A few days ago was my first time flying ever Lagos to Abuja and I'm going to teach you what my first experience was but before then I should tell you the reason I'm making this trip. There are two things I intend to do with my year. I want to launch my podcast network and release multiple podcasts through the network at least three podcasts and secondly MacFest.
MacFest is an event that holds every December in Makodi and my friend Daniel has been hosting MacFest for four years and it was only last year that he came up to me and was like we should do 2025 MacFest together. Working on that project last year the passion he gave me, the joy he gave me, how much I enjoyed organizing an event was something that you know I knew we were going to do for a long time. The other years of MacFest we had lost.
This year financially we broke even and that is financially but in terms of the vibe it was also the biggest we'd ever done, the biggest crowd we'd ever organized and the sweetest atmosphere MacFest has ever seen and so that just gave me a lot of courage for what is coming in the future. None of these two goals would be fully serviced if I do not make this trip. The things I have to do first of all in Abuja, one is to see my lawyer and we need to discuss the legal side of the podcast network and to make sure that we are on the right side of the law and just to make sure I tie up all the loose ends legally regarding that business and then I also have to see Shibi.
Shibi is this girl, she's a lawyer, she wants to start a podcast, she's been wanting to start a podcast for a long time. We met on Instagram and she's just been having cold feet so she lives in Abuja and I intend to see her in person and really discuss, feel her out, see what's on her mind because law is an important aspect of life and I think if we have a podcast and a network that really focuses on law, especially with somebody who's passionate about it, hosting it, I think it's very very likely that people would find a lot of value in it. That aside, me wanting to catch up and see my family and friends that I've missed around this part of the country and then also after Abuja, I go to Makodi where my mum and siblings are but also I go to Makodi for MacFest in particular because the event MacFest holds in Makodi and I need to do some groundwork.
By November last year, we still were not sure if we were going to do the event so this preparation for this year's event gives me a lot of hope and optimism and then after Makodi, I go to Joss. There are two people I want to meet regarding the podcast network, one of which is Kush, the host of A Pig Behind the Rainbow and his podcast is a bit touchy because of the LGBTQ relationship it has and you know that borders on, we have laws structured around that so we need to work around that podcast in a way that we are not breaking any laws and it's safe for him and also safe for the network and also I get to meet with Black. Black is this, I don't know her real name, I can't remember her real name right now but it's this girl on TikTok that always comes up with things she's angry about today or things she's angry about this week so she basically just brings out headlines from all around the country that are annoying, right? Killings in this place, kidnappings in this place, embezzled funds here and there, she brings out all that in a list and she lists them all out you know and I found her passion really really exciting.
I think somebody who goes out of their way to do that kind of research is a scholar and if they have other interests because I really don't want to do a podcast about all the things that are wrong with Nigeria really but it is the personality that I'm She has the personality of someone who is tenacious and then does painstaking research which is something that is really really lacking in our modern society given the Oludo uprising and so I want to have a meeting with her to see what kind of podcast we can launch. It's a conversation for the future you know because for subsequent podcasts so that and another reason is also friends. I don't have any family in Jorst but friends that I have in Jorst, there's a lot of them and so I'd like to see those people and also I've never been to Jorst so it's a fantastic opportunity for me to to be a tourist and really enjoy the city.
My final few days in Abuja would be to complete whatever it is that I do not get to complete while I'm here right now. Also it's evidently clear that I cannot have a successful 2026 in my opinion if I do not complete all these things. And then over to my first flying experience.
Before taking that trip I asked Kachi, I asked Kachi for directions on what to expect when I'm you know about to board the plane, what to expect at the airport and she even her was surprised that I hadn't flown before. I grew up on road trips. Road trip via my dad would drive you know so each every long journey I'd ever taken in childhood was a road trip that my father drove.
Being born in Asaba living in Otupu, Makodi, I didn't have the exposure to flight and planes or friends who naturally used that form of transportation a lot so it was just something that I saw in movies. Actually around 2021 when I started to earn good enough money that I could afford flights it just felt unreasonably expensive to me because for a young adult who has only traveled by road all his life even if he has the money, first of all there has never been really any good reason for me to take a very very long journey except until recently now that Lagos has become part of my life heat map. Also the few long journeys I had to take it was just easy for me to decide to go by road because that is the path of least resistance and that is what us as humans are wired to do.
And that is why I felt the nervousness I felt before this trip because I did feel it if you've not done something before ever before I'm trying to do for the first time there's a nervousness that comes with it it's almost fear but I've now learned to differentiate between fear and anxiety. Everything that you're about to go into you've not gone into before gives anxiety but you can easily interpret it as fear. Whatever that feeling is I don't know the exact name but sometimes we call it anxiety sometimes we call it fear but it's just the thing that happens when you've not done something before you're about to do it now.
So I had some of that I delayed booking the ticket for a while and then eventually did 112k airpiece. After doing that is when I had a conversation with Kachi which I wish that I recorded and she told me that there are two airports right one is local one is for international flights I'm not even quite sure if that is the arrangement but I shall know that is mm1 and mm2 and she told me which one to go to but on the day of the trip I kind of mixed it up and I forgot which one I was supposed to go to and the internet wasn't really helping the internet does not tell you mm1 or mm2 where you're going except you kind of the internet doesn't tell you mm1 or mm2 they just give you the full name of the airport and it's like it doesn't it doesn't help it didn't help me it is the full name of the airport like oh my god it's so stressful anyway I used my head and chose what I thought was correct and then on my way to the airport we're getting closer and then the driver asked me which of these airports are we going to and that's when I told him well let me go back and check again but I just simply told him exactly where I was traveling to and what airline I was using and so that is how he figured out the right place to take me and he took me then the conversation just got weird because I don't know why he felt that he had to that he could bill me in drive is an app where you negotiate on the app I already had an amount I wanted to pay you came up and said you wanted to take 75 and I said no problem so why the f**k are you asking me for more money I don't get it I have a message from the sponsors of this episode Kuwea. Kuwea is a dispatch service company on that app you can negotiate prices with dispatch riders you can send items oh and you can send multiple items at the same time right now there is no special promo code or discount for you listeners but I'm working with the CEO closely and by the next episode or two we should have a promo code for good living listeners where you can get discounts on certain orders download kuwea that is www.kuwea.com or check for it on google play store or the app store that's kuwea k u w i y a let's get back to the episode anyway he put me in and everything was pretty much how kachi explained it to me so when I went in I went straight to check-in and somebody had to view my ticket on my phone and then weigh my bag asked me to take the laptops out I took the laptops out and then they weighed it again I didn't understand why they were doing this but in front I understood why I thought the whole weighing thing was that I put my laptops back in the bag and they tagged it and I was going to where they would check it or scan it and they asked me those questions as well there what do you have in the bag the other laptops okay take them out and then they pass through and I think the reason they do this is because between where they weigh your bag and check your laptops and record the weight and the next place where they screen your luggage you might add contraband and so they need to have the weight without the laptops because I believe I don't know what their thinking is but maybe it's because the weight of a small handgun or any explosive device would be just around the same weight of a laptop or two so it's easy to pass it off as oh I have a laptop in the bag so they like to take the weight without the laptops and make sure that it tallies with what you give them when they are scanning the bags and so that was when I had to sit and wait in the lounge area for my flight to be called I had myself equipped which had my phone full and I had the impression that my headset was full as well and I waited for about 10 to 45 minutes but in the middle of it I had to pee I found the toilet I went to pee and I'm saying this because in there while I went to pee the guy was very cautious and you know this is Nigeria like if somebody's being overly nice to you especially a public worker or someone that works in service you know that a building is coming you know and unlike the boat driver I'm not going to complain about the building of the attendant at the toilet it's just the thing where it gives you the realization that your life is as in you are privileged in so many ways more ways than you understand because the simple idea the simple fact that I was at an airport made him feel like I was better than him and that's not even necessarily true and it's only when people kind of put you above them that they feel that they can build you or kind of be subservient to you in that way to collect money I wish I could instill some confidence in him but he just wanted cash and I didn't have that so you know so I went back and then eventually they called the flight but I said when they called it I was hearing something like business class first so I'm like okay should I stand up and I've always been wondering about that yeah the first time I was going to book a flight in my life was when I was going for NYSC literally last year I didn't pay by I think I went almost all the way it was 250k then and I didn't do it I didn't do it at that time because you know NYSC they kept shifting our date you know call up later to also go to camp wasn't coming so I was I was I didn't want to book a flight and then you know just gonna be sitting so I didn't even know where I was going to camp all the signs were pointing to the fact that I would not camp in Lagos and that's exactly exactly what happened I mean obviously I think I started running out of money before I eventually had to go and then I was camping in Oshun so to think that I was going to take a business class flight to Lagos for NYSC and what I ended up doing was entering Miss Peace Mass Transit which is one of the worst road trips I've ever ever done in my life thankfully that is on episode one of the NYSC series and I was recorded almost in real time so so all the emotions from that trip is encased in that episode but I digress so around the same time that they were calling for boarding my headset told me low battery I'm like yo I'm supposed to be together on this I've already downloaded um things on YouTube I'm going to watch on the way so which one is low battery like this what the hell anyway I went on joined the line my boarding pass the guy at the line kind of tore it into two gave me the small parts check my ID card to make sure that there is no identity theft and then guided me out into this space where they were searching um you know and then there was a bus taking people to the plane and while I was there I had this deja vu moment I have a vivid memory of something of a dream or something like that whole view of the tarmac first of all I thought that tarmac was going to be bigger like you know where the planes are and stuff I thought I was expecting that whole space to be much much larger than it actually was but then standing there waiting to enter that bus that takes us to the plane I was like I've been here before you know I could feel it that I've been there before crazy anyway we entered the bus went towards the plane we're like you're going to enter from the front if your number is from 1 to 16 I was 16 16c so I sat by the aisle boarded it must have taken about 20 minutes after boarding before he eventually took off and here's the thing with that fucking takeoff I really thought planes you know the way cars are now the newer models of cars are much more smoother and quieter just such that you don't even you don't feel any resistance from the steering you almost don't even hear the engine running that's why I just expected that level of technology in every other in every other machine I just thought that is where the world is now and so the fact that the thing was roaring like I could hear the plane really really really revving and roaring and then even as it began to move actually just before lift off it was getting louder and louder like I thought this was going to be like smooth I wouldn't even know what's going on why does it now feel like I'm sitting on a generator another thing that I was looking for was the speed of the plane on the runway I know that I have not I probably haven't been in any car that would move as fast as the plane would move on the runway so I was looking for what it would be like to experience that level of speed and it was fast it was fast it wasn't mind-blowingly fast and I thought it would I thought the plane would stay on the runway for a bit more time before lift off but it didn't you know I think it ran for a few seconds and then before you know we're airborne but here's the thing because looking out of the window and seeing those clouds gave me some kind of appreciation for the heights and the height that I was that I was at and the vulnerability of the situation itself you know besides it being a part of the earth atmosphere that I have not been on before appreciating what it feels like in movies you watch these movies where they are fighting at that level and you don't really grasp the reality of it but at that level you begin to appreciate what they are trying to communicate to you the stakes that they're trying to communicate to you or bungee jumping things like that what people are taking to skydive the reality of the situation it is crazy so there's this much more there's this intense appreciation for all of those activities and the thing that touched me more is the vulnerability of the situation you know when you're on a bike like you forgot that skydiving or you can't skydive or you're in a car if something goes wrong there's a small chance that you'll survive but if you're in a plane your life is totally not in your hands anymore anything bad happens there's a very high chance that you are dying there the level of vulnerability it took and the level of surrender it required was very humbling but the rest of the trip was cool at some point this air hostess came with bottles of water so I took one I was curious to see if it would taste different up there it was pretty decent pretty much I mean at some point it felt like like seconds after I drank the water it almost felt like it was entering my nose or something because there's that feeling when you're almost yeah that thing but I don't know if that was just me or that was the environment so I can't say and then and then and then touchdown you know the thing first of all we landed before I thought we would land so the whole trip took about an hour or an hour and 10 minutes and then there was this length of time between when we landed and the engine going off because like why is this still on why is this engine still on because I can't remember it's noisy you know noisy and once the car is once I say car once the plane is on the ground it makes more noise than when it's on the air so I'd almost forgotten how noisy it was before takeoff but when we landed the noise resumed just a little bit of protein and salt and then while coming off the plane they were sharing this thing this I don't know what I call it launch box I didn't know what it was at the time this red box and it was later on when I got home and opened it and I saw it was some snacks like this sausage roll and then what was that changing and one juice box and those sausages I don't know who made those things when it's trash and after that my sister called me to ask what my first experience was like I mean ask for pictures and see if I took pictures and I didn't it didn't feel like an event to record I mean I recorded the audio of moments that I thought were important but I didn't feel the need to take a picture but it was then and now that's when I took my boarding pass it was then oh this is the thing that these people I used to see because on snapchat or whatsapp I see certain people post their boarding passes and I know okay yeah this is something that you take when you're about to take a flight and this poster stuff I'm like so this is what you guys post I couldn't even bring myself to taking a picture of it let alone posting it so I didn't take a picture of that and the window seat pictures today I post I mean snap is outside the plane that window seat that's um video and picture I didn't take that as well but I think that one was because I was shy right I would have maybe kept that one for myself but I also felt like if whenever I sit by the window and I have a clearer view perhaps I'll make a video but I was disappointed that I didn't take those pictures because I'd love to send them to my sister so the fact that she asked for them and I didn't have them to provide and I could have was a bit disappointing for me that's my story but I want to know your first experience flying what it was like what the circumstances around it what did you go for at what age did you do it I mean mine at 28 at what age did you do it what were the circumstances around it and uh you could put these answers in the comments but I would really really appreciate dms on instagram koke the podcaster k-o-k-e underscore th e underscore podcaster or on tiktok the podcaster th e podcaster I'm on twitter as well newly on twitter coke as coke k-o-k-e or you can just search my full name chupa zee ananaba you find me on it I have like one follower yeah let me hear your stories and I'll see you in the next episode I'll tell you how my trip is going I'll see you next episode bye-bye if you've gotten to this part of the episode then we've got something for you if you look in the description you will find a link which gives you access to the good living podcast discussion group where you'll find other people and myself as well also a link to our website for more information on the good living podcast remember to like share and rate this podcast on whatever app you're streaming on thank you