One of the things I find so interesting about travelling via public transportation is that you are all in on it. You don't just know what to expect and you have no clue about something as simple as who's going to sit beside you. I've been on transit to a very long distant place and the passenger sitting beside me turned the trip into an eating adventure. Haha. She was buying anything and everything she could lay eyes on.
What can I do? At least, she was spending her money. Not mine. Also, she wasn't causing any harm to me by doing that. Haha. I've also been in the worst situations where I had to sit beside passengers who made the journey a living hell.
Aside from passengers, you can also run into some interesting experiences while travelling via public transport due to Drivers. I don't enjoy it when a driver gets distracted when he's handling the wheel. Now, imagine what would be the case if the driver were the one distracting himself. Haha. It's never a good experience.
We also have some external factors like excessive disturbance by our Armed forces. Even while I was travelling last weekend, we got a whole lot of this and it was very frustrating because I was on a journey that approximately lasts for 12-15 hours. Nigerian roads make things worse, especially during the rainy season.
You get the gist, right?
Now, let's talk about one of my most memorable travelling experiences with public transport.
I wish it could be a happy tale, but it wasn't exactly like that. It was rather a bittersweet experience which started from the moment I decided to travel from the Eastern part of Nigeria to the Northern part of the country via a luxurious bus.
That's the exact bus I boarded for the journey.
This was in the first quarter of 2020 when I was called to serve my Country in the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC). I knew this would unavoidably be a night journey. I didn't have any problem with that. I came by 9am to buy my travel ticket and the departure time was set at 4pm. It was a trip from Onitsha to Plateau State so we estimated that I would get to my location by 10am the next day.
Working with that estimation was the first mistake we made because the bus which was supposed to leave Onitsha by 4pm was still at the Park by 8pm. Haha. It delayed for 5 hours before finally getting started. As if that wasn't enough delay, we got to realize that the bus was faulty. We had to stop at several areas during the journey and seek the services of Electricians, Mechanics, Vulcanizers... Name it!
Whenever it stops like that, even in the middle of the night, some passengers choose to step down and flex their leg muscles while others were too pissed to even step out of their seats 😂. I'm laughing right now but, boyyyyy... I was so fed up with that journey. Haha. I was getting so many calls from family to know how far we've gone. I couldn't lie about the situation so, I repeatedly had to say the truth about the messed up happenstances we were dealing with.
At some point, we got tipped off about a robbery that was going on some kilometres ahead. Our driver and so many other drivers had to pack their vehicles in the nearest military checkpoint until we started seeing other vehicles that came from the opposite lane. Throughout the time this stuff was happening, I was no longer surprised by anything. Seriously, I was ready for the worst. Like, even if we spend 3 days travelling and the driver decides to turn the bus and take us back to where the journey started, I wouldn't even be surprised by that.
I remember having to take out my toothbrush and toothpaste the next morning to brush my teeth before getting something to eat from a roadside vendor when our bus parked there for folks to eat breakfast.
At the moment, whenever I see a luxurious bus, the whole incident that happened on that travel flashes into my mind, immediately. Haha. You would think I would say some poetic stuff like; "I won't enter a luxurious bus again", but that's far from the resolution I made. As far as I'm concerned, I'm genuinely looking forward to my next travelling experience with a luxurious bus. Haha. I'm ready for all the drama that comes with it.
Here is a video where a comparison is made between Ghana Luxurious Bus & Nigerian Luxurious Bus
The video isn't mine, but it can put things into perspective.
Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop Or Comma.
The Thumbnail Image is mine, taken from my phone gallery.
First Posted Using InLeo Alpha