Nigeria- Part 1

There's been so much I've wanted to say about my 48 hours in Nigeria. And I started to write all of it down during one of the blackouts at the hotel in Lagos. I didn't black out, the power at the hotel did. Which is a good taste of what is in these upcoming blogs. At times I thought I was dreaming, but all of it was real. So here's Part 1...

THE SET UP

I got the call a few months back, middle of May if I remember correctly. Jay the production manager for Shakira wanted to know my availability this summer. Shakira was going to do random dates around Europe and elsewhere and wanted to know if I could come fill in since the fellow I had take over from me all those months ago was unavailable to continue this "added" tour. Seeing as the work I had blocked off for the summer fell through, I was available. Jay sent me the dates and that's when the second thoughts started creeping in...

Monaco (not bad), Istanbul (never been, hear it's nice), Tunisia (cool, I can take a day and see the Tatooine set from Star Wars), Jordan (excuse me?), Beirut (What!?), and Lagos Nigeria (Where?). There were a bunch of other cities listed, which would have made for a month of work, but these were the cities that I found intriguing.

I talked to Nicole about it. She wasn't too keen on the dates in the Middle East. We agreed that I should ask for a stupid amount of money and all the perks (including business class on flights) and see what sticks. With any luck, I'll be too expensive and they'll hire someone else.

I'm not lucky, I wasn't too expensive, and they agreed to all my terms. Two things shot immediately through my head; I should have asked for more money, and hoorah, I'm flying business class!

Guess I was going to the Middle East. Sorry, honey, I love you, but I'm not lucky.

Then slowly the dates started to melt away.

It went from a three week tour down to a two week tour stuffed with dates. Then places started to disappear from the itinerary until only three shows were left, Monaco (not bad), Istanbul (never been, hear it's nice), and Lagos Nigeria (Where?).

I've been to Monaco before, so I knew what to expect. Friends have been to Istanbul and loved it. And other friends have been to Nigeria and they all said, "Don't go."

So I started to look up Nigeria on line and here's what the government of the U.S. has to say about travel to Nigeria:

“The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens of the dangers of travel to Nigeria. The lack of law and order in Nigeria poses considerable risks to travelers. Violent crime committed by ordinary criminals, as well as by persons in police and military uniforms, can occur throughout the country and tends to peak between November and January, during the holiday period.”

Great, well, at least it's not "peak" season.

I couldn't back out now. I had already said yes. So I started the process of going to Nigeria. I got my Nigerian visa, got my shots, got my malaria and anti-diahrreal pills, and stapled my medical record to my passport. Apparently, the U.S. government doesn't want you bringing back malaria or yellow fever.

And off I went into the great beyond, July 4th, 2007. I won't bore you with the show in Monaco, and later in this blog, I'll post my thoughts on Istanbul.

We were supposed to go to Nigeria on Thursday the 12th of July, but everyone from the top down was nervous about spending too much time there seeing as the show was on Saturday the 14th, so they rebooked all of our flights for Friday the 13th (a bad omen?) and got us one extra day in Istanbul. The new flights routed us from Istanbul to Frankfurt, Germany, then down to Lagos.

I had a lot to say about this fellow on the flight from Frankfurt to Lagos. But the more I read it, the less interesting it seems to be. I will simply tell you that I was astounded by his actions. His attitude was, “Screw everyone else, I’m to be first. I have achieved this business class and no one else in this cabin is deserving of the pampering as much as I am.”

I think you get the picture. There is nothing more to be said about that.

I will tell you this, I am, to this day, still amazed that big airlines fly big planes down there. Our flight down on Lufthansa was on a huge three class Airbus. Our flight home was on British Airways was on a Boeing 747. In tomorrow's blog, I'll tell you about the airport in Nigeria. And why big planes and spooky airports don't mix in my brain.



Until then, here's a picture of Vish Wadi and I. Vish was my traveling buddy on Shakira, for some reason, they always booked us on the same booking number... Sorry about the quality, I had the flash off, and Freddie isn't very good at steady cam.