Pelumi Nubi: The first Black woman to drive solo by road from London to Lagos, covering over 10,000 km in 74 days.

Jul 2, 2024

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Pelumi Nubi is a purpose-driven travel content creator and connector who thrives on exploring less commonly visited countries.

Currently living between London and Dubai, she calls both the UK and Nigeria home. Having ventured to over 80 countries across six continents, her engaging content inspires her community to embrace life with fearlessness and embody true freedom.

She is committed to showing that travel can be safe, easy, and achievable, particularly for Black women who want to travel solo.

Pelumi has recently achieved an incredible milestone, becoming the first Black woman to drive solo by road from London to Lagos, covering over 10,000 km in 74 days.

Additionally, she was recently appointed Ambassador of Tourism in Lagos State, Nigeria.

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Show notes

Who is Pelumi
Growing up in Nigeria
Moving to the UK aged 10
Relocating to Dubai in 2023
Her passion for travelling
Being bullied and diagnosed as dyslexia
Visiting over 80+ countries
Why travelling can be easy, safe and doable for solo travellers
Academic life and the end of her PHD
Pivoting from science to travel
Her road trip from London to Lagos
Early travel memories
Doing a global leaders program and spending time in India
Is travel/content creation a viable career option?
Why no knowledge is wasted knowledge
Using her research background to plan her Lagos trip
Living her life in chapters
Deciding to drive to Lagos and how much time to plan for the adventure
The power of having mentors
Needing more time to plan and deciding to delay for a year
Starting 24th January 2024
Naming her car ‘Lumi’ and the reasons behind the name
Keeping costs down
Her route - UK, ferry to France, then Spain, ferry across to Morocco and then down the West coast of Africa
Putting measures in place to keep herself safe
Being more excited about the journey, than the fear
Working on her mindset to keep going, despite the naysayers
Refusing to read comments and not engaging
Setting other goals for the journey
Feeling like a failure after the end of her phd and not getting to be called Dr.
Needing to do a hard thing
Wanting to re-write the narrative about how she felt about herself
Not seeing people who looked like her doing over landing trips
Wanting to inspire other Black solo explorers to go on an overland trip
Wanting to show off the beauty of the different countries in Africa
Wanting to go at a slower pace
Why it was chaotic on the road
Daily routines and figuring out where to sleep at night
Meeting new people and feelings of loneliness
Why a smile is the universal language
Africa is not a country
Riding the Iron-ore train and the reality of what it’s like
Being a Black woman solo traveller and the differences between travelling in Europe and Africa
Why you should start local
People not believing that she was doing the adventure solo
Sexual harassment while traveling
How to connect with Pelumi and follow her adventures
Future travel plans
NDAs
Not wanting to play it safe
Just do it…
Advice for women who want to get travelling and to make a pivot in their live
The power of daily habits and why they are so important
Keep the promises that you make for yourself
Why the magic is in the doing.

Social Media

Website: www.peluminubi.com/s-projects-side-by-side

Instagram: @pelumi.nubi

Twitter/X: @peluminubi_