 After all the countries that you've built, you decided to settle in this country? Yes. I've been to more than 21 countries in Africa, next time I'm going to beat 29 so that I can beat you. I say it again. I say it again for the day it's going to happen, so you think you're going to beat me? I'm better traveller than you. Okay. Anyway. Anyway. And I'm travelling all country in Africa. She's the biggest travel blogger in the whole of Africa. In so many countries in Africa, I've started at 18 years old with the first country Ghana. And the last two years I've been travelling alone, completely alone, in more than 15 countries. Okay. And I think that it's true, yes, that you're in Africa, you're in Abidjan. Why Abidjan? Because the first thing I realised when I was travelling was that travelling and living in a country is totally different. For example, you told me one day that your best country in Africa is Namibia, right? Exactly. But I don't know for you, but maybe you don't see yourself living in Namibia. Okay. It's different. You live in Acre and you know how it is in Acre and blah, blah, blah. And my favourite, my top destination in Africa may not be Abidjan, but living here, it's the perfect place for me. Why you chose to live here? First of all, I'm alone. I'm a solo burner. Abidjan in the Freckin' Fun Zone, to me, is like the number one when you're entrepreneur. Because there are so many people creating stuff like creative, entrepreneurial, rental, retail. Retail, retail business. Yeah, all those stuff. So you meet so many people that encourage you to do stuff and that motivate you to do stuff. And I was working in Paris, in La Défense, like big business centre in Paris. And I was in a company, so I had colleagues. So a lot of other people doing like me. But as a solopreneur, any other people doing like me in a big area, and this is Abidjan to me. And it's different to other capital cities in Africa, like the Don't Know War. I mean, I'm not saying that they're not entrepreneurs over there, but the energy of creating, of impacting is way used here in Abidjan. That's why I'm here. That's the number one. Also, as a woman, as a Caribbean woman, travelling solo in Africa, I've realised that you cannot dress the way you walk everywhere. And it's not about the religion, Muslim, Christian, Christian, it's really about the country. And the two capital cities in Africa where I could dress the way I wanted were Accra and Abidjan. So I was like, you've been travelling two years. It's been an amazing experience, but also it's been hard sometimes. Exactly. And I wanted my life to be solved. I wanted my life to be, like we say here, like solved. And I wanted to wear crop top if I want to wear crop top. But yeah, I wanted to be free to dress the way I wanted and Abidjan was the capital. It's not like the number one reason, but it was one of the reasons. Okay? Also, and it's something which is a little bit taboo to say when you're from Europe coming to Africa. But I wanted also the comforts. Is it English? Yeah. The comfort of travelling or living in a place? Living in a place. Yeah. Like you're in a place where most of the worlds are okay. Internet collection is perfect because I'm also a digital nomad. Yeah. So you know, I need to get internet everywhere. Right. When I read my stories, when I read my video, when I read my life, I need to get internet everywhere. Some countries in Africa, like there is only this specific place. That has internet. Especially in France, the easiest country to start with is Africa. And how many countries have you been so far? How many countries have you been so far? The number is not important. Like I will be... No, no, no. No, just answer the question. The number is not important. The experience is good. And for the ecology and stuff, you know, slow travel is very good. I will be to my 30 countries in some times, but for the moment, it's 21 countries. What really inspired you to start travelling with Africa? Absolutely. Okay. And when you are in France and you're from Caribbean Island, everybody, the school, your parents, your family, your friends, they're telling you, ah, you got a look for the Caribbean, but you're really ancestor there from Africa. So I grew up that way. Always, like always hearing stuff about Africa, but knowing nothing about it. Wow. Because on the TV, it was always like poor people, small children with big belly, with flies on the face and all. That was the only image I had from the media, from the school. They were saying that Africa is cool, blah, blah, blah, and that colonisation was not good, but it was okay, you see? And slavery too. So there were so many stuff I was hearing. That was what you were learning in school? In a lot of school in France. And even in high, like, you know, the school after high school, like super school and all. Yeah, the university. Yeah, university and all. They were saying so many stupid stuff about Africa. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't have the argument. I didn't know how to say that, because the only person in the world that was telling me Africa and not that, that was my father. He's never been to Africa, but he read a lot of books, and he knew that his people wasn't that big. So when I was 18, I told my dad, I wanted to go to Africa. Can you buy me the plane ticket, my mum and you? I didn't know nothing about Africa. So I just took a map, I took a ruler, and I chose the country that was closest to France, and a country where I was speaking English. So what I said to my daddy was, I don't just want to go to holiday, also I want to learn English. So I was telling him that way, like I want to see an African, and also I want you to improve my English. So the closest country was Ghana. So that means you're not a Ghanaian? I'm not a Ghanaian. What did you get the name up and off of? Because when I arrived, I was the only woman, like when I arrived, the only way to me as a young lady to travel to Africa without holidays was to do volunteer work. So I didn't want to do that with the French Association, saving the world in Africa. So I went on the internet and I looked for a Ghanaian association that was based in Ghana, that was 100% Ghanaian. So I contacted them and I said I was coming. So when I arrived in Accra, I was the only woman, there were 10 guys. I was the only woman, and I was the only woman under 20, all they were 30. So they saw that I was a little bit shy and all, and they wanted me to feel good. So they told me, when were you born? So I get on my birthdays. They say, no, no, no, no, no. The day of the week, when were you born? So I didn't know, so I checked on my phone and I said, okay, it was a Tuesday. And they say here, in our country, when you choose the born and you're a woman, your name is Abena. And doing all my thing in Ghana, my name was Abena. And a lot of people on the internet, they don't even know my name is Sandy. The thing is Abena. Your real name is Sandy. Yeah. But now you've adopted Abena as your name. Yeah. You are called Abena. I am called Abena. I'm also a Tuesday born. I'm a Tuesday born. So I'm called Abena. You are called Abena. Yeah. We both travel within Africa. Yeah. We both want to travel every country in Africa. What the hell is it? What country is your favorite country now? I can't say. I don't know how you can say in Namibia. You've been to so many countries. How can you say, okay, Namibia is number one? Because there are so many different experiences. No, listen. I always tell people, every country is so unique in their own way. But if you ask me to choose one country out of all the countries, I should be able to tell you because most of the countries that I've been to, everything that can be found in those countries can be found in Namibia. I'm telling you. So to me, my definition for Namibia is Africa. Okay. So can I do a top three? I can't say just one. Okay. Go for top three. Okay, top three. They're all on the same ranking. Cameroon. Have you been to Cameroon? No. But they think that all wanderers in Africa, they are in Cameroon. And I've been there and I can guarantee you that it's true. It's just that, communion people, some people, they think they are a little bit crazy, but that's okay. They're nice. You just need to, you know, to be nice with them. But there are everything over there. Mountains, beach. Even snow in the west of Cameroon, people have already seen snow. So Cameroon will be in the top three. Benin, of course, will be in the top three. For the authenticity, the spirituality, the food, everything. And the beach, they are so clean in Kota New. I won't target any country. But you live in Abidjan. Abidjan. There's no beach in Abidjan. You need to drive one hour to go to Assini. Come on, go to Assini. And you've got to enjoy one of the... I think it's amazing. One of the best... Ah, come on. So... It's not like that question. Every course is not on your top list, but you chose to live here. Yes. That's what they were saying. So now my next question is... I just feel like being a film and travel contentator in Africa. I think it's going to be maybe strange for me to say that, but it is so easy. I'm going to tell you why. I am alone. I am a woman. And I'm not from Africa. You know, I feel like I'm from Africa, but the first thing people ask me when they meet me in any country is where are you from. When I start talking about Guadalupe, Caribbean island, they're like, why are you coming from Guadalupe? Where it is? Are you our ancestors? There is something like... Also, we can say whatever we want about European countries, developed countries and all, the thing is that in Africa, any country, when you are alone, you're never alone. Any people, they're trying to help you. Somebody see you lost, they're going to help you. They see you alone, they're going to invite you to their wedding, lunch, dinner, family event, a lot of stuff. I've been travelling the entire world. It's just that I prefer the Afro world, but when I'm in other countries, I don't have those kind of warm welcome and I don't feel home, like I feel home in Africa, even if before, I knew nobody in this continent. Now, I have friends and families in every country I've been to. I feel like being a female travel content creator is dangerous though. Yeah. You don't get her out? I think there are two steps. The first step is that maybe now I'm used to travel, so I know what I should do and what I shouldn't do. For example, I'm in Ivory Coast and I know that I can dress that way in Ivory Coast, but I would never dress that way in Kotolou or in Duala or in other countries in Africa because I know it's not common to dress that way, so if I don't want people to talk to me badly, I would just dress another way. It's just that now, I know how to behave in each country in Africa. Even countries I've never been to, now you know how it's going to be, so that's the first thing. And the second thing is that, of course, some stories happen to me in Ethiopia, in Senegal, in maybe other countries, but it's the same level than what happened to me when I was in Paris, or New York, or Canada. It's the same. It's specifically Africa. Some stuff happened, but I don't think it's linked to the fact that I was in Africa. Yeah, these are the fans, you know? These are the fans, you know? Yeah? They said Sandy. Yeah, they said Sandy. They know your name. Oh, okay, but how did they know your real name? Because it's on Instagram, just like people they used to have now. You call me Abna. We travel out in Africa. The first one is that when you arrive to the airport, take your SIM card directly. A lot of people, because they're used to travel out of Africa, may depend on the country, okay? They think that it's okay, we're going to use the wifi of the restaurant, blah, blah, blah. But the thing is that it's... it's too difficult. You just take your SIM card, and you will have internet all the time. And compared to a lot of European countries, you just give them your passport and you get the SIM card very quickly in most countries in Africa. Okay, the second travel act is that when you go to holidays, most of the time you want to go to hotel, hotel, hotel, hotel. But the best experience you will have is when you sleep to local, to local house. The most famous website is Airbnb, but you can find also people on Facebook and other platforms. But really, my best experience is to give to people in the country. When you are in the hotel, you use a lot of other tools and you don't have the real experience of the country. The very last one is very important. Do not plan all your travel. A lot of people, when they come to any country, they know they're coming from day one to day seven, and they know exactly what they're going to do day one, day two, day three. And it's so boring. You just need to plan. You can do a checklist of all the things you really need to go before you leave the country. That's okay. You can even say, you can even plan maybe the first four days. But once you be in the country, you will meet people. You will go to a place that you love so much that you want to stay the next day. And if everything needs schedule day by day, hour by hour, then you won't be able to do anything. You won't be free. So, free yourself, plan half of the travel, half of the travel and the rest. Go with the flow. Go with the flow. That's it. I never plan my trips in Africa. All I do is I work out. I can confirm. I met you in Benin. Nothing has been planned. You have met you in here in Ivory Coast. Nothing planned. Why you see I need to be so real? That's too real. That's too real. Because I feel like whenever I plan, I feel. Yeah, I feel. You know, even I was supposed to leave today. Yesterday. Yeah. But now I've added two more days. You see, I'm leaving tomorrow. So, whenever you travel, we need Africa. Don't plan. That's why I don't buy my return ticket. Yeah. Because anytime I buy my return ticket, I end up changing and changing and changing. You know what? I'm gonna tell them something that they need to know about Africa. My friend, my family, is that when I came back to Africa, I find back my humanity. It's what I say to everybody. Because of the people I met, because of the people who helped me, because of all the connections, people here, I feel like they really care. When I'm lost, they really care. When I'm in trouble, they really care. When if somebody arrests me in the market, they really care. And this is not something that I've felt during my 29 years in Europe. I don't think that Europe is blue sheet that is not bad. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that I have to better here in Africa.