It's the night before departure and I can't sleep. Not because anything is wrong. Everything, for once, is right; the vehicles are fueled, the crew list is final- fourteen names, and tomorrow morning we leave Accra and don't come back for ten days.

I've been dreaming about this trip for months. Tonight it stops being a dream, and honestly? That's the part that keeps you awake.

Let me tell you what we're actually doing, because I don't think anyone has done it quite like this.

The idea

Most people who travel to the North of Ghana take the same road everyone takes. Straight up the spine of the country, fast as possible, eyes on the destination. And look, that road works.

But somewhere along the way I became convinced there's a better way to go north. A route that's longer, yes.

Less used, definitely. But beautiful in a way that made me stop the car the first time I saw parts of it, just to stand there.

That's the route we're taking. Accra, then east and up through the Volta Region; mountains, water, roads that curve like they were drawn by hand.

Then across to Tamale, deeper still to Wa, and finally all the way to Bolgatanga, near the roof of Ghana. Ten days. The long way north, on purpose.

And I'm not going alone. I'm taking fourteen people, most of them creators, camera people, storytellers. Because here's the thing I've learned doing this work: the places I go are only "unknown" because nobody has shown them properly.

When we took cameras to Crocodile Island, a place most Ghanaians had never heard of, three million people watched in a week.

Three million. Not because we did anything magical, because the place was already magical and someone finally pointed a lens at it.

So this trip is a content expedition. Fourteen of us, documenting a version of Ghana that most people, including most Ghanaians, have never seen.

What it took to get here

I want to be honest about this part, because the highlight reel never shows it.

This trip nearly didn't happen several times. Months of content planning meetings. Client presentations where I stood in boardrooms explaining why anyone should care about a road less traveled.

Rejections; more than a few. Emails that never got replies. Budgets that didn't add up. There were weeks I'd leave a meeting, sit in the car, and ask myself whether I was the only person who could see this thing.

And then, somehow, beautifully, it came together.

CFAO Mobility Ghana said yes! and put us in vehicles built for exactly this kind of journey. Pepsodent said yes. Malta Guinness said yes. Munchee Ginger Biscuits said yes.

Nero Prime is keeping fourteen people hydrated across ten days of dust and sun. When brands like these look at a route nobody uses and say we believe in this, that changes something in you. It stops being my dream. It becomes a convoy.

The plan (and why I'm going to break it)

We have an itinerary. Of course we do! You don't move fourteen people and a fleet of vehicles across a country without one. But those of you who know me know that I am, at heart, a spontaneous traveler.

If we pass a sign to somewhere I've never heard of, we're turning. If an old man at a fuel stop tells us about a waterfall his grandfather showed him, we're going to find it.

Some of the best things I've ever discovered in this country happened because I abandoned the plan.

On this trip, I'm stepping fully into that robe. The itinerary is a suggestion. The road is the boss.

Why you should follow this

If you're Ghanaian and you've never been past Kumasi, this series is for you.
If you're in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Amsterdam, planning that trip home, wondering whether there's more to Ghana than Accra, Cape Coast and the same five photos everyone posts, this series is especially for you.

Over the next ten days I'll be writing from the road: what we find, what goes wrong, what takes our breath away, and what nobody tells you about traveling this country properly.

I don't know exactly what's out there. That's the whole point. The engines started at dawn.

FROM THE DIARY — Journey To The North

• Route: Accra → Volta Region → Tamale → Wa → Bolgatanga

• Duration: 10 days, August 14–23

• Crew: 14 — creators, camera operators, storytellers

• Fleet: Supported by CFAO Mobility Ghana

• Partners: Pepsodent · Malta Guinness · Munchee Ginger Biscuits · Nero Prime