Brian Anderson + Erika Kachama-Nkoy put on dour faces for visa pictures.

Brian and I talked about this trip for months yet our departure date seemed to rush upon us. I dreaded having to show my passport to strangers. The photo was taken almost ten years ago, just minutes after I was naturalized as an American citizen. My hair was so huge that it goes beyond the photo borders!
    To our astonishment, it took only one week to get our visas from the Togo Embassy in Washington, D.C.
    We got our vaccinations 3 weeks before departure. Legally, Togo requires only a yellow fever vaccination but travelers with any sense should get the fully monty: Diptheria Tentanus Toxoid, Hepatitus A (requires a booster in 6 months), Meningococcal Polysac, Poliovirus, and Yellow Fever. Oral medication included Typhoid vaccine and Larium, an anti-malaria drug. We also brought Cipro, in case of severe diarrhea.
    On April 17th, we threw on our packs, kissed the cats, and left the house for O'Hare airport. Our Sabena flight would take about 21 hours, going from Chicago to Brussels to Abidjan to Lomé.
    The flight was great but our buttocks were numb by the time we arrived in Europe. After a 3 hour layover in Brussels, we boarded our next Sabena plane and settled in for the remaining 8 hours.
    Only later did we learn how lucky we were to fly with Sabena. A few weeks earlier, a friend of the Copes had the miserable misfortune to be on Air Afrique and ended up sleeping in the airport overnight — with her four year old daughter! Sabena's longest delay was 30 minutes. That's nothing in Africa time. (Sadly, Sabena ceased to exist after the terrorist attacks in the U.S.A. on September 11, 2001.) •