DEE TOURS || TRAVELING FROM LAGOS, NIGERIA TO LOME,TOGO VIA ROAD 2

 *(Casually continues like this post isn't way overdue)*

Turns out the police station is somewhere behind the billboard on the left which we obviously weren't facing as it wasn't interesting looking..lol

The pictures we took right before we were captured.

*WAHALA NO #3*  So as we snapped on, we got approached by a guy who supposedly was a togolese policeman, he said we were taking pictures of the police station and demanded to see our camera, the Lagos girl in me, slided the other direction and showed him a few of the previous shots along with a few of the present shots and he tried to take  the camera away, after a lot of back and forths and intervention by pedestrians, we thought we had been able to communicate to the policeman that we had only taken pictures of ourselves. He refused profusely and somehow we ended up in the police station.
Togolese people are very hostile towards Nigerians, women and educated people was the summary of the conversation we had with the senior policeman at the station, he said everything from the laws being different here, to us not being able to take pictures in Togo without going to the nearest police station to obtain permission, to just because we are foreigners, it doesn't mean he isn't well travelled as well. Luckily for us after about 30 minutes of him venting, trying to convince us to sit down, listen to him and reply him, we met a compromise and got let go of!
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IT IS APPARENTLY NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE PHOTOS OF YOURSELF OR THE BEACH IN TOGO
Though we snapped away in our beachside hotel.

Hotel Food

*FEEDING* Though we had dinner the night before at the hotel, we were bent to finding alternatives whether cheaper or a better variety of meals offered. On our way back to the Hotel, we met our friends and the nicest people in Togo, it started with one person, then grew to two, we were looking for somewhere to buy good and affordable food and just by the junction of our hotel we met Francis ( I think) at a buka styled restaurant, we looked through the menu and ordered lunch, it was 2000 per plate for chips and fish which was so cheap in comparison to our hotels food, he offered to bring it to the hotel as we were so tired and he did. We paid him when he brought it and ordered breakfast for the next day, he brought us bread rolls, egg, sausages, chocolate spread and tea for 2000cfa again, which is one-third of the hotel charge for breakfast. At this point we had ran out of cash, we tried to use a nearby ATM which he carried me to with his bike but it didn't work. He offered to come later to take me to a diamond bank since my card was diamond.
 We ordered dinner, The other girls ordered couscous and fish and I sticked to chips ( most times soggy as I didn't know how to communicate that I wanted my fries dried, all we knew was frites and poisson.  my *dry dried frites* emphasis didn't make a difference to them.

our two friends in Togo, Francis is the one backing us

*WAHALA NO #4* Then came the issue I don't want to remember, Nigerian cards do not work in Togo! With the cashless society mentality or culture that the CBN tried to imbibe in Nigeria, we thought why not just withdraw the littlest amount we can and use our cards, afterall Togo is a throw stone from home and in Ghana our cards worked. It happened that Nope, Our cards don't work, even when you go to Diamond bank Togo to use Diamond bank, Nigeria's card which is a Visa card on a Visa ATM its not going to work. (I think this is a new development not restricted to Togo alone).
Though we had booked our hotel via Jumia travel, we had opt to pay cash at the hotel and it turned out we actually couldn't pay because we couldn't get cash.
Our hotel had allowed us stay mainly because they thought it was a network problem the first day, we also had settled in, eaten on the hotel, had cocktails on the hotel and even ordered breakfast in the hotel, our restaurant bill was expanding alongside the hotel room bill, and then it was time to go home and we had outstanding at the hotel and with our food guy Francis.
We found some naira and gave Francis to use in covering our bill that morning but somehow what he got was about 1200 cfa less than we owed him so he had come back to tell us, at this time the owner of the hotel had been called and was sitting opposite us, We had gone back and forth trying to explain that our cards weren't working, though he kept on insinuating I didn't have enough funds and I kept telling him I had more than enough  funds on each card (Gtb & Diamond) to cover the bills. Then he said maybe I had spent my limit and I assured him I hadn't used either cards all through the trip and the finally he was open to the way forward.
Thankfully the guy is french, spoke decent enough english and was nice unlike some of the hostile togolese people we had to deal with.
After all this, I offered to book a fresh room in their hotel and pay online immediately, with my card, since they get instant alerts and i could see the amount charged in CFA.  (Bear in mind, this was my very first suggestion from day one and this people didn't cave until they realised that was the only option, except maybe following us to the Seme/Nigeria border)

I successfully made the payment and they called their jumia travel representative who happened to be in another country (senegal i think) and he kept saying he couldn't confirm the payment. We had used hotel WIFI all through our stay and unlike airtel's promise that Premier customers receive free calls when they roam, that was a lie. I figured the jumia agent in Nigeria would try calling my number, so i bought airtime via *737* and immediately the call came in, I spoke to the jumia agent, Vivian, explained our plight and she was as professional and heads on as anyone can be, she even called me when i emailed her to do so, she asked I forwarded a screenshot of the payment which I did, and then she confirmed payment. We booked a bigger room so we could get extra money to take us out of Togo and pay our friend's balance.

*JOURNEY BACK TO LAGOS* Before final confirmation was made, we got francis to give us some of the money with him, told the reception to give him our balance and we left Togo around 3pm. We found a direct cab to the Seme border, Used the money we had collected to cross the Togo border ( they charge 1000cfa per person, 500cfa at each point and an extra 300cfa if you don't have yellow card) We had to withdraw some money to balance the driver of the cab ( a nice man, who was Nigerian and gave us out of his mangoes) , we took bikes to cross us to the Nigerian side for 1000naira instead of the usual 500naira because it was late and I wasn't involved in the negotiation..lol . Then we found a direct space bus at the border to Mile 2 where we booked an uber to our respective houses.

Even though this seems like a crazy vacation, The hotel we stayed was heavenly and made all these experiences so small, the view, weather, the free wifi and the company was amaze much. I hated outside the hotel but loved loved the Hotel, scenery and views.
And Yes I think I will go again one random weekend, by myself or with someone soon. The next post on Togo will have Tips, Costs and more pictures from the trip. (p.s: I made videos if I find someone to help edit and merge them, then you will get to see it).