Jan 082014
 

Quick ride from the Hilton in their shuttle bus, and I was at Malabo ready to check in.  The only problem was, the check-in area was total chaos.  Dozens of Chinese everywhere, each with several bags, busy saran wrapping them, tying them up with twine, you name it.  The room was chaos.  Since I couldn’t see a line, I just pushed my way to the front of the mass of humanity, and eventually found a check-in desk.  Yes, it was for Ethiopian, and yes, I could check in.  No checked bags, so should be a piece of cake.  I had tried online checkin, but it said it didn’t work, however, the seat I’d selected took.  Bulkhead aisle…not bad for a 30 minute flight.

Couldn’t figure out where to go next….tried one door, there was a woman at what looked like a passport check…nope, this is domestic flights…she waved her hands and pointed in another direction.  After wandering around looking lost for several more minutes, I finally found the right passageway, leading to international passport control and security.  Piece of cake, and soon I was in a large waiting room.  Time to have a seat.

There was a hallway marked “VIP lounge” but there was a security guy guarding it.  He wouldn’t let me past.  So, when he disappeared a few minutes later I just went down the hall, and followed some stairs upstairs….and did a little plane spotting:

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Found the door to the VIP lounge, and it was unlocked…so I went in.  Nobody was in there.  Hmmm…there was a flight board though!

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