“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain
What’s the thing you love the most about travelling? When momondo asked this question to its Open World Traveler Ambassadors, I couldn’t think of just one thing. And it’s great the way this momondo challenge came up just when I’m in the middle of my trip in Tanzania. So, right now, while I try to think about the answer, I’m sitting on one of the most amazing beaches I have seen – Jambiani Beach, in Zanzibar – drinking a fruit juice, while listening to Swahili music playing in the background, which is sometimes interrupted by the sound of prayers from the nearby mosque, watching the fishermen going out on the boats, kids playing with kites and screaming “Jambo!” at all the people who walk by and some women walking by with beautiful and colourful dresses.
Like I said in one of my previous posts, I have always had a passion for adventure and a curious personality, so I know I have always liked discovering new beautiful places, experience things you see in documentaries, read on travel guides or even study in school, trying new types of food and drinks, listening to different kinds of music and dance to them, trying to learn words in a new language, watching a movie or reading a book and feeling like I understand the story and its background better, if I have been to the place the story is set in. What I love the most about travelling is learning something new and change a little bit each time, until, one day, you don’t feel like you belong in the country you are from anymore, but at the same time, it’s amazing how you feel at home everywhere.
When I was a kid, I used to play a game with my sister: we would spin the globe our parents got us for Christmas one year, keeping our finger out and then the place we would land on was going to be our next holiday. So we would look it up on our encyclopaedia and geography books from school, and try to recreate with old sheets and table cloths that country’s typical dresses, pretending we were there. Sometimes this would involve also putting on some make up!
When I grew up and this game wasn’t enough, I started travelling through Europe and even moved abroad, to Spain, Austria and Ireland. I loved how travelling helped me open my mind even more and leave any kind of stereotype behind.
However, while I certainly learnt a lot from these trips, they weren’t what I was looking for. I wanted to feel uncomfortable in a place and live an experience completely different from my every day life.
My best travel memories are the places I visited where I stayed with local people, in off-the-beaten-track villages. Over the year I spent backpacking around the world, I learnt so many things, like how to plant vegetables, embroider, cook or build something out of wood. I also learnt so much about the culture of the places I visited. I became fluent in Spanish and could understand all the different accents from South America. I even learnt a bit of Portuguese.
When I come back from each travel experience, I feel so rich with all these things I learn along the way and they end up changing me and the way I see the world and relationships with other people. And, if on one hand they make me feel like the place I live in is too small for me, they also change me and make develop an ability to connect with the people and the world around me, that, no matter where I go, I always feel at home.
If you want to find out all the reasons why you love travelling so much, why not book a flight today? Click here!
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