Addis Ababa Airport

ARRIVING
It has always been night time when I have arrived in Addis. As you descend toward the airport, you can see the golden-yellow street lights along the Ring Road at the perimeter of the city and Bole Road lights pointing toward the heart of Addis. What a sight. It is so thrilling after such a long flight to finally be arriving in Ethiopia, finally arriving in your child‘s homeland..

Even in the dark, the airport gleams. The terminal is a newer building made up of large glass panels and a shiny silver structure. Inside it is open and spacious with high ceilings. Upon arriving, one of the first things you’ll probably need to do is get your visa. Once off the plane follow the crowd down the stairs. The visa window is to the left in a big room where you end up at the bottom of the stairs.

You’ll need to fill out a form that you‘ll find on a high table near the visa window. The fee is $20 (in crisp new US dollars, please!) and you’ll also need to hand over your passport briefly. If you arrive in the wee hours of the morning (on British Airways) the line will probably be pretty short. If you come via Ethiopian or Lufthansa, you’ll be arriving in the evening and the wait for that visa can take half an hour or more.

Across the big room from the visa window is a bank-window where you can change dollars into birr. Especially if you need to pay a cab-driver to get to your hotel, don’t forget to get that money changed! The exchange rate is a little higher at the airport, I hear. But to me it was worth it to already have birr as soon as I walked out of the airport.

Once you have your visa and your money, you’ll need to get your luggage. The baggage delivery was quick and efficient both times I was there. The next step is to go through immigration, which does not take long. Once outside, I always feel a little overwhelmed at the huge array of faces outside the door, looking and waiting. If your agency or your hotel is providing a shuttle, there may be a person with a sign bearing your name– a very comforting sight in the sea of faces in this unfamiliar land.

There is also a tourist support service in the arrivals area which can give you information about hotels and taxis to the centre of town. The airport is close to the centre of town, only a 15 minute drive or so. In 2004 it cost about 70 birr for a cab ride to the Ghion in the center of town. The Ghion also has a shuttle, but some people have had trouble with it not showing up.

Just a warning: walking out to your taxi, people will immediately accost you, offering to help you with your luggage, and try to lead you toward ‘their’ cab driver. Keep a firm grip on your luggage and shake your head no. Anyone helping load the luggage into the cab will also be expecting a tip. So have a few birr ready or do it yourself.

HOMEWARD

When your time in Addis is done and you are ready to head home, be aware that there is a package-wrapping place in the airport where you can have large items wrapped for the flight home. I think it cost about $4 US to have my mesob very well wrapped for the flight home.

There is an exit charge of $20 in US currency for U.S. citizens and 100 Birr for the adopted Ethiopian child(ren) over two years of age. Plan to save enough birr for your child’s airport tax. But don’t expect to be able to change additional birr back to dollars there at the airport– people have reported that the bank is rarely open in the departures area.

The food places in the departures area will take both birr and dollars, though they probably won’t have the proper change for the dollars. When I was there last, the snack shop lady figured the conversion factor, then encouraged me to buy one more piece of fruit so that she could give me change in even dollars.

Both times we arrived for our homeward flights 3 or 4 hours early– I think two hours early would have been plenty adequate. Smoking is allowed in the airport, but the bathrooms on the upper level were clean (yes, there was TP) and there was plenty of seating in the lounge areas. On the whole I was pleased with the airport.

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