komekn:

yemz1,

I understand , feel and empathise with you in so many ways my heart feels for you,  I was born in Scotland and me and my brother were the only black guys in the school and almost in the whole neighbourhood. I could have been totally lost if not for my parents who sent me back to Warri to go to high school and do my A/levels.
 

I don't have any distant or close relatives in Nigeria

y3mz1:

I didn't intend to share such personal information on this forum but to make things clearer,

I haven't been raised by my Nigerian parents, my trip to Nigeria is to learn about Nigerian culture - just embracing the country.
As I haven't been raised by my Nigerian family (who are from Lagos) and I am not in touch with them, I intend to travel alone.
I have a brother in London who visits Nigeria once or twice a year, if people insist I shouldn't travel alone I will consider asking him to come along.
However I want to be in Nigeria for a number of months and my brother is a working professional and cannot get that length of time off work.
My ex boyfriend, from Kano, is studying here in the UK, he said I may be able to stay at him family's house which if I remember correctly is in Lagos.

tpia@:

i dont think that's possible.

what you mean perhaps is you're not close to/aware of your distant or close relatives in nigeria.

in many parts of nigeria, especially the southwest, most hometowns are full of people who are related to each other in some way.

zumbigbo:

yemz - Do not allow anyone or anything to put you off. Abeg.

You can see from the comments to your question that in general, a large part of Nigerians are mistrustful of anything. Most are innately suspicious of natural phenomena (like the sun shining), let alone trying to work out another person's motivation. The first thing that will hit you and be a slight shock will be the heat, you will sweat a lot so take some towels (hand towels) that you can whip out and dry your skin with. Mosquitoes will eat you up, but most chemists sell an ammonia based product called 'Afterbite' which reduces swelling and I can vouch is a life-saver to stop you scratching it into a small scar.

Compared to the UK, there is a general lack of thank-you's, please etc,  so do not get offended if you do not hear these things. Also, we talk to each other harshly and shout (but this is because we believe in surround sound dynamics), take this all with a pinch of salt.

Do not travel at night (by coach), take plane by day as the roads are a mess.

Other than that, if you mingle with different kinds of people, you will be surprised at the joy and depth of human feeling that exists in 9ja despite our own innate predisposition to confusion, malice and skullduggery.

justwise:

. . . . and you have just given her confident boosting news there right?

Siena:

Tpia, please don't tell me about what family I may or may not have. You know nothing about my family background, who my parents were, or where they were from.

tpia@:

the fact remains its a very incorrect statement to say you have no family in nigeria- either extended or otherwise.
you may not know them, but they're there.

priest2u:

@op can I host you in Abuja? it will be my pleasure to take around the best places in Abuja.

y3mz1:

Hey, thanks for the offer, please contact me via yemzi@ymail.com.

y3mz1:

Hey, thanks for the offer, please contact me via yemzi@ymail.com.

zumbigbo:

. . . . and you have just given her confident boosting news there right?

Apologies, I must have missed the part in her original post about 'her confidence needing boosting'.

What I did get was that she was going to Nigeria for the first time and wanted a holiday, where she could enjoy herself and have memories as opposed to episodes of remorse.

I have travelled to Nigeria with many first-timers and know what bits of information were key to their vacation. Sometimes, quite often, the truth hurts. As opposed to giving her a library of information as knowledge, the myopic prefer to snipe and scratch, crabs in a barrel mentality which is also very prevalent back home.

Fe em Deus

priest2u:

@op can I host you in Abuja? it will be my pleasure to take around the best places in Abuja.

claremont:

This OP makes sense die!

I wish I were in Nigeria, I wouldn't have hesitated to be your host in my palatial mansion located somewhere within the cosy confines of highbrow Ajegunle city. Anyone who chooses to vist Nigeria and doesn't go for a grand tour of Ajegunle city has completely missed a unique opportunity to experience first-hand the other side of Nigeria IMHO.