17th of September – Bucharest, Romania
“Africa – a place that I wanted to visit because it fascinates me…I finally get to see Africa…I’m finally going there…A feeling that cannot be described in words…A place so different from what we are used to here in Europe…Two weeks…Damn…To many things to do, so little time…I should spend there a lifetime to discover it.” All the way from home to Otopeni International Airport, this was running through my mind. My trip is just starting, I’m thinking. But before getting into West Africa, I needed to change three flights : one from Bucharest to Rome, from Rome to Barcelona and finally from Barcelona to Banjul, The Gambia, right on the smiling coast of Africa. Me and my friend, Vladimir, we are finally doing it! After a few months of struggling to get everything fixed, here we were just outside the airport, looking one at each other and smiling for no obvious reason to anyone passing by.
It must have been past 4 o’clock in the afternoon. We finished our cigarettes and left our backpacks at the check-in point. We knew it would be a long and exhausting journey to enter Africa. But we were happy. The airport staff was checking the usual things before take off. We found our seats in the plane and in no more then two hours we were in Rome.
A few things we took in our trip
The plan was simple : leave our bags in the airport so we can pick it up early next morning, take the bus to city centre, drink a couple of beers, enjoying Rome night life like we did the last time we were here, get back to the airport and fly to Barcelona. Simple plan, really difficult to put it into action when we found out that the storage area in Fiumicino Airport opens at 6:30 AM. After carefully planning every bit of detail we bumped into this problem. Our flight to Barcelona was planned at 7 AM, so it was really impossible to get everything done in half an hour. Again me and Vlad looking at each other, but now no smile on our faces. We really wanted to enjoy our night there in Rome. But when you think the situation has no exit, there’s always a plan B that you never thought of. It seemed that Vlad had a friend from high school whose mother was living for a couple of years in Rome with her new husband. Immediately he called his friend and asked if there is any possibility his mom can let us leave our luggage at her place just for the night. We waited impatiently for the guy to call us. When he called and gave his mother address, we felt so relieved. Everything was turning back to normal. So much joy. We took the bus to Termini station right in the centre of Rome. There we drank a beer just to celebrate our little, but significant success.
We had to take the subway to Ottaviano station right near the Vatican. Last time we took the subway in Rome a friend of ours got lost. Vlad and his friend from high school used to be best friends, but it has been a while since he last seen his friend’s mother. Only a few minutes past and the woman and her husband arrived and greeted us. She was really happy to see us, especially Vlad. They were already sharing a lot of things since they didn’t see each other for a long time, so I started talking Italian with her husband, who was a bit surprised that I can talk his language. I smiled and told him nowadays every Romanian that comes to Italy to work knows Italian. Sadly. Her husband, Eugenio, was a skinny 50 year old guy with long grey hair. I started to tell him how I learned Italian, where we were going and so on. He was listening carefully while taking small smokes from his cigarette. We told them that we will leave our bags at their place and then come back at 4 AM, hopefully not wasted, and then go to the bus station so we can catch our transfer to the airport. Even though at first we tried to refuse, we ended up taking dinner with them at their home. Eugenio showed us the rooftop of the apartment building from where you could see the Vatican complex and mostly all Rome. When he was young, he also traveled a lot, spent a lot of time in India and even made it to Senegal. He said he was used to be approached by Senegalese guys talking in Italian, but then I didn’t pay attention to what he was saying. This would prove to be a really valuable fact later on.
He was nice enough to show us the surrounding areas near the apartment building. He gave us some tips where to find bars, clubs and even night clubs. Before leaving us, he promised he will get up in the morning to take us to the bus station. When you know this is your last night in Europe for the next 2 weeks, what do you do? So we found ourselves moving from supermarket to supermarket, from bar to bar, buying anything that contained alcohol. It was Tuesday night, but there were people everywhere. We crossed the Tiber river and again went from place to place until it was time to go back since it was already past 3 AM. But people were still partying. In a plaza in the center, there were so many empty bottles that you could fill a bar with it. On our way home, we passed near a bar where the last customer was a girl with her head on the table enjoying sleep already. We went back and Eugenio was already waiting for us. He took us to the bus station, wished us safe trip and in a blink of a second we were again in the airport smoking one final cigarette before flying to Barcelona.
Termini Station in Rome
18th of September – Barcelona, Spain
It must have been past 9 o’clock when we landed at Barcelona El Prat Airport. Even though we didn’t have any sleep that night we were still fresh and looking forward to exploring Barcelona before leaving to Gambia in the evening. The airport seemed almost like a city. It was so big and really confusing. We had to wait for our friend, Mihai, who was working in Barcelona for a couple of years to pick us up. When we finally met in the airport, he was really happy to see us. He already made a plan where to go and what to see. We jumped in his car and in about half an hour we were already storming the streets of Barcelona. The weather was perfect for a walk in the city, so the first thing was to change our autumn clothes to more light ones. This is what we did in a underground parking lot. We were ready to have a glimpse of the city in the remaining hours before our flight. Mihai, took us first to a walk around Port Vell which is a remarkable stretch near the Mediterranean sea. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day, you could see people jogging, swimming, laying on the beach. Time stopped in Barcelona. We went to see the Aquarium, which was filled with so many fish tanks that you could stay there for hours. Before departing from Romania, we borrowed a D-SLR camera from a friend and we assured him we will take good care of it. Well, before entering the Aquarium, Vlad dropped the hand bag where we have stored the camera. At first, it looked like we broke the lens, so the camera would have been useless. We didn’t even reach Africa and we already thought we broke the camera. Damn! But I soon discovered that the lens was untouched, only the regular filter was broken. And the cool thing was that our friend from Romania gave a spare one for high humidity conditions. So much god damn luck!
Port Vell in Barcelona
Then, after passing through La Barceloneta, we decided to take a walk on the busy La Rambla. This was filled with tourists. Souvenir shops everywhere. Street artists were earning more that I could ever imagine, Mihai told me. Maybe I should get out of Telecom business and start performing on the streets then! Everything was great about Barcelona. To be even greater we went to see the house of Gaudi. The queue was unimaginable long, so we just admired it from the streets. Pretty impressive work of art. After passing through a park, our feet started to hurt, since we had been walking for almost 24 hours and we had no real rest. So my only souvenir from Barcelona would turn out to be one pair of socks bought from a fashion store! It was the best souvenir ever; after changing our socks we were brand new. Mihai lead us to the parking lot, we got in the car and the next destination was Montjuïc Hill. When we reach it, the view was fabulous. From outside the National Palace you could see everything. A lot changed in Barcelona since 1982 when it hosted the Summer Olympics. The Olympic park is a also one major attraction in Barcelona. Even though is 20 years old, it still impresses with it’s unique architecture. Many thing were there to see, but it was really time to go to catch our flight. We said goodbye to Mihai and promised him maybe next year we will be coming back to make a road trip in all Spain.
One hour before midnight and we were already in The Gambia. Through the window we could only see the city lights. An immigration card was given to us to fill it before entering the immigration area. We left the plane and we were in Gambia. Finally, setting foot in Africa; after almost a day an a half of adventure we were here. The airport was nice and small. Everywhere there were advertisements with the smiling coast of Africa. We heard that The Gambia, even though is a tiny country in Africa it attracted tourists all over the year, especially in the dry season. We landed almost at the end of the rainy season, so we were happy not to see so many tourists. Immigration was really quick, we had the visa on our passports, since we sent it a few months ago in Belgium to obtain it, so the guy there at the office just looked at us and put a stamp on it. We were officially in The Gambia.
Arriving in Banjul Internationl Airport
First thing first, we had to buy a local sim so we can call Malick, our host there. Surprisingly the sim card was free or at least this is what we thought since the guy didn’t ask anything for it. I picked up the phone and called the number I wrote down in my notebook. Malick answered. I could tell by his voice. This was not the first time I was talking to him on the phone. He called me when I was in Romania, after a few days he accepted our request on Couchsurfing. I was so impressed that a guy 7000 km away from me, was calling me. Now, when he picked up, he had the same warmth in his voice. He told me that right now he’s picking up a taxi and he’s coming to the airport. We had about 20-30 minutes to kill, so we went outside the airport to smoke a cigarette. Immediately we were surrounded by guys eager to make conversation. After we told them that we came all the way from Romania, a guy whose name was Alex, took his phone and searched to see where Romania really is. He was so surprised when he saw the distance. He told us that everything is good here in Gambia, no one will bother us, no one will try to rob us. But another guy next to me was almost harassing me telling me that he works at the airport, and today he didn’t make any money, so he asked me if I can spare something so he can eat. I kept on telling him that when my friend comes we will give him something. Still no sign of Malick. A guy laughed when we told him about punctuality. He said here in Gambia, when you say 4 o’clock, it means actually 5 o’clock. “This is Gambian time”, he said. We took a photo with our new friends from the airport and just after a while a taxi showed up in front of us. A guy with a cap was sitting in the front. I couldn’t really recognize Malick since it was really dark, but he started calling my name, so then I was sure he was our guy. We shook hands, he welcomed us to Gambia and helped us with the bags. We jumped in the car, and the guy who was harassing me earlier stood at the window and he was waiting for something. I reached my pocket and without even looking I took a banknote and gave him. He looked at it and it was 5 dalasi (10 eurocents). He started to say that it’s not enough, he can’t do anything with it, but before I could say anything the taxi left the parking lot.
It was a half hour drive from the airport to Malick’s place. He was living in a district called Sukuta. Really nice and quiet neighbourhood. We arrived at his place and it was a complete darkness around the area. It was a house that was shared with other families, but he had two rooms there. In the living room he lighted a candle so we can see each other. He was a bit tired since all day he worked hard at an upcoming event. The bedroom was nothing more that a bed and a wardrobe, but it was perfect for us. I couldn’t really ask for more. I had a quick shower in the back yard. Malick told me to pour water in a big bucket and to use a mug so I can wash myself. For many coming to Africa this would be a huge impact since the conditions are not of high standards. But for me and Vlad it was perfect. We didn’t fell any discomfort. We actually felt like at our grandparents at the countryside. After we changed, Malick took us out in the area, to have a couple of beers. Electricity was scarce on the streets, everyone was lighting their way home with a phone or a flash-light. At every corner there were teenagers listening to reggae music. Malick stopped a car on the street, we got in and the driver took us to a local bar. It was interesting to see people sharing their car with strangers for a small price. We had a beer and some cigarettes, but it was becoming late so we went back to his place. We gave Malick an illustrated book about Romania, as a small gift for hosting us. We said we will be coming back after finishing our trip for another 2 days in Gambia. Malick said there is no problem, we can stay at his place as long as we like. He talked with a taxi driver and he was supposed to pick us up early in the morning to get us to the airport. Malick went to sleep at his brother’s place just a few streets from there. He wished us good night and he left. We were all alone in his home, in Sukuta, The Gambia, West Africa almost 7000 km distance from home.
Travelling is part of life 