Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau isn’t a country that attracts many tourists, even by West African standards. I arrived in the early hours of the morning, hoping the rumors I’d read online were true that I could obtain a visa on arrival. Thankfully, they were. Before the trip, I’d connected through Instagram with another traveler, Vijay, who was also working towards visiting every country in the world. Along with his fiancée and two other travelers, we spent the day exploring outside the capital of Bissau, visiting old Portuguese colonial sites and bumping our way along rough dirt roads.

While nothing I saw in Guinea-Bissau was particularly memorable, the journey out certainly was. Just as my flight was about to take off, the pilot announced that the aircraft had developed a mechanical problem and that they needed to send another plane. We were taken back to the terminal, where hours passed with almost no information. One by one, every flight at the airport was canceled. Realizing there was no replacement aircraft coming anytime soon, I decided to abandon the airport altogether. Instead, I went to the bus station and found a driver willing to take me overland into The Gambia.

After leaving the airport, we drove for seven hours along some of the roughest dirt roads I’d ever traveled, crossing through neighboring Senegal before finally reaching the Gambian border late that night. I thought the hardest part of the journey was behind me, but I was wrong. The immigration officials noticed I’d arrived in a white minivan with Guinea-Bissau license plates and told me those vehicles were often associated with drug trafficking. They subjected me to one of the most thorough searches I’d ever experienced. Every zippered compartment of my duffel bag and nearly every piece of clothing was inspected before I was finally allowed to continue. By the time I reached my hotel, I was completely exhausted, but it was yet another reminder that in this part of the world, the journey is often far more memorable than the destination.