{"id":1827,"date":"2026-01-10T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/?p=1827"},"modified":"2026-01-05T06:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:10:13","slug":"travel-to-ghana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/?p=1827","title":{"rendered":"Detty December in Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1280\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 720 \/ 1280;\" width=\"720\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Detty-December-2025.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Detty December in Ghana was nothing short of electric with equal parts of culture, chaos, beauty, and joy. From parties until sunrise to soulful history lessons, my trip to <strong>Accra<\/strong> reminded me why travel and exploring cultures feeds my spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Journey (aka the chaos before the calm)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trip didn\u2019t begin smoothly. Think delayed and missed flights, lost luggage, and a very questionable last-minute hotel stay in Brooklyn. After being rerouted from New York to New Jersey, I finally landed in Accra a day later than planned, exhausted but excited. The first order of business? A long, grounding shower before stepping into the festivities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Black Star Square &amp; Kwame Nkrumah<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once refreshed, I met friends at the iconic <strong>Black Star Square<\/strong>, a symbol of Ghana\u2019s fight against colonialism. Commissioned by Ghana\u2019s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, the monument proudly bears the inscription <em>\u201cAD 1957, Freedom and Justice.\u201d<\/em> A reminder of Ghana\u2019s independence from British rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We followed this with a visit to the <strong>Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum<\/strong>, a powerful space honoring his legacy. One quote stayed with me read<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cI am not African because I was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>That night ended dancing on the beach at <strong>Polo Beach Club<\/strong>, laughter spilling into the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Makola Market &amp; Ghanaian Flavors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next day, we explored <strong>Makola Market<\/strong>, a vibrant maze of vendors selling everything from fabrics to fresh shea butter and black soap\u2026two skincare staples I had to bring home. While there, we unexpectedly caught a known Ghanaian influencer filming a dance video. Accra truly moves at its own rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterward, we refueled at <strong>Buka Restaurant<\/strong>, a MUST visit for food lovers. I started with goat pepper stew that was so flavorful it cleared my sinuses instantly. I then moved on to lamb chops with jollof rice cooked to perfection. Just thinking about it makes my taste buds wake up again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A post-meal nap was inevitable\u2026 but short-lived. I woke up around 3 a.m., got dressed, and headed out again. At <strong>Front\/Back<\/strong>, the DJ blended Afrobeats with R&amp;B and hip-hop. We danced until sunrise, again lol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A Day of Pampering &amp; New Year\u2019s Eve<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following day was dedicated to self-care. At <strong>Hair Rack<\/strong>, five women braided my hair simultaneously. For $96 USD, my braids were taken out, hair washed and redone in under four hours. Such efficiency amazes me. With my edges laid, I treated myself to a facial at the luxury spa inside the <strong>Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City<\/strong>. A 50-minute facial focused on hydration and detoxification felt like the reset I didn\u2019t know I needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That night, we rang in the New Year at <strong>Bloom Bar<\/strong>. As the countdown echoed&#8230;<em>5-4-3-2-1<\/em> Happy New Year!! Fireworks lit up the sky, cheers filled the air, and the night dissolved into dancing, chanting, and laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Until Next Time Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My final night ended the only way Detty December knows how to, partying until sunrise. From the party, I headed straight back to the hotel, grab my luggage, and was off to the airport. No time for sleep, that&#8217;s what the plane is for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did <em>a lot<\/em> in one week, yet there\u2019s still so much more I want to see: <strong>Cape Coast Castle<\/strong>, <strong>Elmina Castle<\/strong>, and tours of Ghana\u2019s cocoa farms and chocolate factories. This was my first time visiting Africa, but it absolutely won\u2019t be my last. Detty December showed me that Accra doesn\u2019t sleep, but it also holds space for history, pride, community, and joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"946\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1841\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1.png 946w, https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1-300x145.png 300w, https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1-768x371.png 768w, https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1-809x391.png 809w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 946px) 100vw, 946px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Detty December in Ghana was nothing short of electric with equal parts of culture, chaos, beauty, and joy. From parties until sunrise to soulful history lessons, my trip to Accra reminded me why travel and exploring cultures feeds my spirit. The Journey (aka the chaos before the calm) The trip didn\u2019t begin smoothly. Think delayed&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[138,10,11,136,70,90],"class_list":["post-1827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home","tag-africa","tag-bliss","tag-blog","tag-dettydecember","tag-oohjulie","tag-travel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"nucleare-normal-post":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Julia","author_link":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Detty December in Ghana was nothing short of electric with equal parts of culture, chaos, beauty, and joy. From parties until sunrise to soulful history lessons, my trip to Accra reminded me why travel and exploring cultures feeds my spirit. The Journey (aka the chaos before the calm) The trip didn\u2019t begin smoothly. Think delayed&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1827"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1864,"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oohjulie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}