Kilometers and Luggage

The university I attended isn't so far from home. It's only about two hours away. And so whenever I leave at 5 p.m., I usually arrive around 7 p.m.ish. My mother never liked that, though, as she always considers travelling at night to be unsafe. She'd always wonder why I often did that, too.

You see, travelling way earlier, like in the mornings, isn't so much of a big deal if I don't have anything else planned for that time. It is the thought of packing up, moving myself and my luggage to get into a commercial vehicle, and then spending hours in motion. I consider it a lot of stress most times, and so I would unnecessarily stall most times until evening comes before I set out to finally move.

In other words, I really do not enjoy traveling. And that's what I thought for a very long time. Lately, I have had to travel to different parts of my country for different reasons. And it was recently that I realised that I actually do explore new places as long as there isn't too much discomfort.

So speaking of discomfort, there is something about travelling long distances that I particularly do not enjoy, and it contributes to why I do not like to travel generally. That idea of sitting for so many hours is just a total turn-off. If only I could just teleport between places...

Another aspect of concern for me is how I pack to travel. My first instinct is to travel light. I am not a fan of carrying so many things when I am travelling.

I simply stick to the things that are necessary for my travel. The exact amount of clothes and footwear I would need, a very few things for body hygiene, and then my gadgets.

PC, smartphone, mifi, power bank, and their respective chargers are things that I do not travel without. Otherwise, how would I even manage to do the things I do online, like Hive?

If I am travelling to somewhere really far, like a faraway state, I usually take books along. I read books during my travels sometimes. After that time travelling, though, it usually takes a while till I pick it up again.

Choosing between long-distance travels and short-distance travels, I think my answer is pretty clear and straight-forward: no travels. I mean, the shorter the distance, the better. Interestingly, I enjoy driving—not for too many hours, though.

The farthest I have ever travelled is about 650 km, or 400 miles. It takes between eight and twelve hours to go between Rivers State and Ogun State most times, depending on obvious factors. Not only is it always so expensive, but many hours spent in usually discomforting vehicles is another reason.

One time, I thought to take a direct bus home for a journey of 14 hours. It was way cheaper, for some reason, and so I boarded it. What I didn't realise were the caveats to such a cheap ride for such a long journey.

Considering that it was a pretty long journey, leaving my luggage in the booth was going to leave more room for me in the bus. It was just my backpack and a small handbag. But the driver asked me to find somewhere else around me to keep the bags. He was going to use the booth to make extra cash by running delivery errands with it.

The entire booth wasn't enough for the driver to load up all the deliveries he had to make, and he loaded them up around us, the passengers. We looked no different than sardines in a tin can. It was all too tight, as there was no room to freely move.

And, of course, there was no air conditioning system to provide cool air throughout the journey. I couldn't expect that, as the fee was about half of what most spacebuses would ask for. And spacebuses usually have good AC systems.

That's how I spent 10+ hours with so many inconveniences, not even including how nonpatronizing the driver was. And so, right there and then, I chose to never pick low cost over comfort as long as I have the money to afford it, especially for long-distance journeys.

So if I ever need to travel, I try to make my luggage as light to carry as I can. Travelling is not my thing, so I would prefer way shorter distances. And, if I can afford it, I will try to ensure comfort on my travels.

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_{This post was inspired by the Hive Naija Weekly Prompts, Edition 35. Take a look and find gem topics you might be interested in.}