Travelling when you know no-one

Photograph by Nicholas T

I have a knack for doing things I’m scared of.  It’s almost as if I play a game of ‘chicken’ with myself.  You could say this was what I was doing when a few months into my first year at university, I decided to go on an excursion with other students in my department, none of whom I knew.  It wasn’t that I knew no-one exactly; I knew the names of some of my classmates but that was about it.  The excursion was to Ikogosi warm springs in Ekiti state and Erin Ijesha waterfalls in Osun state.  I was worried about spending a weekend with people I barely knew and I could almost hear my mother’s voice telling me all the dangers that could befall on the trip but I decided to go it anyway.

The excursion was supposed to be a fun trip organised by the students as opposed to the department.  Being typical optimistic (and broke) students, the trip organisers had hired a rickety bus to take us on our road trip.  We had been told the journey to Ikogosi would take 4 hours.  It took 7.  This was hardly surprising considering the fact that the bus broke down along the way.  It also turned out that no-one on that bus actually knew the way to Ikogosi.  We had to stop several times to ask for directions.  We arrived at Ikogosi at midnight.  By this time, any barriers I had had been taken down by my fellow travelers who kept drawing me into conversation.  I had abandoned The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes several hours before so the chat was welcome. 

Ikogosi warm springs is an attraction because the spring is well, warm.  In actual fact, at Ikogosi, two springs flow next to each other; one warm and the other cold and it was amazing to touch both of them.  The springs seemed a bit like nature’s own hot and cold-running taps.  A pool fed by the springs had been created at the site and some students jumped right in.  When we had all marveled at the springs, eaten all the food and drank everything we had, it was time to go to sleep at which point we were told accommodation had not been planned.  Other students simply turned on a radio and had an impromptu pool party.  My new-found friends and I went to sleep in the bus with the mosquitoes.

The following morning, we stopped at some rundown shops to buy breakfast:  bread, biscuits and water then we set off for Erin Ijesha waterfalls.  The falls at Erin Ijesha aren’t particularly high but they are beautiful so we all squealed with excitement when we saw them.  We were warned that the rocks were slippery so those of us who wished to climb up the rocks were advised to take our shoes off.  We climbed up the falls (not to the top though) and danced in its spray unwittingly taking part in a wet T-shirt contest.  Once we had had our fill of the falls, we headed back to our bus.

The ride back to school was much noisier than when we were leaving; at least it was to me.  When we arrived safely back in school, I decided that 1) I wouldn’t tell my mother about the trip for a long time 2) I would never let fear hold me back from travelling and 3) If I ever go on a road trip again, I’ll organise my own accommodation. 

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10 Places I Would Love to Visit

1             Sydney, Australia

I think the reason I’ve always wanted to go to Australia is because it’s so far away.  That and the fact that Australia and Sydney in particular is always being associated with sunshine but not in the stifling, I-can-barely-breathe way we get it here in the Tropics.  Of course, I want to do the usual things like see the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, chill on Bondi beach, maybe take a surfing lesson or two but most of all, I want to be able to say I’ve been to the other side of the world and loved it.

Photo by coquetboy

The Sydney Harbour Bridge 

2             New York

I think anyone even remotely interested in fashion dreams of going to New York or more specifically, of going shopping in New York.  That’s the main reason I want to go to New York.  Or at least, that used to be the main reason I wanted to go to New York.  These days, I want to go there to absorb the atmosphere (pollution and all ;-) )  I want to ogle people wearing whatever it is they like and I want to marvel at how no matter what one wears, New Yorkers never seem fazed

Photograph by Doctor Who

Times Square, New York

3             Las Vegas

I’ve always wanted to go to Las Vegas because of its over-the-top-ness.  Las Vegas can never be described as subtle and its unashamedly glaring, glittering persona is something that draws me probably because I’m a fan of all things shiny myself.  I love being a tourist when I go to new places so I know I would head straight for the Strip once I get into Vegas.  My Las Vegas goals are very few:  watch the ‘dancing’ fountains at the Bellagio, catch a cabaret show and win enough cash at the casinos to pay for my ticket back home!

Photograph by b10lm

'Dancing' Fountains at the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas 

4     Barcelona

Barcelona came on my radar because a friend of mine moved there and loved it.  All of a sudden I had to find out everything I could about the place and when I did, I knew it was a place I would love to visit.  The most attractive thing to me about Barcelona is the weather:  the summers don’t seem too hot nor the winters too cold.  Then it seems like the entire city is dedicated to art with several buildings having been designed by Antoni Gaudi.  One of them, the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, on which construction began in 1882 is still being built today!  Barcelona is also said to have great beaches and with Zara and Mango being Spanish brands, Barcelona is also a great place to do some serious shopping.

Photo by Wolfgang Staudt

The Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Las Vegas

5             Zurich, Switzerland

I’ve always wanted to (learn to) ski and for some reason, I’ve decided that Zurich will be the best place for me to do that.  I imagine swooshing down slopes with my heart racing as I glide gracefully to the end of the run.  Naturally, I’ve edited all falls and bruises from the short video I play in my mind.  I recently found out that part of the James Bond movie, Goldfinger, was shot in Switzerland and that sealed Zurich’s fate as one of the top places I’d love to visit.  Goldfinger wasn’t actually shot in Zurich but imagining I’m dodging baddies with swift manoeuvres on my skis in the same country the movie was made is good enough for me.

Photo by Zach Dischner

The sort of place I hope to go skiing in Zurich

6             Singapore

I love beaches and while I don’t like shopping for clothes (crazy, I know), I like window shopping and love buying books.  Singapore seems like this quiet little island with access to loads of (window) shopping on Orchard Road and Singapore’s Chinatown.  Sentosa Island, a little island off the main island (phew!) of Singapore is apparently also a haven for beach-lovers like me.  I can’t wait to see it.

Photo by Eustaquio Santimano

Orchard Road, Singapore at Christmas

7             Milan, Italy

I’m not going to lie, Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Eat, Pray, Love fuelled my desire to see Italy.  I could have put Rome on this list.  After all, it’s the capital of Italy and more popular than Milan but for some strange reason, my heart has settled on Milan, partly because I’d love to visit the city that hosts one of the most popular Fashion Weeks in the world and partly because I feel it is the less obvious choice for a tourist to visit.  In addition, Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ can be seen there so that would be my first stop in Milan closely followed by an Italian meal and a spot of window shopping.

Photo by Evan Blaser

The Duomo di Milano, Milan

8             Tokyo, Japan

Like Australia, one of the attractions Tokyo holds for me is its distance.  Not only is Tokyo thousands of kilometers away, it also appears to have a completely different vibe from anywhere else in the world.  I’d love to see the neon lights, eat the street food and marvel at the courageous way Harajuku girls style themselves.  Tokyo is associated with setting fashion trends so I would definitely keep my eyes peeled for those.

Photo by OiMax

The neon lights in Tokyo

9             Lagos, Portugal

I love Lagos where I live and have always been fascinated with how the city got its name.  Although it was and is still called ‘Eko’ by the Yoruba people who originally settled here, when Portuguese explorers arrived in 1472, they named it ‘Lagos’ after a city in their home country.  For this reason, I have always wanted to visit Lagos, Portugal.  Today, Lagos in the Algarve, Portugal is a popular holiday destination for Europeans.  It is known for its beaches, resorts and nightlife.  I can’t wait to compare the two Lagos-es.

Photo by lele3100

One of the many beaches in Lagos, Portugal

10          Egypt

Ever since I read Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile when I was about 10 years old, I’ve wanted to cruise down the Nile on a luxurious boat (without a murderer on board, of course).  I could never imagine going to Egypt and not going to see the Pyramids though so that is an absolute must. 

Photo by Michael Gwyther-Jones

A beautiful view of the Nile, Egypt

Bonus Place

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I want to go to Rio to see the famous Rio carnival.  Period.  Apparently, Brazillians take their carnivals very seriously and it shows.  Some of the pictures I’ve seen of the carnival show beautiful women in extravagantly-designed (and very risqué) outfits gaily sauntering ahead of glittering floats of dancing people.  I know I will appreciate the beauty and vibe of the carnival even better when I see it up close.  It has also always been a dream of mine to climb up the statue of Christ the Redeemer and take beautiful (once I get a hang of my camera) pictures of the city below.  I know I’ve talked about beaches quite a few times already but I would desperately love to sink my toes into Rio’s.  I feel happy just thinking about it.

Photo by Paul Mannix

The statue of Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro

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My first plane ride ever

Photograph by smemon87

                                 

I was about 6 years old so I don’t remember many details.  Domestic air transportation in those days was a nightmare from what I can remember.  It seemed as if Nigeria Airways was the only airline available to for air travel within Nigeria.  At the domestic airport, I remember a crowd of people all shouting at someone who I assume worked for Nigeria Airways and who was sensibly standing inside a ‘cage’ made of a hard, opaque material from the feet to the waist and a wire mesh from the waist upwards.  Somehow, my mother had managed to wriggle to the front of the crowd tugging me along with her.  I vaguely remember her yelling to the person behind the cage ‘We need a ticket for Abuja!  See, I’m travelling with my daughter’ at which point she would lift me as high as she could.  Apparently, being able to afford the ticket to Abuja wasn’t enough - you had to show you were more desperate than other travelers.  We eventually got the tickets though.

I don’t remember actually getting on or off the plane but I do remember that since sitting arrangements weren’t followed (of course), I was separated from my mum.  I almost burst into tears from worry but she noted I had been placed next to a female teenager dressed in a school uniform, told me I would be okay and went to her seat.  As soon as I sat down, my companion (I don’t remember her name now though I desperately wish I could) set about entertaining me.  It turned out she was a junior student at Federal Government College, Abuja and by the time we were half-way through the flight, I had decided that that was the secondary school I wanted to attend.  She was so sweet to me - I don’t remember worrying about my mother or what would happen to me.  I just felt safe.  I didn’t end up going to Federal Government College, Abuja but I will always remember that kind, young girl.

Abuja was amazing to me.  I had been outside Lagos before but only to Abeokuta in Ogun state and even at that young age, I realised Abeokuta was never going to be an exciting town.  Abuja seemed to have a bit of the energy of Lagos or maybe I projected my 6-year old energy onto my experience.  My mother and I were in Abuja to see my dad who worked there briefly.  He acted as our guide on that short visit.  Dad took us to a market where I saw vultures for the first time in my life.  They were even uglier than had been described in the books I had read and I was appalled that they sat undisturbed on the roofs of the stalls of the meat-sellers at the market.  I remember making a note to avoid meat throughout my stay there.

Part of the reason I remember that trip to Abuja so fondly was I felt like my parents treated me like an adult.  One night, my parents told me to dress up then we went to meet some friends of their friends at Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel (which is now called Transcorp Hilton Hotel).  I remember we went to a bar where there was a band playing music.  I remember eating crisps and being offered more soft drink.  And I remember my parents’ friends making small talk with me.  I smiled, looked around and thought ‘so this is what adults do when they go out at night’. 

We only spent a few days in Abuja then it was back to Lagos for my mum and I.  I don’t remember the plane ride back to Lagos so I assume my mother and I sat together - no adventure there.  It was a short holiday but that first plane ride and indeed my first time in Abuja are memories I know will stay with me forever.

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10 reasons I love Dubai

I’m lucky enough to have had holidays in several cities outside Lagos (where I live).  While thinking about these different places recently, my mind turned to trying to decide which was my favourite.  So far, my favourite city for a holiday is Dubai in the U.A.E. and here are 10 reasons why I love it:

1. The weather:  I went to Dubai in August and it was crazy hot and this is coming from someone who lives in the tropics.  In spite of the heat, I loved being there as I always prefer being too hot to being too cold.  Besides, thanks to the abundance of taxis, it’s possible to go from hotel to taxi to destination (usually a mall ;-)) without really experiencing the heat.  Another thing to keep in mind is that the weather is more bearable at other times of the year so if cooler weather (cooler meaning less hot, not necessarily cold) is really important to you, consider visiting Dubai between December and February.

2.  The taxis:  Unlike in many other cities where taxis seem to disappear just when you need them the most, the opposite seems to be the case in Dubai.  You almost never need to wait for a taxi there.  When I was in Dubai on holiday, a taxi always seemed to turn up within a minute of my standing on the road wondering where to get one.  In addition, the taxis have metres which take away the need to haggle, a pesky task you usually have to go through in Lagos and some other cities across the world.

3.  The shopping:  Dubai has enough malls to excite the most jaded-shopper.  The Dubai mall and Mall of the Emirates are probably the biggest malls there and the Dubai mall is my favourite.  According to Wikipedia, the Dubai mall is the largest mall in the world in terms of total area covered and has over 1200 shops.  Dubai Mall has an ‘underwater zoo’, an ice rink (pretty intriguing for a city in the middle of a desert) and its own gold souk.  With shops covering several floors and over 100 places to eat, it is possible to spend all day at the mall shopping and eating.  This I discovered from personal experience ;-)

4.  The gold souk:  I personally love gold.  I looked on it with disdain when I was a teenager and only wore the thinnest pieces when my mother forced me to wear jewellery.  Today though, I love it and really believe that when it comes to gold, the bigger, the better ;-).  So you can imagine my joy when I went to the old gold souk in Dubai.  I went to Dubai with a girlfriend and told the driver taking us around that day to come back for us in an hour.  Sadly, one hour later, we had only been in about 4 shops which of course wasn’t up to 1/100^th of the shops in the souk.  There were just so many different designs to admire that we lost track of time.  Don’t make the same mistake I did.  When you go to the gold souk, spend at least half a day there if you know you want to see even a quarter of the shops there.

A picture of me at the old gold souk in Dubai

5.  The Attractions:  There are so many things to do in Dubai, I certainly didn’t do or visit as many of the attractions as I wanted to but I did a good number.  My favourite was sand-boarding in the dunes of Sharjah (Sharjah is technically an emirate outside Dubai but what’s a few kilometers between friends?).  You can also ride in 4x4 vehicles in the desert (which feels just like a rollercoaster, only you can see the driver and you’re in a car), watch belly dancers, go camping at night in the desert, have high tea at the Burj Al Arab (sometimes described as the only 7-star hotel in the world), play in Wild Wadi (a water-based amusement park) or just chill on a beach.  It’s difficult to be bored on holiday in Dubai.

Heading for the quad-bikes

Riding into the sunset

Sand-boarding in Sharjah

On Jumeirah Beach with Burj Al Arab in the background

The Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi (another emirate in the U.A.E.)

6.  The Safety:  The crime rate in Dubai is low meaning I worried very little about my bag being stolen.  Quite a relief, really.

7.  The Friendliness:  Or maybe I meant the flirtatiousness?  The guys my friend and I came across just seemed really nice.  Of course, most of the people you meet in Dubai aren’t actually Emiratis.  Many of the people you meet come from countries outside the Emirates like Egypt, Iran and so on.  Overall, Dubai seemed like a friendly place.

8.  The Opulence:  Dubai is over the top.  For example, one afternoon I saw two Porsches.  That’s more than I’ve seen in two weeks in other places.  Some people feel that Dubai’s over-the-top-ness is too much but I love it.  I felt it showed me what was possible in this world and that life really is limited by one’s imagination.

9.  The Roads:  Narrow roads and pot-holes don’t exist in Dubai.  Of course, this may not be strictly true since I was a tourist and there for only four days.  But in contrast, one of the first things I noticed on a trip to London was the narrow roads and the tiny cars which just made me depressed and within four hours of being in Lagos, you’ll probably have come across more pot-holes than you thought were possible.  Dubai was a refreshing break from all that.

10.  The food:  I had planned to eat an ‘authentic’ shawarma while in Dubai but with the variety of food easily available from Japanese to Mexican, I never got round to it.  I will next time.  And there will be a next time.  Making this list has made me want to visit my favourite city again.

Who knows why the camel crossed the road.

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