Last weekend my friend and I went out for tapas and we were catching up, talking about our puentes that we went on over Christmas break. She traveled solo except for one place where she stayed with a friend, but she was explaining how she met an Australian in Prague who was currently living in London and when she was in Austria she met a girl who was visiting friends and she was invited to see a classical music concert on New Year's Eve by them. Pretty sweet for being in the country of Mozart and all things classical music. We were walking back and she made a good point that I never really thought about before. When we travel we meet people from all over the world and there's already an instant connection in the fact that we love traveling. There're always the questions 'where are you from?', 'why are you traveling?', etc., but already you have something to talk about. Over the summer Jill, Jackie, and I met countless people, a large number of them Australian and Canadian, but it was always fun hearing other people's stories and listening to their advice. In Nice two sisters told us a fantastic beach to go to (way better than the beach in Nice itself) and a girl we met in Rome told us to eat at this great little restaurant hidden in the alleys in Venice. She also told us to visit the islands of Murano and Burano and we weren't let down. In Amsterdam we met a guy who told us where to buy cheap tickets to see a show in London and sure enough we went to Leicester Square and bought tickets to see a musical, a musical which was recommended by the girl we met in Rome. All of these bits of information and the encounters we made had an impact that made our trip even more memorable and fun than it already was and it was thanks to other people and their love for traveling too. Not only were we given advice about places to visit and things to do, but we also learn from other people about their culture. How can I forget the time on the overnight train to Switzerland (my 21st birthday!) when we were sitting by two Australian girls who told us that yes, kangaroos truly are vicious and there are A LOT of them, and koalas really do sit in trees all day and just eat. In Florence I met two Australian girls (again!) and they were talking about work, healthcare, etc., and it was quite different than ours.
Some people love to spend money on clothes, shoes, etc., but I would spend it all on traveling. I've told my mom and friends that my perfect job for me would be what Samantha Brown does on the Travel Channel. She visits a bunch of places, eats the food, stays in great places, and gets to explore the world. Who wouldn't want that job? There are so many places in the world to explore and history to learn about I can't understand why people wouldn't want to travel and how people can be content with never leaving the city that they've grown up in. I've been to twelve countries and this is only the beginning! There are still so many places that I look forward to visiting in the future and I'm determined to go at some point in my life. I'm going to Belgium at the end of February and Portugal for a week in April and I look forward to both! Hopefully I'll be able to visit Morocco at some point too and my mom mentioned to me that she wanted to go to Scandanavia some time which I think would be amazing (they do have a Scandanavian Eurail pass afterall!).
So us travelers, we're kind of special. We all have a common love for something and it's amazing the places you'll see and the people you meet while doing so.
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| My friend Jackie and I in the Swiss Alps this past summer |
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