Getting Stuck In A Massive Traffic Jam In Lagos, Nigeria, 2012

Prior to visiting Lagos, Nigeria, we received many warnings from our friend Kunbi, our friend whose wedding we attended over there. "Nigeria is a great place to visit, but I don't want you to have any surprises," she explained. One of the things which she warned us about were Lagos' massive traffic jams or go slows, as they call them over there. Because part of Lagos is on islands and there are no through roads, traffic can get bunched up pretty easily. She even told us how it had taken her now-husband six hours to get to the airport when it's only a few miles away. Yikes! During our first few days in Lagos, we were lucky. It was Easter weekend so fewer people were on the road than usual. That said, it didn't take us long to get anywhere. Kunbi's mother drove us all over town without incident and we made it to the wedding with plenty of time to spare. It was on our last day that we got the full Nigerian experience. We'd asked our driver to take us to a market that Kunbi had recommended, only we couldn't find the location. As we drove back in the opposite direction, we found that the road that went alongside our hotel was clogged with traffic. We tried to get through for about 30 minutes, then decided to go back around to the highway. There, it was even worse. We soon learned that the President's wife was in town -- and there was a broken down car near the bridge. So the blocked off roads and car caused a backup that went on for miles and miles. It ended up taking us over five hours to get to the airport. I've seen some bad traffic in New York City, especially during rush hour, but never anything like this. It was chaos. Happily, we had food and water in the car. We also had a great opportunity to people watch. Whenever there's a slow down, the Nigerians treat the stand still as if it's a mobile market. Men came by the cars selling EVERYTHING! We could purchase food, magazines, clocks, jewelry, lawn furniture, vases .... a man even came up to our car with a cage full of parrots! It was a slow-going but fascinating ride. Fortunately, we had more than enough time to say good-bye to Kunbi's family and to make it to the airport without missing our plane. But the experience made me very glad that we don't own a car -- and made me appreciate New York City's vast transportation system.

Making Friends With A Monkey In Lagos, Nigeria, 2012

While we were in Nigeria, we visited the Lekki Conservation Centre. Though it's just outside of Lagos, our driver Rasheed had never heard of it before and ended up driving us about an hour outside of the city. We didn't mind, though, because it gave us the chance to see some of Nigeria's smaller towns and countryside. We finally made to the center in the late afternoon. It was hot as hell and humid to boot, but I didn't care -- we were off to see monkeys! If you've read any portion of this blog, you should know by now that I get a little crazy when it comes to animals. I find them fascinating, especially when I get to see wild animals that I would never see at home. The Lekki Conservation Centre is basically a patch of protected jungle. It's not a zoo and not even a sanctuary, really, as the animals have complete free reign. There's a small hut with some photos of animals inside, a little cafeteria and then a well-maintained trail that circles about a couple of miles through jungles and swamps. As we walked the trail, we didn't see too much. The swamps were pretty dried out as we were there at the very start of the rainy season, so the birds and crocodiles were nowhere to be seen. We then heard a rustling in the trees: Monkeys! I hurried over to the trees and caught some glimpses of their tails, but couldn't really see anything. I even tried to reason with them, calling, "Come here, babies," but they didn't acknowledge me. Later, though, I finally had my monkey encounter. As we were heading past the hut, toward the parking lot, we heard a noise above us ... and there were about a dozen monkeys climbing the trees. We stopped to watch them and take some photos and videos. The one who was sitting directly above me was a mama monkey who had an adorable baby clinging to her. I knew that what I was about to do was a little dangerous, but I grabbed my Flip video camera and slowly approached her. There was no way I was missing this! I held it up to film -- and the mama promptly pelted me with berries. Oof! I stepped back a bit and did get to film her for a minute before she hurried into another tree. Jon had better luck with his monkeys as none of them attacked him. Here are some of his shots:

I've seen plenty of monkeys in zoos, but it was very different seeing them in a more natural environment. I realize that in some countries monkeys are like squirrels to us -- they're all over the place so seeing them isn't that big of a deal -- but for us, it was one of the highlights of our trip.

Royal Nigerian Wedding, Lagos, Nigeria, 2012

A few years ago, my husband hired a lovely young law student to work at his law firm. We soon learned that Kunbi is a Nigerian princess. This April 9, Kunbi finally wed her prince (not literally in this case, as he's not royal), Olamide in a lavish traditional ceremony. We had the honor of attending the nuptials in Lagos, Nigeria. April 9 is also our wedding anniversary, so we celebrated our 12th year of marriage in unique style! Prior to the big day, Kunbi's mother arranged for us to meet with tailors so they could make our traditional Nigerian outfits. Kunbi's color was yellow so Jon was given a gold tunic-style shirt with embroidery, matching cotton pants and a gold cap. My dress was light yellow with a bold geometric print in pink and brown. I also had a matching head piece called a gele (pronounced gaylay, according to Kunbi). I didn't like wearing the gele so much, as I'm not a big fan of wearing hats in general, but I appreciated them making the outfit for me. Once we reached the event center, we came upon table after table after table. We couldn't believe how many chairs there were. Kunbi had expected about 1000 guests, but actually seeing the set up for that many people was amazing. Soon, guests began filling in, all dressed in traditional Nigerian formal wear. Kunbi's guests donned some variation of yellow, while Olamide's all wore some shade of blue. Every woman completed her look with a colorful gele. From the back, the headpieces resembled blooming flowers so I felt a bit as if I were in a garden. And then it was time for the wedding! A few people warned us that a Nigerian wedding is an endurance test as it goes on for a long time. They weren't exaggerating! The ceremony lasted about six hours and the bride and groom didn't appear until halfway during the proceedings. It certainly wasn't boring, though. For one thing, the event was much more casual than Western-style weddings. Most weddings in the United States, at least, are pretty formal during the ceremony portion. Guests don't eat, dance or mingle until after the couple has exchanged vows. But because this ceremony took so long, guests chatted with friends, danced and ate as everything was happening. Though they served typical Nigerian dishes, such as goat with melon seed and moin moin (bean cake), we unfortunately didn't get to taste too many dishes. They served us the "contintental" meal of fish and rice and well, I HATE fish. Jon managed to get some fried chicken for me, but we never did get a chance to sample anything else. Apparently, many more guests arrived than expected -- 2000! So they ran out of food at one point and had to order more. Still, we had a great time and didn't go hungry. The energetic woman in charge served as a preacher, performer, dj, emcee and wedding planner. Every family member was introduced and then a hymn and prayer was sung in his or her honor. Half were in English and half in Yoruba. Whenever she sang, another woman would join her and two men would enthusiastically beat African drums. It was quite a spectacle! When it was time for the bride and groom to enter, a crowd of about 50 clustered around each and danced them down the aisle. Meanwhile, the singers sang and drummers played, giving them a grand entrance. Kunbi told me afterward that her family had discussed having her arrive on a horse, but she nixed that idea. The woman in charge then had them say some funny vows. She instructed Olimade to bow down to his mother and tell her that he loves her, but then added, "But tell her that now you're going to love Kunbi more." To Kunbi, she had her tell Olamide to, "Make [Kunbi] a woman tonight." Everyone was laughing and having a blast, and not taking themselves seriously at all. Though there were 2000 people there and only three of us were Americans, we still had a sense of belonging. Everyone was warm and friendly and didn't treat us like outsiders. They were so glad to have us in their country and wanted our experience to be as joyful as possible. I love going to weddings in general, but this one was an experience -- and this was definitely one of our most memorable anniversaries.

Welcome To Naomi The Traveler!

The title for this blog is pretty simple -- my name is Naomi and I'm an avid traveler. I guess you can say that I come from a family full of wanderlust. My childhood wasn't like most kids'; since both of my parents were teachers, they had summers off and would take me all over the place. So by the time I was 15, I'd been to China, Japan, Israel, Egypt, Russia, Mexico, and all over Europe and the United States. The other kids thought I was a little weird ... but I always had interesting slide shows for projects. Now that my parents are retired, they travel more than ever. They've been pretty much everywhere you can think of: India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea... okay, they haven't yet been to Australia or New Zealand, or most of the Pacific, actually, but still, they've so far been to an impressive 90-something countries. Meantime, I've gotten my husband into traveling. In the 12 years we've been married, we've visited Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, England, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, Canada, Greece, Hawaii, Puerto Rico -- and just returned from a trip to the Netherlands/Nigeria. So we're doing pretty well! My goal is to set foot on every continent before my parents. They're missing Australia and Antarctica. I'm still missing South America and Antarctica. So it's anybody's game at this point, though we could fly from the tip of Chile to Antarctica. You go via a military plane and stay there for about three hours, but hey -- it's Antarctica! There are ice caps! Penguins! What more can you want? I kid, but in all seriousness, I think it's important to see the world and learn about the people and places with whom your share your Earth. We're fortunate because we live in New York City, which is a very international place, but while I love eating Chinese food, there's nothing quite like actually going to the real country. So welcome aboard my blog as we take a trip around the world! I'll be sharing travel stories from when I was a child and an adult, as well as travel tips and recommendations. And if you have any stories or tips of your own, feel free to add to the comments. To whet your appetite, here are some photos from last year's trip to Greece:

Safe journeys, Naomi