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One of my favorite driving experiences was my trip back to the airport after the event.  I left my hotel 7 hours before my flight for the airport.  We were about 60 miles north of the city so needed extra time to navigate the only highway in Nigeria.  Halfway to the airport we encounter traffic.  So we do what everyone does in Nigeria when they hit traffic, cross the median (which is a steep pit) and then go the wrong way down the highway against traffic. We cruise down for about 3 miles and realize that the traffic is because of an accident in the north-bound lane that we are now on.  It was a very bad accident - probably the most destruction of cars/trucks/buses that I have ever seen.  So now we have to get back on our side of the highway.  The reason that our side of the highway is stopped is because cars and trucks stopped on the northbound side came over to our side and slowed us down.  The embankment is really steep and a few (not just one) trucks flipped over while making the lane change.  Then a few other cars just sort of broke down while slowed down in the traffic.  So with a lot of lane changes we make it around the accident after about an hour delay.  
We get to within 5 miles of the airport (the equivalent of the Triboro heading to Laguardia) and everything stops again.  This is now just the daily commuter traffic.  2.5 hours later the airport is within sight and I get out and run for the terminal to make it to my required check-in time. 

It turns out my ticket was somehow “cancelled”, so I had to get in another line to get a ticket.  I am all set to buy my ticket, but when I give him the credit card he says, “cash only”.  I had to pay 157,000 nir, equivalent to $1,000 in American cash. I fortunately have $1,000 on hand for tips (otherwise known as bribes in the US).  I give it to my host and ask him to get it converted to Nigerian nir.  He runs and comes back with a bag of money.  We hand the money to guy at the counter who is running the operation on 3 cells phones and a laptop computer that was linked to the public wifi, and ask for the ticket.  He gives us the money back and says he is not allowed to take cash from customers.  He calls his supervisor, who is nowhere to be found for about 15 minutes.  Then he comes over and starts counting the 157,000 nir.  He then takes the money and stuffs it in the big backpack he walks around with. 
I get my ticket and go to security.  Surprisingly it was easy to go through security even though I had just purchased a one-way ticket from Nigeria to New York City (flying through Istanbul) one hour before the flight, not checking any bags, and paying cash for the ticket.  I made it to the plane on-time, which doesn't mean anything because it's Africa and nothing is on time.  We leave an hour later, and I arrive safely home with everything intact.