Post-COVID Dream Vacation

Hey Bloggie,

It just seems that in the last few weeks, bad news couldn’t let joy last. As soon as there was something to smile about, somehow, there was something to either be scared or angry about. I wasn’t in the right head space for a while there and I’m still making a conscious effort not to hyperventilate.

I thought we could take our minds off ish for a little bit and vacation dream a little. As soon as the lockdown started, I noticed posts cropping up in my newsfeed about the destinations people would like to visit once the lockdown ends. I’ve seen envious possible travel itineraries mostly filled with European locations. The likes of Greece, Spain, Denmark, Ireland and Iceland. Part of me wanted to follow the bandwagon and book a ticket for travel sometime next year since the prices were looking way too impressive. I was thinking about it in the hopes that vacations would soon be a part of my life again and casting away the steady stay-cations I was seeing in my future.

But as always, reality set in. As case numbers and my fears were increasing, I figured I could wait to travel to destinations unknown. Plus, given the first international travel opportunity after this pandemic (Coronavirus, please, forgive our ignorance and depart), I would head to my Nigeria (Naija for effizie). No doubt, it will be great to see family and friends and play catch up/love up. It would also be nice to be spoiled and spoil in return. But, I imagine that my post-pandemic visit will be full of activities I either haven’t done in a while or haven’t tried at all.

I want to experience more Nigerian culture and eat more Nigerian foods than I have been exposed to. I absolutely love travelling and that love was cultivated in Nigeria. Unfortunately, as we grew older and my siblings and I started to disperse, so did the family trips. It turned into folks meeting up when they were close-by. For me, it meant I stopped exploring the country after secondary school. Back in the day, I had my sights on Obudu Cattle Ranch and even though there are newer places to visit, I think I still want to cross it off my list. I haven’t explored the museums nor seen a play in a long time. I want to correct all that. While I haven’t explored the night life scenes, which I think I should do at least once, it’s not on my priority list.

Not being able to eat out in the last few months coupled with keeping food boredom away, has made me try new Nigerian recipes. To spice up my food offerings in the pre-COVID era, I would order out or go out to eat with friends. Getting take out has happened probably only 5 times since March. The stress of wearing mask and sanitizing like crazy in the name of food options has not been very appealing. Looking up recipes on YouTube and Nigerian food blogs has made me dream of doing a food journey through Nigeria. Growing up, there used to be show that did just that and I envied the presenter then. I think it was called “Melting Pot.” Since I don’t have the travel around country kind of money/time, food journey through Lagos will work just well 😊. I want to go to restaurants Sisi Yemmie and other YouTubers have featured on their channels (the foods looked so good), I want to go to Surulere and get some better street food for my money, I want to find a sweet amala joint, I want to eat snails, isi ewu, nkwobi, abacha, kilishi, miyan kuka, masa, “point and kill,” Agege bread, suya (to name a few) and be introduced to new native cuisines.

The main the main food group of my choice in Naija is always fruits. I need a healthy dose of fresh and yummy fruits. If I can even find an umbrella tree to pluck fruits from, better (we had to cut our tree down years ago ☹). Pineapple, cashew fruit, sugar cane, agbalumo (cherry), black velvet tamarind (licky licky), jackfruit, crunchy and sweet coconut, African apple, mangoes, ube, roasted corn, garden egg, bitter kola, etc. are all calling my name. I usually start with fruits when I get home and I don’t see any reason to stop.

To top off all this my chops, we need fresh palm wine. Yum! So sweet and fresh that you cannot taste the alcohol but know that you shouldn’t consume too much before yawa will gas 😄. And because I'm never too old, some chilled Ribena. If possible, I would add visiting another state to my list of activities. I haven’t done that in a very long time and I believe my adult self will greatly benefit from such exposure/re-exposure. Ooo, there are also these vacation spots in Lagos that were featured on Tayo Aina’s YouTube channel. I want to see those up-close.

Oya now that I have listed all the things my eyes want to see, na to find the tree with the money make I pluck some put inside bank 😁. Na why it’s my post-pandemic dream vacation. When I am finally able to do the travelling around and food experience in Naija, trust me, you will definitely hear about it.

Let's jam to my 2Baba's "Oyi" this week.

Enjoy your week Bloggie!
Tonia