The fact that airplane tickets were so cost in the year 2023 January made it difficult for me to get on a plane and travel so comfortably but guess what, traveling by road to 6 different states in Nigeria in just a month was worth it.
The last time I traveled, I mean a very long distance, not the one @nhaji01 is doing, was in the year 2023 and this was because of my composure service to my country (NYSC)
I live in Lagos State and was posted to serve in Sokoto, the distance between Lagos and Sokoto is 974 kilometers or more. It's like traveling from the last part of the west to the last part of the north.
It wasn't a funny experience because the driver made sure he collected money from me after telling me it was remaining two people to complete the bus. You see that remaining two people came after 6 hours. Tell me why I would get to the bus station by 7 am and I would be leaving by 1 pm. The most scary part was that the driver was stopping at each state to pick up passengers as others were dropping off.
Everyone on the bus was from the north and they were speaking the Hausa dialect, I just kept my shut so they didn't know I was from the west because I was scared of the unknown. At one point, I brought out my power bank to use as a weapon after I saw a knife in one boy's bag.
It was 9 pm and we were still on the road, I wanted to shout at the driver to park so we could all sleep and continue the new day but after the driver parked, drank some hot tea, and smoked two cigarettes, the journey continued.
Fast forward to the time I was feeling so sleepy but I was on guard so no one touched the garri in my backpack. It was like my hidden treasure and I must take it to my destination to survive. I was feeling so sleepy I turned to look at the guy beside me just to see him looking at me too. Omo, the sleep cleared from my eyes immediately.
I couldn't even sleep during the journey, I wonder how @nhaji01 sleeps during the night journey. At one point, the driver parked and said something in Hausa that I didn't understand but I saw everyone in the bus sit upright, everyone was looking out the window and the driver turned off the bus light and was driving so fast.
At that point, I was just saying "Blood of Jesus" like 5 million times in my mind. It was after we passed that place a guy told me we just passed the bandit territory. "Like why will you carry me and pass the bandit territory in the first place" Two tears dropped from my eyes, didn't know if they were tears of joy or tears of terror. And I have not married o.
We got to some of the state in the core north and it was so cold in the morning. The bus driver parked at a gas station with a mosque so people who want to pray can pray. I got down to stretch my body only for one small boy to come sell me sachet water that was boiled. I was like "Dumb people, why boil pure water" I went to get normal water that was placed outside the store to wash my face. It was after I poured the water on my face I regretted my action because the water was so cold and the weather itself was cold my eyebrow almost fell off.
After 6 extra hours on the road, I got to my destination and I can tell you, it was one hell of an experience. I have vowed never to go the north by road again.
Thanks for reading.
The blog of whom you just read, is name is fashtioluwa. Hive's favorite alien, the one from Mars. If you like believe it or not, it's the truth. Bye.