It's the holiday season once more, which means a lot of things. One of which is that most people would like to travel to wherever they want to be to celebrate the season, or just basically spend their time doing things out of their routines. This is great; however, traveling during festive times can be particularly challenging.
You see, everybody likes to look out for themselves, whether they come first or they come later. In any case, we'll always consider ourselves at some point; it's the basic structure of our DNAs. And it really should not be much of a problem until it begins to clash with the interests of others involved.
When it comes to transportation, especially on this side, things get a little bit tricky. People need to travel, and commercial drivers understand that, but that's when they take demand-supply leverage to a whole new level.
One thing I try to avoid doing whenever I have plans to travel is traveling on an unusual day or one around a festive period. And, given how rare days like those are, it should be fairly simple to plan accordingly, but plans can change, as they frequently do for me.
For some reason, school went on break really late this year, which largely contributed to my reason for traveling on a day so close to Christmas. Otherwise, I would have left for home way earlier than I had to.
When I was planning to travel, I laid out my possible expenses and made a budget. I usually allow for some wiggle room in my calculations due to inflation, and I did this time. I was low on funds, so I was on a really tight budget. I had also factored in the possibility of prices going higher, but what I had envisaged was inaccurate, thanks to the inflated inflation prices of practically everything.
Outrageous fares...
From my point of departure to my first checkpoint, getting a taxi was going to be difficult as they were mostly busy, so I opted to board a commercial motorcycle as that would even be faster. And when the rider charged me twice what I was used to, I began to suspect that I had made a mistake because I had imagined incorrectly. I was charged ₦200, rather than ₦100.
I was going to get a taxi from my next checkpoint, and I did find one. Here again, I was punched in the face with about double the price! This was even going to be a way longer distance, so I was charged ₦700, rather than ₦400. At this point, I was so enraged.
At the next checkpoint, the next taxi decided to have mercy on me and chose to charge me about triple for my fare. "How merciful," I thought to myself. I had no bargaining power, as the mere mention of any argumentative essay would result in the driver speeding away right in front of my eyes. Since I knew that most drivers would behave in the same way, I swallowed my essay and boarded the taxi.
The trend continued until I got home. And if not for the fact that I had actually taken extra cash for something else planned, I probably would have written a much different story from one of the drivers' house.
Another "scintillating" experience about traveling during the festive times on this side is that traffic jams are like plagues. And depending on the type of driver you encounter, you're either stuck in traffic or they pull some Fast & Furious stunts, landing you on some unfamiliar road with never-before-seen terrain. In my experience traveling home yesterday, I ate enough dust to build a castle.
Then there's the culture that local drivers have during times like these: they tend to cram extra passengers into their vehicles. So instead of having a single specimen of a human in the front seat, you could find two. And then, on a three-seater, you'd have four. Just imagine that. It's pretty annoying.
One other thing about traveling around this time is that it is often unsafe. This is when the number of kidnappings spikes. And it is for this particular reason that I never travel late. The latest I could travel, which is what I did, was when my arrival time would be somewhere around 18:00 hours. At least, I'd be close to home and far from lonely roads at that time.
I got home safe and ready to gyrate away this holiday. However, I couldn't help but feel disappointed in the way we heartlessly try to exploit ourselves during the festive seasons. If I had not had some extra cash with me, I'd have been stranded and making calls I wouldn't have needed to. I'll plan better next time...XD.
GIFs by Tenor
ℍ𝕖𝕪, 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕖𝕟𝕛𝕠𝕪𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕥, 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕪 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕒 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥, 𝕣𝕖𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕘, 𝕠𝕣 𝕦𝕡𝕧𝕠𝕥𝕖. 𝕀𝕥'𝕝𝕝 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕖 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕.
Be enjoyful to travel at Christmas holidays
!LUV
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Happy Holidays!
Yay! 🤗
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