Scam! Yes, it has happened to me! I am not pleased to admit it, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t happen. As I’m constantly on the socials, I enter myself into several giveaways. So, when I entered for this giveaway scam to the Canary Islands with flights, accommodations and spending money included I couldn’t say no. I mean who would?
I mean it looks pretty legit right?
The giveaway was supposed to be with CrystalTravel.uk – or at least I thought it was. The account had over 10.8k followers so I couldn’t believe I thought it was legit. I didn’t realise people still bought followers!
All I had to do was tag my travel buddy, which to me was super easy. I, of course, tagged my babe and within a few days, I was sent a DM that I had won a prize to Tenerife for 10 days with £500 spending money! I mean I was over the moon I hardly ever win anything!
The DM sent to me to say congrats
I was fully gassed!
Your girl was already and planning her hairstyle and outfits she was going to take on this getaway. I quickly sent a message to my partner to let him know about the good news!
CrystalTravel was asking me for some personal information. They asked me to send a picture of my passport and a picture of myself titled Crystal Travel. I was so excited to go I didn’t even consider that this might be a scam! Why would it be?
I sent a copy of my passport despite ALL my work colleagues telling me to calm down and not too! In my head, I thought these guys don’t want me to be great! Of course, I am going to send what they have requested! It didn’t take long before I came back to earth. It was getting weird where they were sending me some bizarre responses, so I started asking questions.
I went over to their official website, which they added to the bio of the fake account and messaged their online chat service. They quickly informed me that it was a scam! WTF! A SCAM!! I couldn’t believe that I HAD JUST SENT OVER MY DETAILS AND THIS WAS ALL A SCAM!
is this a scam?
This was heart-breaking. All those outfits I was planning had gone out the window in literally seconds.
Short-lived, but I learnt a few things that I think you should know about them too. Below are three things to ask yourself before passing any details.
1. Don’t send any details to scammers
To be honest with you it was extremely stupid of me to send over my passport details to these fraudsters. I already knew that they didn’t need me to send passport picture to book a flight, but I think my excitement got the better of me and I just went with it.
Don’t get like me and get so excited that you forget that there are scammers out there. And just because you would never do something like this to anyone doesn’t mean these people don’t exist.
2. If you do send info contact the police and report the fraud
You will need to contact the police and report that you have been scammed. You can report fraud in the UK via this link.
This protects you if anything goes wrong and your identity is used. You might also want to contact your banks etc. to let them know to watch out for any weird activity.
3. Be careful of urgent deadlines
When I was sent the message that I had won the giveaway they demanded I sent everything quickly. Nothing needs to be done immediately. So, if you’re being asked to hit a deadline, something dodgy is probably going on.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions
In my case, I noticed that when I began to ask questions, i.e. go on the official website and ask about the giveaway I learnt it was a fraud. Once they got what they needed, I then noticed the Instagram account blocked me. Ask questions from the very beginning that way you can avoid scammers.
Either way, there are scammers everywhere and sometimes they can get even the best of people. Cough cough, me.
What about yourself have you ever experienced something similar? Let me know in the comments below *no judgements*
We all know what is going on with coronavirus. It’s been difficult, to say the least. In the last week, I’ve been working from home; this month, I’ve had to cancel a fantastic trip to Jamacia. 🙁
Yesterday the British Prime Minister stated that he will be taking new measures to enforce people to stay at home. He basically in so many words set a UK Lockdown!
As you can imagine, this has been a challenging time for all of us, blogging has become extremely difficult, particularly as a travel blogger. Those that use their blog as a therapy tool have really struggled including myself.
I am still trying to process what is really happening, it feels so unreal. I wake up at home, work from home, work-out at home and then go to sleep. To me, it feels like I am dreaming.
UK Lockdown means…
Shopping for basic necessities such as food and medicine. Shopping trips should be as infrequent as possible
One form of exercise a day such as a run, walk, or cycle. This should be done alone or only with people you live with
Any medical need, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person. This includes moving children under the age of 18 between their parents’ homes, where applicable. Key workers or those with children identified as vulnerable can continue to take their children to school
Travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home
And because of everything unfolding so quickly, I’ve decided to write a day to day personal account of how I’m coping with it. Let’s be real. Not much will change, but I think a personal account of what is really going on in one’s mind is essential and therapeutic.
It will be interesting to reflect on what has happened once this is all done and dusted! I will be updating this post with a new account of each day.
Join me, comment and let’s help each other through this difficult time. I will start with the first day of the lockdown.
DAY 1
Woke up at 7 am this morning, got up and had a shower and changed into my work clothes to feel a sense of normality. My boyfriend looked at me like I was going crazy, but it got my head ready for the day. It’s been a week since I started working from home (WFH) and I’m not going to lie it’s starting to really get to me. I have daily chats with my team at 11.30 and then continue to work.
After lunch, I decided to give my airline (AirCanda) a call, the number was continuously busy. If it wasn’t on busy, then it would just continually ring out. When I eventually got through to them, they insisted that my ticket was non-refundable and that I would have to pay a cancellation fee of £160!!! What an absolute joke – my flight has already been cancelled!!
I am so lucky that I paid for my flight through my credit card. While I’ve been on hold with Barclaycard, I’ve managed to buss a quick workout.
Anyways, I made ewa/beans and plantain for dinner, which lightened my mood a bit. Going to now watch a movie and probs fall asleep.
See you again tomorrow.
DAY 2
Woke up at 7 am to my next day neighbour screaming “FOR FUCK SAKE”. This is pretty normal, but for some reason, it startled me a little.
A little after 8 am I logged into work and decided to give Barclaycard another call for my flight refund! No luck with getting through to them, but we will try again tomorrow!
11.30 am – I joined my team meeting, where I shared a movie quiz! It seemed to brighten everyone’s spirits! I’ve shared the quiz below for anyone that wants to have a go! If you would like to see the answer, you have to go a little further down!
Name the movie!
1. ?? ? –
2. ??? ? –
3. ? ? ? –
4. ? ? ??♂-
5. ? ??? –
6. ? ??? –
7. ? ? –
8. ? ? –
9. ??♀ ? ? ?-
10. ? ?? –
11. ? ?❤? ? ??♀ ? –
12. ? ? ? ? ?? –
13. ? ➡ ? –
14. ? ? ? –
15. ?? ?-
16. ? ??? –
17. ? ? ? ?? –
18. ??? ? –
19. ??✂ ? –
20. ??➡??➡? –
21. ? ? 1⃣3⃣ –
22. ?? ? –
23. ??♀ ? ? –
24. ?➡? –
25. ? ??⏰ –
26. ??? –
27. ? ? –
28. ? ? ? –
29. ???? –
30. ??? –
P.S. It’s worth copying and pasting the emojis to a WhatsApp chat so you can see all of them clearly!
After the team meeting, we decided to go out for some food essentials. We walked past a restaurant that was opened, so we decided to get a quick takeaway – after all, everything else is still closed. We got talking to the staff while we were ordering our food and learnt that they had only been open for 5 months! They have to stay open during these difficult times! I got lamb with rice and salad – see the picture below. It was very yummy! I had organised a team lunch (virtual of course) which was good.
I then got on with some work and wrapped up at around 4.30 pm. Work hasn’t been busy, so it has been quite challenging to concentrate. After work, I made din-dins. Tonight was meatballs and spaghetti, with some garlic bread. I don’t have a picture of this I’m afraid.
I then did a couple of workouts. As you know, gyms are all closed, so it’s been great having these Instagram live workouts.
If you would like to get involved with the exercises I have dropped a couple of Instagram links below:
Yusuf Myers – does daily workouts, which are for the whole body! They are absolutely amazing, but not for the faint-hearted.
I finished the night with a programme called For Life. I’ve really enjoyed watching this programme. It’s loosely based on an innocent man – Issac Wright Jr. A man that was sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
After the programme, I fell asleep and woke up at 12 am!! This honestly wasn’t planned! I think with this pandemic, my sleep patterns have been suffering dearly
When I woke up, babe and I had a conversation about black celebrities and who they married etc. It was an exciting conversation which led to looking at black couples in the UK. We concluded that the only black celebrity couple based in the UK is Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre.
Sabrina and Idris Elba
If you know any more black British couples please drop them in the comments below.
Anyways here are the answers for the movie quiz:
1. UP
2. JUNGLE BOOK
3. DEVIL WEARS PRADA
4. HARRY POTTER
5. PLANET OF THE APES
6. MIB
7. BLOOD DIAMOND
8. FINDING NEMO
9. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
10. CHICKEN RUN
11. TITANIC
12. KUNG FU PANDA
13. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
14. HAPPY FEET
15. TED
16. MEAN GIRLS
17. AMERICAN PSHYCO
18. DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR
19. EDWARD SCISSOR HANDS
20. BENJAMIN BUTTON
21. APPOLO 13
22. PRINCESS DIARIES
23. LIFE OF PI
24. FREE WILLY
25. CINDERELLA
26. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
27. LION KING
28. LADY AND THE TRAMP
29. BUGS LIFE
30. JURASSIC PARK
What have you been up to? See you again tomorrow.
DAY 3
Can you believe I am writing day 3 on day 5? The last few days have started to blend into one, and I am beginning to really feel it. I am truly exhausted. So exhausted that I can just about do my exercises to keep me sane.
On Thursday, I woke up early to shower and login for work. Work as I already said has been extremely quiet! I haven’t had any deadlines, which has made it extremely difficult to concentrate on other projects.
At lunchtime, I dipped out for some fresh air and purchased some fruits. I got strawberries, pineapple, oranges, avocado and bananas. I thought it would be good to have chocolate-covered strawberries, so headed over to Poundland and got some chocolate! Check out my chocolate covered strawberries below:
After work, I did another Instagram workout with Yusuf Myers and killed some time on the socials. Are you following me on Instagram and Twitter?
For dinner, I had what I made the night before – meatballs and spag, with some garlic bread. This went down a treat! It’s difficult being on a strict diet!
At 8 pm we clapped for the NHS to pay tribute to the NHS and care workers dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. It was quite nice to see everyone come together for a few seconds.
DAY 4
Today is Fridays 27 March 2020. Fridays are usually an exciting day because it means the weekend is coming! However, because of the Lockdown, it wasn’t very appealing.
Today I woke up before 6 am and logged in to work at 7 am! This has to be the earliest I have ever logged into work! I sent a few emails and got in another workout with Yusuf Myers. After my workout, I had a quick shower and logged back into action. For breakfast, I had my slender blender vanilla flavour porridge, with peanut butter and a banana.
Had a few meetings in the morning and then went out for a walk. Work has started to pick up with a few deadlines, so the fresh air was much needed.
We also got the news that the UK Prime Minister was tested for COVID-19 due to minor symptoms. His test results came back positive – see below:
Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus.
I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus.
— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) March 27, 2020
During our walk, babe decided that I should have a cheat meal and got us, Sams. It took a lot of arm twisting, trust me! Yes, Sams and most chicken shops are still opened. Disclaimer: their sweet potato fries are actually a must – sorry I didn’t take time and take a picture!
I was so full from lunch I couldn’t eat again. Instead I had a slender blender smoothie and milk chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert (I didn’t make them tonight so we haven’t got a picture – if you know what I mean haha).
I added another quiz to twitter – please see below and click on the tweet to join in!
— Adebola – Travel & Lifestyle (@mybreakingviews) March 27, 2020
We fell asleep watching StarWars – not one of my faves, but it was good to fall asleep too.
What have you got planned for the weekend?
Friday 27th March to 7th April
Hey everyone,
How have you been doing under this Lockdown? I have to admit that I am being tested daily. I haven’t been keeping up with my daily accounts, which I am disappointed with. A lot has happened since we last met, and I’ve added the main highlight from memory below:
Highlights:
On Saturday 28th March. I made a Quarantine Brunch you can also make yours!
On Sunday 29th March. I pigged out on snacks – this was M&S cookies, and macaroons.
On Monday 30th March. I entered my first #dontrushchallenge with Flights and Feelings which you can watch below
Tuesday 31st March. I was when babe decided to make Banana bread. I have to say it turned out quite well! He followed my recipe which you can also do here. Today was quite hard for me as it was the day I was supposed to leave for Jamacia.
Wednesday 1st April – had a cute little facetime chat with Hannah Ajala an amazing human being! We discussed the negative views people have on Africa.
Hannah and Adebola having a chat
Thursday 2nd April. I found my new love TikTok. I have a few videos on the platform already have a look. Here is an example below.
Friday 3rd April. All this week I was pestering people to send me their videos for the Black Travel Creators #dontrushchallange! We managed to get it published on Friday. Here is the video below:
Sat 4th April. I had a really lazy day today. I was really feeling it today. So decided to watch a few Disney+ shows – my fave Holes. You should give it a watch I absolutely adore this movie!
Sunday 5th April. I produced some more TikTok videos and added them to my Instagram account stories.
Monday 6th April. Today I had a little rush to write a couple of blog posts. The first was the Quarantine Brunch and the second was 10 songs related to the Lockdown. Marty was able to produce another #dontrushchallange (video below).
We got news that Boris Johnson symptoms had got worst. By evening it was declared that he was now in intensive care.
Tuesday 7th April
Woke up early today, logged into work and made a green smoothie! I was quite surprised at how nice it tasted. I added:
Green smoothie
spinach,
strawberries,
a banana, a little milk and water
I hadn’t done any workouts for a few days because of the ‘Time of the Month’. So was happy to get back on it today and do two of live Instagram workouts.
I didn’t go out today, which probs wasn’t a good idea. I realised that I had been spending a lot of time on socials so decided to have a break for a few days.
Wednesday 8th April
Made spinach and tomato omelette for breakfast! Tasted divine. I’m afraid I didn’t take a picture. I had quite a busy day with work so I was glad to of the socials! I finished the day with a couple of home workouts and then called it a day.
To be really honest with you my mental health hasn’t been overall great the last couple of days. I’ve been thinking about being in Jamaica (where I should be if it wasn’t for the UK Lockdown. It’s quite depressing really. Being on a beach vs. staying at home is actually difficult to accept.
Thursday 9th April
Woke up at 3 am. I don’t know why. I’ve had a little difficulty with sleeping through the night. I got up and decided to start work early, after all I had so many deadlines to get done. Tomorrow is Good Friday so I have a long weekend ahead – but to do what????
Went out for a bit to catch some sunshine, this was my bit of positivity for the week. At dinner time I fancied a wrap so went over to that in day 2 and got one – it tasted scrumptious!
I didn’t fancy working out today. Will do a couple of workouts tomorrow.
Hope you can try to enjoy your easter break! x
Friday 10th April 2020 (Bank Holiday)
So annoyed with that I didn’t turn my alarm off, which went off at 6.00 am this morning! I was hoping to have a nice lay in, but no. Woke up and made some protein pancakes for breaky and then did some reading. I am currently reading ‘Why I Stopped Talking to White People About Race‘.
It was pretty warm for us (21 degrees – this is warm in the UK) so I suggested to my partner that we go for a walk. It was pretty depressing sitting indoors! I was surprised to see so many people outdoors but made sure to have to keep 2 meters apart from others.
Only a very few shops are currently opened. So when I saw Brixton Caribbean opened I just had to go and get myself some bun and cheese – you know not being in Jamaica and all. 🙁
I’ve been craving salt and pepper prawns all week! Now that everyone is a Chef now, I thought it would be a good idea to actually make them! After seeing WeAreTheFoodWhore post her salt and pepper chicken recipe on Twitter and Instagram, I just had to give it a go!
I think mine turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. Check out the video below.
I served the meal with some egg noodles – lovely! The night finished off with some Disney Plus. Tonight was Cheetah Girls 2!
Nigeria
is a country estimated of around 167 million people. English being it’s
official main language with other languages, Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa. Its
main religious beliefs are Christianity, Islam and indigenous beliefs.
It is known to be the most populous country in Africa. Nigeria is
one-third larger than Texas and is situated on the Gulf of Guinea in
West Africa. The government today is run by a multiparty government
which has formally been transitioned from a military to civilian rule.
As I sit in Nigeria I have to say that there is always something incredibly amazing and exciting about going home. Every time I do go back I fall more in love with my parent’s country. My parents are originally from Nigeria and although I was born and raised in England, I still consider Nigeria a country that I can call home.
For
me going home has become very personal to me, it goes as far as growing
up in a very predominately white neighbourhood where as a young child I
knew nothing to very little about either of my parent’s cultures (my
mother being Igbo and my father being Yoruba). However, as I have got
older I have wanted to gain more knowledge and insight on my parents
culture so when I did start going to Nigeria I began to really
appreciate the country and gain real excitement about learning
something new, culturally or historically.
Nigeria as a country, has and is becoming very important to me even up to today.
In
the last year, I have encountered a growing number of young people who
are considering, or have now gone back to Nigeria to start a new life,
and with the lack of opportunities that young people appear to be facing
in the UK, the Motherland does seem less far reaching than it has done
previously.
Me In Nigeria-wearing Delta Igbo traditional clothing.
Since
I lived in Singapore as a student I have always had interest in moving
abroad and starting a new life where there is opportunities for me to
take so when my friend sent me this video ‘Nigeria: the “repats” who
have returned. It got me questioning myself on whether I myself would
move to Nigeria.
Indeed
there seems to be a fresh era of people who want to challenge the
stereotypical views of Nigeria which, have been portrayed by the media
and for some of us our parents.
But
believe me when I say more and more young people are now seeing Africa
in a new light and want to challenge the perception of the country by
starting industries, building land and improving Nigeria’s country
infrastructure and growing economy.
young people are now seeing Africa in a new light…
Someone
like me that studied International Politics at Kings College London,
being able to go back to Nigeria and get into the political industry has
been seen to be a struggle amongst my family and peers. Nigeria is
perceived to be a country that suffers from huge political corruptions.
However, there appears to be a new government… The new President
Muhammadu Buhari has shown his quest to kill the high levels of
corruption that lies heavily in this country (others may disagree).
So would I personally move to Nigeria?
For
me I know that it would be exciting I have had past friends and family
that have or are currently doing NYC who had said that the locals had
said that for us “repats” coming to Nigeria was an adventure. Whilst
this stereotype may be true there is a keen interest for “repats” to
promote a new image of Nigeria as an upwardly mobile population who have
masses of opportunities.
The
more the year goes by, I am seeing more migrants return back to Nigeria
not only just to visit families and friends, but also to launch
business and to start new lives. It is becoming more and more acceptable
to see Nigeria as the land where the economy is vastly growing, which
inevitably is eradicating the portrayal ‘poverty porn’ image and
negative stories of Nigeria.
If
I was going to move to Nigeria I would need to convince my Farther
first and I think I have a long way getting around that, but it is
definitely something that I would never rule out of my life.
I
personally would like to think that moving anywhere was an adventure,
but at the same time I think that moving to Nigeria is a huge decision
that could provide huge benefits for anyone that is willing to grab it
with both hands. Even if you do not move at least go home to visit.
I don’t know guys … Maybe it is time to go home.
Remember: It’s ok if life knocks you down, it’s just not ok if you stay down!
