A travel guide for African women traveling alone, and those who want to travel with ease
Tips for the African woman traveling alone to new destinations; What to do before you travel, shoes, luggage, finding men in the plane and more
Every time I get to travel solo for work or leisure I am aware that as an African woman millennial these experiences aren't the norm for most of my peers on the continent. I know this because the flights I take usually have 3 men for every woman.
While I have been traveling since 1994, (thanks to a mother who was a career diplomat in Sierra Leone’s Foreign Service) I know for many traveling is still new and or hard to figure out.
So what I'm going to do is to answer all the questions, and provide a guide to help African women traveling solo, travel with ease.
What should I do before I travel?
Go to Google and check the weather forecast for your destination city for the dates that you will be there. High temperatures mean you can bring your summer clothes, and low temperatures mean you will need to go to “junks” and pick up some second-hand sweaters, scarves, and maybe a winter coat.
If you don’t already have the Uber app because you’re from Sierra Leone please check to see if your destination city has Uber available. If they do download it and set it up. Even if they don’t have “Uber”, you can search on Google to see what taxi or car-hailing tech company they have in place of Uber. This way if you arrive and no one comes to pick you, you have a way to get to your final destination. Also, it will help you get around without needing to be reliant on anyone.
If you will have time to do sightseeing visit Trip Advisor and Pinterest to search for guides that say “What to do in X insert city X number of days you’ll have to explore” E.g “What to do in Nairobi in 72 Hours”. Look for museums, art shows, wildlife and ecotourism experiences for a more meaningful alternative to shopping (if you’re looking to make memories for yourself). Be a tourist.
Contact your bank if you have a Visa or MasterCard that is issued locally and tell them that you intend to travel. If you don’t do this before you travel you might get to your destination and your card not work. Also, tell the bank to increase your daily spending limit to allow you to withdraw from the ATM in a foreign currency that might be much heavier than the leone.
Write down the name of the place where you will stay or save it on a phone as a screengrab so that you will have it when you arrive for your landing card or to answer to immigration queries.
Make sure you get a yellow fever card.
Also, take a pen.
What to wear on your feet?
These High Top Fila’s cost me $40 and I take them everywhere I go!
I'm starting with the feet because this is one area that could make or break your travel experience. For women from West Africa, our default footwear is the ”afback” white people call them sandals. Now while the afback is my favorite thing to wear when I'm home it's the one thing I never wear to travel.
Some women wear high heels to travel. When I see them I smile because I know they are more woman than me. If you're traveling for the first time and you do not know the size of the destination airport or the amount of time you will spend at the airport in line at immigration wearing heels will make you regret your whole life.
The best that I've found to travel with are high top sneakers, hush puppies or ankle boots that have a zipper on the side. Lace your sneakers loose enough for you to take them on or off without needing to undo the laces. High Top sneakers with a velcro strap are the best!
If you're worried about the men not noticing you because you're not in heels I just want to say that any man you meet on a plane or airport only wants to smash, they don't care what is on your feet. They'll smash regardless if you wore comfy or come pump me shoes.
What kind of bag makes the best carry on?
I've tried cute small pull on suitcases, cross body shoulder bags, large carryall beach bags, and a backpack and from Russia to Kenya, the latter is the best.
This was two suitcases, a backpack, and a hand bag and a coat traveling from New York to Ghana. Now I only do the backpack because I cant bring all of America with me.
Again I know in West Africa backpacks are for school children and might seem juvenile to you but trust me when I say you want your hands to be free. In addition to your backpack, you might want to get a document holder to hang over your neck or a fanny pack around your waist. This combination means you don't have to keep going into your main carry on and you can store your essentials; lipstick, boarding pass, hand sanitizer, pen, landing card, money, in a smaller accessible bag.
If you think you will over pack your carry on and one man will carry it for you good luck because these men today dem day look face. They too want to relax and expect independent plane traveling women to handle their own baggage. Maybe you will be lucky but come prepared to not have help.
How heavy should my luggage be?
Airlines have a standard weight limit per bag and that ranges from 23-25 kilos (50-60lbs). If you are traveling please leave room for the items you will buy when you get there. Do not overpack your bag. Make sure you check your allowance (on your ticket) before you pack and weigh your bag before you leave home.
It is the tendency for African women on the West coast to believe that they can beg anyone to allow them to do anything. This includes believing that they can beg their way past paying for excess.
I have seen women young and old try to use sweet talk and manipulation to get oversized bags past check-in counters and then get pissed when it doesn’t happen. As if the check-in staff are wicked people because they won't break their company policy.
Whether it’s checked luggage or carry on please follow whatever the airline has asked. Some African aunties hide their second piece of hand luggage and then when they board and can’t find overhead space to place their carryon they want to question the whole plane.
“Space day yanda?”
”E don full?”
If it works for expats..
Good luck with that sis.
Will I find a man on the plane?
Sis, Please download Tinder and live your life. I hear this is what the expats in Sierra Leone use to hook up so no need to hunt on the plane
Should I be afraid the plane will crash?
Here is a fun fact for you: whether you’re afraid your plane will crash or not it doesn’t matter. Fear will not keep your plane from crashing but fear will stop you from relaxing and sleeping on your flight. Fear will give you hypertension.
Some African aunties and uncles say prayers when they enter the plane and every time there is turbulence.
“I cover this plane in the blood of Jesus! Holy Ghost take control!”
Feel free to consultant any higher being during the flight.
Also, turbulence is not a sign that the plane will crash, there is now evidence that a plane has ever crashed because of it.
Turbulence is caused by changes in the wind that rock the plane. Whenever I'm on a plane going through turbulence I tell myself, ah this is just like the potholes in Freetown specifically Murray Town Road. And just like in small cars, if you're in a small plane you will feel the turbulence (wind) more so hang in there.
Just for your information crashing planes crash either at takeoff or landing so if the plane is going to crash you will know at the beginning or the end. By then it's too late anyway so like I said just try to sleep.
Should I stare at the foreign immigration officer in the face or look away as they hold the key to my travel life?
My sister breathe! You can't come and kill yourself. Immigration officers even the ones that are in the UK or US are not God. They are humans just like you, doing their job. You don’t need to be stressed or intimidated by them. Their job is to make sure that only those people who are lawfully allowed to enter their country get in.
If you have all the paperwork in order, visa, invitation, hotel or destination sorted then all you need to say to them is hello and answer any follow-up questions. They are just ordinary civil servants like the immigration officers in your own country. I beg don’t stress.
What about the food should I eat it or not?
It really depends. Some airlines like Turkish serve delicious food in economy class. Others like Kenya Airways only do so for business class. If you're not picky or particular about what goes inside of you then eat whatever.
Alternatively, as part of your pre-departure formalities, you can do what I try to do on long legs: I travel with my own food.
I will take carrots, apple slices, boiled eggs, benni cake, and most recently I traveled with boiled yam with cayenne pepper and benni.
Try not to pack food with too much fiber (cassava leaves for example) because you’ll have to make multiple trips to the loo.
What do I do if I need to get up to go fart and I’m not sitting by the aisle?
It is your inalienable right to get up as many times as you like on a plane. Do not feel bad or intimidated to ask the people sitting next to you. If they are asleep first speak and ask them to move with an ”Excuse Me”. Often times people look like they are sleeping but aren't and can hear you.
If you do that and they don't move, try again. This time put your hand on their shoulder gently and repeat the same words; ”Excuse Me”.
If they don't move then you have the right to jump over them. Do the one leg over ass to face hop.
Go to the loo and fart in peace.
Imagine if everyone farted on the plane freely like that and you're just there breathing in communal gas?
Sis, go and fart in the loo.
When they say boarding should I run to get in line?
You're not crazy if every time you're traveling within or to Africa you feel pressure to run and join a queue. Yes, flights to African cities have been known to overbook beyond capacity but this is not the norm. Yes, I know other people are running to queue and worse still not even form a straight queue. Sis, don't come and kill yourself. No one is giving money to those who enter the plane first. You will have a seat. Most of the people you see trying to hurry into the plane are those who have overpacked their hand luggage and are stressing about finding space in the overhead cabin. Be calm and proceed to the queue in an orderly manner.
And when the plane stops upon arrival don't be one of those people who stands up before the airplane comes to a complete stop. If you do the cabin crew will call you out ”kindly remain seated until the aircraft comes to a complete stop” and other passengers will roll their eyes while thinking see this bush gyal.
Remain seated.
Why do people clap when the plane lands and should I clap too?
Sis, I have been traveling for 25 years and to this day I can not tell you why people clap. I do find it amusing though. Can you imagine riding on a poda-poda and every time it stopped people clapped?
”Murray Town Junction. Wan-Wan-Wan!”
*Applause*
