A stranger is simply a friend you haven't meet before

Hotel Tropicana 

A great travel blog I read called "once upon a saga" by a Danish blogger Torbjørn currently on a Misson to visit every country in the world without ever stepping foot on an aircraft. 


"A stranger is simply a friend you haven't meet before"

A quote I see in his blog many times but never truly appreciated how true it is until recently.

So my time in Gabon was almost up (post to follow early next week)

I just felt this needed it's own section.

I was due to fly from Libreville to Kigali, Rwanda on the 2nd July ready to explore Rwanda for a bit before heading in to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) later in the month.

Libreville definitely isn't a cheap place to stay or visit even the most basic of hotel or guest house rooms will set you back 20000-25000 CFA a night (roughly £25-32 a night) and although that doesn't seem a lot by European standards it is by African and long term travel standards.

I had some local currency left that I had drawn out on my return to Libreville after completing the expedition but it wasn't going to be enough to cover food and accommodation for the remaining days I had in the city.

So I headed down to the local supermarket and a cashpoint I had used before and felt safe to use again to take out some more funds. It didn't work it kept rejecting my card. Okay so I headed in search of another cash machine again same problem as was the case for the numerous other machines I tried that day.

It's worth noting that very few places in Libreville accept card transactions and are cash only so I really needed to find some cash.

I headed back to my guest house to try and work out a plan. I counted up what local currency I did have available to me and worked out that I could probably get by on 5000CFA a day for food and drink e.t.c if I continued to use the amazing Street food vendors I had grown to love of the past week.

That left me with enough money to pay for accommodation up until the night of the 30th. Meaning that I would have to check out on the 1St and have nowhere to stay that night before my flight on the morning of the 2nd.

I finally decided that it would be fine I could just head to the airport early and sleep there. As I've probably said before it wouldn't be the first time I've slept in an airport and definitely won't be the last. I have already had nights in La Paz & Lima airports this year alone.

I arrived at the airport just after 14:00 on the 1St July and used the last of my cash to buy some lunch and a large bottle of water for the night and following morning. After finishing of the remaining 100 or so pages of the book I had with me I had a quick scout around the airport looking for a suitable place to bed down for the night.

I selected a nice little alcove that had the added benefit of a pillar close by allowing me to tuck my bag in against the wall and pillar and then position myself up against it blocking any possible access to my bag. I got comfortable and settled down for the night.

It was about 22:00 when I was awoken by a guy tapping me on the shoulder, still half asleep I opened my eyes to find a guy standing over me. Trying to wake myself up as quickly as possible fully expecting to have to try and have a conversation with my very poor French skills. I was extremely surprised when he started talking to me in English. I had been in Gabon for a whole month now and people always automatically started conversations in French I would then always need to ask (in French) if they could speak English or attempt to get by on my limited French skills.

Perhaps sleeping on an airport floor is simply something a French person would not consider doing so he therefore made the assumption I was English or American. He enquired which flight I was on again probably assuming I was one of the few remaing flights that evening or the 2 leaving in the very early hours of the morning and worried I would sleep through and miss my flight. When I told him which flight I was on and explained the situation and that I was sleeping here until morning he suggested that he would try and secure me a empty office or room in which I could sleep. I insisted that I was fine and happy where I was so he went back to work but said he would come check on me when his shift ended.

Getting back to sleep it was just after midnight when I was woken again by the same guy only this time two other men were now with him, one in jeans and a shirt and his airline ID badge hanging around his neck and another man with black trousers and shirt (Who turned out to be the chief of police for the airport). They explained that they had all talked it through and where not comfortable leaving me there for the night. So they had called a friend who owned a hotel very close to the airport and he would very kindly provide me with a room for the night.

So they helped me load my bags in to a car and drove me the short 5 min journey over to Hotel Tropicana. Checking me in to my room they said I must be hungry having not eaten since lunch so again insisted we all get back in the car where they drove me to a local restaurant and got me some food before taking me back to the hotel for the night.

One of them even came and picked me up in the morning and drove me back to the airport and made sure I checked in for the flight okay.

“A stranger is simply a friend you've never met before”.

I now know and appreciate just how true this is