Well, as travel lover; ideas on travelling never go out from my mind.
Because for me, travel is 3 in 1...
Travel is precious, because travel has: reading books, listening music, meeting with new people (let´s say meeting with new lives, new stories...)
Because of its´nature as 3 in 1; travel keeps you alive, updated, aware, sensitive and active...
Travel makes you active citizen in and out of your country, travel makes you citizen of world. Travel makes you feel important, famous. Travel makes you feel.
Of course there are many ways of travel. You can be one in a group with a guide, hanging up in the beach for ours or just walking in the streets even without a map, just to smell...
Freedom of travel is actually so cheap. As opposite of the guessed, you don´t have to so rich.
If you have passport and visa (of course even if you do´t need, it is amazing) that makes you reach...
It only takes courage to sleep on the floor, to change your routine, to find yourself...
As I was travelling, on the 8 hours bus trip, I had ended the book "Like the Flowing River" by Paulo Coelho (2006) Well, I liked the book because it let me know Coelho better. It is like his private notes to inspire him or sth which is supposed to be novel but stayed as three hours notes... And he just wanted to share...
There is an essay about "Travelling", called "Travelling Differently"
I just want to share it with you by referring his own words and my own comments in the middle as travel lover.
I want to share because I am totally agree with him :)
To travel differently you should:
@ Avoid museums : Well, there are some places that if you don´t see, you cannot complete the city like Sagra Da Familia in Barcelona(well, is it museum or monument in the center, or just a unfinished building, or let´s say just a marketing famous cathedral.. but whatever you say) It is like sign of the city, soul of the city, colour of the city, signature of Gaudi.. It is like Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, It is like Galata Tower, Coloseo in Rome... But as Paulo says: "If you are a foreign city, isn´t far more interesting to go in search of the present than the past?"
That´s why , you should:
@ Hang out in bars: Because bars are the places where life in the city reveals itself. By bars Coelho doesn´t mean discotheques, but the places where ordinary people go. Buy a newspaper just to see the pictures. Maybe you will see the name of your own country and get excited for nothing...
@ Be open: The best tour guide is someone who lives in the place, knows everything about it, proud of his/her own city but doesn´t work for an agency.Go and ask people. Talk with people.
@ Try to travel alone or -if you are married - with your spouse: It will be harder, no one will be there taking care of you, but only this way you can truely leave your own country behind.
@ Don´t compare: Don´t compare anything - prices, standards of hygiene, quality of life, means of transport, nothing! You are not travelling to prove that you have a better life than other people ( or always other people have better life, -AhhH Europeans..._)
@ Know that everyone understands you: Even if you don´t speak same language, don´t be afraid. Language of Tarzan functions great in everywhere!!!
@ Don´t buy too much: Spend your money on things you won´t need to carry: tickets to good play, restaurants, trips. You can buy whatever you want later through Internet.
@ Don´t try to see the world in a month: Take your time and enjoy. Live where you are... as Coelho defines: "A city is like a capricious woman: she takes time to be seduced and to reveal herself completely"
@ A journey is an adventure: Wander the streets, explore alleyways, experience the freedom of looking for something- quite what you do´t know, but which, if you find it, will, you can be sure, change your life.
Ahh Paulo, you said great. But you forgot something that changed my way without telling anything that you sad an made me travel by heart.
Something that was said by an Italian woman, living in a Spanish village in Aragon, talking in English. Let me first tell about her, and our conversation which will give the last point.
She was living in the village with her 3 daughters alone. She was real hippie woman, smoking a lot. We were in a bar and I just said "Hola" :) She said, Hi ! / ohh GOD! we are in Spain, it is a village and a woman -for sure over 40- speaks English -GREAT SHOCK/
She asked me where I am from, when I said I am from Turkey, she said "My daughters name is Leyla." I said: "It is so nice"
Well, Leyla is Turkish name but I know it is so common in Muslim tradition especially in Europe. As Leila. I thought she just said because she guess I know that name and maybe her husband is Muslim...
She started to tell even without asking:
- I was young, travelling like crazy. I am Italian actually. I started from Italy to East, passed all the Balkan , came to Greece and I was so excited to go Turkey. I know the story of Leyla and Mecnun... I am so so interested in Turkey.And in Greece, I met with a Spanish guy, I fell in love. We got married I came here. I couldn´t go Turkey. Now we are divorced. I am working through Internet. I am reading future and they pay me.. People are crazy. And my daughter´s name is Leyla... Do you travel a lot as well?
(I was just 18 and haven't travelled abroad a lot, only England, Greece and now It was Spain..)
- I want to...
- Whatever you do, wherever you go: just leave your heart. This is travelling. When you thing about your trip, have sth which makes your eyes wet...
OooPS! She changed me. She should have been real witch to see future that she affected me that much. What a coincidence at that trip, I met my love of my life(my husband now) and I changed all of my life. As Coelho was saying " experience the freedom of looking for something- quite what you do´t know, but which, if you find it, will, you can be sure, change your life." She said me: look for love , even without conscious, I did without realizing, I found...
Ahh I just remembered the book that I adore "Art of Travel" from Alain de Botton; he wrote:
Sometimes, travelling is to change all of your plans, all of your life just because of a so simple and un-thought possibility of happiness.
Travelling is "being the change"
Değişmektir seyahat.
El viajar “está siendo el cambio”
Le voyage « est le changement »
