For Chris, world travel is more than fancy hotels and the glitz and glamor of popularized tourist centers. It’s “getting to experience the world through the eyes of a local or really getting into the culture and understanding it,” he says.
Chris’ traveler gene was activated when his father, an eye surgeon, got a job in a hospital in New Zealand and decided to move with the family from their native home in Detroit, Michigan.
“My dad was eager for a new experience and wanted to give his children a chance to spend some time living in a foreign country with a different culture to the United States,” says Chris. The family had never been to New Zealand before.
Years later, straight out of college and faced with a job market with few prospects, Chris decided he’d try to do something different in his life. Being a native English speaker, he easily got a job teaching English in Thailand.
In the year he spent there, he “would rent a motorbike, go deep into the mountains, stay in these homestays, and try the local food.” He even stayed in a treehouse! He also learnt to speak Thai and started communicating with the people. That was when he began to blog about his experiences on his website, Authentic Traveling. He later had to give up the website, and now shares his experiences on YouTube, where he has full-length videos of his trips, Instagram and TikTok.
Before he got his master’s degrees in international affairs and business administration, he went back to Thailand. From there, he visited other parts of Southeast Asia like Vietnam and Malaysia and one day, while glancing at the destination list of Air Asia, his gaze fell on Mauritius. “I had heard of it but didn’t know exactly where it was. I saw that from Kuala Lumpur to Mauritius was $80 and it was quite a distance.” It sounded like a very cool deal and he hopped on a plane to Mauritius. From Mauritius, he went to Madagascar and then Ethiopia.
Travel in Africa: Misconceptions and Realities
Despite media reports of conflict, hostility and chaos, Chris has been to different cities in Africa, immersing himself in the cultures and traditions of the people. “As I went to places, I began to wonder what exactly news organizations were talking about. There was a very big contrast between what you’d hear or read on the news and what you’d see. It was really shocking.”
Chris reveals he was once told by an expatriate that he would need armed security to move around Lagos and taking a taxi was suicidal. He was also warned that Boko Haram would attack him in Lagos. Yet, he has been to Oshodi (without any armed security) and the market at Marina.
The next major trip he did outside of Lagos, was to the northern states. In September 2022, he went to Kano, then crossed the border to Zinder in Niger. He also went to Jigawa State, visited the Wikki Warm Springs in Bauchi State before heading back to Kano. He has also been to Maiduguri in Borno State and Yobe and Gombe states.
“Gombe state is listed by the UK Government as a level red. And I was there in Gombe State and wondering what Gombe they were talking about. I couldn’t understand why it was red flagged. We were in a village a couple of hours outside of town. Everyone I met in Gombe said Gombe was fine. People were living normal lives.”
He agrees not every area is a hundred percent safe. “As a traveler, I understand danger can be anywhere. There are always risks. There are risks even in my home country that I have to be aware of.” For example, during his trip to northern Nigeria, they had to use certain routes, because some of the roads were considered unsafe.
Another popular untruth Chris unveiled is that there is nothing nice in Africa. “It’s true that there are people suffering in Africa, but it’s not the only story happening. That’s something I try to talk a lot about in my travels.There’s not only one way to see this.”
Crunching The Numbers
Chris uses Couchsurfing for many of his African visits. It’s a service that connects members to a global community of travelers. Travelers can find a place to stay or share their homes and hometown with other travelers. It was through Couchsurfing that he met his Nigerian host, Adenike. “Her profile mentioned she was into tourism. She was really passionate in her messaging. I thought to myself that she knew what she was talking about. I messaged her to get a feel of her and felt she sounded like a good person to stay with.”
Side note: if you didn’t know, Adenike is now the “lady in red” in Chris’ life.
His day job allows him some flexibility as well as the ability to fund his travels, and he always tries to stay within his budget per trip. “When I go to countries that are really expensive, I often try to stay with locals. I use couch surfing to reduce some of those costs.”
According to Chris, the biggest expense is the flight, followed by hotel reservations. While there’s nothing one can do about air fares, he suggests traveling for a longer period of time, to enable one to get more in for a single flight. For hotel reservations, one can find people to stay with, using a site like Couchsurfing. He also eats a lot of the local cuisine. Bottom line, he makes sure he isn’t going to be in trouble financially.
Benefits of Traveling
Apart from learning about different cultures and making new friends, traveling has helped him be more open-minded to the ways and peoples of the world, becoming a free spirit, no longer bound by the ideologies of one society or people.
“People live differently everywhere. There is no right way or one way to do something. As you travel, you realize how little you know and that you’re not sure of the press anymore.”
A lot of his Nigerian followers are in awe of how easy he has been able to blend in and experience the local life in a way most of them have not dared to do. Many of the comments suggest he be given a Nigerian passport already. Has he been baptized with a Nigerian name yet? “Well now they call me Area Father so that name might just stick,” he answers.
With the kind of content he is able to create from his travels, Chris says he’ll make a good collaborator with organizations like hotels, restaurants and tourism boards. Some of which he has forged partnerships with already. “I encourage people to send me an email to Chrisauthentictravelling @gmail.com.”
However, he highlights that he hasn’t had much luck getting partnerships with tourism boards and just needs someone to have the political/bureaucratic initiative to make it happen. He believes it’ll be a mutually beneficial relationship as he would be able to make great content and they would have a chance to promote tourism of their region.
Now, here’s an unbelievable but true fact. Chris has never had malaria! But he is concerned he might get it. Well, we all hope he doesn’t.
For more authentic traveling, follow Chris on:
Chris – Authentic Traveling (@authentic_traveling) • Instagram photos and videos
