Mariam Aduke Abass– When our nomad of the week isn’t working in her 9 to 5 job as a Pipeline Engineer, she is traveling as much as possible, usually running to the train station after work with her little hand luggage hoping to get to the airport in time to catch her flights! Follow her crazy adventures on ninetomiles.wordpress.com. Instagram/Twitter: @mariamaduke

When planning a vacation, what determines your destination of choice?

Most of my trips are spontaneous but very affordable, I hate planning things way ahead, and it makes me nervous. No lie :p. I love the outdoors; mountains, lakes, springs, etc, so I am usually drawn to those kind of destinations and places full of culture! I also try to avoid peak tourist seasons. Somewhere I can go and get lost a little. I also love my city breaks. It all depends on the period and how much I am willing to spend but I would say I am a very flexible traveler and I am looking to travel the world ,if it is new to me and affordable, chances are I am booking it and I am on the move with my little luggage again.

What is the one thing you cannot do without when you travel?

My camera because you only asked for one thing, but if I am being honest, then it will be a number of things which includes; my phone to communicate with the hotel/apartments especially when I am visiting multiple cities in one country, some paracetamol for all the bootleg conversations I try to have with strangers that don’t have a clue what I am on about and trying to understand directions in a foreign language 🙂.

Most memorable thing you have done during a holiday?

Apart from climbing onto that boulder in Norway and sitting on the edge of the pulpit rock, one of my most memorable moments was during my solo trip to Macedonia; I jumped on a cruise ship from Lake Ohrid to St Naum with a group of Polish travelers. We stopped over at St Naum for a while and the Polish tourists must have had too much to drink, because what happened on that return trip was crazy. They handed the Captain a CD full of Polish songs and started a party in the upper deck area. They came to drag me in we all started singing and dancing, and I am not talking typical left to right leg movements, these people had me jumping, holding hands, moving around in circles, hair whipping, leg kicking . I felt so dizzy after but it was the most memorable! It was epic.

Every avid traveler has a travel bucket list. What’s on yours?

Hmmmmmm, let me try to keep it simple

• The Northern Lights preferably in Iceland.
• Driving a Caravan around a place with mountains and lakes, probably Norway, Switzerland or Finland
• Visiting a Palm oil plantation in Nigeria and getting involved in the feet crushing action( so messy! But it should be fun)
• Spending a night somewhere in a secluded mud hut somewhere in Nigeria.

What is your favorite travel quote?

I am not big on quotes. But If I had to make one up, it will be, “ Get off your ass, visit new places, meet new people, save up some more and do it all again. Until you get absolutely sick and tired of moving around (be warned, chances are you will never get tired )”. Actually that is a long ass quote, so just: **insert a ‘fake deep’ quote from the internet here**

Where is that ONE place you have to see in your lifetime?

I really don’t think I have one, but of late, I have been reading about Iran, Jordan, Sri lanka, Ethiopia, Cuba e.t.c those places have a lot of history and some are not yet blown out tourist attractions thus authentic, raw and sincere culture and traditions still exists. But really, I basically just want to travel the world, one safe enough place at a time, In shaa Allah 🙂

Travel tips and tricks you would like to share?

• Do not be afraid to get up and go.
• Do not waste too much time finding a travel partner, you must travel Solo at least once, chances are you will prefer it to traveling with friends.
• Do not let anyone stunt on you with with travel pictures. You can do it too! Traveling is cheaper than you think, you just need to get the timing right 🙂
• Money will probably always be around if you work hard enough, but you are not guaranteed a sound health forever, so please make good use of it now 🙂
• Do silly things, spend on yourself, stay safe, and enjoy all the free time you have before you start popping babies ( you might not be as adventurous as you would like until they are of certain age).

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