To Travel Is To Shut Up And Go

“Life is happening now. Yeah, time and money are huge setbacks, but when you’re 80 years old, what will matter most is the not the latest iPhone you bought, how much you’d stacked your résumé, or how many followers you had on Twitter, what will matter most is the $100 you spent on a trip to Montréal as a young’n and became best friends with the twerking hobo on the train. It’s time to shut up and go.” -Damon&Jo

Parma, 2016

For a while now I have been doing a lot of running away. I run away every chance I get. 

This feeling I have when I know that I am going somewhere else, some place safe, some place where nobody can find me, even if is only for a few hours is my addiction.

A lot of people do not understand the drive behind people like me. I mean what could be so great about constantly wanting to be somewhere else, right?

What can you get by going somewhere, where you neither know the language nor the culture?

The joy of finding a place for yourself anywhere and everywhere you go, finding new family and friends in a foreign country; who speak a different language than your own mother tongue but you still connect with them is insurmountable. 

I remember crying after I completed the German C1 Level. I thought to myself, everything that had to happen so that I finally took the decision of doing something that I had wanted to do ever since I was in my early teens. What I thought to be the worst thing that had ever happened in my life to end up being the very best thing that could have ever happened.

Do not get me wrong, it was tough and it hurt so much when I thought that I had become mediocre, hell, I thought, I was below average at that point, but now three years, one heartbreak, one foreign language and a whole lot of travelling and soul searching later I know that I am enough, I always have been- I just needed to realise it myself.

This is what travelling does- solo or in a group- it makes you rely on your skills to find your way and sometimes to get out of sticky situations.

It also enables you to open your mind to things that you previously did not feel comfortable around. It teaches you to trust yourself and your instincts above everything and everyone else. Travelling always teaches you to be frugal with your money. To travel means to be street-smart.

Those long train rides turn most of us either into readers or writers. Sometimes, both.

While travelling you meet hoards of people which often results in you reflecting on human psychology.

These experiences that we collect on the road are the ones that will never leave us. These are the riches that we will take with us to our graves, proof of lives fully lived. Our stories being a way to leave a minuscule imprint of our hearts in this great big world of ours.

There are things that will not always happen according to what was planned. There will be people you meet that will either make you want to strangle yourself or make you want to strangle them. Either way it will be a lose-lose situation.
But then there will be the people that will open up their arms and welcome you into their hearts. And believe me there will be a lot more of these people. People that will always have a place in your heart and mind, who will never be forgotten for the little things.
Travelling ignites our hearts and leaves us wanting more. 

Die besten zwei Jahre meines Lebens.

Despite the doubts I had before I moved here, to Austria, and despite all the hardships and the times, when I felt as if this was a waste of time, or that maybe, just maybe, I did not have any memories to last, once I left, these two years were the best years of my life.

The past few weeks made me appreciate all the things that I had learned, all the friends that I would miss, all the new experiences that I had collected. It made me form these bonds with people that I had never even have dreamed of meeting. I found a family away from my own family. I learned to ski. I learned to stick up for myself. I learned that if you want something, then there will always be a way for you to achieve it, if you put your mind to it. I learned to balance my heart and my brain. I learned to appreciate everything that I have. I learned that it is okay to do things alone. 

You just need to do your own thing and the right people will just come. I learned to be a better friend.

I learned that sometimes you have to cut the drama out of your life and that if someone is your friend then no matter what happens, they will be there beside you at the end of the day.

I also learned that sometimes I have to suck up my pride because I actually am wrong in that instance. I learned that you need to have fun, you need to do things that make you happy inside out.

I learned that everyone needs friends. They might annoy you, and that you might be poles apart but you both will always find some common ground that keeps you together. 

I learned to be grateful and to take chances. Then I learned that it is okay to say no, and that you do not have to take every risk that there is to take. Sometimes you are better off taking the safe bet.

I learned not to take myself so seriously all the time and that everyone has problems that they are going through in their lives, so to be careful of what I say and do. I learned not to be so scared of growing up and not having the time that I need to accomplish all the things that I want to accomplish.

I learned that sometimes it is okay not to speak up..sometimes you have to pick your fights. I learned to set goals. I learned dedication to achieve those goals. I also learned that it is okay to not be able to meet your goals sometimes. Sometimes it just is not going to happen and that is something that I am still learning to accept. 

I learned that the same goals can be achieved in several ways, all very diverse. The way that you had planned for you is not the only way to accomplish your dreams.

I learned self-reliance and confidence that no matter what get thrown my way, I will be able to handle it. I also learned to embrace my lazy nature, something that I was taught to hate.

I learned to not let my marks make or break so much of my self-worth. I learned that any one thing never ever matters enough for me to harm myself or my health for it.

The last two years have taught me that life is about the savouring the good moments and forging ahead through the bad ones.