I Thought I knew How to Experience Lagos Until I Started Paying Attention.

It looked like a good plan to me, then Lagos happened. Traffic took part of the afternoon. A place 1 thought will be like 15min away took an hour. I branched to experience what Nigeria Jollof tastes like and ended up staying longer than planned because the food and conversation was too good to leave. By the time I got back to the hotel, l had not visited half the place on my list.

To my surprise, I did not feel like 1 had wasted the day. That was when I started thinking differently about traveling to Lagos.

Lagos Isn't a Checklist

When you visit a new place, there a a urge to go to many places, take pictures here, eat

something there, visit famous landmark and move on.

Lagos does not always work that way. Some of the best parts of the city happens ln between the places you planned to visit.

It can be the roadside food you walked past. it can be a conversation with someone who has lived in the neighborhood for along time. It can be music from a shop while you’re looking elsewhere. It can even be in traffic and suddenly seeing the city itself as a part of the experience.

You just have to slow down enough to notice it.

Start with the history

if it is your first time in Lagos, I would not begin with a full schedule. Start by understanding the city.

Lagos Island is a good place for that

Walk around areas where the city’s history is still visible. Places connected to Lagos’s past. Pay attention to the buildings, streets and markets instead of rushing from one place of attraction to another.

You don’t need to get your day bored out listening to histories. Sometimes all you need is someone explaining why a particular place matters. That small bit of information can change how you see everything around you.

Then eat

This is where I think visitors sometimes make traveling unnecessarily complicated. You don’t need to look for the fanciest restaurant to enjoy and have a memorable meal.

Try local food. Ask questions.

If you don’t know what to order, tell or ask someone and let them recommend something.

Jollof rice is an obvious starting point, but don’t stop there. Try suya. Try pounded yam and a good soup. Try a local snack you have never heard of.

Food is one of the quickest ways to connect to a place because people attach memories, family and culture to it.

Leave room for Lagos to surprise you. This might be the most useful advice I can give anyone visiting. Don’t plan every minute. Leave a few empty spaces in your day. You might find a small gallery. You might find a better place for lunch, or a cool place for sightseeing. That is not the trip going wrong, it is the trip becoming yours.

This is also why I like the idea behind what Gidi Tour is trying to do. The goal isn’t simply to move visitors from one attraction to another. It is to help people experience a lot in the city like the stories, food, music, history and everyday moments that can be difficult to find when you are traveling alone.

And honestly, that is what I think a good tour should do. It should help you understand where you are not someone dragging you through a timetable.

If you’re visiting Lagos for the first time

Give yourself more time than you think you need.

Ask people living there questions.

Eat something you can’t pronounce.

Take the long way sometimes.

Lagos is loud, busy, warm, frustrating, funny, fun and constantly moving.

You might arrive expecting to “see Lagos.” And might leave feeling like you actually experienced it.