Baby… Ghana.
I spent THOUSANDS freeing people outta COVID jail, had the party of the year, quit my job, came home broke, and still wouldn’t trade the memories. @David Jackson this is for you 🫵🏾
By Marie, CEO of JetLife Vacations
Voted Best Travel Agency 4 Years in a Row
Journaling 8 Years please Bear with me 🫶🏾
The Site Visit ✈️
After Kenya 2021, I shot over to Ghana for a site visit. This trip needed special attention. Hotels were acting brand new, vendors were moving slow… I said nah, I need boots on the ground .Hired me a handler— somebody whose only job is to protect JetLife’s interests and make my problems disappear. Cost me $15K. Fifteen. Thousand. Dollars .They put me in “Queen Elizabeth’s room” (apparently she stayed there once) but I wasn’t impressed. I was already thinking ahead… like, this better be worth what’s coming next.
Quitting My Job 😩
Before the trip, I was working at the hospital. Asked for the days off, they said no. Now I had50+ customers booked for Ghana. What was I supposed to tell them? “Sorry y’all, I can’t make it… I gotta go to work”?
Absolutely not. I quit.
COVID Jail 🦠
Fast forward to December — Ghana’s airport setup during COVID was a money-making circus. Ten different checkpoints, everybody acting like they running their own personal CDC. One of my guests “caught COVID mid-air” (yeah, okay) and police took him straight to a1-star hostage hotel. Then TWO more tested positive. So now I’ve got THREE customers in COVID jail. I’m sending food every day, checking on them constantly, asking my handler “what’s the move?” Finally, he hits me with a number. I pay it. Just like that, they’re free 3 days later .
The Welcome Party 🎉
We start with a welcome party. My DJ? My ex. Don’t even ask me why.
Coming to America — JetLife Style
This was my vision:Zamunda in real life.I told them — NO circle tables. I wanted:
- Long royal tables
- Drummers shaking the room
- Acrobats flipping like their bones were made of rubber
- A fire show so wild the neighbors thought the palace was on fire
- Fireworks in the sky like NYE in Times Square
They’d never done anything like this before, but I stayed on them every day. Sent pics, voice notes, everything When I tell you… it was BEAUTIFUL. Everybody looked like royalty. The energy was unmatched. Right in the middle, one of my guests proposed. Cute, but that speech was long as hell. I almost had someone bring me a plate of jollof halfway through .And let me just say this — there’s so much tea behind this vacation, it could have its own documentary. Netflix, call me.
Tours & Excursions
We did it all:
- Accra City Tour
- Door of No Return
- Chocolate Tour
- Naming Ceremony
- Safari — flight + 2-hour bus ride for… ONE elephant. One. But the lodge was gorgeous, peaceful, and quiet enough for me to finally sleep.
COVID Part 2
Day before departure, I flew a doctor out to the safari to test everybody. Ten people came back positive.At this point, I just…whew. But here’s the thing — I don’t leave my people hanging. I paid again for… “travel-friendly” results. Got as many home as I could.
The Aftermath
No job. Thousands gone. But everybody that could make it home, made it. And even through all the mess — we still had a once-in-a-lifetime experience.Would I go back to Ghana? Yeah.
Would I do Detty December again? HELL NO.Ghana taught me one thing — everythinghas a price… they just won’t tell you upfront.To my Ghana crew — y’all are the real MVPs. We survived, we looked good, and the memories? Untouchable.
Lessons Learned
- In Ghana, everything has a price… but you’ll never know it until you ask the right way.
- Detty December? Fun in theory…not a fan .
- When things go left, JetLife goes harder — whether it’s flying doctors in, bailing you out of COVID jail, or making sure you eat good no matter where you’re stuck.
- A little stress, a lot of heat, and the right crew can still make magic happen.
Can JetLife Take You to Ghana?
Absolutely.
And not only will we get you there safe and back home in one piece… you’ll look good doing it. To my Ghana crew — y’all are the real MVPs. We survived, we served looks, and we made memories nobody can duplicate.
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