’t say literally, but figuratively, fighting amongst each other whose house I would sleep at first.
They wanted me to sleep at this, this guy….No, no, no…he's going to stay here, and then after two or three days pack up my stuff and then move a block down and stay with this person because they wanted the American staying in their house, and they was feeding me.
I went to Africa and gained weight.
So that was the experience that I had there, and the best part was the guy introduced me to a young lady friend of his. And so for 18 days, or really 17 days, we were all hooked up…so that was icing on the cake. And yeah, that was icing on the cake.
So, wonderful experience there, I will try to get some photos of my trip to Dakar, Senegal on my website, Seen Through Black Eyes, so you can get a better feel and the flavor of that experience.
So I can recall her asking me if I wanted to get a job with Air Afrique there and not go back to the US. And I was torn, but at that age I definitely was not in the mental state to be living in another country. As a matter of fact, I was still living at home in New York so, to live abroad away from family, yeah that wasn’t…my mind wasn't there yet, so…
Anyway, so this was my trip, or trips to Dakar, Senegal and that was my very first International trips and it was the springboard.
I knew that this is something that I would definitely want to do again in the future. I didn't even get an opportunity to talk about going to the House of Slaves on Goree Island, off the coast of Dakar. Take a little ferry boat out there. And Goree Island was one of the last places that Africans that were sold into slavery, saw of their Homeland.
They were put in there, the ships would come and pick them up and then from there, they would go to North Central and South America into slavery. So seeing that was quite eye-opening and a teeny tad bit emotional.
So as I said, I will attempt to get some of these pictures up on the website so you can have a little bit more context at this will add a little bit more context to what I've just described.
Thank you for listening, and I will see you next time.
In the next episode I'm going to talk to you about a trip that I took to the Bahamas. This was after my Africa trip.
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