My amazing and not-so-great travelling experience.

I’m not really much of a traveler. In fact, I've only been to five states out of Nigeria's 36—and all of them are in the southwest region. I’ve never traveled outside the country either. But with those few trips, I’ve had both some amazing and some not-so-great experiences.

Most of my life has been spent in my hometown, so my best travel memory has to be a trip from my house in Ogun State to Elegushi Beach in Lagos back when I was in secondary school. That trip was incredible, my first real adventure in a big city, and it exposed me to so many new things. Just seeing the tall buildings on the drive was surreal. I still remember sticking my head out of the car window, craning my neck to look up at these high-rises and just being in awe. It was a bit of a “wow” moment for me.

When we finally got to the beach in the afternoon, we paid about 400 naira each to enter. I loved everything about that place. The breeze was cool, and the view was beautiful. I can still feel the sand between my toes, waiting for the waves to roll up to us. And then, I even rode a horse for the first time! I was pretty scared at first—honestly, it was nerve-wracking even with someone guiding me from behind.

After the beach, we made a stop at KFC to grab some food. I laugh thinking about it now because I actually peeled off the coating on the chicken before eating it; I wasn’t used to the flavor, and it just didn’t sit right with me at the time. It’s funny to look back and see how far I’ve come with trying new things.

On the flip side, my worst travel experience happened just last month while heading back to school. It was a Saturday evening when a friend texted me on WhatsApp, letting me know we were asked to come to resume back by Monday to carry out an assignment in school, even though I’d planned to return on Wednesday. Panic mode set in since I hadn’t done most of my school shopping yet. My mom and I had to rush to the market that same day to pick up everything I’d need—shoes, crocs, the whole list.

By the time we were ready to get on the road, it was already raining. My mom, who has some difficulty with her vision, was driving, and it was hard for her to see through the rain. Plus, we got stuck in this massive traffic jam and ended up waiting for hours. The roads were a mess, flooded with rainwater, and some cars even broke down on the way. Eventually, we reached the bus stop around 7 p.m., where I had to wait for a cab to fill up with other passengers before we could get moving.

Once we were finally on our way, the cab driver stopped at a filling station to refuel, and we lost even more time waiting in line. As we continued the trip, the road was absolutely terrible—full of potholes and lined with overgrown bushes. It was getting darker, and we barely saw any cars coming our way. I couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy; Nigeria isn’t exactly the safest place, especially at night, and with all the news about kidnappings, I was just praying to make it to school safely. Thankfully, I finally arrived at school by 8:30 p.m.—the latest I’ve ever arrived in my four years there.

That journey was definitely one for the books, but it reminded me of how much can go wrong in just a short trip.

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