Visiting or Moving to Togo: Flights

Accra's Kokota International Airport on a hazy day.

A few things ground rules:
Finding a direct flight from Lomé that lands anywhere near your destination may be difficult.
On average, international flights in Lomé appear to be $500-600 USD more expensive than ones in Accra.

And as Accra is only 3ish hours away from Lomé by car, many expats living in Togo simply drive to Accra and enjoy a cornucopia of international flights. There's also shopping malls, movie theatres with current films and traffic laws that are obeyed! (A year-long multiple entry visa for Ghana costs $150 USD or so.)

Flights in Lomé and Accra are usually paid in cash if you are booking directly through the airline at their office. In fact, certain airlines may not allow you to book online if your IP address shows it is coming from West Africa. (Consider using a device to hide your IP address.)

We found great priced tickets with a certain Turkish airline, but were unable to book them online as our flight was departing from Africa. The website gave us an error message with a number to their call centre. We called, and while we were able to reserve the tickets, we were told that we had to make the payment at their office in Accra.

'OK, we're going to Ghana over the Christmas break, no problem. Where is their office?'

'It's in the Accra Airport.'

'And how can we pay?'

'We are proud to accept Visa, Mastercard and debit cards.'

'Are you sure, in our experience most places don't. We just want to make sure...'

'Absolutely, we proudly accept Visa, Mastercard and debit cards as means of payment.'

Well. We get to Accra (scroll down if you missed the tale of how we got into Ghana), drive to the airport and lo and behold, the airline office is no where to be found. They have a check-in gate, with a small sign stating that their office is adjacent to a hotel, somewhere else. Having never been to Accra and being map-less, this was not boding well.

We managed to find their office without much hassle.

'Your reservations are here,' the smiling lady behind the counter pronounces. 'That will be ¢2,576 per ticket.'

I hand her my Mastercard.

'Oh, I'm sorry, we don't accept Mastercard.'

I hand her my Visa card, which we planned only to use in emergencies.

'Oh, I'm sorry, we don't accept Visa. Cash -- Ghana Cedis -- only.'

'Excuse me, but just a few days ago, we called the Airline office and were clearly told several times that you accepted these as payment options. They didn't even mention cash.'

'There's a bank down the street, maybe you can get some Cedis there.'

In the sweltering heat, we trudged to the Barclays Bank. A smiling teller confidently pronounces that they are able to assist us, and taking out several thousand Cedis is not a problem. Then quietly, almost in passing the teller throws in that while possible, the transaction must take place at the main branch -- downtown. A vital tidbit of information, as it's late Friday afternoon and traffic in Accra is atrocious at best on any given day.

Rather than fight a losing battle, we continue with our vacation and return to the main branch of the bank early one morning the next week.

A surly middle-aged teller commands us to her wicket. I hand her the Mastercard and tell her how much we need withdrawn.

'Oh, we impose a limit of ¢1,500 per day. We can't give you that much money.'

'But, the teller at the other branch... uh,..' We were slightly flabbergasted.

I hand her the emergency Visa card as well. I figure that at least we would be able to purchase one ticket between the two cards. That's better than none, right?

She commands us to sit. The bank is air-conditioned and clean, so we don't mind the wait.

A few minutes later, we are beckoned.

'This one is blocked, and this one is giving an error message,' she says, thrusting the cards into our hands. 'You must call your bank.'

I reach for my phone, and start dialling the 1-800 number. This will be pretty expensive, I think to myself.

The phone starts ringing. A security guard grabs my arm.

'You can't use your phone in the bank.'

'But, the teller just told me to use my phone.'

'Out.' He's dragging us to the door.

'Isn't there an office, a quiet room we can use? It's loud out there, and I'd rather not be sharing my personal details with everyone on the street.'

He shakes his head.

We decide to stand next to two hired police officers guarding the ATM outside. At least we're sort of safe if our personal details are not.

I call the bank, and inquire about the Visa card. All of Accra decides to get louder. Cars start honking. A battered diesel dump truck decides to stop and rev his engine next to my ear. I can't hear the representative and she can't hear me. Finally I manage to answer some security questions, shouting out my birth date and digits of my SIN number to anyone who cares to listen. Oh, this card (which we've never used as it is an emergency card) had some problems while being activated.

'Great, let's activate it,' I say.

'Just a few more security questions. What is your mother's maiden name?'

This card is used by both of us, and we both had to fill out cardholder information. I ask her if she knows which one of us the question refers to. No idea, so I shout out my guess. She reads it back to me. Totally wrong. I shout it out again phonetically. This time we get the same letters.

'I'm sorry, that's the wrong answer, I can't help you any further.' Click.

I call Mastercard, and while waiting on hold, I start to wonder how much credit is left on my phone.

'Mastercard, how may I help you,' says the lady.

'You have one minute remaining,' says the phone.

I hang up. We buy some more credit, and try again.

'Is there a reason that the card has been frozen? '

'The reason the transaction was blocked, and your card frozen is because there was an attempted transaction from the Barclay's Bank in Ghana.'

'We notified you that we would be travelling in West Africa, is that note not on the file?'

'Oh yes, but this transaction took place in Ghana, not West Africa.'

My phone interrupts again.

We look at each other and decide that today is not our day. These plane tickets are not meant to be and so we leave Accra, spend the night at a beautiful mountain resort and head back to Togo.

Visiting or Moving to Togo: Money

So here's our thoughts on a few money related questions about traveling in West Africa, specifically Togo.



Visa or MasterCard - can you use them here?

A resounding 'NO.' In Togo, they are absolutely useless in daily life. I can count on one hand the number of businesses in Lomé that accept credit cards. I think a few banks state they accept Visa. Regardless, cash is the way to go.

As far as we can tell, Benin appears to be similar to Togo.

While Ghana seems to have a few more options available for tourists, the easiest method of payment is still cash. Places that say they do accept cards may not -- nonfunctioning machine, incompetent clerk (I almost paid $720 for a $72 tab) and perhaps they just lied to get you through the door. Banking institutions in Ghana are able to get cash off the card, but most impose a daily limit of ¢1,500 or so. If the machine is functioning and the transaction appears on the verge of being successful, odds are your credit card company will block/hold the transaction even if you've told them you're travelling in West Africa.

How much should I bring and in what currency?
It really depends on how long you're staying, what your accommodation is like and what you're buying.

A bed to sleep on at a very nice hotel may cost $200 or more (now this hotel may only have a three star rating but you will get hot water, air conditioning, clean sheets, wireless and good food in a marble crusted environment.) In smaller cities, I've stayed at perfectly comfortable local establishments (albeit not as posh and with a squeaky fan and no air conditioning -- probably 1/2 a star) for $5 a night.

In Togo, it is hard to find a proper Currency Exchange, but at the borders, you can change Euros, US, Cedis and CFA with ease with guys walking around with wads of bills. Do make sure you know what the going rate is before going and use a calculator to double check any calculations.

In Ghana, proper establishments exist and banks can change currencies as well.

Be aware that some people will not accept worn or damaged currency, as they believe it is 'broken' and worthless. Also, banks will often not accept US bills older than 2003.

What other money services are there?

Moneygram and Western Union are everywhere, and if you end up stranded without cash, these provide an easy way to get back on the road.

School days, School days...

I haven't updated about school for quite some time now. I figure with the big milestone coming up I should probably give an update about how things are going. SInce I am at day 87 of teaching* (see note below) I can say things are going pretty well. I am really busy but that is not always a bad thing.

Term one was chaotic. After arriving I had 5 days to tidy up the music room, make my year outline, rough sketch what I thought would be teaching the first two weeks and call a music teacher meeting with all the private music teachers working with the school. The first eight weeks flew by and are sort of a blur now. I know I learned a lot during that time. I revised some of my ideas on what it meant to be a music teacher to middle school students, I had to organize all the forms, time tables and teachers for after school music lessons, I began assembling a list and prioritizing what was needed in the music room to expand the instrument playing opportunities students had.



November brought on a whole new set of challenges as I tried to handle an impossible teaching load and organize a small part of international weekend and plan two large Christmas productions for the month of December. Extra rehearsals, new after school clubs, tension from the lower secondary students about the change in the way they would do music to prepare for the events, ordering equipment and improvising when it did not arrive. November and December had many many late nights. I didn't get home before 6:30 pm ever. Except once on a Tuesday afternoon when I went home sick (Lost my voice and had a bad headache) and the entire day I missed on the day that the primary Christmas Production was happening in the evening (I was out with Togo Belly). Both performances went well but I learned A LOT! From the necessity of dress rehearsals to the art of compromise to the importance of a good sound system. I crashed during December break exhausted.

Term two started in January. My teaching load had been reduced in order to facilitate growth in the music department. I now had time to do admin tasks like working with the local private music teachers, dealing with paperwork and organizing the music room so it looked much better and made more musical sense. I went home at 5:30pm most days in January. Forcing myself to leave even if I had not finished everything I set out to do. Every once in awhile there are still days where I have to stay late like this past week (until 7:30 Monday-Wednesday) but things are getting done.

The program still has a long way to go. As a teacher there are still things I need to learn, but overall it isn't bad. I enjoy the teaching part of the job. Sometimes if I walk through the playground I hear songs or rhymes that students learned in my class. During lunch and after school students are now coming into the music room to practice piano, recorder or xylophones. Some of them eagerly showing me what they have learned to play since last week. Right now recorder club is so popular I have to turn kids away because I don't have the time to add another recorder club. But kids are playing their recorders and taking their recorders with them everywhere. A few weeks ago I had a student (who is not taking private music lessons) create his own piece on the xylophone because we had been exploring improvisation using pentatonic scale pieces. Seeing how proud he was of his creation when he performed that song at one of the primary school assemblies made me proud as well.

But there are days when it is tough. Sometimes the lower secondary students push boundaries to the limit, refuse to participate or vandalize music department property. It is after those classes that I am reminded that this job has its downs as well as its ups. But I carry on knowing that 90% of the time being a music teacher rocks.


*How do I know the exact day? In the younger primary grades some teachers make a big deal of reaching day 100 of school because the significance of Day 100 can be tied in to the math curriculum through numbers or the concept of time learning outcomes. There are also quite a few children's books linked to the 100 days of school concept.