Visa renewal: 3-DAY TRIP to TOGO
Have you ever heard of Togo? In 2019, the country came across my radar. At the time, it was going on my 3rd month of living in Ghana and my visa was due for renewal.
Generally, when you arrive in Ghana and find yourself at the immigration window, the officer will inquire about your projected time in the country. Once your passport is scanned and your picture is taken, your passport is stamped with 30-60-90 days. When your stamped days are up, you must leave the country and re-enter to repeat the process. Thankfully, I met some ex-pats who included me in their group plans to a neighboring country, Togo.
Getting to Togo from Ghana
Connect. Thank God I was able to connect with people who was familiar with the process of traveling to a neighboring country of Ghana. My friend booked the rental car and coordinated the currency exchange. Our trip took about two hours and suddenly, we’re at Togos border. With no prior knowledge of the process, I followed with our group (3 people). Surprisingly, getting through customs and paying for our visa for Togo, we headed out to find a taxi to drive us to our eco-friendly hotel. Our endeavors took some time. Reason, we didn’t speak French. Somehow, we figured it out and began our journey.
Driving through Lome, Togo was an experience. The vibrant colors of there. Loathing fabrics and the lush greenery felt similar to my emotions and feel of Ghana. Although the language was different, this sense of familiarity put me at ease as we searched for our hotel. After 30-minutes, we realized we were lost. We stopped at three different hotels to ask for directions — to no avail. Truthfully, how we arrived to our Airbnb eco-friendly hotel has remained a mystery. FYI, my eyes were open the entire journey.
Eco-Friendly Hotel/Airbnb
Easily the best accommodations I’ve ever experienced. Situated off the Atlantic Ocean, our view was mesmerizing. We were greeted by a complimentary glass of bubbly, open layout (even in the living quarters), a lengthy pool and a beautiful view of the ocean. My weekend vacation couldn’t have been set up any better.
The Experience
We were scheduled to be there for three nights. First night, was like a movie. We got to the Airbnb late due to our situation with us getting lost — we made best use of our time and enjoyed the night sitting in the living room open concept area. Our experience was off to a great start. Day two met us with phenomenal weather. The degrees metric in Togo is Celsius, confusing for me, of course. We can’t understate the benefit of intervenes Wi-Fi connection. Because of this, I was able to spend most of my morning working on a project for work enjoying the ambiance of our Airbnb. While most of the group went out for a stroll, I stayed back and talked with the owner of the property. She was an older woman around the age of 60, from somewhere in Western Europe. She’d come here decades ago and bought land. Now she host travelers looking for a hidden oasis.
As nighttime approached, we were asked by the chef if we were hungry. They asked rather early due to the chef having to get the fish directly from the ocean. When dinner was ready, we were alerted and directed to the poolside gazebo. As our paths lit up below us, we were “geeking” over this, again, movie like experience. The food was so good, I don’t remember what it taste like. When people mention “savoring a meal,” I didn’t have it in me that night to savor anything. What I do remember was smiling and sitting back blessed and beyond grateful to be in this position. We sat, talked and all vacated for our last full day in Togo.
PART 2 TO COME …
