Just travel

As an European girl I grew up in a world where the life path to follow is pretty strict in spite of the freedom we apparently have . We are supposed to study in a scholastic institution where the main goal is getting ready to enter the adult world made of responsibilities and sacrifices. We should find ourselves an occupation that will take 70 % of our life time. Because of the pressure put on us we often end up in choosing quickly whatever profession. Probably this decision is influenced by family and society expectations. Then we end up devoting most of our time to our career development so that the time we have left to explore our inner selves and other aspects of life is very little.there

But while I was growing up an alternative has developed: travel as a lifestyle. It is not about the two weeks holiday in an exotic place anymore. We are moved by several reasons such as powerlessness or will to change the world, a search of the self, curiosity or just the feeling of not having anything left to lose, but eventually we leave. We leave for undefined time and we don’t really have a plan. The plan develops while traveling. We share an authentic passion for every corner of the earth and for the people and creatures that inhabit it. Life has often been compared to a journey and we are actually doing that voyage.

One of the most frequent question I am asked is, “How can you afford all this?” There is a type of travel, conscious and respectful, that is far cheaper than settling down. When you’re traveling, you rule your world and you choose which path to take; whereas when you settle down, rules are imposed and you start to live a cyclic system where you can’t  afford to miss a bill. The traveler’s enrichment does not consist of piles of notes, that can suddenly devalue.

There are many ways to undertake this path and everyone can do it. I’m not more special than any other human being. It’s just about thirst of living and will to risk.

You can choose to volunteer or work for a while in one spot, then ride on a motorbike for a couple of months. After that you can stop in a place you fall in love with and you may learn a language. And leave again for a spiritual path in the jungle. Or you can also choose to hitchhike around the world like “ Acróbata del camino” .They are not only an example of all this but what they’re doing is also highly enriching for them as well as for the others. Check it out! And the list goes on and on..

I must highlight here that my mum and dad have always supported and encouraged me in every choice. Not only that but they have also heartened me in exploring this world and taught me what travel really means.
However I meet many people critical about the life I am conducting: they want to hear from me that one day I will settle down, they want me to admit that this is not real life. From their point of view it seems that the conventional occidental lifestyle is a dogma. But aren’t we all aware that we’re dealing with some “problems” caused by this same lifestyle? I am just living the life I was given gratefully and with pure joy in the name of a freedom that I am firmly convinced we all deserve. I imagine it as the wind blowing in the hair on a road trip that seems to never end.

Motorbike trip: Jessica, Ulises, Dario. Corrientes, Argentina.