Once upon a journey

For someone that hardly steps out of her room, I look forward to travelling round the world. It has been a long-time dream that I’m yet to fulfil, but I really look forward to it happening soon. Maybe when I can, I’ll have a lot of travel experience.

Since that’s still pending, let’s talk about the beautiful travel experiences I’ve had and the not-so-beautiful ones.

When I was much younger, travelling with my family was always fun, especially when my dad travelled with us. And that was because we were certain to have every junk possible to munch on till we reached our destination.

Growing up in the village, and having nowhere to travel to, or let me say not permitted to embark on anyhow travels even with other family members (maybe that contributed to my introverted self), there was a three day camping period in December that I looked forward to.

My mum would pack our bags not forgetting the different delicacies that would’ve been neatly packed to make sure we had fun times with lots of mouth-watering delicacies. And my dad was there to buy us sugarcane, butterbreads, and other local desserts.

The best travel experiences I’ve had happened many years ago, however, travelling as an adult, I’ve had one too many not-so-good experiences.

One happened on my way back from NYSC camp in Kaduna. The 12-hours long journey was supposed to be fun, especially with some really good people I met on the bus, but none of us could enjoy the journey as much because we were all at alert should in case we heard a gunshot.

I’ve never had to travel late at night before, but I followed the night bus this time because that seemed to be the safest option according to one of my uncles. It was easier to get to my destination very early in the morning than late at night when I might have needed to navigate a lonely path home. The fear on the bus wouldn’t even let us talk much, talk more of trying to have fun. We couldn’t stop to buy things for the fear of getting ambushed. It was a journey filled with panic and too many cations and it’s really an experience I do not wish to have anymore.

Another one like it was when I had to travel for an emergency. It was a life-or-death situation and my presence would impact the situation dearly, so I took off. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember there was some traditions going on in one of the towns I had to pass. There was a masquerade that women mustn’t see. It was their season. I didn’t remember until it was a close call, but I escaped it anyway.

Just right on the journey, there was a heavy rainfall that caused everywhere to flood. There was a dam that was filled to the brim along the route I passed where all the buses and cars had to park their cars for the fear of falling into the dam. But the bus driver decided to just drive right into it. With my heart in my mouth, we had a safe pass. Oh, kudos to the driver or nay?

It wasn’t so late, but the weather was like it was midnight. Despite the darkness everywhere, the driver still waited to carry more passengers. What if they were armed robbers or dangerous people? At some point, we had to stop talking and just prayed for safe arrival at our destination.

This is my entry to InLeo’s prompt for the month of November. To participate, check the details here

Images are mine.

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