Before I proceed, in the words of Young John “Big big things ni mo like” pretty much describes me, because tell me why of all hobbies/interests to choose from, I picked the most expensive one. sigh*
It was a random day, as I was scrolling on Instagram something popped up, weird because I wasn’t looking for that. It was a tour package from a travel agency and the destination was Ghana. I immediately snapped out of it and closed the app (literally because where do I want to get $700 from). Surprisingly, the next day I saw something similar, different packages, not one, not two but three. It was now getting strange because prior to this I hadn’t searched for any travel destination. I thought to myself, is this a sign? I said let me ask my friends to see who will be interested and tell my siblings and ask for their opinion.
First friend laughed, and the second friend said “Eniola, let’s do Ibadan” instead. For some reason, my siblings said it wasn’t a bad idea. I was freaked out and excited at the same time, because I had never left Lagos to explore nor to talk of a different country.
I started looking into flights, activities, itinerary, hotels etc. Cutting down on my ‘fancy expenses’ so I would be able to visit my first country. A travel date was set (it was enough motivation for me to work harder), I informed my parents about it, they had their doubts and fears (of course they are African parents) but in the end it all worked out.
Drumrolls please, I just got my first ticket, not to Abuja, not to Port Harcourt, not Enugu, (no offence lol) but out of the country, whew, this was the first time I dared myself into doing something and went along with it.
For 5 days, I kept on checking my email to see I wasn’t dreaming and if it really belonged to me. Apparently, it was all mine. Thankfully the friend — Tunmise, who said we should do Ibadan, finally agreed to be my plus one, yay!
I did a lot of research (yes, this was interesting because I hated anything that had to do with this in high school and University) but who says research has to be boring? I made printouts of my itinerary and everything else I needed for this trip to bang. Not only did I travel out for the first time, I also planned my first trip. Get you a tourist that can do all, wink.
1 week to go! One would think that with this excitement all my bags would be ready to go, but let me lower your expectations, I work well under pressure (not office work please). I can get everything I need ahead of time but putting it together is where the problem comes from, until it’s one or two days before an important occasion is when my beautiful mind starts to function. Fun fact, being spontaneous is what I’m all about. I do not always like to follow patterns, timetables and all of that, guess that’s why I’m a cool kid, if you can relate say ‘Hi’.
My trip was Tuesday the 10th October and Monday 9th at 11:40pm, I caught the vibe to put all of my things together. At this point, if you got here, clap for yourself because I talk too much, writing is me putting all the ‘Cho Cho Cho’ into storytelling.
The day arrived! Eniola was leaving her country to go to another man’s land. ‘I’m not a morning person woke up by 7am for a 1pm flight’. I don’t even think I slept more than 2 hours. The excitement was over the roof, I packed my bags and was off to the airport at 9am! I do not even leave my house for my 9am job earlier than 8:30–9. (Guess that’s when I figured this was my calling, lol).
I got my first boarding pass, let’s take a moment to scream, because that was me, what do you mean a girl that has never left South West Nigeria is on her way to a different country, not for work, not for a family function, but on ‘vacation and exploring’... with a friend. It felt so surreal.
Tell me why Air Peace gave me snacks for a 1 hour flight? I entered the plane expecting a 3-course meal and wine, but I guess my expectation was too high right? I was so hungry, but I didn't care, I was going to have fun, hunger will be satisfied later…
Checked-in at Kotoka International Airport Accra, Ghana, and I had someone waiting for my friend and I outside. We got out, headed to the hotel, then went to eat.
The highlight of this trip was me taking pictures at the places I had only seen on TikTok, I shed a little tear of joy.
1 week in Ghana was one of the most exciting experiences I ever had. I visited Accra and two regions (Central and Eastern) -finally went to a waterfall, visited the botanical garden and notable historic sites and did so much more. Enough of my talk, head over to see the highlights of my trip on my Instagram page.
Watch out for my next article to find out countries 2 and 3.
Kunumizzle
