I read and heard nothing but horror stories about long layovers in Lagos (Nigeria),  an intermediate stop on our 4 leg, 40 hour flight from Los Angeles to Windhoek, Namibia.  Wonder of wonders, its not so bad!

Transiting through the airport is pretty complicated, involved giving up our passports for hours to a helpful and apparently trustworthy airport employee (she just gave them back to me with our boarding passes). But after an hour in one of the most depressing departure lounges I have ever encountered with no water, toilet, etc. we were offered the opportunity to hang out in a private lounge with beer, snacks, bathrooms, Wi-Fi, comfortable easy chairs, toilets, and TV with CNN, rugby and America’s Got Talent (really?) for $30 each (after some good old fashioned bargaining).

I suspect that there is a bit of a kickback to our minder who took us to the lounge and checked us in with out us having to leave the lounge. But she is friendly and very helpful, so who cares?

Its like a community of international travelers in here. Lots of conversation to help pass the time. And computers connected to the internet for  travelers like me whose computers crashed an hour before leaving for the airport. I’m sure that I’ll be miserable by the time we board, but until then I have rugby to watch and beer to drink. Somehow I’ll manage.