Recent travel

Greetings!

Ever since I found out that I'm often disturbed by nausea whenever I travel by car, I’ve been very cautious and have mostly avoided unnecessary trips to prevent experiencing it. I only travel when it's extremely necessary, and on such occasions, I take preventive measures. The last major trip I took was to my hometown for my sister’s wedding, which was unavoidable.

Due to my fear of nausea, I decided not to eat anything from morning until the time of transit, which was in the afternoon. This is one of the precautions I usually take to avoid getting sick.

The Journey:

It's typically a one-and-a-half to two-hour journey, depending on the availability of buses at the terminals. When I arrived at the first terminal, I had to wait for about 20 minutes for the bus to fill up. I didn’t mind the wait, as I’m familiar with the road and not the type to get anxious about delays or traveling at night. Once the bus was full, I made sure to sit close to the window to help ease any feeling of nausea.

As we began the journey, the driver kindly played some music, so I didn’t bother using my AirPods. Although the music was traditional, which isn’t to my taste, I decided to go along with it and enjoy the moment. I’m usually quiet during travels, so I didn’t say much throughout the trip.

Our first stop was Abraka, where the main campus of Delta State University is located. There used to be a terribly bad road at the junction, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the government had repaired it.

From there, I opted to take a motorcycle (bike), as it’s faster and more direct than taking a bus that would drop me at the entrance of my community, where I’d then need to take another bike to my street.

The motorcycle rider was someone I knew from town, and he was glad to see me. We chatted along the way, complaining about the government’s failure to repair the bad roads beyond Abraka. The roads were so terrible that I felt grateful for choosing the bike over a bus, as the rider took unfamiliar routes to avoid the muddy, slippery roads (what we call 'potopoto').

Navigating around those bad sections delayed the trip a little, but I didn’t mind since the main road seemed too risky. Once we passed the troublesome areas, the road ahead was smooth. The rider sped up, trying to make up for lost time and save some fuel.

Before long, we arrived home, and since all my family members were already there, it turned into a celebration when they saw me arrive. It was a joyous moment!

I stayed for three days, and when it was time to leave, I had to fast again to avoid any nausea on the way back.

Thanks for reading.

Photos used are mine