A WEEKEND IN COTONOU

Hey, this should be pretty interesting so please read on. After spamming you all with my cute travel photos on instagram I’m back here to unleash the rest of the sauce.

Most of you wanted to know where I was because of the photos on IG, how much I paid and all that travel shebang. First of, it was a Girl’s trip! Yes I went on a vacation with girls I’d not met before and it was fab. Cotonou was great. We really tried to make the best of every good, bad and beautiful situation. A couple things I couldn’t stop gassing about were the Typography of the ads in Cotonou, their plate numbers, use of Ankara as an almost everyday wear(it’s almost an occasional cloth here in Lagos) and also their most noteworthy and queer architecture.

Cotonou people are patient drivers, I couldn’t ever leave that out.

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Day 1

Nigerian Immigration is terrible. *Drops Mic*

…………………………….

No! Seriously, I am not sure why I did not expect to be disgusted by them! Anyway, the first day was super stressful as we had issues with the hotel we booked and ended up sleeping in another trashy hotel. I fell ill on the first day. lol! Had some pasta and I felt better. I wore my gafasandals for the road trip. I am proud to say I was one of the first few people to patronise this shoe brand. Got my teeshirt from Emmykasbit which I paired with some pants I got from my close friend, Siji.

I took a book with me which I never read the entire trip. lool! yah!

lakehouse

Day 2

Started the day with a visit to le plage(the beach) in Nale. I loved how it really complemented my skin. So obviously we had to leave the trashy hotel for our Lakehouse. I was so happy to see the lakehouse really was a dream. Took a long shower as soon as we settled in and changed into my Lace dress by Onalaja

Day 3

On Sunday, I spent most of the day looking at my photos. I think this was the day we went to the market place, point of no return and the python palace. It really was a relaxing holiday type thing for me as opposed to a city tour. I wore my Emmykasbit pinafore for the road, came back to chill in my Nuraniya cover up.

Later that evening, I went to the beach again, one last time. Bliss!

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I decided to create illustrations of some of the visuals from the trip. The Emmykasbit teeshirt is made with markers, Nale cord in pastel, Onalaja slip dress in watercolour.

A lot of people asked on my instagram about my earrings, they are from Mango. Its only fair to wonder if I’ve become a fashion blogger with all these photoshoot like images. No! No! lol! I’m still a designer and illustrator. I only decided to try something new with the hope that you’ll like it.

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I will not lie, this post was a bit tasking to do so I will deeply appreciate if you share your thoughts in the comment section. I need all the encouragement I can get to keep going with documenting stuff. Will you like to see another post?  Hoping to share more about the projects I work on. But yeah! Thank you for reading this post. Here’s the link to the Cotonou travel itinerary created by Alex.

 

xo.

27 Comments

  1. I love the angle you took in writing this post. Day one was really a day! Lol and the spaghetti made it all better. Trueeee. www.cassiedaves.com
  2. Hi Claire, you didn't leave any details about how much the trip cost you. Please do so. Please keep documenting. 😊
    • Hey Ada, it's right there in the link at the end of the post. We didn't spend more than 60k each for this trip, I think. The itinerary for the trip and everything you'll need to know about the lakehouse is in that link as well. :)
  3. Yes we would all like to see more stuff from you . Thanks for sharing and it’s pretty cool with the illustrations .
    • Lol! Thank you o Banke! I thought I was doing the most with the illustrations, I'm glad you like them. I think I will make them less stiff in the next posts. :*
  4. I’m really considering going on a trip like this though. Y’all made it look worthwhile and safe too. Thank you for the info ♥️
  5. Yaaayyyy she's back. I love your visuals. I even had to purchase the Ouidah guide because of the pictures. I really really love them. Thanks for blessing us, lol. tonye theblackwriter.co
    • Haha! My super inconsistent ass is back o! lol! Thank you Tonye, you're so sweet. I really hope the guide is helpful for you.
  6. Differently not your everyday blog, cool concept. And yes i would love to see More, also @mirabelle_designs got you covered for fun vacation friendly and of course Nigerian made outfits... Bisoux
    • Thank you Mirabelle. When next I will be travelling, hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on one of your items.
  7. Love them you should continue & you look so simple.. re u simple? Or u just look simply? Wondered
  8. Thank you for this post, it has certainly inspired me to go to Cotonou for a small holiday. I really liked the illustrations, I must say they are beautiful.
  9. Hey Claire! Love u so very much! Just keep being decent as you already portray and don't join the conventional way of dressing . My woman crush. Keep it up pretty. I wish to be close to u! 😃

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