I Said Yes to an Adventure: A Road Trip Across Three Countries

If you had told me there would come a time when I would go online, pay for a group trip organised by a tour company I had never heard of, pack my bags, and go on a road trip across parts of West Africa, I probably would have said no.

But that is exactly what I did, and I am so glad I did it.

I am not going to pretend I didn’t have my doubts, because I did. I had all the usual questions running through my mind. Who were these people? What was the company really like? Who would I be travelling with? Would I be safe? Would there be kidnappers on the way?

But I went through their page, saw that they had done the trip a couple of times a few months earlier, and before my mind had enough time to come up with another reason not to go, I paid for the trip.

Maybe this time, I didn’t want to be too careful. Maybe I just wanted to do something different.

And so I did.

5:30 a.m. and I Was Still Wondering What I Had Done

We met at Gbagada at about 5:30 in the morning.

Two buses were waiting for us, and I remember still questioning my decision as I stood there. What was a grown woman like me doing taking a risk like this?

But underneath all the questions, there was excitement.

This was going to be my first time travelling with strangers. My first road trip outside Nigeria. My first time sharing a room with someone I had never met, and my first time travelling with a Company I had never heard of before.

There were a lot of firsts already, and we hadn’t even left yet. I got on the bus anyway.

And that was the beginning.

Somewhere Between the Borders, We Started Getting to Know One Another

The first part of the journey was a lesson in patience.

We had long stops at the different borders, sometimes for an hour to an hour and a half. There were checks, questions and stops along the way. By the time we got closer to the Sème border into Benin, our security guy had already had to sort out payments at several of the stops the officers created along the way.

It could have been frustrating, but the long stops also gave us something we probably wouldn’t have had otherwise: time.

Time to talk, time to learn names, and time to figure out who was who. Before long we were laughing and talking about our daily lives we had left behind for the next seven days. We changed money at the border, got back on the bus and continued on our way. Slowly, conversations started happening. Music came on. We sang along to songs we knew. Then we played games and laughed a lot.

People who had barely spoken to one another when we left Lagos were now chatting like they had known each other a little longer. It is funny how quickly people can become familiar when they are sharing an experience. By the time we eventually got to Ghana at about 11 p.m., I was completely knackered. But I had also begun to realise that this trip might be different from what I had imagined.

I Got Lucky With My Roommate

One of my biggest concerns before the trip was sharing a room with a stranger. I had never done it before, and naturally, I wondered how it would go. But God, as usual, played favourites with me. I got lucky. Very lucky.

My roommate, Naf Naf, turned out to be one of the sweetest parts of the trip. We worked so well together, and what could easily have been an awkward experience became something completely natural. It reminded me that sometimes the things we worry about before an experience turn out to be the least of our problems.

And sometimes, a stranger can become a darling friend.

The Road Became Part of the Experience

If there is one thing that made this trip a true road trip, it was the amount of time we spent on that bus.

We were on the road for what felt like most of the trip. There were long stretches of driving, border stops, the tourist attractions, the constant packing and unpacking every time we moved on to the next country, and those moments when your body was ready for a proper rest but you still had more road ahead of you.

There was also the occasional feeling of, “Are we there yet?” But strangely enough, even that became part of the excitement. If everything had been easy and comfortable, perhaps it wouldn’t have felt quite as different from everyday life. The tiredness, the uncertainty, the moving around, the excitement of wondering what was next, all of it became part of the story.

The bus became its own little world.

We sang along to songs, danced, and played games. We laughed until our stomachs hurt.  And when we made stops at the different tourist attractions, we helped each other take pictures and videos. Someone was always asking someone else to take a picture for them.

And then there were the conversations. There is something interesting about talking to people you have only just met when you know you may never have met them under normal circumstances. We shared stories. We shared secrets. Sometimes, things came out in those conversations that you probably wouldn’t have told people you had known for years. Perhaps there was something freeing about knowing that everyone was stepping outside their ordinary lives for a few days.

The people around me were no longer just the people on my bus. They were becoming people I laughed with, people I looked out for and people I was creating memories with.

Exploring Three Countries and Building New Experiences

As we made our way through Ghana, Togo and Benin, every stop brought something different. 

Meeting people from the different countries was also one of my favourite parts of the experience. I was curious about how people lived, how they spoke, what they ate and simply what everyday life looked like for them. The language barrier wasn’t as difficult as I expected either.

There were new places to see, new things to try and little glimpses into cultures I had barely known before. And somewhere along the way, I found myself doing things I never imagined I would.

I stood inside a huge tree, and there was something surreal about being surrounded by something that large and old, walked at close range by snakes, which is honestly something I would ordinarily avoid at all costs. Took pictures beside a waterfall after climbing some tiny rocks to get up there. Experienced a clay bath and afterwards washed in a river.

I tried new food, explored places I had only known through history and stories, and met people whose way of life was different from mine. There were so many little moments when I caught myself thinking, I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.

I think that was part of the beauty of the trip. There was always something new waiting around the corner, and I simply allowed myself to experience it.

Then It Was Time to Go Home

The journey back was just as enjoyable.

By then, the nervousness I had felt at the beginning was gone. The people I had been wondering about when we first met were now familiar faces. There were more conversations, more laughter and more memories being made. And, of course, there were souvenirs we bought during the trip, adding to the ones City Tours, the company that organised the trip, gave us. Little things to take home from places that had become more than just names on a map. But I was taking home more than souvenirs.

I was taking home stories.

What Saying Yes Taught Me

When I think about this trip now, I keep coming back to the decision I made before it even started.

I bought the ticket before I had time to overthink it. And perhaps I have myself to thank for that. Fear has a way of keeping us close to what is familiar. Sometimes it protects us, and sometimes it quietly keeps us from experiencing things we might actually love.

This trip reminded me that there are many kind strangers in the world, that you can bond with people you have only just met, that you can surprise yourself, that you can do things you once thought were not for you. And that sometimes, you don’t know what you will enjoy until you give yourself the chance to experience it.

I went on this trip thinking I was simply going to travel across three countries, but I came back with a collection of firsts, new friendships, new stories, a greater appreciation for the people and cultures around me, and a reminder that there is a whole world outside what is familiar. This trip gave me everything I needed in that moment, and I am still so grateful that I gave myself these new memories to hold onto.

Would I do another road trip? Maybe not to Ghana.

But Benin? I might just be willing to do that again.

And as for travelling with strangers? Well, I still don’t know if I would make that a regular thing.

But I’m very glad I said yes this time.