How to survive a winter experience in Algiers

In December, 2010 I was in Algiers in the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria for a work-related conference. I was very excited to visit Algiers as it was the setting of the novel, “The Stranger” by Albert Camus, which I had studied in the University.

However, it was a long flight from my country Ghana, which is in West Africa, to Algeria which is a State of North Africa and part of the Maghreb. Algeria is the largest Arab country and the largest country in Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea, between Morroco and Tunisia.

I transited through Egypt and spent a considerable amount of time at the Cairo International Airport. Unfortunately, the immigration officers were not too friendly and were rather intimidating. Through this experience, I realised how immigration officers, being the first point of call when you visit a country, play a marketing role in marketing the country.

My not too favourable impression was further compounded by a cleaning lady in the washroom at the airport who kept badgering me for a tip. She had her hands outstretched and kept following me from the sink as I was washing my hands to the automatic dryer where I dried my hands. As such, I had to part with some money to mercifully get her off my back.

Incidentally, it was my first travel to a place during winter as all my previous travels were during summer. I therefore woke up in my hotel room in the middle of the night shivering profoundly. I could feel the coldness of the weather in my bones and my teeth were chattering. Hence, I fiddled desperately with the heater. Apparently it had stopped working. However, I was not sure whether it would be considerate of me to alert housekeeping at that hour of the night so I bundled myself up in a lot of clothing and reported the faulty heater the first thing in the morning. Fortunately, it was attended to as soon as possible.

This is me in the hotel lobby with beautiful mosaic tiled artwork.

The following morning while attending the conference, I had my first experience of dressing in layers which was a novelty to me. Apparently, I was not sufficiently layered up as I was still feeling cold. I resolved to put on more layers subsequently. It seemed that the best way to survive in the cold was through adequate layering.

The conference was for only three days so there wasn’t much time for sightseeing. Nevertheless, I managed to look around a little. Here is a picture taken in the city.

Algiers is beautiful and I wished I could have stayed for longer. It would be great to have another trip there, preferably in summer. Cheers to more travels!

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