Drive off the beaten path from London to Lagos with Pelumi Nubi
Pelumi Nubi is a young Black woman who saved her hard-earned dollar to outfit her small, trusty dusty, purple Peugeot 107 for a roadtrip crossing over 6,213 miles has a month left in her journey from London, England to Lagos, Nigeria.
“I’m an explorer, adventurer at heart and I just wanted to connect these two places I consider to be home,” Nubi said. “I was very curious about the countries that connected these two places.”
At the time of the interview, Nubi was in Saint-Louis, Senegal. Nubi has or will be driving through the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina, Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin and plans to end in Nigeria on March 26. The trip has been entirely on her own.
Planning a visit to Lagos? Check out this travel guide.
Nubi’s journey aims to do more than get her from Place A to Place B. Being a young woman traveling alone lets Nubi stand as an example and as encouragement for others to plan their own adventure.
“There just doesn’t seem to be much representation [of] solo female traveler[s]...I wanted to be that,” Nubi said.
Read more about solo travel here and how travel can heal the soul here.
The travel content creator has been documenting her adventure across her social media pages, including Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, in order to share the beautiful sights as well as stand witness to the fact that not all of Africa is the war-torn land news media depicts the continent.
“Being able to show my audience, which is the goal, that this place is safe,” said Nubi. “Sometimes people just disqualify [Africa] because of what they read on social media or the media.”
Nubi’s social media audience has skyrocketed. Social Blade reports her Instagram follower account increased from 12,351 followers one week before her trip to 59,390 followers on her first day of traveling. Nubi is now sitting with over 238,000 social media followers.
Here are some tips on cybersecurity while traveling.
In her downtime between posts, Nubi is the founder and president of Oremi Travels, has done work with Daily Advice Podcast and The Black Explorer magazine. Her desire to make travel safe and exciting for any person is evident in her work and message.
“The journey is larger than myself. I want to represent anyone who has dreams but is doubtful. You can dare to step into the unknown – it’s the only way we get to connect with ourselves and inspire others.”
Watch the full interview below and see how a dog steals the show. Then go check out our other Publisher’s Studio pieces on the Detour YouTube channel at detour_xp.
Campbell Hamai is a journalist and associate producer with Detour through the Meredith-McClatchy Scholarship sponsored by the University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri. She is passionate about elevating the work and voices of POC authors and creators. Hamai can be reached through email at campbellhamai@detourxp.com.
Publisher’s Studio is filmed in Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri. The show is a collaboration between DETOUR and the Missouri School of Journalism. Publisher’s Studio is hosted and executive produced by Ron Stodghill, produced and directed by Travis McMillen and produced by Campbell Hamai.
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This story was originally published March 1, 2024 at 4:00 PM.