First travel experience
I started travelling at the age of 12. The first place I went to was London in 1976 at the age of 12. It was exciting because it was the first time I flew on the plane. I didn’t sleep the whole night because I was going to London. We are from Isonyin, a small town near Ijebu Ode; my father believed that we had to go to our hometown for Christmas and then to London for summer. That was what we did. Around that period, there was this Madrid Amigo programme, whereby you fly to London via Spain and you are given 24-hour free accommodation and feeding, provided you flew Iberia Airlines. So, we always flew Iberia and had that one-day stay in Spain, eat free food and enjoy free accommodation. The dinner was a show that we all enjoyed.
Other places visited
After London, America was next. The experience was nice. I visited New York and New Jersey where my brothers live. My visit was on the occasion of my brother’s wedding. I was hugely impressed: the roads were quite wide; the houses were big; the food was good, and the weather was quite warm in New Jersey. I had also been to California, where another of my brother lives. In all, I had been to 10 states in the United States of America. I have also been around Europe: Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey. I have been to Israel. I have visited Dubai in the United Arab Emirate and Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Doha was very hot. But the city had nice hotels. I stayed in a seven-star hotel. The food was something to remember. They had nice shopping malls, you’d want to go in there and buy things.
Dream destination
Australia is where I yearn to go. I want to go and see the kangaroos.
Culture shock
I like seeing new things and I admire them, so I don’t experience culture shock. When you travel, you see nice things; starting from the airports, you find out that everything works outside Nigeria. The light won’t go off. The cars are beautiful. Even if you lose or forget anything, you will find it. So on the plane out of Nigeria, you feel relaxed because you know you are going to come back happy.
Travel essentials
I like having my makeup with me, though, I do buy makeup over there too because I like to look good all the time and I take a lot of photographs. When we were growing up, we would always plait African hairstyle because we wanted people to admire us when we travel out. Travelling now is not really as exciting as those days of old. Back then, it was like you are going to the whole world out there and it was a big thing.
Favourite food abroad
Kentucky Chicken.
Best time for travel
I like travelling in the summer. Occasionally, I travel during winter, if I have to. But preferably, summer is the best time for me. That is the time when you can wear anything you like, and there is always a lot of ice creams of different flavours.