I remember this happening when i was in my first year of university, i was supposed to take the flight to Abuja from Lagos but i had to travel to Lagos first from school first . It was my first time and my parents had asked me if i would be traveling with friends or other school mates and i lied and said I would be traveling with friends. I didn’t even know the way to the airport, but somehow, I convinced myself I could navigate Lagos alone. I didnt know to use the map, i dont think using maps were popular then and i think uber was not also popular enough back then. I took a bus from Abeokuta, my bag heavy with books and another luggage bag(trolley) and my stomach grumbling from missing breakfast, which i intentionally did cos i wanted to set out early. The bus dropped me somewhere in Lagos, i didnt know where, I looked around and realized two things, first, I had no idea where I was and second I was officially alone in Lagos for the very first time.
Uber wasn’t really a thing back then so I wandered like a confused tourist, asking every random passerby for directions. Each answer contradicted the last but i didnt also want it to make it obvious that i was lost because the stories of Lagos were wild , i didnt want to get taken advantage of and making it obvious that i was a newcomer here. I asked one man and told me, “Airport? You go straight, turn left, then right, and then take a bus to mm2 airport and halfway through, he shouted after someone else, “Abi you fit direct this boy?” Lagos traffic was already a living nightmare at noon. By 2 PM, I was sweating so much I looked like I had jumped into a pool fully dressed, i regretted that day like crazy already. My parents were calling every hour asking why i wasnt at the airport already and where my friends were and i lied and lied , im just grateful they didnt ask to speak to my friends then. I finally got to the airport but instead of MM2 for domestic flights, the cab i took, got me to MM1 for international flights. I was sure I had unlocked some secret level of adulting. I actually made it but i had to pay for the flight right there and then, i paid more than double the price because i didnt even know to book my flight before going to the airport, i didnt even know i was supposed to. I waited at the airport for hours before the flight finally took off, i met a kind soul, he was lso running late and booked at the airport same as me, and he showed me the ropes about checking in and all that, i didnt even know how to put on the seat belt and during the flight my ears wanted to pop, i was partially deaf, my ears were hurting. From Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, I had to get to Minna. At that point, I realized I didn’t know a single reliable way to get home. I found a night car, crammed myself in with strangers, all of us pretending we didn’t smell each other’s dinner regrets.
By the time we got to the outskirts of Minna, it was almost midnight. Exhaustion hit me like a lagos danfo overtaking everything. I got off at my neighborhood, only to realize I couldn’t afford a taxi all the way to my house and then it happened. For the first time in my life, I slept outside. No mattress, no mosquito net, no warm room, just the cold, hard cement by the roadside, i saw a place by a car park and saw other people sleeping on the pavement but you wouldnt believe that their was a kind of owner there and he said i had to pay 500 naira to sleep on the pavement, which i had to honestly. I tucked my bag under my head, covered myself with my jacket and slept.
I woke up the next morning dusty, and still tired, i used my last 100 naira to call home to come pick me My neighbors stared at me like I had brought shame upon the whole street. Lol! My parents, all that mattered was that i was back home. This is a watered down version of the journey and moral of the story is to please NEVER Lie , it almost never ends well.