For Dr Abdulazeez Arowona, Athens was not just another foreign assignment. It became a journey of missed flights, overnight trains, airport connections, exhaustion, professional commitment and, ultimately, an unusual opportunity to turn himself into a one-man newsroom at a global public relations gathering.
In more than 27 countries of travel, Arowona says no trip had stretched, drained and fulfilled him quite like the journey to Athens for the 2026 International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Awards. His assignment was shaped by an unexpected development: Yushau A. Shuaib, Managing Director/CEO of Image Merchants Promotion Limited, publishers of PRNigeria, was a finalist but could not travel after his Schengen visa application was refused.
The Ilorin prelude
The journey began in Ilorin, barely 24 hours before Arowona’s scheduled departure for Europe.
He had hosted Yushau Shuaib and members of the Young Communication Fellows at Emirate Radio 98.5FM in Ilorin. From the radio station, the group proceeded to the palace of the Emir of Ilorin and Chairman of the Kwara State Council of Traditional Rulers, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, for a royal visit.
After the palace engagement, they returned to the Radio House, where Arowona showed the visitors around the facilities.
It was during their conversation that Shuaib informed him about the forthcoming IPRA Golden World Awards in Athens and revealed that he was a finalist.
Arowona responded that, by the grace of God, he would also be at the event.
The following day, he travelled to Poland as scheduled. But days later, Shuaib called with disappointing news: his Schengen visa had been refused.
Arowona, who holds an EU Resident Card, assured him that he would make it to Athens and do everything within his professional experience to cover the event.
The flight he missed
The first plan, however, collapsed.
Arowona missed his initial flight to Athens on September 23, 2026. The itinerary had involved Wizz Air flights from Warsaw Chopin Airport to Bratislava and then onward to Athens.
The missed connection forced him back to Lublin, where he had to rethink the entire journey.
Rather than abandon the assignment, he started again.
On September 24, he boarded an evening PKP Intercity train from Lublin Główny to Warszawa Centralna at 8:25 p.m. He then continued from Warsaw to Wrocław on another overnight train.
The two train journeys lasted about eight and a half hours.
He arrived at Wrocław Główny at exactly 4:30 a.m. on September 25 and headed directly for Wrocław–Copernicus Airport.
Four Lufthansa flights to Athens
From Wrocław, the journey entered another phase.
His Lufthansa itinerary took him from Wrocław to Munich and then from Munich to Athens on September 25.
The following day, he flew back from Athens to Munich and continued to Kraków.
In total, four Lufthansa flights were completed within roughly 36 hours as part of the mission.
The return journey was equally demanding: from Kraków Lotnisko, he took a FlixBus to Kraków MDA Bus Station before boarding a train from Kraków Główny to Lublin Główny on September 27.
It was a journey built around tight connections, little sleep and a determination not to miss the event.
Athens: €9 to the city centre
After finally landing at Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos, Arowona opted for the airport metro rather than an expensive car transfer.
The approximately 45-kilometre journey into the city cost €9, compared with about €50 for a car drop, according to his account.
For him, the metro offered more than a cheaper alternative. It provided a comfortable and punctual introduction to Athens, with the city’s landscape unfolding towards the historic Acropolis.
The train dropped him within walking distance of the Hotel Grande Bretagne, the venue of the 2026 IPRA Golden World Awards.
The Hotel Grande Bretagne hosted the gala, which brought together PR professionals from more than 70 countries. Athens was also significant to IPRA because it hosted the awards for the first time and is associated with the 1965 adoption of the Code of Athens, an important document in the development of ethical principles for the public relations profession.
The journey to Thessaloniki that never happened
Athens was not supposed to be Arowona’s only destination in Greece.
He had planned a 350-kilometre trip to Thessaloniki to visit Aristotle University, Greece’s largest university, in honour of his late teacher at the University of Ilorin, Professor Arthur Ebunola Davies.
Davies, an alumnus of Aristotle University, had spoken extensively about the institution, leaving his former student with a desire to visit the place where his teacher once studied.
But the physical demands of the Athens mission became too much.
After the missed Wizz Air flights, the return to Lublin, the overnight rail journey to Warsaw and Wrocław, the four Lufthansa flights and the demanding coverage of the awards, Arowona abandoned the Thessaloniki leg.
Instead, he remained in Athens and said a prayer for his late teacher.
He promised himself that he would return to Greece and make the journey to Aristotle University properly.
When the journalist became the newsroom
At Hotel Grande Bretagne, Arowona was expected to be a participant and observer.
Instead, he became the newsroom.
He was among Nigerian professionals attending the event, including Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi; Professor Sule Ya’u Sule, Chairman of Image Merchants Promotion Limited; Hadiza Umar, Director of Corporate Communications at NITDA; and Deputy Comptroller Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada, among other communications and public relations professionals.
Arowona mounted his tripod as the gala began and commenced live streaming through Emirate Radio 98.5FM’s Facebook platform, with support from FEMTECH Technologies Ltd.
He simultaneously supplied reports and photographs for Royal News.
His first report captured the gathering of global PR professionals in Athens. A subsequent photo report highlighted the Nigerian organisations and professionals who featured prominently at the ceremony.
Then came one of the night’s major Nigerian moments.
When Customs Comptroller-General Adeniyi received an award on behalf of the Nigeria Customs Service, Arowona and the NCS Public Relations Officer interviewed him.
Arowona said he transcribed the interview on the marble floor of the venue and immediately filed the report.
The resulting story reported that the Nigeria Customs Service had been recognised for its strategic communication efforts, while Image Merchants Promotion Limited, NITDA and the Nigerian Customs Command and Staff College also received recognition.
NITDA was recognised in two categories, including Artificial Intelligence in Crisis Management and Publication, for work involving the Crisis Communication Hub and the use of AI-driven tools for social listening and detecting misinformation, deepfakes and other digital threats.
The two Nigerian platforms covering live from Athens
By the end of the night, Arowona says Royal News and Emirate Radio 98.5FM were the only Nigerian-based platforms providing live coverage from Athens.
That distinction became particularly meaningful because Shuaib, whose visa refusal had prevented him from travelling, was able to follow the proceedings remotely.
According to Arowona, Shuaib later told him that, because of the coverage, he did not feel he had missed the event and did not regret being unable to travel.
For Arowona, that became the real reward of the journey.
More than an awards trip
The Athens assignment eventually became more than a story about an international PR gala.
It became a travelogue about persistence.
A missed flight in Poland did not end the journey. An eight-and-a-half-hour overnight train did not stop it. Four Lufthansa flights in about 36 hours did not prevent him from reaching Athens. And exhaustion only forced one part of the itinerary—the planned visit to Thessaloniki—to be postponed.
At the end, the journalist who had set out to cover an international awards ceremony found himself simultaneously serving as reporter, photographer, interviewer, livestreamer and newsroom.
The journey from Ilorin to Poland, through Lublin, Warsaw, Wrocław, Munich, Athens and back through Kraków ultimately produced what the traveller described as one of the most demanding yet fulfilling journeys of his professional life.
Read the original account at Royal News
