The first time I met Modupe Odele in person was at Baa and Beans, a cafe located in the East Legon area of Accra, Ghana’s capital.
Popularly known as “Moe” online, Odele was hosting an event for her social enterprise, Scale My Hustle, which helped African entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses.
We had previously communicated online on X (the platform known as Twitter back then) before she was in Ghana for her event.
Before starting her venture to help individuals with their businesses, Moe was more known for her legal expertise. After passing the bar, she became a legal practitioner in the city of Nigeria, focusing on African-related issues.
But law wasn’t her first love.
Her fascination lay with geography, but she had opted for a law degree, which seemed like a more opportunist career.
“I wasn’t really sure what a career path [in geography] would have looked like. So I decided to just continue with law. And I fell in love with it,” she said in an online interview with The Labari Journal.
She would later attend a fellowship in the US in New York, where she would pass the state’s bar exam to become a legal practitioner in the United States.
But her focus was still on African-related legal work. It wasn’t long before she decided to find her way back to the continent.
“I think it was in 2021, right after COVID, I just woke up one day, kind of really tired of my current environment. And I said, OK, you know what, let me just go.”
But before moving back, she met a couple while on a trip in Mexico. Through conversation, she discovered they were “digital nomads”, people who earn their living working online in various locations.
Although the term was not familiar to Moe, she was intrigued with the concept.
“[Digital Nomads] wasn’t super common at the time”, Moe recalled of the encounter.
“In fact, I had never heard it before. Or maybe I had heard it in passing, but it was not something that was in my consciousness. So I was fascinated by the idea that you could just pack your bags and just move. And then so once I got back home, I couldn’t get it off my mind.”
After months of thinking and planning, Moe decided to take the plunge, embarking on her digital nomad journey, which would span more than 40 countries over four years.
Stepping Stones
Her first planned stop, which was supposed to be Montenegro, was unfortunately disrupted by a travel advisory. This unforeseen circumstance would divert her to Albania, a place she fell in love with.
“Albania was a pit stop that stole my heart,” Moe said on her first digital nomad trip.
For four weeks, she explored the country’s surroundings, absorbing its culture and rugged landscapes.
She eventually managed to find her way to Montenegro through the use of a rental car, which she drove around the Balkans for just 20 euros a day.
The Balkans were Moe’s first taste of digital nomadism. She subsequently travelled to several other countries, exploring different cultures and conversing with the locals.
In Lebanon, she wandered Beirut’s bustling markets and Byblos’ ancient ruins, finding a personal connection that made it her favorite destination.
“I went in blind, and it amazed me,” she recalls of the experience.
She explored the Brazilian landscape in cities like Rio and São Paulo in South America.
In Eastern Europe, Georgia’s dramatic Caucasus Mountains were a sight to behold, and south of the American border, Mexico’s colorful streets became a core memory.
Solo Travel As A Black Nigerian Woman
The majority of Moe’s trips have been solo, with some trips being with a group. Her strategy is to keep costs low by targeting seasons when the peak season of tourists is dwindling.
She briefly considered Dubai as a base for its global flights. Ultimately, she chose Lagos because she missed being home after being absent for close to nine years.
While booking trips and traveling were relatively easy, Moe faced some challenges because she carried a Nigerian passport and traveled solo as a woman.
Border officials often targeted her for “random” searches, and some of the visa processes were a grueling hurdle.
She also spoke of experiencing microaggressions—dismissive service or curious stares in restaurants—as one of the drawbacks of travel, especially in less diverse regions.
“You walk into a place alone, and people wonder, ‘What’s she doing here?’” Moe recalls one of her experiences feeling uncomfortable.
“If a place feels off, I leave,” she asserts. “I don’t negotiate on respect.”
Travelling solo as a woman also had some downsides, especially in getting better service.
“I’ve been in situations where if I meet people on the way and then we decide to start traveling together, I noticed that we just get better reception because there’s a man traveling with me or there’s a man in the group,” she recalls.
But for the majority of her trips, Moe found that on average, most people were more curious than prejudiced. This has resulted in her choosing to reflect on more positive aspects of her destinations than the negatives.
Travelling Within Africa
Although she’s been to several destinations in Africa, Moe doesn’t hide the fact that some of those travels were frustrating.
Most of her West African road trip across eight countries—Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and others—was her toughest journey, hampered by poor connectivity.
“Why don’t we have proper inter-country ferries?” she asked, describing the difficulty of finding connecting flights when she was planning a recent trip to countries in West Africa.
Despite some of these setbacks, her trips to African countries have been experiential.
In Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, she marveled at its vibrant markets and warm hospitality.
Kenya’s Lamu, a car-free island where donkeys and water canals rule, Moe described it like a step back in time, a secret she said she half-wants to gatekeep.
But the difficulty of exploring the continent still lingered in her mind.
“I think a lot of work needs to be done,” she lamented. “It’s such a shame that many Africans can’t just see how beautiful this continent is.”
Embracing Slow Travel
Moe’s current philosophy for travel is “slow travel”. She recommends that travelers spend extended periods—three weeks to a month or even six weeks—in a destination to fully immerse themselves and feel comfortable.
“Most people, when they travel, like to do a week or three days,” she said. “But I’m a huge fan of slow travel. There is something amazing about going to a place and spending three weeks to a month. It’s just really fantastic.”
She believes travelers should explore less obvious destinations, beyond what appears on the first page of Google searches.
“Literally just take a map of the world and just look at the world because there are so many fantastic places to go to as well.”
She highlighted Madagascar as an example, noting its visa-on-arrival policy for most African countries and its stunning biodiversity.
“It has the most beautiful biodiversity I’ve ever seen in any country and it’s great for slow travel as well.”
“Slow travel” has also allowed Moe to focus on her work and career.
She currently runs her own legal tech company startup, VaziLegal, which provides tailored advisory services to startups and tech companies.
The flexibility of running her own businesses has been crucial for her nomadic lifestyle, allowing her to manage her work efficiently across multiple time zones and locations without the constraints of a traditional job.
Looking Forward To Future Travels
Looking ahead, Moe hopes to travel to China for the first time this year.
“That’s one trip I’m really, really looking forward to“, she said.
This wouldn’t be the first time she’s been to the Asian region, having already explored countries including Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea.
As far as favorite countries from her extensive trips, Brazil lingers as a potential second home, its vibrancy echoing Lagos, Nigeria.
But her top country, which she says surprises many, is Lebanon.
“I went to Lebanon at the time when I didn’t know anybody personally who had been to Lebanon,” she said. “I was going in blind. It was just amazing for me.”
For people who want to experience the digital nomadic lifestyle, Moe says it can take a while to get comfortable, but it can be a rewarding lifestyle as long as you’re ready.
“I would say there’s no rush. If a place doesn’t work for you, you don’t have to be there.”
But she encourages people to explore the world if they have the option.
Global travel can be difficult due to visa restrictions and purchasing power for most Africans. But Moe’s example could be a template and example that traveling the world while working is not as daunting.
“There are so many amazing cases in the world that would welcome you. I always implore people to look beyond.”
