🇬🇦 12/2024 Gabon Travel

Day 88, 26.12.2024. — Does Gabon even know it’s in Africa? 🤭

The plan to stay in the airport is looking pretty thin. 😅 We grab our bags and head outside… and bam — straight out into the outside world, right past customs. No arrivals hall. That is the arrivals hall. 😯 Okay, Gabon is a safe country, and it’s rich. Of course, not everyone in these rich countries is wealthy, but it’s relatively ok to sleep anywhere. ✅

Still, sleeping is impossible. Even though there are benches, there are so many tiny biting bugs that we have to cover ourselves with scarves. But then it’s so hot, we just can’t bear it. 🦟

There’s no departures hall either. When we walk into the airport, customs is immediately in front of us. But after midnight, there are no customs officers — just open doors. 🤔 Desperate, we find some benches there. Ten of them, right in front of the customs booths where passports are usually checked. It’s a tiny room, just for the two of us, the only suspicious “white” people there. 🤫

Naturally, a guard shows up. He speaks French, and we pretend like everything is totally fine. Eventually, he squeezes out some English: “How can I help you?” We say, “Nothing. We’re just waiting.” 💁 Waiting for what? Why are we waiting in a place where we’re clearly not supposed to? Nobody needs to know. 😅 Then the customs officers come…