So You Ask How My Trip Was?

I’ve seen more injustice than museums, more poverty than waterfalls... For the few people in my life who ask how my trip was, it’s hard to sum it up in a few words, but I will try to tell through my writing. I was more of a world observer than a traveler, and what I had experienced were things that shaped the way I think and see the world today. My trip was a mixture of freedom, joy, pain, excitement, pouring rain, maximum comfort, and discomfort. I was feeling alive, useless, tired and home.

I’m sorry that I don’t have a lot of photos of food and places, most of the time I was too busy being in the moment. I was too busy laughing with the locals, listening to their stories and having dinner with my host family. There were too many things happening at the same time that I didn’t have time to take my camera out. I didn’t want to miss every single moment.

I was tired complaining about my petty problems and my own little life that I decided to forget and leave it all behind. It was a sudden shift from being a participant in this society to a person moving from one home to another, one story to another, one life to another. I was part of everything. There's a much bigger world out there, more legitimate worries than rambling about my coworker.

The world does not revolve around me.

I didn’t travel just to elevate my comfort. I embraced discomfort like a good friend. I want to know how the others feel, I want to feel their pain, I want to learn, I want to understand.

I was volunteering in a small English school in a small town in Sumatra when my host who also owns the school recounted how he was not able to receive the school supplies donated by his Dutch couchsurfer guest. The customs was trying to ask him to pay a hefty fee, but being unable to pay, he just cried and let it go.

There were times I felt useless, I didn’t know what to do but just to listen. I traveled and went out of the system only to witness the same system that enslaves many people outside my own little world.

And here we are living up to our Ayn Rand’s fantasies, running out of real problems, trying to escape the life many people out there wish to have. Fighting for the kind of life we deserve, by getting more, consuming more and being ahead simply because the choices are laid out upon us. It is easy to turn a blind eye, turn off the news because we choose not to be filled with negativity. It’s easy to just argue over stupid things on the internet, and waste our precious time in this of ‘us vs them’, ‘right vs left’, ‘women vs’ men’, ‘independent vs corporate’, and all this neverending fight. There are actually people out there who would rather fill their stomach than buy a book.

Why can't we just unite instead to achieve our common goal - peace, freedom, abundance, good life!

But you won’t know the real thing if you are just sitting there in your comfortable little world. Oh, thank the social benefits your grandmother does not have to work hard and sell bracelets on the streets, thank the internet you can isolate yourself even more from the realities of the world, thank the buildings and the metros you are so proud of. Those that were already there before you were even born.

Are you claiming you are the happiest country in the world? I'm sorry but I've seen the real happy people during my travel. They are actually those who have nothing much and those who created a life they don't need to escape from.

And here I am writing this, recounting my experiences from my trip, exposing my belief, the things that I have learned, and risk being judged by the unforgiving crowd.

I found myself waiting by the road side to hitch another ride being ignored by those nice cars when a truck full of smelly pigs stopped to give me a ride. And there I was sharing the story of my chosen lifestyle to a complete stranger, then being dropped off at my destination taking his ‘be careful my child’ advice.

Sick and tired of those bad things people are doing to other people? Are you losing faith in humanity now? Believe me, there are actually people out there who had nothing to give, but still they shared their food, their homes and their lives with me.

It was madness if you want to call it that way, but thanks to this madness I appreciate my life even more. I appreciate all these things I have - a roof over my head, good food, clean water and fresh air. I do not need to complain further.

I was in a small village and asked about who could guide me to trek to a volcano, and some men from the indigenous community wanted to earn a little bit offered to help. But I had nothing much to give, perhaps the money I was going to pay was not even enough for their hard work. But in the end, they shared some space in their hut where I could spend a night. Apparently, they had no meat to put on the table. There was no factory animal meat beautifully packed and stored in the refrigerator. Hunting an animal, or eating meat is only for a special occasion here. But they have fresh vegetables from their farm and water from the spring.

I stayed in the favela in Brazil, camped alone in a mountain in Indonesia, walked through the slums of Buenos Aires, slept outside in the icy Andean cold, kicked out by churches, hosted by firemen, accommodated by strangers...

So are you still asking how my trip was?

It is too long but I can only sum up the things that I have learned. I cannot say that travel is the primary key to have a meaningful life, otherwise, I am condemning the majority to a worthless life.

It is a unique and life changing experience I would recommend if you want to appreciate and be grateful for what you have, to have a fresh perspective of the world, to experience more and learn more, to restore your faith in humanity.

I look back at those times during my journey when I was exhausted, sad, overjoyed and afraid… but these feelings just made me a stronger person. I sacrificed many things in life - relationships, career, things, friends but in return I gained more from my journey. And all I have left are memories, a mind full of vision and colors brought by my own adventures, and lessons I have learned in order to move forward in life.