Hello nairalanders, here I will posting details of my trip to Calabar and Akwa Ibom.

Following...

I'm following oh.

abrahambest:
Hello nairalanders, here I will posting details of my trip to Calabar

when?

Remember to post photos abeg. Have a safe and pleasurable trip.

So the trip was carefully planned with my girlfriend. We both were on leave. Considering the travel distance by road from Lagos, we decided to travel by air.

We booked a flight using Air Peace booking platform and the take off time was scheduled for 1100 hours, 26th September 2020. The flight later got rescheduled for 1320 hours and again 1310 hours. Thanks to Air Peace team for informing us by both SMS and email notification so we could plan accordingly.

Prior to our travel, we had already done some searches for tourist attractions in Calabar. We had to be sure that the centres were functional due to the Covid 19 restrictions. The options we had to explore were;

1. TINAPA CENTER
2. MARINA RESORTS

Fast forward to 26th September, we booked a ride from the house to the Airport. We arrived there at about 1200hours so we could do all the necessary security checks and covid 19 checks as well.

By 1259 hours, we were already seated waiting for the flight boarding to commence. At the designated time, the flight was delayed by 40mins due to bad weather, but after about 20 mins, boarding started. We had booked seats 8B and 8C so that we seat next to each other.

By 1340hours, we were already seated. The air hostess welcomed us on board. They were very friendly and also communicated very effectively. After we had fastened our seat belts as we were instructed, the flight was ready for take off. The weather was a bit cloudy as at this time in Lagos. At exactly 1350hours, the flight took off.

It was our very first travel together since we were dating and it was awesome that it would be by air.
We both held our hands as the flight took off, watching the roof tops become smaller, the roads become thinner and then we could barely see anything as the plane ascended into the air

Photo 1

Photo 2

We arrived Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar at exactly 1450hours. The flight experience was awesome, the pilot announced about 15mins prior to the landing that we were close and would land soon. The weather was cloudy and it was drizzling as we got off the flight and went into the luggage area of the airport to receive ours.

At the exit from the airport, there were several taxi services waiting for passengers. We negotiated with one of the reps who would take us to the hotel not very far from the airport. Initially, they insisted on us paying 3,000 for the fare but due to the Lagos hustling experience, we were able to negotiate it further down to 2,000 naira. The driver was very friendly and drove us down to the hotel.

We had quite a funny experience during the trip. The hotel did not have a well placed sign post and the driver was not sure. There was another hotel just next to the hotel we wanted to lodge. We had to make u turns about 3 times not knowing that we were already around the hotel area. It was all fun though, we brought out our luggage from the car, paid the driver and went on to Book a nice room to lodge.

The hotel rates were quite affordable and they had pretty nice rooms. We opted for one of them and took our things in, rested for a while and then proceeded to look at the menu list because we started to feel hungry

The meals were quite affordable as well, we opted for Afang Soup(because I wanted my girlfriend to have a taste of it.) with Eba and Isi Ewu as it is commonly known. I had eaten it(Afang) severally while in Lagos but my gf was not sure. After about 30 mins, the meal was served. We had our moments eating but noticed the pepper was a bit on the high side. We did not really mind and finished eating the meal. It was deliciously served

Later in the Evening, we decided to move around. We visited the Cultural Centre which also housed the Spar Mall( will upload pictures later). We picked a few items at the mall. It was all fun and amazing experience

Menu list

nice one op..... but please shey you can post more pictures..

OP, nice one!
Well constructed pieces...
It's just day 1 and I'm jealous already

Calabar Cultural Center, Mary Slessor Street.

Photo 2

Calabar Mall

More

More....

More...

Adding this...

Just outside...

More...

And finally, we are set for our journey to Akwa Ibom. Will post updates as they come...

From the hotel, we took a bus to AKTC. The park is very close to the hotel.
We paid for a bus to Uyo, charged at 2,100 as at this time. The bus was full within minutes and we took off..

Point to note: the road from Calabar to Uyo is in a very terrible state. We didn't even get up to 3mins of smooth ride as we swung from bad pot holes to another.

We hope that the government can do something about this asap. However as we journeyed ahead, we stopped just about the entrance of getting into the main town due to low fuel.

The driver had to park by the road side to get fuel so we could continue the journey

More.

More..

More.......

Everyone else got down before us as we were the only people left in the vehicle with the driver.

He stopped at the AKTC park in Uyo where we alighted and boarded a taxi to Eket

More