Fun without Traveling this Christmas

Image Courtesy Pottery barn.com

It’s the season where you get to spend money without regret(initially) till January hits you and you wonder why you had to go and do that😊. Well if you do not have the opportunity of traveling during this period there are still some pretty fun things to do like going to the beach with friends, go kart racing, a visit to an amusement park, going on a cruise where you get to have lunch or dinner aboard the ship, or going to a resort where you can relax. All this are various ways you can spend his season and not feel so guilty of having spent so much in January.

Now the trick to this is going together as a group, why you may ask! That’s because you tend to pull resources together as a group and in essence spend less than you would have if you went alone. You can get discounts as a group for boat cruises and the likes.

All in all the most important thing about Christmas is sharing your time with your loved ones, family and friends alike. It’s a time to thank God for each other and for the good health you all have received from God through out the year.

So as we all celebrate Christmas wherever in the World you are, just remember the main reason is to be joyful and create beautiful memories you will remember in ages to come. Have a Very special Christmas.🌲🌲🎅🎅

 

Are you a Storyteller?

One thing I enjoyed the most growing up was stories or the act of Storytelling. Stories helped my imaginations a lot, as listening to a story like the ones on Tales by Moonlight’ (a TV programme that aired on NTA in the nineties) sparked a certain fire in my mind. Also, reading books, in my younger years it was the books of Enid Blyton with the likes of ‘The Secret Seven’ , ‘Famous Five’, ‘Malory Towers’, ‘The Wishing Chair’ that did this for me. These books were a getaway from the reality of everyday life into places far away.

Now what is the relationship between stories and travel? Travelers are great story tellers, traveling turns you into a storyteller as you will have seen and experienced places beyond your normal everyday environment. If there is one thing people need these days, it is a break from the norm, and to stop the normal routine, you need to be intentional about it. You need to tell yourself that you need a break and need to do something unusual. Story telling does not mean you have to write a book or novel, it comes as you talk with people. A traveler can be spotted easily by the way he/she speaks, since such a person has been exposed.

It is a desire that we all live our lives having written beautiful pages in our lives that at the end of time, we would have been fulfilled. You don’t necessarily need to spend millions to travel, a little vacation to a neighboring state or country can do the trick, and when you have the money to go farther, please do.

At the end of it all, one question that you would ask yourself is Am I a Storyteller?

Till I come to you again, this is thetravelchic signing off, remember to have beautiful stories😊.

The Relocation Frenzy

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths”                                                                                                                 – Walt Disney

Relocation seems to be the song on everyone’s lips today!

In the face of local political and economic frustrations besetting the country, who does not relish the thought of moving away from it all? Take Tafe Samuels, a young working-class woman living in Lagos. Tafe gained her undergraduate degree in Economics three years ago from a university in Abuja, and moved to Lagos for better working opportunities. After a long and arduous search, she secured employment in a logistics company, with a take-home pay of N90,000 (about USD250) per month. This job barely pays the rent and utility bills in exorbitant Lagos (she had to rely on her parents for that), and half of this is spent on transport, groceries and entertainment. Like the rest of Lagos, she dips into the other half to secure electricity and water when the public infrastructure does its regular hiccups, and can barely put away any money in savings. She regularly dreams of escaping the “hand-to-mouth” cycle, but is scared to move an inch from where she is due to fear of the unknown.

Tafe however knows that things could be way better than they currently are. On her secondary school and university reunion groups on Facebook and WhatsApp, she can tell some of her former classmates are getting a better lease on life. Last month, Tunde and Kelechi posted their graduation pictures and Master’s certificates they had both gotten from top-rated universities in Australia and Toronto respectively. From her status updates and pics, Somto is clearly living it up in Atlanta, with her big house and fancy SUV. And just three days ago, Diran – who is based in Chicago – announced (with an offer letter snapshot and a thanksgiving-filled status update) that he had been promoted to the position of a Manager in his company. A google search of salaries for Managers in Dipo’s industry and country revealed that his monthly take-home pay (after tax) was USD3,180.  Twelve times her own salary? Someone she finished secondary school with? Chai!

At this point Tafe’s mind is made up. The horror tales of the menial and demeaning tasks, the chilly and unfriendly weather, the struggles of fitting into a new culture, the chances of losing everything in the process, have lost their grip on her. Relocation is the way, baby!

Just like Tafe Samuels, millions of people think about relocating to or find themselves in new countries; where they hope to achieve their dreams and enjoy better lives. This move could be emboldened by frustrations faced in career, education or marriage. Making the move might be the best decision a person could make, and it could also be the worst decision. What makes the difference is knowledge. Knowledge they say is power. Therefore, it is very necessary to arm ourselves with information that will help us tackle the challenges of the unknown.

Enough of the scare …. it’s time to open yourself up to all of the new opportunities and experiences that come hand-in-hand with traveling or finding yourself in unfamiliar grounds. This chic right here will be sharing a number of considerations that you must take into account before and after relocating to help you ease your way in the country you find yourself.

Are you thinking of relocating to another country?

Did you recently move to a new country?

What are the things we should know about?

Let’s meet here!!!

Traveling – what’s so cool about that?

Photo by Nextvoyage on Pexels.com

Growing up, we were used to staying in a single location, the only time one traveled in a sense was when you visited ‘the Village’ or if you had the opportunity of having many relatives who got married in different locations.

For me I traveled to Kano, Ilorin, Port Harcourt and Calabar at different times while growing up. Did I enjoy these trips? Well, from the little memories I have, I think I did.

Now that I’m grown up, I’ve discovered my love for traveling. But hey! Now there are constraints like Time, Money, and Convenience,  the biggest constraint being money.
So why travel? Is it for the chance to experience another culture, to take pictures for the ‘-gram’, adventure, business or simply just to have fun?
If you don’t visit a place, your knowledge will be limited to what you have heard, and most often, hearing isn’t the same as seeing and experiencing it yourself.

Although you may not have all the money in the world, starting from your locality by visiting other states in your country is a way to go. Even neighbouring African countries can be visited for budgets lower than you expect.

Over the course of time, I will be showing you places you can experience without necessarily breaking the bank. Why? Because I want you to experience the World.