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Taking The Train From Lagos to Ibadan + A Weekend Staycation At IITA
After the last staycation at Lighthouse Beach House, I was itching to go out of Lagos for a weekend. I went through my ever growing list of staycation options and settled on Ibadan which turned out to be a great choice, it afforded me the opportunity to take the new train from Lagos to Ibadan and finally explore the renowned International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). As soon as my…
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Weekend Getaway in Lagos: Lighthouse Beach House
I started following the development of Lighthouse Beach House in its late stages sometime last year via the founder’s instastory. It was easy to tell that they were onto something different from the usual beach house getaway locations in Lagos. Sometime in 2019, I expressed my disappointment at the state of Croc Smile beach house so it came as no surprise that Lighthouse bought it over and…
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Alternative Hangout in Lagos: Go Paintballing
Alternative Hangout in Lagos: Go Paintballing
If I had a dollar for every complain of how Lagos hangout/date scene almost always involves restaurants and food, I would have a house in Banana Island right now. I decided to start the Alternative Hangout in Lagos series to highlight all the other fun things you can do in Lagos. However, I cannot promise that they won’t involve food at some point or the other.
(more…)
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Weekend Getaway in Lagos: Epe Resort and Spa
Weekend Getaway in Lagos: Epe Resort and Spa
Epe Resort and Spa is a hidden gem located on the outskirts of Lagos. My first visit to Epe was in 2018 to explore Epe Mangroves, we visited on a Sunday when the roads were free so the journey time was short. This time around, our road trip to Epe Resort & Spa from Surulere lasted over 8 hours because we had to pick members of our group at different locations along the way.
There are two…
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Ouidah is a small, rural town located in the French-speaking country of Benin Republic. Benin Republic shares land borders with Nigeria in the west. In 2018, I stumbled upon what I refer to as The Ouidah Lakehouse while looking at different accommodation options in Benin. I was immediately fascinated by the beautiful cabin with its views and I knew I had to visit. Within three months, I organized a girls` trip and we had the best time of our lives in 2018 during our weekend there.
After that initial trip to the Ouidah Lakehouse in 2018, I kept in touch with one of the owners, Jose. Every now and then he sent me pictures of the updates that were being made to the lake house and I promised to visit as soon as possible. The renovation of the interior to create a master suite upstairs complete with a tub overlooking the lake sealed my decision to revisit.
After concluding plans for a revisit, I put out an open call in my Ouidah 2020: Wellness Weekend post. Within a few weeks, I had my perfect travel group of six ready and we were on our way to Ouidah. The road trip from Lagos took around eight hours including a stop at a local supermarket to purchase basic food items.
On arrival at the lake house, everyone whipped out their phone to share pictures and videos of the gorgeous space. We settled into our different rooms to unpack after toasting to a fun stay. We had dinner on the patio overlooking the lake, played some games then retired early to help us rest from the road trip.
The next morning, while the boys kayaked on the calm water, I took a few minutes to myself to relax on the hammock and take in the beautiful surroundings. I admired the extra building that was added to the compound to accommodate six more guests but couldn’t do a house tour because it was occupied at that moment.
We had breakfast on the patio again before going for our individual sixty minutes of massage sessions. I could feel the Lagos tension knots fade at the touch of our masseuse. We all dozed off after our sessions. We had dinner when we woke, played some games, and settled in for a marathon movie night with the aid of our projector.
We spent the most part of the next day taking pictures, discussing various subjects, and playing more games. By midafternoon, we had our relaxing sip and paint session then headed to the beach opposite the house. The best part of the beach at evening is the cool water and sand, we spent time splashing, chasing the waves, walking the length of the beach, interacting with the locals in our stilted French, and relaxing in the abandoned canoes. We returned to the lake house when it got dark to spend the night packing for our return trip the next day and watching movies into the early morning.
The Ouidah Lakehouse has easily become one of my favorite places to visit because it is close to Lagos and the total cost doesn’t leave a hole in my pocket when I travel in a group. If you would like to visit sometime, I curated a travel guide to help you seamlessly plan your own trip. You can purchase it here. If you would rather have me plan the trip for you for a $50 fee, leave me a message here and I`ll be in touch.
Another Weekend Getaway At The Ouidah Lake House Ouidah is a small, rural town located in the French-speaking country of Benin Republic. Benin Republic shares land borders with Nigeria in the west.
The first time I came across Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate was early 2019 via Travel with a pen, it immediately went on my to-visit list. After canceling my Cape Verde trip because of the pandemic and flight restrictions, I was itching to go anywhere near me to relax. A friend suggested IITA which in turn reminded me of my desire to visit Lakowe Lakes.
Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate is a private community encompassing a resort, golf course, spa, Balinese-inspired cottages, short-stay apartments and residential houses. It is located on Lekki-Epe Expressway which is about an hour from Lekki Phase One on a good day.
Within a few days of my decision to unwind at Lakowe Lakes, I put together a group of four and concluded plans for a weekend getaway. The booking process took around a week because communication with their handler was a nightmare. The estate was easy to locate using Google Maps. On arrival, we were welcomed by nice butlers who confirmed our reservations, armed us with all the important information we needed and showed us to our apartment for the weekend.
We chose the 2-bedroom apartment because of our group size. The apartment cost us 90,000 Naira per night, an additional 7.5% VAT and a 50,000 Naira refundable deposit. There are other cheaper accommodation options like the studio cottage, 1-bedroom cottage and 1-bedroom apartment while the higher-priced options include the 2-bedroom cottage and 3-bedroom apartments.
Three days to our stay, I was informed we had been upgraded to the 2-bedroom cottage and would be compensated with complimentary breakfast to make up for the lack of kitchen in the cottage. Unfortunately, we had to do a bit of back and forth to get them to serve breakfast at past noon. It consisted of apples, a croissant each, bad yogurt and those mini packs of cereals that reminded me of secondary school. The air conditioner in one of the rooms wasn`t cooling and there was a power outage for hours at night. The cottage was smaller than the apartment and because I already had the cabin experience at Ouidah in March, I wasn’t too enthused.
We spent the weekend trading stories of how the pandemic had affected us, drank enough to make fishes jealous and played dress up. In the afternoons, we went paddle boating and had a lovely little picnic by the cottage. Our golf course tour was rescheduled for the day we were supposed to checkout but we skipped it because room service mistakenly jammed us in for hours. The best part of the weekend was the people I went with, they made it easy to look past the misgivings of the staff at Lakowe Lakes.
Ive had quite a number of people ask me about our stay, truthfully, I wouldnt recommend Lakowe Lakes and Ill definitely not be going back till I hear theyve made improvements. To book a stay, send an email to reservationsxxlakowelakes.com. Don’t bother calling any of the numbers on their Instagram page or website, theyll end up redirecting you to send a mail. Also, you have to be extremely patient because theyre terrible with replying emails on time, I complained quite a number of times about it but I was ignored.
Weekend Getaway in Lagos: Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate The first time I came across Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate was early 2019 via…
“Alex, what are you going to do on your birthday?”
If I had a dollar for every time I got this question and its variations in the days leading to my birthday, I wouldn’t have to work after this pandemic. For the first time in years, I do not feel any anxiety or have the need to dissect my life and point out all the things I could be doing better at this age. It helps that everything is slow-paced at the moment.
Growing up, I had a clear image of what I wanted life to look like in my mid-twenties, being married and having my first child were top two on my list. Now I’m just trying to make it past the daily hurdles of adulting and the challenges that come with living as a woman in Lagos, Nigeria. My 12-year-old self would never have thought curtains would be so damn expensive and ‘ashewo’ would cease to have its intended effect on many Nigerian women.
The most important thing growing older (and hopefully, wiser) has taught me is, never be afraid to fail. Last year, I decided 2020 would be my gap year, the year I take a little break from my career projections and channel my energy into trying out all the other things that make me happy. I started building a lifestyle company with two of my favorite women and I’m excited for the things we’ll do with it in the nearest future.
If there’s anything this COVID-19 pandemic has made clearer, it’s the importance of focusing on the things that bring me joy instead of dwelling on the minor irregularities that do not matter in the grand scheme of things. In no particular order, here are the five things I want more of going forward:
To earn more. I know I possess skills that can help me earn more than I currently do but laziness and unnecessary sentiments keep holding me back. That is going to change.
To love more. If you read my 2019 Review post, you already know I was open to new relationships for a very brief period last year. Unfortunately, I clammed up. Now I feel like I’m ready to try again. To love more. In friendships and relationships.
To travel more. I like the look of surprise on people’s faces whenever I tell them I’m only interested in seeing African countries at this point in my life, it’s priceless. I’m finally going to prioritize my cross-country travel after I tick Cape Verde off my list.
To give more. I love the feeling I get when I give. I think it does more for me than the recipients of my kindness so I’m going to focus on giving more of my time and resources.
To be more active in my friendships. I often feel like I do the barest minimum in my friendships. My friends aren’t complaining but I know I need to do better. And I will.
Cheers to growing older and saving money on celebrations because everyone has to stay indoors.
Love,
Alex.
On Turning Older + Wanting More “Alex, what are you going to do on your birthday?” If I had a dollar for every time I got this question and its variations in the days leading to my birthday, I wouldn’t have to work after this pandemic.
Togo is one of the smallest countries in Africa bordered by Ghana to the west and Benin Republic to the east. I have been to both Ghana and Benin Republic multiple times but somehow, visiting Togo never crossed my mind. When I figured this out, I decided to schedule a weekend getaway to Lomé, it’s capital city to see a glimpse of what the country had to offer. I put out the word on Twitter and in no time, I got my travel buddies and we made plans to visit during the Easter break in 2019.
We were booked to leave on the 6:30 bus but my travel buddies encountered some problem locating the ABC bus park at Amuwo Odofin so we joined the 9:40 longer bus instead. The journey took 10 hours and by 19:40 we got to the bus park in Lomé where we practiced our rusty French in a bid to get a cab to our apartment. With the help of our hostess, we ordered Pizza, drank Belgian beer and settled in nicely.
We stayed at Ahome because it was in a central location and they had stellar reviews online. The co-owner, Karen, was a huge help with communicating in French on our behalf throughout the duration of our stay. We were also regaled with poolside stories of how she moved across continents with her partner to sell Belgian beverage and eventually set up Ahome.
For our first full day, we hired a cab for a road trip to Kpalime with the hopes of seeing the much talked about Chateau Viale and waterfall located there, quad biking to the waterfall was also top of our list. We stopped at the castle first. Chateau Viale is situated atop a mountain with breathtaking views, it was used as a passage for slaves many years ago. The tour was given entirely in French and when we had difficulties understanding, we dismissed the guide and spent the rest of our time there roaming the castle grounds and running on the steps.
After that, we set out to visit the Cascade de Kpime waterfall but on getting there, we were informed we wouldn’t be able to do the hike to the waterfall because of the Easter holiday. We were bummed but settled for buying keepsakes instead. We got back into Lomé by evening, rested for a while and walked around the city looking for late-night food spots with the aid of Google Maps. We settled for dinner at a roadside restaurant after which we retreated to our apartment to drink Belgian beer and have late-night poolside conversations.
The next day, we set out early to explore the city of Lomé. We started at the local market where we encountered men who very much reminded me of the touts in Yaba market in Lagos. We must’ve sucked on a dozen fan yogo each while haggling for fabrics in the sweltering heat. Next, we visited the Independence arch, took a couple of photos then headed to Hotel. Getting to the hotel was a hassle as the security personnel initially refused us entry on hearing we were Nigerians and was insistent on seeing our international passports while freely granting entry to other guests. After a lot of back and forth, we were finally let into the premises. At this point I was beyond upset, we had quick cocktails and decided to spend the rest of the day looking for cute spots we found online. After getting lost twice in a cab and having heated arguments with bike riders in different languages, we found some places that were underwhelming and nothing like their Instagram pictures. Looking back, arguing with French-speaking men in English is hilarious.
The next day we did the return trip to Lagos. Although I was glad to cross off another country in Africa, Lomé wasn’t everything I expected it to be but the slow-paced and relaxing environment made up for its shortcomings. For now, I’ll be sticking to Benin Republic for my quick getaway fix.
An Easter Weekend in Lome, Togo Togo is one of the smallest countries in Africa bordered by Ghana to the west and Benin Republic to the east.
Cape Verde 2020: No Stress
Cape Verde 2020: No Stress
Sometime last year, I sent out a tweet saying Cape Verde would become the Dubai alternative for Nigerians looking for affordable travel. Since then, hundreds of Nigerians have trooped to Sal, one of the Archipelagos to experience the beauty that is Cape Verde. In three months, I’ll be one of them.
We’ll be staying on the beautiful island of Sal, one of the ten Archipelagos that make up Cape…
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The first time I came across Cafeteria restaurant on Instagram, the promise of hangover cures on their bio caught my attention. Immediately, I added them to my must-try list and convinced my friends to come along for a restaurant review.
Cafeteria is located at 16, Akin Adesola, Victoria Island. There is a hard-to-miss signpost bearing the name of the restaurant. There is an indoor and outdoor sitting area. The outdoor sitting area is easy to miss if you visit during the day but the lighting at night makes it look really beautiful.
It is easy to tell the restaurant and its staff are still trying to find their rhythm, which sometimes can be hard for a new restaurant in Lagos with everyone trying to visit and find out what the new rave is about. That aside, it took the waitress 30 minutes to offer me a menu on an iPad, the menu looks like a work in progress with sparse lunch and dinner offerings.
I ordered the chicken fontega panini and spiked raspberry iced tea while my friends got the summer house chicken salad, chicken and french fries, iced milk bubble tea and house sweet tea. Our food took over an hour to arrive because the waiters decided that attending to white customers who walked in 30 minutes after we did were more important.
At this point, brethren, I was ready to go home.
One waiter who noticed what happened came over and was very apologetic but the damage had already been done.
Eventually, we were served and thankfully, the food did not disappoint. The panini was really good and the fries had none of that staleness I’ve come to associate with most Lagos restaurants. I dislike ordering chicken when eating out because I never get the satisfaction of eating it the way I really want to, bones and all but the chicken served here was boneless so you do not have to worry about cutlery wars. The salad tasted really fresh and the dressing was a winner.
After our meal, the owner stopped by our table to apologize for the slow service and assist 2 more of our friends who joined us much later with their orders. I’m hoping their service time and attitude improve plus they need to flesh out their menu because I would like to revisit, it is really a cute spot for breakfast dates, meetings, and small group hangouts. See menu at the end of this post, prices are inclusive of all taxes.
Summer house chicken salad – 5000 Naira
Chicken fontega panini – 4000 Naira
Chicken and french fries – 4500 Naira
Spiked raspberry iced tea – 3000 Naira
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Restaurant Review: Cafeteria Nigeria The first time I came across Cafeteria restaurant on Instagram, the promise of hangover cures on their bio caught my attention.
2019: What A Year
Every year I try to post a recap of the highs and lows. I love how it affords me the opportunity to critically analyze my entire year, there are some events I would leave out due to personal reasons. Without further ado, here are the good, bad and ugly for 2019:
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Ouidah 2020: Wellness Weekend
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Sometime in 2018, I stumbled upon The Ouidah Lakehouse and after sharing pictures of it on Twitter, I took a trip with 5 other amazing women to spend a few nights there. It was the best part of my entire year.
In April this year, the owner, José sent me a video highlighting the major changes he made to the Lakehouse and I knew I just had to visit again. This time, I get to carry YOU along to have…
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How To Get The New E-Yellow Card In Nigeria
Earlier this year, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced that all old yellow cards would become invalid and a new e-yellow card would replace it instead.
What is a Yellow Card and Why Do You Need One?
The yellow card is a small booklet that shows proof of receipt of the yellow fever vaccination and other vaccinations like oral polio and cholera vaccines. These vaccines protect you from…
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Restaurant Review: RSVP is Perfect For Date Night in Lagos
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For a restaurant that has been in business for over five years in Lagos, RSVP is one of the few restaurants you can count on for good food and service every single time, they’ve definitely hacked the consistency thing.
The thing is, with Lagos restaurants it’s like playing a game of roulette, today you get good service and food, tomorrow you get good food and meh service so you always have to…
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Weekend Getaway In Lagos - PopBeachClub
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Last weekend I had the opportunity to get away from the usual hustle and bustle (my English Teacher would be proud) of central Lagos to relax with the good people of PopBeachClub.
Most beach houses/resorts in Lagos require long drives so I was relieved when I heard the locations would be Tarkwa and Ilashe as it would only require a short boat ride to both destinations. Of the two destinations, my…
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4 Reasons To Wear Sunscreen || Product Review: SunBum Sunscreen
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You’ve probably heard/read about the reasons why you should wear sunscreen and gone right ahead to disregard the information especially if you have dark skin, just like me. It took a bit of convincing and my making the decision to cultivate a good skin care habit to finally start using sunscreen. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do a collage of photos when I’m in my 50s with the popular #BlackDontCrack
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Hiking At Ado Awaye || A Visit To Africa’s Only Suspended Lake
These days I find myself jumping at opportunities to visit new places and create new memories. It didn’t come as a surprise to my friends when I impulsively decided to join a group of people to go hiking in Ado Awaye, Oyo State and visit the popular suspended lake – Iyake Lake. Did you know that there are only two suspended lakes in the world and the Iyake Lake in Nigeria is one of them?
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