Lagos to Abuja is a journey and most passengers embarking on this trip prepare their mind for it. You’re either ready to sleep (I fall into this category of passengers) or you’re ready to fight sleep with everything you can conjure till you get to where you are going-though I don’t know why you even have to, is not like sleep is bad.

Anyways my last trip to Abuja which was onboard one of the popular private transport companies was a lot shorter than previous journeys or at least, that was how it felt and the trick was free Wifi on board!

Free Wifi onboard some Luxurious buses

It first hit me when the coach captain said we can enjoy free Wifi aboard his coach. “Like seriously? Is that some kind of joke?” I asked him but the imposing coaster pilot showed me a cute little black box nestling at the right corner of the bus and in reply, he says to me in Pidgin:

“My broda, dis IT people keep doing wonders. Wen you tink sey u don see finish, dem go do another magic. Dis one dey call Palmplay^TM offline go connect u for internet inside this bus till we reach Abuja”.

When he was done marketing his new business trick, I figured that the man wasn’t cracking jokes. Though technically Palmplay^TM offline isn’t the internet but works much like it. The brilliant wireless device has a local server (the box) and well, you can connect your mobile devices to it using via the Wifi; for some persons, that’s internet enough for sure. As for me, I couldn’t wait to connect to the free “internet” and get myself busy through the journey.

Wrapped up in content

The bus was ready to move and while the coach captain settled behind the wheel, I flicked on the Wifi button of my smart phone, it was moment of truth. As expected I made a connection and Palmchat interface popped up on my device and I downloaded the app to access the Palmplay Offline server content.

Once inside the app ecosystem, there was no turning back. I browsed contents throughout my journey, scanning through my new world and I must say the cute little box could hold its own. Content ranging from apps to movies, music videos and even some clips of popular sitcoms were all loaded on Palmplay^TM offline. I went for the movies, no holding back and my eyes were blazing throughout not an iota of sleep crept in till we got to Abuja.

I promised myself to always go for the free Wifi buses when making interstate journeys. They have a way of making your trip a lot shorter or at least so it feels.

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