Last updated on August 9, 2026
I landed in Lagos 36 hours after my originally scheduled flight, still feeling salty.
At one point, I had no desire to visit Nigeria anymore. I had been excited about the trip. My family had been talking about it for years, and we were travelling to explore our ancestry and celebrate my stepmother’s belated 61st birthday. But after my visa ordeal, I was ready to wash my hands of the country.
In the end, I went anyway because I wanted to be at the party. I decided to give Nigeria a chance and see what it was like, even though I had lost my initial excitement.
visa delayed
Everybody going on the trip has dual citizenship in St. Lucia and Canada. Except for me, they’d all used their Canadian passports to apply for Nigerian visas. I hate having to pay for visas, so I figured I would use my St. Lucia passport, but I first needed to renew it. I figured it was worth it since I also had plans to visit Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and Brazil on this trip. My St. Lucia passport edged out my Canadian for all of these places.
My Ghana ETA arrived within seconds. Nigeria proved a bit more challenging. After about 24 hours, they asked me to re-upload my flight bookings and accommodation. I did it right away, through the portal and by email. My family got their visas in less than 24 hours after resubmitting their information using Canadian passports. But 72h later, I still had no visa.
I kept contacting immigration using their verified methods and was told that everything was under review and processing. I called and used WhatsApp Business to check in. Then I was told something obscure about how I shouldn’t have applied by myself and that I could pay to expedite it. Then the application disappeared from the portal. I contacted visa help again. It reappeared, but still no visa.
I showed up at Edinburgh airport but had to miss my original flight. British Airways would not allow me to use only the segment to London. Since the ticket was purchased with miles, I lost the miles for the ticket but the taxes were refunded. Then, I had to get new tickets to London and to West Africa if I still wanted to take the trip.
I got a ticket to London and decided to go to Ghana. I bought separate tickets from Gatwick to Casablanca and Casablanca to Accra, hedging my bets that I would get the Lagos visa and be able to change the second segment.
There was no visa until a friend called a friend in immigration. It finally arrived with about 7 hours to spare before I needed to change my flight from Accra to Lagos. I finally flew from London to Casablanca and then onward to Lagos. I arrived on the morning of the party, about 36 hours later than planned.
just like tv
My sister said she had seen such parties on TV, but she never thought she would experience one in real life. 😂
The birthday party was truly flamboyant and spectacular. The whole place at the Radisson Blu in Lagos was designed in my stepmother’s chosen colours. There were flowers everywhere. There were photos of her over time at the entrance. The whole atmosphere was dramatic.
At the party, I was there for the excitement. I was looking forward to the menu because I knew my stepmother had selected it, and it was time with family. The music was non-stop dance tunes, focused on Afrobeats. I also got to meet my uncle’s wife for the first time and his daughters, who live in Nigeria. He’s my stepmother’s brother, but we were friends way before she met my dad. We’re from the same community in St. Lucia.
My first family trip
The trip was challenging at the start. And visiting was also complicated by the fact that it rained a lot. But it was also a first, a family trip with my dad, stepmother and 2 of my sisters.
Although this wasn’t a solo trip, my solo travel put me in good stead. I figured out how to order groceries using Chowdeck. I had some misadventures, ordering one bottle of water instead of twelve, for example, but I was figuring it out. My sister and I took an Uber to go grocery shopping, although it was the only time I went out without our local host.
I only saw Lagos. There were lots of gated communities and lots of security. I was warned about going out on my own, taking Ubers and being very careful, so that really affected the lens I had for the city. That’s very different from how I typically experience a city. I was open to doing even more, but the rain and the traffic discouraged me. I wanted to go to a lounge and people-watch or maybe go to a coworking space and meet some colleagues. But the security warnings from family were loud and deterring.
We didn’t choose the best time to visit Lagos. It rained almost every day, sometimes all day. On Lekki, we didn’t get to go to the market because it was flooded. In Badagry, we didn’t visit the island where there is the Point of No Return because none of us wanted to take a canoe there in the rain. There had also been a garbage strike, and there was garbage piled up in places, and we watched people look through it to find things they wanted to salvage.
“Bless me, ma”
The poverty is palpable, and there is poverty in St. Lucia, but it seemed much more in your face. And people just seemed to be more hardworking and with a hussle mentality. Everyone everywhere, from the guard to the customs officer, was asking for a tip with the same phrase: “Bless me, ma.” It seemed to be everywhere, all the time.
I thought a lot about the poverty everywhere, so I was sympathetic. But the constancy of it also made me quite uncomfortable and pressured.
drumbeat welcome
We had a nice experience at the Nike Art Gallery in Lagos, founded by artist and textile designer Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye. We met Nike herself. She was very hospitable, and the musicians provided a welcome for us.
My friend had asked me if we were welcomed at the airport with drums. I laughed and said no. At Nike, it felt exactly like that. It felt like we were being welcomed to Africa with music and drums. Everybody got a turn being brought into the dancing circle, and it was fun.
We didn’t realise we were supposed to reward the musicians with money until our host showed us by example. I was grateful to have someone show me. I usually like to keep small change so I can support musicians as I go around town. I don’t have a problem paying for things I appreciate, when somebody goes above and beyond, or when I’m delighted.
remote working
After a few days off to explore Lagos, I had to get back to work. I got an international SIM card for Nigeria before I left the UK and the Airbnb was supposed to have Starlink. However, the connection was very unreliable, and I often had to hotspot from my uncle or stepmother. I’m guessing that the Starlink in the building was shared with too many apartments. I was able to work okay, but video calls were too much, and I had to miss a call.
Working in Ghana was similarly difficult. I also got an online eSIM but it was unreliable. Thankfully I was travelling with a friend most of the time, and I used her data. She had a SIM that one of her relatives got for her, but she didn’t have a Ghana Card to get me a SIM card, so we were never successful in doing that. If I had gone downtown to the main office, I could potentially have used my passport, but it was not convenient from where I was staying. None of the offices we checked worked, and we went to Cape Coast the very next day after I arrived.
My friend’s hotspot was good enough for video calls when we were not in her village of Nsawam. In the village, it worked enough for me to use the internet, albeit a bit slow. For the 3 days when I worked, I worked from the home of a friend of hers, and I went to a hotel that advertised good WIFI access. The hotel Wi-Fi was good enough for video calls. But after these two debacles, I figured I needed a better plan for Rwanda.
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