The first trip
I was only 9 months old when I went on my first trip, obviously not alone, but with my new parents, all the way from Colombia to Norway. Yes, I was adopted. I think that this was the beginning of everything, although I have no memories of this at all.
Start early they say, and I guess by going halfway around the world, is a good way to begin your life. I won the lottery when I got adopted from Colombia all the way to Norway, a life forever changed from that day.
Travel-family
My parents loved to travel, and because of that, I became used to go abroad 2-3 times per year. Sometimes we went to new places every time, sometimes we found favourites and returned multiple times per year. We did charter, we did city travels and of course pure beach holidays. All of them were during my childhood, and I was lucky to see a lot of things, even though I also tended to sleep a lot when we were traveling by car. Honestly, I still do, there is just something with the constant noise and vibrations of the car that makes me sleepy almost every time. Luckily this sensation doesn’t happen when I drive, haha.
Like taking a bus
All of these travels through my early years and in my teenager years, made me very comfortable with traveling. I never thought of it as such, but when I hear questions from friends, and also in the job that I currently work, I experience how little experience many people have about traveling. For me, going abroad feels basically the same as taking a bus. You enter an airport, and some hours later, you exit an airport, and voila, you are in a different country. And when you go back, you just reverse the process.
When I got older I started doing a lot of solo traveling, both because I maybe wanted to see different things than my parents, but also because my schedule was different than theirs now that I have become an adult. And I have my parents to thank for my confidence in traveling alone, even though the act of doing so makes my mom nervous.
What can I say, they trained me well, and this security feels good to have, if something happens, there’s always a way to Rome.
The unplanned wonders
I rarely plan my trips that is for sure, I find a place either by an instagram post, a tip, or a video on TikTok, and then I decide to go there. It would have been a lot better if I planned in many cases, but however I just walk around and see a lot, the whole walking part becomes the adventure. And a lot of things have happened to me which I would have missed if I were stuck to follow a scheduled plan.
One example of this was when I was visiting Rome, and there was coincidentally a speech of the Pope, and by pure luck I was close to the Vatican. However, since it was an important event, there were queues everywhere, and I decided to not attend the event. But suddenly, there was a restricted area where the police were letting press people inside, they saw me, and because of my large camera and work badge which I forgot to remove, they thought I was part of the press. I was not sure that they were calling for me, until the policeman shouted: Are you coming or not, and he pointed at me. Then I ran inside, and got premium placement to witness the whole event.
These are the types of event that can happen when you don’t plan anything. But again, I am not telling you to not plan, but rather to not be too upset if you fail to follow your schedule, it still can lead to good things and adventures!
Future travels?
Travel has come to stay. Currently it is the only activity I know I truly love, and if I had infinite money I would probably not remain stationary in any place. It is a bit cliche to say, but I know that for me this is true. For the past years I have been visiting Italia a lot, this will be explained in a separate blogpost.
The coming months will be travels to Italia, Spain and Germany, and I also have small plan to maybe go to Thailand or the Phillipines. It has been ages since I was there (not really, but it feels like it). Also, I have a huge need for the sun, as living in a cold and dark country as Norway, you need to catch sun from abroad.
(Yes, Norway has midnight sun in summertime, but on the other side we barely have sun in the winter time…)
What I love the most about traveling?
Freedom, the feeling of freedom, that is my first reason. I feel free, free from everything from daily life. You kind of put everything on pause when you go traveling, meanwhile your “home-life” pauses, you can visit new places, see new sights, enjoy new food, meet new people and even learn a new language if you put in the effort.
You also learn a lot about your own country while traveling, things you like and dislike about your own country become more clear when you spend time in another. By experiencing other cultures and viewpoints I think also that you extend your own view on life and the meaning of it all.
I sometimes compare it to the story of Buddha, who always spent the most of his young life inside a palace. Never saw anything else but the richness and prosperity, until he one day escaped it and saw the outside. He learned so much about the world, himself and life itself. I kind of feel the same way when I travel.
Life is an adventure, gotta go make the most of it!
#owlando
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