"Cabana Boy's Lagos Page" Lagos by Cabana_Boy

My first trip to Nigeria started off rough, really rough….I had been in Douala, Cameroon for nearly two weeks and made the mistake of going out drinking with some Scots the night before my flight to Lagos. Now, over the years I have had lots of experience flying with hangovers and I have promised myself repeatedly that I would not drink heavily the night before a flight. But alas, I still have not learned this valuable lesson. And to add insult to injury, my most detrimental mistake this night was that I went out drinking with Scots, known the world over to be the heaviest of drinkers.

Anyway, we started off the evening innocently enough, dinner at the German Seamen’s Mission and a few ice-cold pints of “33”, but it’s so difficult to stop at 3 or 4 pints…I was feeling pretty good and thought, “hell, this is my last night in Douala and who knows when I will get back here, so, lets have another round.” And so, the night carried on….and on.

We moved from the Seamen’s Mission to The Club for some music and a few more rounds. At nearly midnight, I made the brilliant decision to switch from beer to liquor and Gin-n-Tonic became the drink of choice. At some point, we all felt we should get a little “closer” to “home” probably because “stumbling distance” always sounds like a good idea when you’ve had one too many.

Luckily for us, the houses we were staying at are located right next to The Broadway and they always have live music. So, it was declared that we would have the proverbial “nightcap” at The Broadway But after the 3rd round had been ordered at the Broadway, the concept of the “nightcap” was thrown out and we were in full-on binge mode. The Gin was strong and the tonic had a crisp edge to it that produced a feeling of invincibility to malaria-laden mosquitoes and the welcoming glances of the local nightfighters buzzing around the bar at The Broadway.

The night worn on and I was wearing out, it was getting more and more difficult to avoid the wanting stares of the nightfighters and I had long forgot about the mosquitoes. And like the defenders of the Alamo, we had to mount our last stand (i.e., the proverbial “nightcap”) against the night and approaching morning’s first light. So to this the Scots invited me back to their house for the “nightcap”, a whiskey, and that I could not refuse!!!

As I stumbled back to the house I was staying at, my thoughts turned to my early morning flight to Nigeria. It was well past 3am and I was being picked up at 6am to go to the airport. I had to pack my bags and I should probably take a shower, but most of all I needed sleep, just one hour I told myself. Four hours later I awoke to a loud knocking sound outside my window. I leaped out of bed, still quite intoxication, and that’s when it really hit me….I broken the promise again…

Head spinning a little bit faster now, I came to my inebriated senses and realized I only had about ten minutes to pack and shower…naturally this took more like twenty minutes after losing my balance a few times. I was not looking forward to being in a confined space with a lot of people, especially given the types of odors that typically emanate from Africa.