Some call us travel agents, travel influencers, tour guides, tour operators but we are none of that. We are experience curators. We curate and create unique experiences for the Nigerian traveler. My name is Yejide Runsewe, Head Nomad, of an online boutique travel company, Naija Nomads. I’m a Nigerian, currently residing in Nigeria with one of the worlds worst passports; so I understand your struggle and I’m here to make it SLIGHTLY better. Slightly, being the operative word, lol.
Naija Nomads started as my online journal to share my personal travel experiences with friends and family. It has surely evolved into something bigger and better than I ever imagined and I’m truly grateful.
Living in Nigeria and traveling with a Nigerian (green) passport is the most difficult part of my journey. You need visas everywhere, they treat you funny at POE’s &airline carriers are limited. If you understand this struggle say Aye ??♀️??♂️
For example to get this gorgeous island, Cape Verde, from Lagos, Nigeria you’ll have to travel via Casablanca, Morocco (North Africa). FYI Cape Verde is in West Africa. And unfortunately, it is easier and cheaper to get from England to Cape Verde. Who did we offend?
Traveling to Gambia from Nigeria will take you an average of 6+ hours with the airline (with no inflight entertainment) dropping passengers off like a public bus. I enjoyed my time in Gambia but will I visit again? Probably not!
Forget your Eat. Pray. Love quest or posing on the Bali swing. Currently, the Indonesian embassy only grants about 10,000 visas yearly to Nigerians. My friend @pishobum tried enquiring about a visa & she was told that Visit Visas are not issued to us.
Also, if you’ve tried to apply for a Canadian Visa, your passport will be held for years (that’s a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean) lol. I’ve been denied a Canadian Visa before and it took a perfectly worded letter to the consular to fix that.
However, I have not let this stifle my dreams to explore the world. Instead, I’ve channeled my energy & focus on countries that I can visit with ease hence the green passport movement. Visa Free, Visa on Arrival & Easy Visa countries. I’ll break them down.
VISA FREE: Visa free countries are countries you can visit with your Nigerian passport totally free! One of my first visa-free countries was a beautiful island off the Indian Ocean. The one and only Seychelles.
All that is usually required is your valid passport, accommodation, return ticket, sometimes they ask for your proposed spend and your yellow card. Enjoying the giant turtles at Moyenne Island #Seychelles
Ensure you check for requirements on the embassy websites before you go. KNOW BEFORE YOU GO, it’s extremely important. Other visa free destinations include, Fiji Island, Haiti, Senegal, we made a list check out on the blog.
Also KNOW BEFORE YOU GO, check requirements and all that Jazz. Visa on arrival countries include Tanzania, Comoros Island, Mauritius, Maldives, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya etc. Visa HQ is an awesome website to check out requirements. visahq.com.
EASY VISAS: these are countries with relatively easy visa procedures like the United Arab Emirates, Zambia and Zimbabwe though @wellwornheels will not agree with Zambia, LoL. These countries do not require your left eye all in the name of visa applications.
Then there is a final category where if you have a “strong visa” (UK, US, Irish or Canadian) you can visit certain countries visa free!@mychoicevacation wrote an amazing post on it here & it’s one of our most read articles this year.
I have tried using my UK visa to get into another country (Jersey the Channel Island) before and it worked. Initially I thought I’ll get sent back because of my Nigerian passport ???. Don’t blame me, paranoid Patricia.
I visited Jersey (not New Jersey, Jersey the country in St channel Island) and enjoyed every bit of my weekend in the quiet island. So next time you are in the UK, consider visiting a neighboring countries like Jersey and Guernsey.
I also visited Turkey on my US visa last year. The process was done via my phone and it costs me $40+. It was really simple and you can read about it here.
I always ensure I have a UK, US or Canadian Visa at every point in time. It gives me the opportunity to maximize the reach of my green passport and our dear friend @theufuoma wrote a beautiful piece about it.
Nothing wrong with longing to visit Europe and the Americas but it gets frustrating sometimes. Which is why we are here to encourage and urge you to see the beauty in these places, venture out of the norm & explore green passport friendly destinations.
To encourage Nigerians to visit these countries, we’ve focused our group trips to these destinations and you can sign up for them on our webiste. Experiences to Lebanon, Tanzania, Rwanda and Mozambique are still available on naijanomads.com
I hope I’ve encouraged you to join the GREEN PASSPORT MOVEMENT! Questions, comments, concerns? Send them my way ?. I’ll also love to read your Green passport experiences too, good and bad!
Thanks for having me on this edition of the #NigeriaTravelChat, a bi-monthly tweetchat hosted by @samadeleke and @travelmassivelg on Twitter.
