One Woman's Solo Journey From London To Lagos: An Interview With Pelumi Nubi

10.05.2024 - 15:21 / forbes.com / Lake Como

With several thousand kilometers and more than ten countries between them, most travelers transiting from London to Lagos opt for a 6.5-hour plane ride—but Pelumi Nubi isn’t your average traveler. Originally hailing from Nigeria’s largest city and raised in the UK capital, Nubi’s deep affinity for travel led her to launch a truly valiant feat at the end of January 2024: a one-woman road trip spanning from the northern reaches of Europe to the West African coast. While the journey was met with its fair share of obstacles, Nubi reached her destination on April 7th, ultimately cementing her status as the first Black woman to complete a solo road trip from London to Lagos.

For Forbes, Nubi shares some of her toughest challenges and fondest memories throughout the journey, all while highlighting some of her favorite destinations across West Africa.

What first inspired you to take this trip, and what did you have to do to prepare for it?

The inspiration was really for me to connect to places that I considered home. I was born in Lagos and grew up in London in the UK and I’ve always enjoyed exploring, I’ve been to over 80 countries. I really was trying to connect my two homes, London and Lagos. I found there wasn’t enough representation between the overlapped community of people that looked like me and their stories being shared.

I wanted to challenge myself to do something adventurous and show that the impossible can be done, to inspire the next adventurers and inspire some representation in the overland community.

How did people initially react when you told them that you were driving from London to Lagos?

My close family members were very familiar with me doing this kind of adventure. I had driven across Namibia, and also from London to Lake Como, so they weren’t surprised. But strangers were saying it was impossible, that I was crazy. They were mostly curious as to how I would actually do it, so documenting on social media was important to show the step-by-step of how to do it.

What’s the biggest challenge that you faced during the trip?

Being a woman doing this solo, as this kind of exhibition usually has something behind it. Usually when people do this they’ll have a chef, a medic and a whole team behind them. I had to wear this cap the whole time and also be active on social media as well. It was definitely challenging navigating these numerous roads.

But the biggest, biggest challenge for me was being in an almost fatal accident. I had a collision with a truck that had no warning signal, the airbags came out and I thought I was going to be badly hurt. No one wants to have an accident, period, but talking about having an accident where you don’t speak the language and you’re far from home and