Coming home from Europe via Kuwait, UAE & Ethiopia

[Mattg]

So, onto the Addis Ababa leg of this journey...

It didn’t take long at all to clear immigration in Addis Ababa and I headed downstairs to the baggage claim area.

I didn’t have any local currency (Ethiopian birr) with me. There was a long row of ATMs in the baggage claim hall, each from different banks, so I thought I’d withdraw some cash. Well, that was easier said than done! I had to try 5 or 6 before finding one that was actually working and able to dispense cash.

I just got a small amount of birr to cover the trip to my hostel and the first day or so. I needed cash for most purchases, but withdrawing from an ATM using an overseas card works out to be relatively poor value because you then get the “official” exchange rate. This exchange rate appears to be artificially inflated, as you can get almost double the value by exchanging USD on the street or with a trusted local. So, my advice would be to bring some USD with you.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect when arriving in Addis, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the airport arrivals hall was calm and quiet. Unlike at Melbourne Airport, nobody tried to offer me a taxi. Instead, I walked over to a taxi desk where they organised a cab for me at a fixed price of ETB600 (around $7 at the unofficial exchange rate, or $12 at the official rate).

The taxi was a beaten-up old car with masking tape barely keeping the rear vision mirrors attached. There was definitely no air conditioning, but luckily I was visiting in Ethiopia’s version of winter.

As an alternative to taxis, many Ethiopians use the Ride app to get around. It’s the local version of Uber and seemed to work well, if you had data available on your phone.

Being my first time in the country, I was glued to the window for the whole trip from the airport. The roads were a bit chaotic, but the thing I most remember was people herding goats along the side of the main road into town.



I deliberately chose to stay in a backpacker hostel in Addis Ababa because I was travelling solo for this part of the trip and wanted to meet other travellers. I booked a dorm room at Mad Vervet hostel, which cost around $10/night and did the job, although the accommodation was quite basic. The bed wasn’t comfortable at all and running water was intermittent. The hostel kitchen was also in need of a deep clean. But, I would stay there again for the social atmosphere and am grateful to have met some very interesting people during my stay there.

On my first afternoon I met a German lady at the hostel who had been in Ethiopia and some of the neighbouring countries for a long time. We went for lunch together at a rather nice restaurant serving traditional Ethiopian food. This would be my first of many meals of injera with shiro and other unknown accompaniments. Injera is the Ethiopian bread, and shiro was like a hot creamy soup made of chickpeas and spices (for lack of a better description). It was delicious, and came with some delicious Ethiopian coffee served in the traditional way.



Over the following days, I really quite enjoyed stopping off at street stalls serving traditional coffee and just watching this fascinating world, so different to anything I’m used to, take place around me. The coffee was good too, and generally cost around 10-15 birr (less than 50 cents).

 

[Mattg]

On our way back to the hostel, we noticed that there was a rather flash-looking hotel a couple of blocks from where we were staying. From the ground level, it looked like there might have been a rooftop bar. So, we headed into the hotel reception and asked them. Indeed, they did have a rooftop bar, and in fact, it had just opened for business that day! (The hotel itself was brand new.)

We took the lift up to the ninth floor and the view was incredible. We had a great view over the city.




We were also there just in time to see the sunset too. That was really quite special.





It was pretty quiet up there, except for some staff and a few photographers conducting a photo shoot of the bar to use in the hotel’s marketing flyers and website. One of the photographers asked if they could take some photos of us, and I jokingly said that our price was one cold beer each. They happily obliged, as did we.

They later sent me one of the pictures:



They had Heineken on tap and some local beers and wines. This was one of the local ones on the left (the bottle on the right is just Coca Cola).



I also tried some Ethiopian wine, and was quite impressed.



We invited some more people from the hostel to join us at the bar and stayed for quite a few hours. The folks from the hostel had some really interesting (and in some cases, concerning) stories about their time so far in Ethiopia.

We also got chatting with some of the hotel staff who had some fascinating life stories. One of them, we learned, had grown up in an orphanage run by a German charity. He was then sent to fight in a war in the north of the country, and after being captured was jailed as a political prisoner for around a decade. As an aside, I also met people in Addis who had been child soldiers – if that doesn’t put our first-world problems into perspective, then what does?

The staff looked after us extremely well, bringing us blankets and setting up heaters when it got cold, taking music requests, etc. We had such a great time that we returned the following evening – and that time, with a whole lot more people from the hostel. In fact, I ended up going back every evening that I was in Addis Ababa and I still keep in touch with a couple of the staff (as well as several of the other hostel guests).

 

[Mattg]

There are a few tourist attractions around Addis Ababa. Many are churches, such as this one:



One of the most famous attractions is the National Museum of Ethiopia, home to the world’s oldest human skeleton, dubbed “Lucy”. I thought about checking it out, but then discovered that the bones on display were just a replica – and the reviews of the museum as a whole really weren’t glowing.

In any case, my main reason for visiting Addis Ababa was not to go to museums. I really just wanted to get a sense of what it was like there and to talk to locals. Although I’ll admit the first couple of days were a bit tough, I did indeed get to do both of those things and I felt that this visit was a humbling and enriching experience.

As I alluded to before, some of the people I met at the hostel had had some bad experiences during their time in Ethiopia. A few days before I arrived, one of the guys was violently attacked, beaten up and robbed while walking alone down a street near the hostel late at night. He passed out in a gutter and lost his passport in that ordeal, but was surprisingly chill about the whole ordeal. I later realised it was because he'd thought he was going to die and was happy to still be alive.

Others had been pickpocketed or had had people attempting to pickpocket them.

Learning about all of this on my first day in the country was not exactly comforting. Thankfully, I soon learned that walking around the city during the daytime was safe and when going out at night, it was reasonably safe if you went in a group. I also made sure to protect my valuables.

Word got around quickly about that incident, and it became a normal thing that if someone from the hostel needed to go out at night (e.g. to buy water), at least one person would accompany them. This system seemed to work well and I never personally felt like I was in danger, although I never felt completely relaxed when outside of the hostel or the rooftop bar (which both had security at the entrance).

I didn’t take many photos around the city because I was conscious that people may be watching me and I didn’t want to reveal that I had an iPhone with me. But, I did take a few in places that weren’t too crowded.

 

[CaptJCool]

Indeed, they did have a rooftop bar, and in fact, it had just opened for business that day! (The hotel itself was brand new.)

That’s the spontaneity of travelling

Finding yourself on Opening Day at a New Bar!
And being able to share the experience over the course of the time you stayed there with new found friends
And yes
Going to places in the back of beyond is humbling - I like this project for how it shows the reality of life in many parts of the world

Dollar Street - photos as data to kill country stereotypes

Imagine the world as a street. Everyone lives on Dollar Street. The poorest to the left and the richest on the right. Every else live somewhere in between. Where would you live? Visit Dollar Street and see homes from hundreds of homes from all over the World.

www.gapminder.org

 

[Mattg]

In general, the streets of Addis Ababa seemed quite clean. There’s also a modern light rail system. Unfortunately, both times that I tried to use it, there were no trains running. The first time, the power apparently wasn't running. I don't recall what the issue was the following day, but this is apparently quite common. Due to the frequent issues, locals don't rely on the light rail - which kind of defeats the purpose of public transport.



While walking around the city, I did see a few beggars here and there. Some people approached me asking for money. (I generally don’t give to people on the streets in these cases, especially if it’s crowded, because you never know if someone’s watching to see where your wallet is and how much money you have.

I saw quite a few children (like, around 4 or 5 years old) working as minibus conductors. I was also approached on the street by a group of very small children (maybe around 3-4 years old?) carrying scales. They wanted me to weigh me for a small fee.

People were generally very friendly. Some would say hello and have a bit of a chat with you in English. But one thing that I really noticed was how many people seemed to be just sort of standing around on the streets. Perhaps there was a good reason for this – I’m not qualified to say – but they didn’t seem to be doing a whole lot.

Officially, the unemployment rate doesn't seem to be crazily high. But as an economist I can't help wondering if there's more to the story.

On my second day in Addis, one of the hostel guests wanted to buy a new phone after his previous one was stolen. We set out in a group of four and tried to find one for sale, which was harder than it sounds.

There weren’t really any Western-style shopping malls – at least, not in the part of the city where we were. Instead, there were mostly just small family-run shops or stalls on the side of the road.

At some shops, they would say they had the phone we wanted but that we would need to come back tomorrow to pick it up. Then, when we went back the next day, they didn't have it.

Many of the phones for sale appeared to be stolen, as they didn't come in a box or have any sort of packaging, etc. At one point, someone approached us on the street and asked if we wanted to buy an iPhone. He wanted around USD300 for it, which is well below the market price. Someone asked him if the phone was stolen and he freely admitted it. “Yes, of course”.

At first, I was annoyed by this. But the more time I spent getting to know a few locals, the more I understood why this was the case.

I became friendly with the guy who was helping people at the hostel to exchange their money at the (better) unofficial exchange rate. After we were chatting for a while, he told me that he had a university degree in hydraulics and had completed half of a six-year medical degree, but had to drop out because he couldn't afford the tuition fees. He also said he'd grown up in an orphanage because his parents both died when he was a baby.

This guy explained to me that the salary in Ethiopia for a "good" job (e.g. in the public service or a professional job for someone with a university degree) was around 4,000 birr (very roughly AUD120) per month. That wasn't nearly enough to cover college fees, let alone to travel or get ahead in life. Which is why many people are entrepreneurs, and unfortunately, a small number of people resort to stealing phones from tourists - which they can sell for the equivalent of ~9 months of salary in a full-time job.

While I of course don't think people should steal, I tried to put myself in their shoes. If there are such limited opportunities to get ahead in life, I could see how someone might be tempted to do something like that.

This person told me he wanted to get out of Ethiopia and was looking at options to get to either Europe or to a neighbouring country where the economic opportunities were better. But what he really wanted to do was to finish his medical degree in Ethiopia.

I asked if there were scholarships available. He said there were some, but they were very competitive as there weren't enough to go around, and that there were many fake scholarship scams.

I left Ethiopia wondering if I should try to help this person to finish his medical degree. During my time with him, I asked lots of questions about the medical college to try to get an idea of what would be needed. If he could finish the degree, I thought, he would have much better economic prospects - but also, more importantly, be able to spend the rest of his working life helping people. Ethiopia desperately needs more doctors.

After spending some time in the country, to be totally honest, I also felt very guilty about my privilege in life. I have a good life and can afford to travel the world. If I was born in Ethiopia, I honestly don't think that would be an option for me. That's not to say I wouldn't have a happy life - that's a totally different thing to financial freedom - but I did feel bad.

Ultimately though, I really wasn't sure of a few things. Firstly, by the time I was seriously considering this I was about to leave Ethiopia and couldn't verify that what he was telling me was true. I suspect it was true, but when I asked a few friends and relatives for advice, they basically all told me they thought I was being scammed. (For the record, he never ever asked me for money - this was my idea - but I can see why they would think this and I also wasn't 100% sure.)

I also couldn't find a way to administer this in a way that I could be 100% sure the money was going towards tuition fees, and nothing else.

In the end, I didn't offer anything but to be honest, it was still on my mind for weeks after I left Ethiopia. If there was a reputable charity that could facilitate a scholarship from on the ground in Ethiopia, I probably would have helped. But in the end, there were just too many risks and unknowns with my idea, and I couldn't make it work.

This was definitely a humbling and eye-opening experience. Despite the challenges, I hope to go back one day and explore more of Ethiopia and some of the other East African countries. It's a beautiful and welcoming place, and a much more enriching experience than sitting by a swimming pool in Bali - as nice as that is!

 

[Mattg]

From Addis Ababa, I flew to Singapore via Delhi on a KrisFlyer award ticket.

I had a pleasant redeye flight over to Delhi on Ethiopian Airlines. You can read about that here:

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 "Cloud 9" (Business Class) Review

Find out what the Business Class service on Africa's largest airline is like as I review the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 "Cloud 9" product from Addis Ababa to Delhi.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I then had a long transit in Delhi, which... wasn't the best. I posted about it at the time here:

Delhi Airport (DEL) Transit Experinces

This is why I recommend people get Indian visas and spend their transit time landside. I had wanted to but partner didn't. If I had known, I'd have got the visa. When planning the trip, I considered staying a couple of nights. A well travelled friend advised against Delhi. Said his wife felt...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Mattg]

The second leg from Delhi to Singapore was an almost 6-hour flight on an Air India A320. I was in row 3 and had a free seat next to me. As seems to be a common occurrence on Air India, there were crumbs all around my seat when I boarded.

The business seats were just simple recliners in a standard 2-2 layout. The legroom was good. There was no wifi or in-flight entertainment of any kind.

The captain was a woman. Just after she made her welcome announcement before departure, the lead flight attendant made his announcement saying "Your captain on today's flight is [insert obvious female name here], and assisting him is first officer...".

The two flight attendants looking after business class did a pretty good job. They had to deal with a very demanding passenger in 1C, but didn't lose their cool.

Menus were handed out before takeoff.



There were no alcoholic drinks listed on the menu, but they were available if you asked. As a pre-takeoff drink I was also offered a hot cup of Indian tea, which was really nice.

The service flow was a bit weird. After takeoff, the cabin crew handed out drinks with cashew nuts - so far, so good.

They then brought around a tablecloth and metal cutlery and offered a cheese plate. I had to then ask for crackers to go with it.



After I'd eaten the cheese & crackers, the flight attendant asked if I'd finished my meal. I said that I hadn't had the main course yet, and he told me that he thought I might like to have it later and to just let him know when I wanted my meal heated up. In the meantime, I just sat there for several hours with a tablecloth and metal cutlery in front of me.

I'm not complaining, it was just a bit odd! I was pleasantly surprised to be offered "dine on demand" on Air India, but it would have been good if they'd explained that.

Once I did get dinner, it was actually really nice.



Here are a few photos of the view along the way...




We arrived on time in Singapore. Australians can generally now use the e-gates for immigration, but since I'd been in a "yellow fever risk" country in the previous six days (Ethiopia is on the list), I had to go to a desk for manual processing. They just asked to see my yellow fever certificate and I was on my way.

 

[Mattg]

After a few days in Singapore, I flew back to Australia. It was the middle of school holidays and the only thing I could get on points was an economy reward seat on British Airways to Sydney. I've written about that flight here:

British Airways Boeing 777 Economy Review (Singapore-Sydney)

In this review, find out what the World Traveller (Economy Class) service and comfort are like on British Airways flight BA15 from Singapore to Sydney.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Thanks for reading!

 

[VPS]

Thanks for the TR - I do understand how you want to be able to help one person. I donate money to Kiva that gives out microloans and I've had all but a very small amount paid back.

The other one that I'm very interested is About GiveDirectly | GiveDirectly where they give cash to people to make their own decisions on how they spend. Rory Stewart ex British UK politician is the president and has an amazing brain. (I listen to his podcast with Alistair Campbell - ex Tony Blair communications guy)

 

[CaptJCool]

Perhaps we need a new thread about reliable charitable giving as I’m looking out for legitimate places to give too

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the really interesting report!

On the Air India flight… looks like a new style menu, perhaps the influence of SQ/TATA? But same old presentation. Never looks great but is tasty!

 

[kookaburra75]

In general, the streets of Addis Ababa seemed quite clean. There’s also a modern light rail system. Unfortunately, both times that I tried to use it, there were no trains running. The first time, the power apparently wasn't running. I don't recall what the issue was the following day, but this is apparently quite common. Due to the frequent issues, locals don't rely on the light rail - which kind of defeats the purpose of public transport.

View attachment 333290

While walking around the city, I did see a few beggars here and there. Some people approached me asking for money. (I generally don’t give to people on the streets in these cases, especially if it’s crowded, because you never know if someone’s watching to see where your wallet is and how much money you have.

I saw quite a few children (like, around 4 or 5 years old) working as minibus conductors. I was also approached on the street by a group of very small children (maybe around 3-4 years old?) carrying scales. They wanted me to weigh me for a small fee.

People were generally very friendly. Some would say hello and have a bit of a chat with you in English. But one thing that I really noticed was how many people seemed to be just sort of standing around on the streets. Perhaps there was a good reason for this – I’m not qualified to say – but they didn’t seem to be doing a whole lot.

Officially, the unemployment rate doesn't seem to be crazily high. But as an economist I can't help wondering if there's more to the story.

On my second day in Addis, one of the hostel guests wanted to buy a new phone after his previous one was stolen. We set out in a group of four and tried to find one for sale, which was harder than it sounds.

There weren’t really any Western-style shopping malls – at least, not in the part of the city where we were. Instead, there were mostly just small family-run shops or stalls on the side of the road.

At some shops, they would say they had the phone we wanted but that we would need to come back tomorrow to pick it up. Then, when we went back the next day, they didn't have it.

Many of the phones for sale appeared to be stolen, as they didn't come in a box or have any sort of packaging, etc. At one point, someone approached us on the street and asked if we wanted to buy an iPhone. He wanted around USD300 for it, which is well below the market price. Someone asked him if the phone was stolen and he freely admitted it. “Yes, of course”.

At first, I was annoyed by this. But the more time I spent getting to know a few locals, the more I understood why this was the case.

I became friendly with the guy who was helping people at the hostel to exchange their money at the (better) unofficial exchange rate. After we were chatting for a while, he told me that he had a university degree in hydraulics and had completed half of a six-year medical degree, but had to drop out because he couldn't afford the tuition fees. He also said he'd grown up in an orphanage because his parents both died when he was a baby.

This guy explained to me that the salary in Ethiopia for a "good" job (e.g. in the public service or a professional job for someone with a university degree) was around 4,000 birr (very roughly AUD120) per month. That wasn't nearly enough to cover college fees, let alone to travel or get ahead in life. Which is why many people are entrepreneurs, and unfortunately, a small number of people resort to stealing phones from tourists - which they can sell for the equivalent of ~9 months of salary in a full-time job.

While I of course don't think people should steal, I tried to put myself in their shoes. If there are such limited opportunities to get ahead in life, I could see how someone might be tempted to do something like that.

This person told me he wanted to get out of Ethiopia and was looking at options to get to either Europe or to a neighbouring country where the economic opportunities were better. But what he really wanted to do was to finish his medical degree in Ethiopia.

I asked if there were scholarships available. He said there were some, but they were very competitive as there weren't enough to go around, and that there were many fake scholarship scams.

I left Ethiopia wondering if I should try to help this person to finish his medical degree. During my time with him, I asked lots of questions about the medical college to try to get an idea of what would be needed. If he could finish the degree, I thought, he would have much better economic prospects - but also, more importantly, be able to spend the rest of his working life helping people. Ethiopia desperately needs more doctors.

After spending some time in the country, to be totally honest, I also felt very guilty about my privilege in life. I have a good life and can afford to travel the world. If I was born in Ethiopia, I honestly don't think that would be an option for me. That's not to say I wouldn't have a happy life - that's a totally different thing to financial freedom - but I did feel bad.

Ultimately though, I really wasn't sure of a few things. Firstly, by the time I was seriously considering this I was about to leave Ethiopia and couldn't verify that what he was telling me was true. I suspect it was true, but when I asked a few friends and relatives for advice, they basically all told me they thought I was being scammed. (For the record, he never ever asked me for money - this was my idea - but I can see why they would think this and I also wasn't 100% sure.)

I also couldn't find a way to administer this in a way that I could be 100% sure the money was going towards tuition fees, and nothing else.

In the end, I didn't offer anything but to be honest, it was still on my mind for weeks after I left Ethiopia. If there was a reputable charity that could facilitate a scholarship from on the ground in Ethiopia, I probably would have helped. But in the end, there were just too many risks and unknowns with my idea, and I couldn't make it work.

This was definitely a humbling and eye-opening experience. Despite the challenges, I hope to go back one day and explore more of Ethiopia and some of the other East African countries. It's a beautiful and welcoming place, and a much more enriching experience than sitting by a swimming pool in Bali - as nice as that is!

I know what you mean. Having spent some of my 20's working in remote areas of the world as a surveyor, i mixed with many of the people from the NGOs. I learnt a lot about what little people had, and what I took for granted. But I think it's important not to feel guilty, but you should feel uncomfortable, so you don't accept their situation as 'normal'. It's good to think about what you can do and help out even one person in the way you can.

 

[drron]

Sometimes the fact that you just talk to people can set them thinking and maybe start helping themselves.
My story of someone I inadvertently helped was in FIJI. Probably the second time we were at the Sheraton Denarau in 1987 there was a bus boy at their premier restaurant that was totally different to all the others. Quiet, shy but obviously noticing what needed to be done. I began talking to him and it became apparent that he couldn't read and as it turned out neither could he write.
So I sat down with him in the hour he had off between lunch and dinner and with the help of some children's book began the task of teaching him to read. Fortunately the Sheraton had an old storyteller - Uncle Pene who came twice a week to tell local stories to the guests. I got him to continue the reading lessons. I was back about 3 months later and found he was now a waiter and could read the menu.

I continued to seek him out whenever we went back which was 2 to 3 times a year. I saw him become the Maitre'D of their all day restaurant but one day when I came he was no longer there. I asked what had happened to him. Well he had saved all his salary and bought a farm on the Coral Coast and had a contract to supply the Sheraton with vegetables.

A year or so later when checking in I was told that he wanted to see me so the next day he turned up in a bus. He had bought it and was doing tours and he was the guide. We both ended up crying.

 

[RooFlyer]

So, onto the Addis Ababa leg of this journey...

Thanks - good timing; I'm just planning a trip including Addis, and ET business.

They just asked to see my yellow fever certificate

How closely did they scrutinise it? YF vaccination is now "for life", not the 10 years that's marked on my certificate. As its now 3 years after the "good for" date, I'm a bit worried that someone will see that, and not knowing the "for life" now, insist on giving me a quick airport jab.

Did you hear anything about ET's domestic operations? Same standard as international (which appears quite good)?

 

[craven morehead]

On our way back to the hostel, we noticed that there was a rather flash-looking hotel a couple of blocks from where we were staying. From the ground level, it looked like there might have been a rooftop bar. So, we headed into the hotel reception and asked them. Indeed, they did have a rooftop bar, and in fact, it had just opened for business that day! (The hotel itself was brand new.)

We took the lift up to the ninth floor and the view was incredible. We had a great view over the city.

View attachment 333276
View attachment 333278

We were also there just in time to see the sunset too. That was really quite special.

View attachment 333277
View attachment 333275
View attachment 333280

It was pretty quiet up there, except for some staff and a few photographers conducting a photo shoot of the bar to use in the hotel’s marketing flyers and website. One of the photographers asked if they could take some photos of us, and I jokingly said that our price was one cold beer each. They happily obliged, as did we.

They later sent me one of the pictures:

View attachment 333284

They had Heineken on tap and some local beers and wines. This was one of the local ones on the left (the bottle on the right is just Coca Cola).

View attachment 333279

I also tried some Ethiopian wine, and was quite impressed.

View attachment 333281

We invited some more people from the hostel to join us at the bar and stayed for quite a few hours. The folks from the hostel had some really interesting (and in some cases, concerning) stories about their time so far in Ethiopia.

We also got chatting with some of the hotel staff who had some fascinating life stories. One of them, we learned, had grown up in an orphanage run by a German charity. He was then sent to fight in a war in the north of the country, and after being captured was jailed as a political prisoner for around a decade. As an aside, I also met people in Addis who had been child soldiers – if that doesn’t put our first-world problems into perspective, then what does?

The staff looked after us extremely well, bringing us blankets and setting up heaters when it got cold, taking music requests, etc. We had such a great time that we returned the following evening – and that time, with a whole lot more people from the hostel. In fact, I ended up going back every evening that I was in Addis Ababa and I still keep in touch with a couple of the staff (as well as several of the other hostel guests).

That is awesome @Mattg what a fantastic opportunity! Male model and all

 

[Mattg]

I know what you mean. Having spent some of my 20's working in remote areas of the world as a surveyor, i mixed with many of the people from the NGOs. I learnt a lot about what little people had, and what I took for granted. But I think it's important not to feel guilty, but you should feel uncomfortable, so you don't accept their situation as 'normal'. It's good to think about what you can do and help out even one person in the way you can.

One of the guys working at the bar contacted me a few months later to ask if I had a used iPad or tablet for his daughter who was starting school. I would have been quite happy to give him one, and did really try, but in the end I also sadly couldn't make that work without being on the ground.

I could have sent something in the mail, but it's not that simple - he would have needed to pay customs duty, which defeats the purpose of sending a gift, and well, you can't just get Amazon delivered to Ethiopia.

Another traveller who I met at the hostel was still there (doing a 3-month internship in Addis) and I asked her if she could source a tablet and I'd pay her back in full for it. She tried, but for the reasons mentioned in another post above, also couldn't find a suitable one for sale.

If I ever go back, and I would like to, I'll bring some items for him in my luggage.

 

[Mattg]

Thanks - good timing; I'm just planning a trip including Addis, and ET business.



How closely did they scrutinise it? YF vaccination is now "for life", not the 10 years that's marked on my certificate. As its now 3 years after the "good for" date, I'm a bit worried that someone will see that, and not knowing the "for life" now, insist on giving me a quick airport jab.

You should check with a travel doctor (I am obviously not one), but my understanding is that the yellow fever vaccine is only valid for life if you got it after they changed this from a 10-year expiry. I got mine around 9 years ago, and I expect to need to get one more next year (which will then be good for life).

Did you hear anything about ET's domestic operations? Same standard as international (which appears quite good)?

The domestic flights are all on Q400s. Seems to be a fairly basic but reliable service. People I spoke to who'd flown ET domestic had no issues.

 

[RooFlyer]

You should check with a travel doctor (I am obviously not one), but my understanding is that the yellow fever vaccine is only valid for life if you got it after they changed this from a 10-year expiry. I got mine around 9 years ago, and I expect to need to get one more next year (which will then be good for life).

At my last travel doc appointment (also happens to be my GP) I noted that my YF certificate was about to expire and maybe I need a new one. No, now considered for life, so not required. I might take this over the the Medical issues thread.

 

[jase05]

Great TR and very interesting reading.
Like you I found not a lot to do in Kuwait City and it was interesting enough for a day or maybe two but that’s about it. Been a few years but seemed like the least developed tourist market out the ME countries we have been to

 

[Mattg]

One of the guys working at the bar contacted me a few months later to ask if I had a used iPad or tablet for his daughter who was starting school. I would have been quite happy to give him one, and did really try, but in the end I also sadly couldn't make that work without being on the ground.

I could have sent something in the mail, but it's not that simple - he would have needed to pay customs duty, which defeats the purpose of sending a gift, and well, you can't just get Amazon delivered to Ethiopia.

Another traveller who I met at the hostel was still there (doing a 3-month internship in Addis) and I asked her if she could source a tablet and I'd pay her back in full for it. She tried, but for the reasons mentioned in another post above, also couldn't find a suitable one for sale.

If I ever go back, and I would like to, I'll bring some items for him in my luggage.

I have some follow-up on this.

An Australian friend just visited Addis Ababa. I gave him a Samsung tablet to put in his luggage, and he was able to meet and deliver it to the guy from the rooftop bar. He was apparently speechless and very grateful.