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This story entails my Sister's experience on preparations, procedures and activities jetting out of Naija to Abroad for her Christmas holiday.
I will be dishing out couple of mouth watering photos to back up this story.

Please note : This is just her holiday experience and not in any way encouraging or teaching people on how to desperately get visa.

To all the ITKs (I too knows) on Nairaland that will always know a better way of doing things, This is just her (sister's) experience, her story, and not to lecture you.
Thread spoilers, abeg stay clear. Let's have fun, happy Christmas....

vt

Early September, 2018, I was on my own Jeje-ly when my sister called and asked if I will like to go on Christmas vacation with her . I was so happy, at least spending Christmas and new year celebration in Oyibo man's land. Sis asked me to make a list of 2 destinations.. Na so my head swear up like pop corn. "So I can decide to add the moon to the destination and we will visit there". .

I made a list of Vancouver, Canada and Belgium as the sweet spots. But sis refused.she preferred African continent for now." Choiii! Wey me Don dey buuga say I wan enter Canada go flex". Wey I Don almost dey use Canada dey make mouth na im sis just shatter my heart.

For this course and trip, I became her official travel agent. She said she wants to spend seven (7) days in S.A and budgeted N500,000 for the trip. The N500,000 is for her visa processing, accommodation in S.A, Return ticket and airport transfer in S.A.

Mid October, I downloaded the South African Visa form from VSF website. I went for tourist visa as required.
Part of the requirements is accommodation & flight reservation I helped her with flight reservation, booked a suitable hotel not too far from the Airport in Johannesburg. Since she had plans on visiting some notable sight attractions and do some shopping, I made sure the hotel I booked was close to the taste of her demands.

On the 30th of October, 2018, after filling the visa application form, I went for submission at the VSF office in Abuja which is not far from my office. At the VSF office they requested that the person traveling, which is my sister should be the one submitting the visa application and other
documents herself. I called Sis and explained things to her. She finally did the submission the next day. She got a text message that her application has been moved to South African embassy from VSF in which the time duration is a minimum of 15 working days. And the wait began.
Two weeks later, since she’s using Ethiopian Airlines (ET) and the airline would stop at their hub, Addis Ababa before heading to Johannesburg. She suggested if it’s possible for her to spend extra days in Addis, Ethiopia before going to Johannesburg. I told her it was possible, but let’s wait till we conclude the S.A process. "Sis wants to still chop life in Ethiopia ����
4th week of November, after more than 15 working days given by S.A Visa office for Visa processing had elapsed, still no call or text message from the embassy on the status of Sis application..

" Nawa oooo, Abi S.A Don start this their wahala!!!!! " We thought to ourselves... And time was running

Guy why the suspense nah?

Let me park here..

Come and finish this your story

We became worried because it was going to one month of submission, and time was running. “At least if they didn’t give, passport should be returned”, my thought.
I was in my office, as I picked up my phone to call the embassy, my boss sent for me. I dropped my phone to answer my boss. When I got back, I saw a missed call from Sis, I left it, hoping to call her back when I was less busy. I also forgot calling the S.A embassy concerning the status of Sis application.
By evening Sis called, telling me she got a call earlier in the day from S.A embassy. She said they asked her series of questions like what she would be going to S.A to do, accommodation details. And she gave the best answer to the best of her knowledge. I guessed that was why she called earlier to inform me.
3 days later, in the night, Sis got a call from S.A embassy visa officer. The V.O wanted to clarify some movement of funds in my sister’s account. Sis gave explanations to the best of her knowledge. After the call, me sef don dey vex. If dem wan give visa, make dem give her. Which one be say dem go dey call person for weekend.
Two days later, which was a Monday after, sis got a text message from VSF to come collect her passport. She was a bit nervous. 2 days later I was in the office when she called to inform me that she was given the S.A visa. I was happy for her. Destination S.A loading……. Next day she said she was still interested in spending couple of days in Addis Ababa before going to Johannesburg. I had to find a way to fit in Ethiopia destination to her itinerary within the N500,000 budget.

Goodone

I applied for Ethiopian tourist E-visa online for her, paid and few hours later they sent me an email that visa was granted. I was sent the E-copy too, which I gave to sis. Ethiopia is Visa on arrival for all AU member citizens. It’s either you apply in your host country for e-visa or you do that at Addis Ababa at their immigration section at the airport. But I chose to do the application here in Nigeria, to be easier and faster for sis when she gets to Addis.
I booked her hotel in Ethiopia, cancelled the S.A hotel reservation due to the inclusion of Ethiopia in her itinerary and change of dates. I rebooked the S.A hotel with new dates.
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According to the booking, she would arrive Ethiopia on 25/12/2018, spend 2 days in Addis then leave for Joborg where she will spend few days. On returning, she would spend a day in Addis before finally returning to Nigeria.
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Few days later, sis changed some Naira notes to USD in preparations for her trip. She planned on spending 1000 USD. She also informed her bank on possible transaction using her ATM card over there.
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One of Sis former colleague who’s now based in US reached out to a family friend in S.A to see if they can keep Sis a bit warm for a fun stay in Joborg. But unfortunately the family was already in Lagos to celebrate the Christmas. But they promised to make available couple of people to come take her on tour of Joborg city.
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Following

Hmmm looks like i came a bit too early

SA... Here we come!

Hi. Hope she enjoys her stay here.

I'm afraid Joburg's rather a ghost town at this time of the year - running at like 20% capacity. Strange vibe & boring. Everyone goes to the coast during the festive season, especially Cape Town & Durban. Plus, we currently experiencing a proper heatwave throughout the country. So i would advise she goes to the coast to cool off at some point during her holiday. And for real fun.

Getting accommodation in any city centre around now might also be tough but I'm sure Airbnb will come in handy. Looking forward to reading your posts!

CAUTION: Durban gets JAM-PACKED at this time of the year but security is extra tight. (see pics)

Police minister takes walkabout along Durban beaches.
https://www.enca.com/news/police-minister-takes-walkabout-along-durban-beaches

A week to her departure, I needed to get in touch with the hotel I booked for her in Ethiopia to provide a cab to come pick her at the Airport. I would have done that while booking her hotel, but unfortunately sis was indicisive on some issues so I left that pending. So after issues was sorted out, I decided to call them for the provision of cab. I didn't know the kind of demon that pushed me to use my mobile number to call them. Barely 45 seconds I called, almost all my airtime gone.. "fiam". I heard, "you have one minute remaining".. Nibo niyen �.. How come?? How manage. Credit wey I just load now now �. I checked my balance and it was 0.02 Naira. And we haven't even had the main conversation yet. Na so I reach out to dem via online connect. I sent them my sis flight number. They said they would send a cab to come pick her at the airport to the hotel.
Her hotel was an exquisite one and 10 minutes drive from the airport.
25th December, 2018, sis flight to Ethiopia was 1:20pm. I came over and we took her to Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport. She has traveled by aeroplane couple of times but still maintains she has slight phobia for heights ��. We encouraged her.
There's this sweetilicious travel culture Nigeria has. "As a Nigerian, You cannot travel somewhere and return empty handed, you must buy something for your people" . I told her to buy me Ethiopian coffee/tea. I admit having sugarcoated mouth, in sustaining the sugar mouth, I asked her to buy me chocolates in S.A �����.
Ethiopia is 2 hours ahead of Nigeria. From Abuja to Addis is 4hrs & 15mins. Lagos to Addis is 5hrs & 20mins.
Few minutes later, we left the airport after getting a Whatsapp message from her that she's been checked in. I went to hang out with friends while I thought about 2019 and how Atiku and Buhari would slug it out at the polls.
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7:50pm same day while I was on the road returning from a friend's place, I got a Whatsapp call from sis....

Kindly follow me on Instagram : @ozorchristian to get more pictures and videos of the adventure.. I follow back too

bamangar:
A week to her departure, I needed to get in touch with the hotel I booked for her in Ethiopia to provide a cab to come pick her at the Airport. I would have done that while booking her hotel, but unfortunately sis was indicisive on some issues so I left that pending. So after issues was sorted out, I decided to call them for the provision of cab. I didn't know the kind of demon that pushed me to use my mobile number to call them. Barely 45 seconds I called, almost all my airtime gone.. "fiam". I heard, "you have one minute remaining".. Nibo niyen �.. How come?? How manage. Credit wey I just load now now �. I checked my balance and it was 0.02 Naira. And we haven't even had the main conversation yet. Na so I reach out to dem via online connect. I sent them my sis flight number. They said they would send a cab to come pick her at the airport to the hotel.
Her hotel was an exquisite one and 10 minutes drive from the airport.
25th December, 2018, sis flight to Ethiopia was 1:20pm. I came over and we took her to Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport. She has traveled by aeroplane couple of times but still maintains she has slight phobia for heights ��. We encouraged her.
There's this sweetilicious travel culture Nigeria has. "As a Nigerian, You cannot travel somewhere and return empty handed, you must buy something for your people" . I told her to buy me Ethiopian coffee/tea. I admit having sugarcoated mouth, in sustaining the sugar mouth, I asked her to buy me chocolates in S.A �����.
Ethiopia is 2 hours ahead of Nigeria. From Abuja to Addis is 4hrs & 15mins. Lagos to Addis is 5hrs & 20mins.
Few minutes later, we left the airport after getting a Whatsapp message from her that she's been checked in. I went to hang out with friends while I thought about 2019 and how Atiku and Buhari would slug it out at the polls.
.
7:50pm same day while I was on the road returning from a friend's place, I got a Whatsapp call from sis....

Kindly follow me on Instagram : @ozorchristian to get more pictures and videos of the adventure.. I follow back too

What I do? Must you include my name?

bamangar:
A week to her departure, I needed to get in touch with the hotel I booked for her in Ethiopia to provide a cab to come pick her at the Airport. I would have done that while booking her hotel, but unfortunately sis was indicisive on some issues so I left that pending. So after issues was sorted out, I decided to call them for the provision of cab. I didn't know the kind of demon that pushed me to use my mobile number to call them. Barely 45 seconds I called, almost all my airtime gone.. "fiam". I heard, "you have one minute remaining".. Nibo niyen �.. How come?? How manage. Credit wey I just load now now �. I checked my balance and it was 0.02 Naira. And we haven't even had the main conversation yet. Na so I reach out to dem via online connect. I sent them my sis flight number. They said they would send a cab to come pick her at the airport to the hotel.
Her hotel was an exquisite one and 10 minutes drive from the airport.
25th December, 2018, sis flight to Ethiopia was 1:20pm. I came over and we took her to Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport. She has traveled by aeroplane couple of times but still maintains she has slight phobia for heights ��. We encouraged her.
There's this sweetilicious travel culture Nigeria has. "As a Nigerian, You cannot travel somewhere and return empty handed, you must buy something for your people" . I told her to buy me Ethiopian coffee/tea. I admit having sugarcoated mouth, in sustaining the sugar mouth, I asked her to buy me chocolates in S.A �����.
Ethiopia is 2 hours ahead of Nigeria. From Abuja to Addis is 4hrs & 15mins. Lagos to Addis is 5hrs & 20mins.
Few minutes later, we left the airport after getting a Whatsapp message from her that she's been checked in. I went to hang out with friends while I thought about 2019 and how Atiku and Buhari would slug it out at the polls.
.
7:50pm same day while I was on the road returning from a friend's place, I got a Whatsapp call from sis....

Kindly follow me on Instagram : @ozorchristian to get more pictures and videos of the adventure.. I follow back too

What I do? Must you include my name?

7:50pm Nigerian time, same day while I was on the road returning from a friend's place, I got a Whatsapp call from sis, telling me she's landed and already in her hotel room in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She sent me couple of photos of her hotel room. She said immediately they landed, immigration stamped her passport, authenticating her visa. Then she changed 200 USD to their Ethiopian currency as she headed to the hotel's restaurant to have dinner. She had Chicken salad for dinner before going to bed.
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Next morning, I asked her about the country and their government. In her words, " Ethiopia is a pretty nice country but experiences bad governance like Nigeria, and transportation is expensive", �. I slightly disagreed with her over some issues she talked about concerning the country. Why? Because she has only been there for roughly like 14 hours. It takes longer time to know a place.
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Huge population of the people are mainly into Jewish religion. So as we dey celebrate Christmas for here, nothing dey happen for there. Ethiopian Christmas day na every January 7th.
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Sis said Ethiopia currency is "Ethiopian Birr" and $1 = 28 Ethiopian Birr official exchange rate. But in black market is $1 to 32 Ethiopian Birr. 1 Ethiopian Birr =12.93 Nigerian Naira.
Sis went to have her breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. Breakfast; cinnamon juice with homely cake, banana bread, fruits, and coffee.
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Photos of Ethiopian currency..

Photos of breakfast served

More photos

bamangar:
More photos

Hello bamangar,

Can you pls tell me the name of the hotel used by your sister,because you said something about the proximity of the hotel to the airport,that made me have an interest in lodging in the hotel.
Because I will be visiting ethiopia very soon.
Thanks.

BEAUTIFUL country.....

Lookandlaugh:


Hello bamangar,

Can you pls tell me the name of the hotel used by your sister,because you said something about the proximity of the hotel to the airport,that made me have an interest in lodging in the hotel.
Because I will be visiting ethiopia very soon.
Thanks.

Caravan Hotel

Follow me on Instagram to see more photos and videos @ozorchristian

Few minutes later I got some photos and videos of sis inside a cab . "Where to?" I asked. She said she's headed to their local market for explore, sightseeing and some shopping.
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Few minutes later sis dropped some videos and photos of her at a local shop. Sis said her cab driver passed by Addis Ababa university and American embassy on her way back from the local store. The driver asked her to stop recording when they got to the American embassy. As usual, no external cameras/recordings in most embassies and high commission. Ethiopian people are very friendly and reserved, unlike we Nigerians that are bit loud. ��.
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Watch the video of her mini tour of Addis


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k30f3T2_Enk

Nice! I'm here for the photos. I wish your sister a beautiful, fun filled vacation.

chukxie:
Nice! I'm here for the photos. I wish your sister a beautiful, fun filled vacation.

Thanks.. Don't worry, you will see more photos..

bamangar:
We became worried because it was going to one month of submission, and time was running. “At least if they didn’t give, passport should be returned”, my thought.
I was in my office, as I picked up my phone to call the embassy, my boss sent for me. I dropped my phone to answer my boss. When I got back, I saw a missed call from Sis, I left it, hoping to call her back when I was less busy. I also forgot calling the S.A embassy concerning the status of Sis application.
By evening Sis called, telling me she got a call earlier in the day from S.A embassy. She said they asked her series of questions like what she would be going to S.A to do, accommodation details. And she gave the best answer to the best of her knowledge. I guessed that was why she called earlier to inform me.
3 days later, in the night, Sis got a call from S.A embassy visa officer. The V.O wanted to clarify some movement of funds in my sister’s account. Sis gave explanations to the best of her knowledge. After the call, me sef don dey vex. If dem wan give visa, make dem give her. Which one be say dem go dey call person for weekend.
Two days later, which was a Monday after, sis got a text message from VSF to come collect her passport. She was a bit nervous. 2 days later I was in the office when she called to inform me that she was given the S.A visa. I was happy for her. Destination S.A loading……. Next day she said she was still interested in spending couple of days in Addis Ababa before going to Johannesburg. I had to find a way to fit in Ethiopia destination to her itinerary within the N500,000 budget.

Sire,can you share the Ethiopian visa application link with us,also how much did it cost?Thanks.

bamangar:


Thanks.. Don't worry, you will see more photos..

You're welcome, bro.

majesticme1:
Sire,can you share the Ethiopian visa application link with us,also how much did it cost?Thanks.

https://www.ethiopiaevisa.com

Cost is $99

Addis Ababa my regular stop over.

Finally sis enjoyed her stay in Addis Ababa. She left Addis for Johannesburg on 27th.
Addis Ababa to Johannesburg is 5h 30m flight. The name of their currency is South African Rand. [1 Rand = N25.36].
Sis landed in O.R Tambo Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa 12 noon. She was picked up to her hotel. She really loved her hotel. Not too far from the Airport, and literally close to the city center ���.

Follow me on IG @ozorchristian

More photos of Joborg..