I TRAVELED TO 20 COUNTRIES IN THE PAST 2 YEARS: THIS IS HOW MUCH I CHANGED
Having lived in overall 5 countries and traveled to 20, I guess I can officially say I have become a nomad.
All this after two scholarships, a volunteering project, a remote job, one family trip, an international consultancy program and a lot of sleepless nights to find flight tickets.
The past days, almost about to leave my home country again to move back to Denmark, I decided to do an introspective work to find how much have all this traveling impacted me. So here it is, I’ll try to make it short and sum it up in a few points.
- GOLDEN PEOPLE CAN BE FOUND ANYWHERE
I used to have this inferiority complex of almost any guy that comes from a developing country. “People in the first world must be better at everything”, I used to think. All the great thinkers and inventors they talked about in school came from either Europe or the US, with a few exceptions.
But as I was going from country to country, from Malaysia to Iceland, or from Serbia to England, Malta, Singapore, Germany or Thailand, I came across so many amazing people that shared their cultures with me and I shared mine with them.
I learned the often hidden value that lies in cultural diversity. And while some countries and cultures may be more powerful or popular than others, we are all humans and created valuable shit.
I am not defined by where I come from. It’s where I am heading that marks me.
I realize europeans were not intrinsically smarter than I was nor asians were necessarily more hardworking than me. Yes, individuals were. But not nationalities. I was just as capable of doing what they were doing and vice-verse.
WITH ONE CRUCIAL EXCEPTION. So far, nobody out-dances this flaming hip-shaking latino on the dancefloor!
- YOU DON’T NEED STUFF. YOU NEED EXPERIENCES.
Living all this time with only what could fit in one or two pieces of luggages really made me reconsider what I truly need in my life.
I mean, you should’ve seen my room some time ago. Filled with things I didn’t need, books I was never going to have time to read, stuff I was keeping through the years ’cause I thought “one day this could be useful” but never was. I got rid of so many things that were more of a burden than an asset.
Now I don’t have much really. I don’t have a base home, I don’t own a car, I don’t have a stable job, I don’t have thousands in the bank.
I realized I never had less in my life but also never have I been richer than now. And it’s the experiences I’ve collected in this time that are worth pure gold.
I may not have much but I can proudly say I have lived much.
- EVERY TRAVELER IS AN AMBASSADOR OF THEIR COUNTRY
When traveling, one of the first questions I usually get is “Where are you from?”. Because labels are important to people. And nationalities give a lot of meaning to someone who thinks has an idea of how your country. Quite often you are as“valuable” as the rating of your passport.
But in the process of answering this question and noticing the different perceptions people have of my home country, I grew to love my country even more. Because whether they were praising the beautiful beaches of Mexico or referencing the war against organized crime we suffered years ago, I was always given a chance to choose. I could talk about the harsh parts of my country, the type of bad things every local can notice on the day to day, or I could choose to embrace the beauty of my culture and share what I love the most about it.
Every person is a window to his or her culture.
If we embrace that fact, we can be ambassadors of the beauty that lies in the place where we come from to put our grain of sand to expand stereotypes and prejudices into a tridimensional view of what that country truly is.
And in a time post-Trump’s hatred, I have actually found out people out there LOVE Mexicans. And they are kind enough to express it very cheerfully when I say where I come from.
- STARTING OVER IS NOT SO SCARY.
One of the main things that holds people back from moving away or travelling like this is the idea of starting over. Strange people, new city, different culture. You are all alone.
But there is also a liberating feeling to it. Having the chance to make a fresh start and define how you want to play your cards in a new setting. To me this is the most exciting part of going away. I get to decide who I am and expand the possibilities of how I want to live.
This has helped me to make friends all over the world and learn more about myself in this short time than in the past decade.
We understand ourselves when we are confronted with uncertainty, novelty and the otherness.
AND FINALLY…
- HOME IS NOT A PLACE. IT’S THE PEOPLE YOU BRING WITH YOU.
A nomad lifestyle can get lonely for most. But it’s also a way to understand the idea of belonging, love and relationships in a different way.
Home doesn’t need to be a physical place with a fixed address. It’s the safespace you build wherever you go, your nest, your sanctuary. And this can be a person, a yoga mat, a room or a whole mansion.
I’ve found that home is the people I bring with me. My family with whom I chat every day on the phone, my boyfriend with whom I meet in so many places around the world (I also learned that long-distance relationships can actually (sort of) work), my friends with whom I share beautiful times either virtually or in person. I’m home wherever I go as long as I feel them present. Which luckily I always do.
Home is the special bonds with the people around you.
ONE LAST THING…
Traveling can get highly addictive. And by this point, I will hardly stop. At least not soon. It’s only the beginning for this “flaming hip-shaking latino” and you are always invited to share this journey with me.
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And if you would like to keep reading more, here’s an article I highly recommend from my dear friend Reisy Abramof from NomadLab where she talks about this social entrepreneurship summit in Malaysia she was invited to (I mean, she got all her expenses covered to go: flight, hotel, meals, EVERYTHING, for this amazing experience).
Find out how and why she did it.
