The Spark Magazine (July 2018)

www.thesparkng.com
The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve
Intune With
Kemi Onabanjo on Travel Blogging
Kemi Onabanjo is a management consultant by day and a blogger by night. In this piece, she
took us through a journey with her as a travel blogger.
- By Kemi Onabanjo
Being a management consultant at a global firm like McKinsey
comes with the opportunity to work on projects across
multiple countries. However, travel for me started well
before I became a management consultant. While I worked
at Ericsson Nigeria, I travelled all over and eventually started
travelling to other countries (Ghana, Kenya) running change
management projects. My first trip to Kenya triggered my
curiosity to see the rest of Africa and I made it a goal to visit one
new African country every year.
My first trip ever was a family trip from Lagos to Port-Harcourt in
1995 to visit my Aunt. It was also my first time ever on an airplane
– we went by bus and returned by air and I can never forget how
excited I was to be in an airplane. It was so fascinating! First trip
abroad was also a family trip in 2000 to the United Kingdom to
visit my Uncle and his family.
I started travelling properly on my own in 2009 when I could
afford to sponsor my trips from my savings (thank God for good
jobs).
Planning Travels With a Full-time Job
This depends on if it is a proper vacation or a quick opportunistic
trip. Every year, since 2013, I take 4 weeks of unpaid leave off
work, and plan my proper vacations around that. The great thing
about working in an organization that is project-based is that
with good upfront planning (I am talking months in advance),
you can take time off without worrying about the world crashing
at work.
In addition, we have a good number of weekend public holidays
in Nigeria, and I try to plan quick trips around those as well. My
latest hack is to join group trips organized during public holidays
as a way to minimize planning stress and also meet new people.
Most Nigerian travel experience curators have their annual
calendars of group trips published in advance so it is easy to
plan (save money, book, get other friends to join, etc.) ahead.
Travelling Favourites and Non-Favourites
My favourite thing about travelling has to be going to new places
and actually seeing/experiencing things I have read or heard
about. It is always so cool for anticipation/expectation to be
met with reality. Those moments also make me grateful for the
opportunity that I have to be able to touch/see the things I could
only imagine before.
My least favourite thing used to be all the time wasted travelling
but now I actually love it because I do most of my writing when I
am on train rides or flights (a big chuck of this article was written
on a flight from Abuja to Accra). For some reason, a lot of my
inspiration comes when I am in the clouds. To be honest, I think
it has more to do with the fact that I can’t be on WhatsApp than
the clouds themselves, lol. That said, I am still not a fan of airport
security and all that ‘remove your shoes’ business.
Challenges Encountered While Travelling
Gosh, too many – here we go;
Uncertainty – “Abeg, when exactly is the public holiday
happening? Thursday/Friday or Friday/Monday?”
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