Greetings great family. It's good to be in your midst once again. Today I'll be sharing with you my vacation plans for this year. And hope you would glean a tip or two to better your own vacation plans. Also hope you'll be excited to learn about my plans and what I hope to get out of the planned holiday retreat. I wish you all well on this week's contest and many thanks to all the admins and moderators making this engagements worthwhile.

Well, when I talk about my roots, I'm making reference to my place of origin. Like many people in the 21st century, I live and work in the City; the City of Uyo, in South South Nigeria is my base. This is my town, this is my home. I have spent the greatest part of my over 3 decades of life in this town. My basic education was completed here in the city of Uyo at Christ the King Primary School, Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo. My secondary school was completed here in the city of Uyo at Uyo High School, Oron Road, Uyo. And all my University education has been here in the city of Uyo at the University of Uyo, Ikpa Road, Uyo. This city is also where I currently live and work. In fact I'm making this post right here from the city of Uyo. So, you see, Uyo is my town! You know what I am saying? Yeah, I'm sure you do if you have had my sort of monolocalisation experience (coinage mine, doesn't exist in the dictionary). This however is not my roots. I'm originally from a quiet, serene, peaceful, remote village known as Nkwot in Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. This tiny village is about 3 hours drive from the city of Uyo where I reside. This is my root; this is my paternal origin and this is where I chose to visit for my holiday.

The woods are covered with thick mangroves and are breezy and soothing for the mind when taking a walk around it. It has many beautiful sceneries that will effectively engage my senses and distance my mind from the worries and anxieties and stress of city life. You can spend an entire day in the woods without notice how fast time flies. But to protect myself from sun flies and mosquitoes, which are very common this rainy season, I'll need to buy some insect repellents to take along on the vacation. The average insect repellent cream like Odomus costs about 20 Steem. So I'll need just 1 of it for the trip. That way I'll protect myself from tropical illnesses which mosquitoes and other blood sucking flies transmit like malaria, dengue, etc.

The streams provide a nice treat especially in the hot afternoons. These stream waters in my village are fresh, clean and chill. Swimming as we know is a very good form of exercise as it allows you get the best workout for the whole body without straining a muscle. It is good for those trying to lose body weight. I personally love swimming because of how it eases stress and boosts "feel good" hormones which the body needs to recuperate from stress and keep the mind sound, calm and healthy. Swimming is good for heart health too. So I look forward to enjoying these peaceful waters when I visit my roots.

Life is sweet in the village setting as one gets to enjoy much of what the wild forest has to offer, meatly speaking (coinage mine, doesn't exist in dictionary ). For me, a major highlight of village life is bush meat. Yes, in the city we keep many animals as pets. But in the village you get the rare opportunity of eating some wild animals like the grass cutter which is in enormous supply here in my village. The grass cutter population is so large that it becomes a major threat to the crops of the village people, so they embark on regular game hunting to tame the population growth of these game animals and provide the much needed animal protein for their families. Did you know that most bush meat are white meat which is low in cholesterol and healthier than red meat? That's why I don't miss bush meat barbeques whenever I'm here in the village. This time, I'll travel with some dried spices for the barbeques because it's usually difficult to get the variety of seasonings and spices one may desire for making barbeque in the village.

Spirits and bottled wines and sodas and fruit juices are the bore of township life. In the village, you witness the miracle of the oldest technology known to man: The craft of bring out sweet wine from a living Rafia Palm tree! This wine is best enjoyed as it descends from the tree top. So, especially early in the mornings and late at evenings, just when the dusk descends, we shall enter the creeks with our medium sized drinking calabash to enjoy fresh palm wine at source. Did you know? The natural yeast in palm wine has many health benefits for the eyes, your hormones and your libido? And the wine is especially good for breastfeeding mothers as it boosts lactation too while helping them beat their hormonal blues induced "partner avoidance" and return to active s3x life after childbirth.

Above all the merry and cruise, an important takeaway from village life is the quietness of the environment. The songs of birds and trickles of springs, and chirps of insects...these create a symphony that lulls and soothes the mind and can reset one's mental faculties to factory setting. When you bask in the serenity of this remote part of the world, away from all the noise and air and other pollutants in the city, you experience a rebirth that compares to nothing. I need this for my mental health now more than ever and so, can't wait to embark on this trip!

It is important that from time to time, everyone makes out some time to rest. There is a saying that if you don't make time for your body, it will make it for you. The irony is that if you wait for it to do that, then your vacation will be in a hospital bed, if not the morgue. So the best anyone can do for themselves is to take a week out from the hustle and bustle, stay far away from life's troubles and allow your body and mind to truly relax and reset and reenergize for life to continue. This is exactly what I'm going to do during my next holiday, and I'm getting a time/date stamp on it soon so I don't procrastinate. I'm also gonna save up for it, so there'll be no excuses. And I'll sure be enjoying this trip with people very close to my heart, so the fun will be complete.