USA 2021 | FindPenguins

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Traveler USA 2021
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- Dec 18, 2021, 1:46pm
- ⛅ 33 °C
- Altitude: 29 m
- Nigeria Rivers State Ikwerre Imogwu Port Harcourt International Airport 5.00833, 6.955°0’30” N 6°57’0” E
Day 1
Off to PH Airport
December 18, 2021 in Nigeria ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Left home at about 11am with two Bolt taxis. Took Rumuokrushi, Express, Eliozu route to the airport. Road was free as we had avoided all the congested route. Mama was with us as she was continuing her annual vacation in Lagos with Affiong & Kokomma after spending a month with me in Port Harcourt. The airline officials stressed us, they refused to accept the frozen fish Mama carried in a sealed plastic container instead asking for it to be transported in a cooler. Fortunately we were able to reach out to Innocent who was going back with one of the Bolt taxi to the house as he accompanied the vehicle with most of our luggage to the airport. He was able to buy a cooler along the road and return back to the airport yet still the airline officials refused said they asked for a cooler bag and not a cooler box 🙄. Fortunately we had asked Innocent and the taxi to wait, so we gave him the fish to take back home and keep in the freezer.Read more
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Traveler USA 2021
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- Dec 18, 2021, 2:51pm
- ⛅ 34 °C
- Altitude: 38 m
- Nigeria Lagos Ikeja Ewu Murtala Mohammed International Airport 6.58333, 3.331676°34’60” N 3°19’54” E
Day 1
Landed in Lagos
December 18, 2021 in Nigeria ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C
Ibom Air took off on time, they are well known for keeping to their departure time. We arrived Lagos an hour later got a Sienna from the airport to our hotel. Check in was smooth although the 1st room I was given had a damp smell so I changed to another.Read more
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- Dec 19, 2021, 8:53am
- ☀️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 40 m
- Nigeria Lagos Ikeja Maryland 6.57833, 3.366°34’42” N 3°21’36” E
Day 2
Covid Test
December 19, 2021 in Nigeria ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
I had to wake up early this Morning to go for the Covid test. USA recently changed their covid test validity requirement to 24hrs before the flight. Got to Medbury Covid Test Centre at Issac John Street, Ikeja GRA at 8:11am. The centre caters for drive through clients as well. There were 4 cars in the queue as well as 5 persons seated and waiting for their test. Forms were distributed, I paid cash N50,400 per person.

It was my first test, the lady taking the sample pushed the probe deep into my nostril which was unpleasant. By 8:55 we were through with sample collection and left the centre for a quick dash to Ikeja mall to buy a power bank and breakfast before returning to the hotelRead more
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- Dec 19, 2021, 11:07pm
- 🌙 26 °C
- Altitude: 27 m
- Nigeria Lagos Ikeja Ewu Murtala Mohammed International Airport 6.57957, 3.322256°34’46” N 3°19’20” E
Day 2
At Murtala Muhammed International Airpor
December 19, 2021 in Nigeria ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
The predeparture COVID result was sent between 2pm and 4pm. Out of the 3 of us travelling together one person tested positive for COVID-19, this threw the whole travelling group into confusion, even though she showed no signs of the infection. We had to decide on whether to postpone our flights to allow for covid recovery or two of us continue while the 3rd person joins us after her recovery. We went for the latter option.

Check in at the airport was smooth and we were done within an hourRead more
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Traveler USA 2021
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- Dec 19, 2021, 11:34pm
- 🌙 26 °C
- Altitude: 27 m
- Nigeria Lagos Ikeja Ewu Murtala Mohammed International Airport 6.57941, 3.322256°34’46” N 3°19’20” E
Day 2
On board
December 19, 2021 in Nigeria ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
What a stressful evening. Having to leave one person behind was a sad moment which marred the trip.
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- Dec 20, 2021, 6:48am
- 🌙 -4 °C
- Altitude: 84 m
- United States Virginia Loudoun County Willard (historical)Washington Dulles International Airport 38.95227, -77.4513838°57’8” N 77°27’5” W
Day 3
Washington Dulles Airport
December 20, 2021 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 -4 °C
Arrived Washington shortly at 6:16am. Flight was very bumpy and turbulent over Mali and Mauritania probably due to the warm Sahara currents and over the Atlantic close of the Eastern coast of America.

Flight from Lagos to Washington took 12hrs, I couldn't sleep much and only watched 2 movies, most of the time I was glued on the flight map and thinking how slow the plane was travelling at 800+km/hrs compared to Startrek enterprise starship warp 5 😁

The immigration queue at Dulles Airport was longer for citizens than for visitors. By the time we were through with boarder control our suitcases were already out on the carrousel. An improvement I noticed is that you no longer need to fill a landing card anymore. The border control /immigration officer asks all the relevant questions (currency travelled with, food etc) and keys in the responses directly into the computer eliminating the need for a pre-filled card

Connecting flight to Philadelphia was postponed by 2hrs which wasn't too bad as the apartment refused to grant us early checkinRead more
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- Dec 21, 2021, 11:44am
- ⛅ 3 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- United States Pennsylvania Philadelphia County Olde Kensington Hancock Playground 39.97333, -75.13539°58’24” N 75°8’6” W
Day 4
1st Morning in Philadelphia
December 21, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C
Eventually arrived Philadelphia around 4:30pm. Got a Bolt XL from the airport to our rented apartment. Apartment is lovely just like the pictures we viewed online. It is located in a busy part of Philly.

Enobong forgot her back pack in the taxi that brought us down from the airport. I contacted him and he confirmed the bag and wanted us to pay $50 to get it back, bloody pirate trying to shaft us. I negotiated $20. Had to withdraw $40 from an ATM at Walmart to pay him. Unfortunately he didn't have a $10 change to give me so I ended up giving him $20.

Got Enobong's laptop at BestBuy, theshop assistant sold us the wrong laptop and instead of computing and refunding the difference for the correct laptop he refunded the entire money which will now takes weeks to get back into my Card account, I was so mad at him cause I had explained how to handle it, but he was in a hurry to complete the transaction and didn't listen to me. Now I am not sure of getting the money back before returning to Nigeria

Bought a T-Mobile phone line along with a few miscellaneous itemsRead more
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- Dec 22, 2021, 10:04am
- ☀️ 4 °C
- Altitude: 7 m
- United States Pennsylvania City of Philadelphia Richmond 39.99918, -75.0918339°59’57” N 75°5’31” W
Day 5
COVID-19 Vaccination & Booster
December 22, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
Quite an eventful day. Went to Walmart Pharmacy for Enobong's COVID-19 vaccination which we had booked the previous day. I asked if I could take a booster shot and they agreed eventhough I hadn't booked. They requested for my insurance and I told them I am visiting and don't reside in America, they asked for proof of my previous 2 doses of the vaccine fortunately I had my Nigeria COVID-19 vaccination card with me, which they checked to confirm I could take a booster.

Strange thing I noticed was that after whipping the injection site clean with methylated spirit they applied a plaster to the site and inject through it. Never seen that done before.

After waiting the mandatory post injection 15mins we got a Lyft to Philadelphia airport to try and change Uddy's ticket. The nice lady at the counter said they don't ammend tickets at the check in counter and this can only be done by calling reservation. So I called United Airlines reservation line after several attempts an agent attended to me and after spending an hour on the line with several holds she was able to return the funds to the original ticket and instructed I contact the original booking agent to rebook the ticket.Read more
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- Dec 23, 2021, 10:26am
- ☀️ 1 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- United States Pennsylvania Philadelphia County Fishtown Eighth and Master Streets Yard Airport (historical)39.97333, -75.1333339°58’24” N 75°7’60” W
Day 6
Stay at home
December 23, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 1 °C
My friend and former colleague visited, bringing the things I had ordered on Amazon and sent to his house. He later took us to an African restaurant where we were able to order some good quantity of Egusi soup, Jollof Rice and Stew.

Apart from this outing the rest of the day was spent in the apartment.Read more
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- Dec 24, 2021, 11:50am
- ☀️ 8 °C
- Altitude: 99 m
- United States Maryland Cecil County Belvedere Mason Dixon Original Settling Pond 39.60167, -76.0433339°36’6” N 76°2’36” W
Day 7
Off to Washington D.C
December 24, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C
Had a tensed morning waiting for Uddy's PCR test result, thank God it came out Negative this time around. It had been a tough and expensive 4 days trying to rebook Uddy's ticket so she can join us in America as planned eventually everything turned out well.

Had challenges picking up my rental car as the companies don't accept debit cards for out of town visitors. Now I have a reason to collect the credit card my bank has been chasing me to come for. The nice lady at the Enterprise car rental told us that the only place we can rent a car with a debit card is at the airport so I asked her to book one for us there and we took a LYFT down to Philadelphia International Airport. Got an electronic Tollpass for the car simplifying toll crossings. Was given a Nissan Maxima with inbuilt GPS and off we went to Washington D.CRead more
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