Due North A Collection of Travel Observations, Reflections, And Snapshots Across Colo

Due North is a collection of travel observations, reflections, and snapshots across colors, cultures, and continents by award-winning travel writer and photographer Lola Akinmade Åkerström. EXCERPT: I know what’s coming. I’d gone through this drill dozens of times. As many times as each of those vibrant and colorful visas in my little green book, my Nigerian passport. Even before the immigration officer pulls me aside, I instinctively pull myself aside. He glosses over my visa. A visa I’ve spent hundreds of dollars acquiring. He finds his government’s issued permission, but curiosity gets the better of him. He thumbs through the rest, looking through the two green passports stapled together because the visas had outnumbered the pages. “Why all these visas?” he asks. This scene was repeated in airport after airport across several continents. The more visa stamps in my passport, the more my motives for travel were deeply questioned. Why was I traveling?

Having lived on three different continents — Africa, North America, and now Europe — for extended periods of time, Lola (Akinmade) Åkerström is drawn to the complexities and nuances of culture and how they manifest themselves within relationships. She holds a master’s degree in Information Systems from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Lola worked as a consultant and programmer for over a decade before following her dreams of becoming a travel writer and photographer, exploring various cultures through food, tradition, and lifestyle. Today, she’s an award-winning writer, speaker, and photographer represented by National Geographic Creative. She regularly contributes to high profile publications such as AFAR, the BBC, The Guardian, Lonely Planet, Travel + Leisure and National Geographic Traveller, to name a few – https://www.akinmade.com She has received photography and writing awards, including recognition from the Society of American Travel Writers and North American Travel Journalists Association. In addition, Lola is the editor of Slow Travel Stockholm, an online magazine dedicated to exploring Sweden’s capital city in depth (https://www.slowtravelstockholm.com). She lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and blogs at https://www.lolaakinmade.com