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Another Go-To Tool for Travel Guidelines
By Sherpa
To help customers prepare for the air, American Airlines is making travel planning easier for customers who are eager to reconnect with the people and places that matter most. The airline has launched a travel tool, powered by Sherpa, to help customers quickly see the current coronavirus (COVID-19) travel guidelines for domestic and international destinations.
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africa’s doors are open! page 26
Africa Business Association Publications April-May 2021
Promoting Africa-focused Tourism Since 2011 Travel Africa
By Ayah A.
Solo budget traveler/backpacker and international trade compliance specialist Auzzi Aiken recently spent two months in Ethiopia, including spending Easter in Lalibela. Originally from Jamaica, the 31-year-old grew up in both Kingston and Miami.
Based in Kingston for the past fi ve years, Auzzi is now living the nomadic life; he sold everything he owned to become a true minimalist and complete his goal of visiting every country.
During his two months in Ethiopia, Auzzi completely immersed himself in the culture, doing and seeing as much as he could. He hung out with the locals, and made lifelong friends. He visited people’s homes, ate and drank like a local, and even participated in the nightly cultural dance shows.
“The Ethiopian people are nice and, for the most part, it’s a very safe country. I stayed in the villages in the Omo Valley with diff erent tribes that still live a hunter-gatherer nomadic lifestyle. Raw meat was off ered every weekend; I ate it (and paid the iron price for it) and I drank the local tea wine made from honey, called tej. I laughed, ate, and got sick. And I would do it all again.”
Auzzi also spent some of his nights at the Black-owned Andromeda Boutique Hotel in Addis Ababa. The hotel is owned by an Ethiopian American father and daughter who moved back from Boston to create something in their homeland.
“The hotel is within 1.1 km of Matti Multiplex Theatre and 1.1 km of Edna Mall. It feels like a home away from home and the aunties that run the hotel always make sure you’re comfortable and well-fed.”
While in Addis Ababa, Auzzi visited the beautiful and fairly new Friendship Park, which he considers the best city park in Africa. The park is adjacent to Unity Park, and together, the two parks off er a host of cultural attractions, including a small museum, a grand banquet hall, and the former palace complex of Emperor Menelik II.
There’s also a small zoo that contains rare black-maned lions, which were once common
