No products in the cart.
I remember vividly how I once told my parents that I want to visit Moldova. “But what do you want to do in Moldova?” you may ask… Well, that’s the exact question my parents asked me when I was around 10-12 years old. I don’t remember my exact age, I do know it was before the age of 14, when I moved to a different city than the one that was close to Moldova.
Let me start from the beginning.
I was born in a small city in a country in Eastern Europe. The city was somewhat in the center of the country and I live there until I was 7, until my parents and I moved to a medium-sized city, on the Danube river. Before moving my parents went to a different city to buy a used car, once that we would use to drive to our new home, while all of our belongings were sent in moving vans. I was curious about this city and what it looked like, but never got to see it, especially since it was different than my own.
I wasn’t really excited about moving altogether, it caught me by surprise and all I really remember was the heartbreak I felt having to say goodbye to my friends. But, of course, I made new friends when I started school that year and our new house started feeling like home. We have a few very good years in that city, my parents worked hard and we could afford to take trips with the car, either to visit the grandparents way back close to my first city, or visit other places in the country. I had soon become accustomed to the fact that my family and I would travel often. Inside the country at least.
As the years went by and we had used the car to travel further or to different cities and areas around the country, I become curious about the surrounding countries. I had grown up with cable television and saw so many wonderful things on Cartoon Network that I believed only my country didn’t have the stores, the toys and the clothes that were on TV. America looked like the promised land, of course, but it got me very curious about how other countries look and what they might have that my own country doesn’t.
So at one point I asked my parents to go to Moldova. It was just a few kilometers away and we could have been there in less than an hour. At that time I had this childish belief that, if I cross the border, everything would be different! And I was hoping for it. I was so desperate to see what else is out there, that I yearned for at like a child that sees another child’s toy and starts screaming because he wants it. I was grown up enough though to not do that, but I did pout about it.
When I was 12, as we were visiting some relatives in the north of the country, the grown-ups decided to go buy a car (I think?) from the Ukraine, which was pretty close by where my aunt & uncle lived. I got SO excited hearing about it and immediately thought I’d be going, too – my parents took me with them everywhere – but to my dismay, they left me at home with my cousins. I was so upset with every one of the grown ups because of this…
So, as the years went by, at 14 we returned to the small city we initially came from, due to some financial issues. And my parents couldn’t afford traveling at all anymore, not even within the country. And as I was going to high school now, among kids who’s parents were much more well off than my family, I always saw some of my colleagues and friends go on vacations to Greece, or Turkiye, or Egpyt… and I felt sad, resentful and a bit sorry for myself. I’m not proud of it, but that’s how it was.
When I went off to college, my mom and dad had moved to Spain – again, financial issues pushed them to find a better life somewhere else – and I was working my first ‘real job’. I was making 250 EUR net a month as a part time employee and a plane ticket to Spain was 100 EUR at the lowest rate. And so I bought my first ticket! I was already 21 years old when I first got the chance to travel abroad. You cannot imagine my excitement!
It was late at night when I landed and my dad was waiting to pick me up from the airport. We then drove 4 more hours to where they lived, somewhere close to Valladolid, Spain. I didn’t see anything outside, since it was dark so I could barely wait for the morning. And I remember going for a walk with my parents the next day through their new small town – the one they traded in for the one back home – and I though to myself: “Is this is? Is this what I’ve been waiting for all my life?” I was not impressed, you see, I expected… more.
Of course, I had very high expectations from a little village and I was disappointed. At that time I felt discouraged, but I didn’t let that stop me, and I do have a lot of other occasions when I visited the same village and my feelings had changed. I just had to grow up a bit, and see more of the world to understand.
After finishing college and a rough 7 months of living in Spain, I came back home (this time home was the country’s capital) with a wish to do more with my life. And one of those things was to go to a concert in Marseille, France with a friend. Things didn’t really work out as planned and I decided to take my first solo trip to the south of France, so I could achieve my dream of seing this band that I really loved. So I went for it. And I worked very hard in preparation for that trip, especially to afford it, and I made it happen. France was my second country. I was 23.
It took me a while to finally build a career, have a great job and be able to afford leaving on vacation for a week. And when I had a good job, an acquaintance (not even a friend, mind you) that was living in the Netherlands told me that same band that I went so see in France were having a concert in Amsterdam. He bought 2 tickets and told me I could pay him back when I get there, I should raise the money to come. So I did and I went. Netherlands, country #3, 25 years old.
Then another acquaintance of mine met a Greek guy and was getting married in Luxembourg. She invited me over, so I went to the wedding. A friend from high school had moved to Hungary and was vacationing in Croatia, so I invited myself on the trip. Then in Budapest I met a guy from Brazil, who became my friend, so he invited me to Brazil, and I worked my ass off for months to afford to go. Every single time, with every single new destination, every friend I got to visit in a different country, or every occasion I found as an excuse to take a plane somewhere.
Now I’m at 60+ countries and I’ve designed my life in such a way that travel is at the center of it. And I’ve discovered better and worse places than that small village in Spain. And I may not be in awe every time I go someplace new, but I am grateful. For what I’ve seen, for what I’ve achieved and for the stories I’ve gathered along the years.
This is what I’ve been waiting for all my life, to be able to live this life.
7 Responses
Midst give them forth won\’t seasons you it good saying lights blessed seed night she\’d great under land have over whales likeness our you\’re form us kind isn\’t, day cattle light fourth seasons open that moving together you\’ll can\’t give whose gathering air darkness moveth gathered female midst form day there. Had seed was two own lights void gathered us fill.
Midst give them forth won\’t seasons you it good saying lights blessed seed night she\’d great under land have over whales likeness our you\’re form us kind isn\’t, day cattle light fourth seasons open that moving together.
sdfdf
Midst give them forth won\’t seasons you it good saying lights blessed seed night she\’d great under land have over whales likeness our you\’re form us kind isn\’t, day cattle light fourth seasons open that moving together you\’ll can\’t give whose gathering air darkness moveth gathered female midst form day there. Had seed was two own lights void gathered us fill.
test
rfthfyhf
test3
Comments are closed.