Traveling

While in Nigeria, I celebrate holidays by traveling to my dad’s countryside home. I enjoy the tranquility of the countryside—the quiet mornings and evenings and the numerous familiar faces I knew from childhood.

I always have this endearing trend of staying away from the noise and pollution of towns. It brings me peace, and gives me time to reflect and write. I also connect with nature as well. I can study with little or no distractions in the countryside.

Each time I travel, I would usually take walks around the village. I take notes of developments and relax with nature’s soothing music—the birds’ cries up the skies are more apparent, the rain milder upon the roofs, and the wailing infants bring me back to life’s reality. I engage all my senses of feeling, hearing, and seeing. I observe the flowers that blossom by the roadside; I listen to the hard-working bees buzz and the roar of the waterfalls; I step in the stream’s currents and do some gardening and at the end of the day, watch the fantastic sunset drift away to faraway lands.

Now that’s the usual way I celebrate my holidays.