By Hannah Van De Peer
A woman quit her PhD for the “road trip of a lifetime” – driving from London to Lagos with 20 stops along the way.
Pelumi Nubi, 29, said people have called her “crazy” – but it gave her all the more motivation to go through with it.
She’s currently on stop five in Morocco after travelling through France and Spain, and plans to be on the road for another two months before she reaches Nigeria.
In order to save money, she’s been sleeping in her £3k Peugeot 107, using hot water bottles for clean drinking water and heat.
Pelumi, from Croydon, London, who was studying for a PhD in biomedical science before she quit, said: “A lot of people called me crazy – I know I’m trying to do the impossible, but it’s the right thing for me.
“Life is short – so why not step out of your comfort zone? It might encourage you to try lots of other impossible things, too.
“I’m a traveller at heart, and I was craving this big adventure.”
Originally from Lagos, Pelumi’s family moved to Croydon when she was 10.
She went back every Christmas, and says she always seemed curious about the other countries she’d fly over on the six-hour flight there.
While studying for her PhD at Coventry University, Pelumi started seeing stories of people travelling to Lagos through unconventional modes of transport, like bikes.
She wondered whether it would be possible to go the distance by car – particularly one which wasn’t designed to drive on all-terrain, like a 4×4.
So in December 2023, she began planning her journey – and set off on January 24 in her five-year-old car.
She said: “I was seeing a lot of men doing these extreme trips – but no women, and no-one who looked like me.
“I wondered if I could change that. The journey is clearly possible and doable – especially if someone could go by bike!
“I wanted to slow-pace it, which is why I’ve dedicated two months to it. I want to take everything in, meet the locals, try all-new experiences.”
Pelumi began her journey driving from London to Paris, via a ferry at Dover.
She spent three days sightseeing, meeting French creatives and camping out of her car.
She went from Paris to Millau, a commune which once had the largest bridge in the world – and she parasailed over it.
From Millau, she drove all the way down to Barcelona, to visit the Sagrada Familia, before moving on to Malaga, to spend two days up the mountains.
Her journey then took her to North Africa, and she visited the markets in Marrakech – before arriving at her current stop in Chefchaouen, where she’ll spend three days before moving on to her next 15 stops.
She said: “One of the highlights for me was seeing one of the largest bridges in the world – I got a last minute booking to parasail over it and they squeezed me in.
“It was amazing being up in the clouds, seeing all the beautiful sights. I camped in my car that night, which was rough, as I couldn’t find any hot running water, but I survived it!
“I drove all the way up into the mountains in Malaga – the locals looked at me like I was losing my marbles, in my little car.
“But I don’t think you need the big cars or gadgets – my car’s been good to me, I’ve had it for five years.”
Pelumi started to feel apprehensive after getting to Morocco and noticing the language barrier – as well as the busyness of the markets overwhelming her.
“The language barrier started becoming a thing,” she said. “I got to Morocco and burst into tears, I had so much anxiety and apprehension. It was really hard to find all the info I needed.
“But the good thing about driving is, I could stay as long as I wanted and get my bearings a bit.”
Pelumi plans to get to Lagos on March 24 – and the rest of her stops include Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Ghana and Nigeria.
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