Yomi Adegoke My life in travel
The Slay in Your Lane author on hitchhiking in Germany and the upside of travelling solo
I TRAVEL LESS FOR PLEASURE THAN I’D LIKE TO and it’s hard to say how many times a year. It varies, but maybe once; on a good year twice. For work, I do one or two trips. My co-author and I went to a book festival in Lagos two years ago that was literally on the same road as my family house. That same year, we went to Zurich for a bookrelated conference and I went to Amsterdam to take part in a bookrelated talk.
WHEN WE WERE IN LAGOS, WE WENT TO A CLUB CALLED BOGOBIRI which was really, really cool. It was quite artsy and edgy. I’d also recommend Black Bell Restaurant in Lekki, outside Lagos. They do lovely snails.
I USED TO THINK THAT I NEEDED A GROUP OF FRIENDS TO TRAVEL WITH but then I went to Brazil three or four years ago on my own. It was one of the best holidays I’ve had because I wasn’t tied to other people’s itineraries. I made loads of friends as I stayed in a hostel. I would love to go to Sao Paulo next.
MY EARLIEST MEMORIES OF GOING ABROAD WOULD HAVE TO BE TRIPS TO NIGERIA. We’d go to my Nan’s house in Lagos, which is lovely. I remember that she had a massive pool and it felt like a hotel.
I REMEMBER GOING TO ATLANTA, GEORGIA when I was about eight or nine. It was really depressing though because we didn’t leave the house. We went to visit an aunt and I just remember staying in and playing with her kids. Hopefully, I’ll get to revisit as an adult and actually see what Atlanta is about.
THE MOST ADVENTUROUS TRAVEL EXPERIENCE THAT I’VE HAD was when I did a thing called Jailbreak when I was at university. It
Yomi Adegoke, below, enjoyed doing her own thing on a holiday to Brazil was a student competition to raise money for charity by seeing how far you could get from the UK in 36 hours by hitchhiking. I only heard about it the night before, so I tagged along with some friends. We went through Brussels and Amsterdam and then, in the end, we ended up in Germany.
GETTING BACK FROM GERMANY WAS FAR MORE DIFFICULT than getting there. We were three girls, one from Singapore and two of us were black British Nigerians. Our Singaporean friend got tired and took a flight home. The
dynamic
changed when it was just the two of us in terms of people picking us up and feeling slightly more endangered. It was a real eye-opener.
THE MOST RELAXED HOLIDAY I EVER HAD WAS when I went to Agadir in Morocco with an ex-boyfriend, with whom I’m still good friends. That was in 2016. We were really tired and neither of us wanted to do anything, so we did an all-inclusive with Thomas Cook and stayed at a resort for two weeks. It was really nice. We ventured out maybe twice in that entire time. Mainly we just ate and watched the on-location entertainment. It was a very lazy holiday.
GOING TO CUBA WITH MY EX WAS PHENOMENAL because he was half Cuban and had family there. I got to see the real Cuba and it was the best holiday I’ve had in my life. Friends from uni had come out at the same time. The food was horrendous but I didn’t particularly mind. Everybody assumed I was Cuban because I’m black (as they did in Brazil).
I WENT TO PARIS IN JANUARY LAST YEAR with my mum. My sister had kindly bought tickets for Christmas. I’ve been there about four times now. It’s so beautiful and obviously amazing for shopping and for food. It sounds very clichéd, but it’s just super romantic, so I have a lot of time for Paris.
MY WORST TRAVEL EXPERIENCE WAS WHEN I WAS young and my sisters and I got lost on our way back at the airport in Maryland. It felt like we were lost for hours! This lovely American woman helped us and I remember us sobbing as she gave us back to our mum. Generally, I’m pretty lucky with travelling. Things go quite smoothly. I’m Nigerian and even though we’re late for weddings and everything else, when
£8.99; sleekmakeup.com
Pillow spray
I get severely jet-lagged and have insomnia anyway, and this pillow spray is very
good for that.
£35; cultbeauty.co.uk