I Flew

Charles Ochei
Nov 1 · 3 min read
My Boarding Pass

I flew to #StartupSouth. It’s a tech conference that happens annually in a city in Nigeria’s South-South and South-East region. I’m in Uyo, Akwa Ibom for the conference’s fifth edition as a panellist for a session about ‘Brand Visibility for Market Harnessing”

I came in with a flight. As easy as that might sound, the decision to fly wasn’t a straight forward one for me. From my mum’s bar in Lagos to the regular indigenes of Uyo on the streets(also in Lagos) that I speak to, our conversations about how you are likely to pass a night on the road if you should travel by bus to Akwa Ibom State scares me a lot.

I feel it’s a waste of time to spend two days on the road to travel to anywhere around Nigeria. For such, I tell myself I’d never go anywhere near there. But here i am sitting at an exhibition booth sharing a table with Kay and Lanre, my friends from TechCabal.

I applied to appear on a panel session at #StartupSouth out of the fact that i was learning how to apply for opportunities and not necessarily that i wanted to be at the conference. (I hope Uche Aniche doesn’t read this) Fortunately or unfortunately, i was called.

Now i have to go. Here’s the plan, I travel to Owerri with a bus, rest for the night then set out for Uyo. It’s isn’t the best of plans but i aren’t got any other choice.

Somewhere else, in the company where i intern, we were making plans to host a workshop about what we do in Uyo and Calabar. Within this process, i discovered Akwa Ibom has an airline. IbomAir.

Out of curiosity, i went through IbomAir’s Website and so and behold, Lagos LOS=QUO Uyo N15,000 on the 28th on October at 6 PM. Without hesitation and the fact that my salary came in a day before, i booked.

Finding my way to the airport was pretty easy. I hailed a bike from where i live to the airport. I walked straight to where i saw a TV screen that had IbomAir boldly advertised on It. My ticket was confirmed but i had to provide a valid ID card which i never i knew i was supposed to be with or have before travelling.

Say i wasn’t with my card, I’d have to make a return home to pick it up. Airports or airlines need to make the requirements to travel locally publicly available or maybe i didn’t research well enough to know them.

My voter’s card never leaves my bag, i was lucky. All went well and people were kind enough to answer all my burning questions.

All checks, search and confirmation completed, I’m finally seated in a flight. The first time since i set my leg or head(depending on how i came out from the V)inside a plane that’s above to fly.

Ladies and gentlemen, I flew.

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