Greetings!
Traveling used to be something I enjoyed, but I've had to cut down on it due to severe motion sickness whenever I travel by car. This has significantly reduced my travel enthusiasm. I haven’t flown in an airplane yet, so I have no idea how my body might react to that. Back in the days when I traveled more often, I had some experiences that were truly my worst moments, while others were quite enjoyable.
Worst Travel Experience:
Traveling from my location to Lagos State is the longest journey I've ever made, and it remains my worst travel experience. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been if I had started experiencing motion sickness back then—maybe I would have ended up admitted in the bus! Lol.
The journey started very early, around 5:00 a.m., as I wanted to catch a direct bus to Lagos. Unfortunately, I missed that particular terminal because most tickets had been booked in advance. So, I had to rush to the nearest city to get a direct bus. During that whole period of running to catch a bus, it felt like a marathon race, and my phone was ringing non-stop, as if I was running away with someone’s life! Lol. My family was calling every few minutes to check if I had managed to find a bus, as it was my first time traveling to Lagos, and they were quite worried.
The actual journey finally began around 8:00 a.m., after all the chaos at the bus terminals. By then, I was already sweating and hungry, which I hated, as I don’t like to feel stressed on such occasions.
The journey started smoothly, and the driver was speeding past every vehicle on the road, which made me happy. After about four hours on the road, we stopped in one of the cities to stretch, use the restroom, and buy some snacks. However, when we resumed the journey, we encountered an endless traffic jam. That’s when things went from bad to worse.
The traffic was crawling, and the bus didn’t have an air conditioner, so we were all sweating. Being the type who feels extremely uncomfortable in such situations, I was miserable and hoping the jam would clear up. But no—each time we managed to get moving, we would hit another jam within 20 minutes. And mind you, we hadn’t even entered Lagos State yet, where traffic is notoriously worse. By the time we entered Lagos, I had given up hope of reaching my destination on time. The vehicles were crawling like snails.
I finally arrived at my destination around 11:47 p.m.—after leaving home at 5:00 a.m. What a crazy experience!
Best Travel Experience:
My best travel experience is a recent one, and though it didn’t have many memorable events, it brought me unexpected joy.
For years, I’ve struggled with motion sickness during travel, which has made me avoid certain trips. Last month, however, I had an unavoidable task in a neighboring city, which required a car journey. I would have skipped the trip due to my fear of nausea, but I couldn’t.
So, the day came, and we embarked on the journey in a rented, slightly smoky car. To my surprise, I didn’t feel nauseous at all during the drive! It was so unbelievable that I even checked to see if I had somehow taken medication beforehand, but no—I didn’t even own any motion sickness pills. The return trip was the same; I didn’t feel a single symptom of motion sickness.
The joy I felt that day was incomparable. I’ve never been so happy during a car journey!
Thank you for reading.
This is my entry to CleanPlanet prompt of the week.
All photos are mine