Well a lot has happened since I last sat down to write about whatever happens in my mind when I travel. This time is different, I have not moved in a while and I don’t really have a set plan, just a million of ideas that are driving me crazy, or better said I have given the power to my mind to drag me into this mess.
See, the things is that life can actually become a little confusing when you find yourself in a place of many privileges, when you have a lot of options. NO BUENO. I right now have a big maze going on in my playful brain, also I feel for some reason that I’m running out of time, the famous FOMO I guess, wow! I’ve been so naive to think that this would never happen to me, HA HA HA “I’m wise enough’ BIG SLAP!!! No you’re not missy! I’m so into the matrix big time! its like this big concrete hands coming out of the ground and slowly dragging me into it pulling me from my feet. Just like the fear I had of being taking by some ghost when I was a kid.
So.. my mind every day: I want to keep being a nomad, I want to have a cozy home, I want to surf but I also want to live in the city for a while!!! What?? The city??? I RAN AWAY FROM IT!! What is going on? I was supposed to have a farm with animals and lots of food aaaahhhhh, fuck fuck fuck oh! and lately I feel like being pregnant is knocking my door!!!!???? What happened to “if it’s too late for pregnancy I’ll adopt”? I don’t even fancy the idea of having a growing human inside me eww. Yay for motherhood but pregnancy scare the shit out of me.
If you see me you’d probably laugh, I’ve got a beautiful man by my side, he has the kindest soul, an amazingly playful and super smart dog, she has the cutest eyes and loves to cuddle in the morning. I actually start my day like that. I am with my parents right now, and they are so niiiice. They have given us an apartment so we can be close to them (we pay for it of course) but still, my mom and dad spoil us every day with good food and good talks. Life is “good” but the anxiety is also there IT IS THERE!!!! I tried family constellations last week and I think it helped a little, to be honest it wasn’t maybe the best time for it considering that I’m all over the place but at least I’ve got to see some clarity in relation to the relationship I have with my parents, and something that stayed with me is that and the constelator mentioned that my anxiety it’s actually a tool I possess and it is what keeps me moving.. ah ok! How the fuck is that a tool? Well… I guess I have to figure that out as well. Hmm that’s when I think if I had just less privileges, less options it might be a better thing, I would focus on that only thing!!! I am going nuts, aren’t I suppose to celebrate my position and honour it?? Aaahhhh ahhhhh I’m just thinking out loud. This isn’t suppose to make any sense, this is my brain lately, zero heart 100% my brain.
TAKE ME BACK TO A DANCE FLOOR WITH MY FRIENDS!!! (Escaping is more fun)
Oh fuck maybe being so much time inside of different boxes is blurring my vision, I’m either in the car, inside the house, inside some building, I don’t even look up to the sky that much to be with myself. Actually last night while I was going up the stairs to hang out with my parents in their terrace, I took a minute to see the moon, and I thought OH WOW “I don’t remember the last time I looked up to see if I could see the moon or any stars. Why am I so distracted, why am I sabotaging myself by doing the things that make me anxious, why aren’t I actually surfing, or in the mountains, or walking on the streets of a new place, or making a new playlist, or making arts and crafts or cooking a nice meal? ok ok I give myself credit for this. I’m actually writing which it’s something I love dearly and i have also left behind. Good!!! Get out Marian GET OUT!!!!
A lot of rambling a lot of bullshit!!!! Need to meditate, need to breathe!!!!! Need a big ocean hug
If you have any questions or possible solutions please I’d gladly welcome them.
My English is bit mixed with cumbia and plátano I understand if you might find it a bit strange.
Also keep in mind, we all have different kind of problems, and they are all valid! Be mindful of your privilege and the words of encouragement when you share your thoughts.
I’m a contemporary early 30s gal, who is currently living a nomad type lifestyle until something else pops up.
I’ve been writing since I was a little kid on diaries and journals in both English and Spanish, and this time I have decided to do it publicly to share my journeys and my thoughts on life from a no-conventional perspective. After meeting quite a lot of people in my later years I’ve come to understand that this way of living it’s not quite fit for everyone, specially for those who feel obliged to please what our society has imposed on them, but also I feel glad to have inspired others to take their true journey in life, based on their dreams and the discovery of their inner selves.
I was born and raised in Ecuador, at the age of 21 I moved to Canada, and lived in Toronto for the past 11 years.
It has been an incredible journey, and it feels great to feel like there are always two places in the world I can go back to and call home
Now it really has been a long long time. Between the pandemic, new places new people and new ways of believing I lost myself for a while on purpose to find a little bit of a better me in this journey. I never stopped writing, sometimes I wrote more than others, but always gave myself that space to express my thoughts and feelings in my most comfortable way, I was just not ready to share. I spent most of my time in Mexico and the U.S.A, it hasn’t been easy, not necessarily hard, but a few slaps brought me back to earth and back to myself, I will share all of you on this blog, for now I’m gonna finish what I started before getting to what made me want to continue sharing, I have to acknowledge that this time I got help from the motivation of a new good friend who supports creativity and travels.
That being said here are my notes from Vietnam;
Vietnam is a marvellous country, with amazing views, landscapes and beautiful friendly people, and of course like almost every developing country you are also going to find people who will try to hustle you for extra cash. We certainly paid our fees on arrival. Our taxi driver charged us 10 times more the actual price of the ride from the airport in Ho Chi Minh to our hostel, and my first impression was “Fu** this” however was just a little hiccup on the way.. whatcha gonna do??!! Our check in was at 3:00 pm and we had arrived at 3:00 am, both Victor and I exhausted from a very long intercontinental flight, decided to check out the hood and hang out until check in time. It was a normal weekday but it seemed as it was a Friday or Saturday, people coming in and out of bars and clubs, a lot of city lights, traffic and different kind of noises, luckily happy balloons a (very common distraction in Vietnam) helped taking care of the stress and jet-lag. Yay for happy balloons!
As much as we wanted to continue being up and wait we couldn’t, so we ended up checking in a few hours after and payed extra to do so.
Victors best friend Viggo-Love joined us in our trip in Ho Chi Minh and flew to Hoi-An. What a place this was, we happened to be there coincidentally at one of the lantern festivals. The whole town was covered in colourful lanterns, it looks so pretty, like in the movies, lanterns above and under us, flying in the sky and floating in the canals of the city. It was quite an eventful time.
Victor and I dared to get out of our comfort zone and took a cooking class, I think this is one of the things I wish I did in other counties as well, We were taken to the market and learn how to select vegetables and herbs, every single person at the market was kind and courteous, you can tell already these people have a lot of joy in their foods just from the way they treat you at the market.
Afer a few hours of touring and cooking Victor and I went to the beach and there is when I realized something; I don’t usually compare countries since they all have their own genuinely noticeable landmark, however it is curious how people from two countries very close to each other can be different. For instance people in Thailand for most part in my opinion are less likely to hang out with you (the traveller) or try to socialize or acquaint; maybe it’s the overflow of tourism or that they feel more comfortable with their own people rather than with new ones with different cultures, believes and lifestyles. Vietnam is a bit different, you really are noticed, or at least we were. In multiple occasions, we were offered drinks, food and an inviting smile for conversation. A group of middle age Vietnamese folks even invited us to the dance floor to move every single joint of our bodies with them, that was a lot of fun! To be fair I think it might be the influence of their struggles in the past that have made them see every day as a new opportunity, and just to be alive today is enough to celebrate and with celebration comes sharing, love and compassion.
Alright, that was something!! Time to keep moving. We all rented motorcycles and cruise from Hoi-An to Hue along the coast, if you see on a map it’s a very short trip, but for us it took 7 hours, the landscapes were so beautiful and peaceful that I fell asleep while riding the scooter (very convenient) luckily my helmet knocked victors, he noticed and woke me up. Not a good time for siesta when you have very fast buses and trucks at extreme proximity disregarding your existence along the road.. oh well part of the journey! Oh and guess what at some point we had to refill gas (go figure), which we have forgotten and all the sudden we found ourselves stranded in the middle of a highway somewhere in Vietnam, never the less my good Vietnamese people saved us and pumped us with some gas until we could make it to the next gas station. The power of the people!!
Finally we got to Hue and spend a few days touristing, visiting temples and sharing our more or less sufficient language skills with Vietnamese children who were studying English and right outside The Imperial City (a historical fortress with a palace). That was super fun, we played English songs, had deep but short conversations and even danced. Amaaaaziiing!!!
We continue our trip to Hanoi and stayed in a party hostel, which it’s not really my type of place to stay however my travel partners had a drunken blast, at this point I was actually a little tired of meeting random people and having conversations that wouldn’t go anywhere.
Halong bay impressed the sh** out of me it’s something I have never seen before. It took me back to my childhood in a way and my day dreaming days of travelling. You know when you see a world globe and you spin it and point randomly anywhere, well I took me back there. I always saw these images of huge limestones (that at the time I didn’t know their name) in the middle of blue oceans somewhere far from me, always a dream and boom I woke up and I was there, I was right there, a micro human in the middle of this grandiose place. I took a minute and close my eyes and thought of every single person I love, every single place I’ve seen and it all came together in one picture, all of us in this place where I found myself, full of joy and nostalgia. This picture really recharged me and added turbo to my willingness to see the world.
Vietnam is so colourful with their rice field terraces, the attire of people (Hmong and Red Dzaos) in the mountains ,Asian lantern towns, beautiful beaches surrounded by gigantic mountains.
Definitely a very biodiverse country, an although there are some things that are not so pretty such the constant honking, crazy traffic, hustlers trying to get what they can from you is definitely worth seeing and falling in love with.
At this point I feel a little tired, we have been moving from place to place and the longest we stayed somewhere it wasn’t more than 4 days. It has been fun but there are little things that are affecting my state of mind, and somehow my health, I haven’t been eating meat for the past 5 years and when it comes to traveling specially to not so vegetarian friendly counties, this is definitely a challenge, which adds to my fatigue, oh and it really sucks for me that the food is so awesome but mainly animal base, not gonna lie in various occasions I was very tempted just by the smell of food, fortunately their spectacular coffee saved my days and kept me going.
Although Vietnam has an extensive variety of yummy goodies, I enjoyed myself around the things that do not involve eating meat, like seeing the lushly nature, the smile of people, the synchronized way thousands of motorcycles cruising through and around the city at all times, I enjoyed seeing all early riser who train-work out in parks every morning, watching people who hustle you at the market to buy whatever they sell, a place full of action.
It has been 4 months since we have left Canada, and our lifestyle has changed tremendously. For instance, I barely cook now, that’s something mayor in my normal daily routine, I love doing it an I’m a little selective when it comes to what I eat, plus my dietary needs are usually different than most. So although traveling is amazing and it teaches you a lot, it also can be exhausting. Moving from one place to another checking in and out, hostels, hotels, buses, constantly noise pollution, different food, different culture, extreme weather, it all adds up to what is called travel fatigue.
Also I am realizing or noticing things that maybe I was oblivious to before, like my standards. I actually have higher standards that used to a couple of years ago, I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing. Sometimes it disturbs me personally. But I can’t longer just stay at some random hostel, and it has nothing to do with the money really rather than my standards, and the basics. I definitely prefer a place with a clean bathroom, a very comfortable bed and very few people. As times goes on, I realize that more than meeting people I care that I have comfortable place to sleep. OMG maybe I’m just getting older!!
Another thing I’m a little sad about is how easily annoyed I get by other people when I’m moving constantly. I think a break is needed!!! .
It can get tiring telling the same story to different people every day, it’s not just telling people where I am from but way more, I still find hard to just have ice breaking conversations, I’m okay with the ice as it is sometimes. It doesn’t sit right with me to not be able to connect, maybe it is something I have to work on, but for now I just don’t see the point to invest my time or share my energy where there’s nothing. At the moment I’m not up for meaningless encounters.
Something that’s in my mind a lot lately is this feeling or not having an actual home to go back to, which gives us the freedom to move as we please, but also maybe wanting to leave earlier to settle in one place, with no future plans, just living our lives day by day.
We both have been pretty much looking forward to what now is our present.
I also wander and wander, why do we continue? Huh!
Perhaps we are probably a little scared of what’s coming after this nomadic adventure. It will not be just a day by day kind of life. What awaits us is big, with a lot of new things and numbers, definitely grown up stuff. I guess that’s life at the end, and as long as you truly follow the thoughts that make you happy, fear is only part of the journey.
Times of Covid – 19, and all the adventurous journey before that.
Well I guess I have to start from the beginning, I just don’t know how, maybe I can try and do this backwards?? Let’s see how it goes.
Ok so at the moment I’m in La Plata, Buenos Aires – Argentina, I got to Argentina exactly 77 days ago, it was still summer here… end of summer (oh yes, it’s my first time in the south hemisphere) now it’s autumn right in the middle of May, what would be spring in Canada, and well Ecuador is always an eternal spring and summer . I’m comparing my weather experiences to the places where I’ve lived the most. It’s pretty cool to have felt a long summer this past year and very peculiar autumns, surrounded by Mountains and lakes in Northern California and in La Patagonia Argentina, I’m very much grateful to have seen and lived such gamma of changing colours twice in a year.
Ok so let’s start with why I’m here. After staying with my family in Ecuador for two months and before my planned move to Berlin in March, I thought it would be an awesome idea to see some of my dearest friends in Argentina as well as a cousin I hadn’t seen in ages. There were five of my friends spending the south hemisphere summer here with their people, and at least two places where I could stay in my visit, plus I was just a few flying hours away, the Argentinian peso was very inflated and I had some dollars to spare… so why not?!
I arrived on February 28th, it was a little crazy to go through the airport in Quito, and then again in Sao Paolo in Brazil. The Rona had already come to South America, and the first case happened to be in in Sao Paolo, where I had my flight connection. Straight to the chaos!! I was one of the very few people not wearing a mask and gloves on that flight from Brazil to Buenos Aires.
Oh yeah….. I just remembered, I almost missed my flight in Brazil. I got distracted by the indulging treatment I was getting by the vip lounge in the Airport (first time ever, gotta do it right). Luckily I decided to check out the duty free for goodies when I heard my name all over the airport and ran to catch my plane and yes! I made it.
Nico and I in the Japanese Garden Buenos Aires
It was a beautiful summer day, a little humid, but nothing you couldn’t stand. A woman who had a lot to say picked me up from the airport, told me many stories, including her new phase of spiritual transformation ( I love it when people feel comfortable enough in such short period of time to share their life’s journeys with me) gave me a quick little tour in some nice neighbours in Buenos Aires, and eventually dropped me off at my cousin’s Leo. I was super excited to see him. As soon as Leo was opening the door to receive me, Nico shows up! he’s right behind me. It was like an amazing double pleasure moment. What a high!
And the Argentina adventure started, I stayed with Nico for most of the time at the beginning. We went to see a musician we both like the very next day, We danced our butts off and had an amazing time. The next couple of days, we spent them touristing around Buenos Aires; a very hectic, fast paced yet beautiful city. In one of our touristy days, we rented a bike and went to a ecological reserve, the same day we visited San Telmo and got to see a tango show like a good tourist I am 😉
Cycling at the Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur Buenos Aires Tango performance San Telmo – Buenos Aires
Oh and I don’t know if ever mentioned that I’m vegetarian; well that changed for a bit here in Argentina, I had promised myself to be a little flexible and try their very famous “asados” (B.B.Q). Food is linked to most people’s culture, and I thought my traveling in Argentina wouldn’t be as cultural if I didn’t at least try what they’re most proud of (apart from Peron and El Che). Nico and I had plan a beautiful friend date some evening, oh man I just remembered .. I almost didn’t make it again! I got distracted and lost track of time while visiting the Recoleta Cemetery with my cousin, Yes the cemetery! A very peculiar tourist destination. It is visited for their neo-gothic and luxurious marble mausoleums, and the graves of famous Argentinian celebrities and politicians such as Eva Peron. Well while smoking funny things and catching up with my cousin and his partner we got carried away and oops I had to run again to meet with Nico, luckily I had one of the coolest and realistic Uber drivers who said I wouldn’t make it on time. And I didn’t! Good thing Nico had tricked me with the times and we actually made it. Good friends know your weaknesses and use them on your favour.
Anyway… We went to the theatre to saw an Argentinian comedy, followed by a steak and wine dinner at some fancy “cheto” (as they would say here) restaurant downtown Buenos Aires. It was quite a treat. Eating meat after more than 5 years was for sure an experience, I was afraid I would get sick, but luckily it didn’t really hit me that hard, I got a little stomachache but nothing crazy.
Cheers to Evita Good people who ame you loose track of time 😬 ❤️
And of course one last touristy thing we had to do in da city! We went to the most visited places by tourists in Buenos Aires “La Boca”, a very cute and picturesque neighbourhood known for its colourful houses, and for having in it the arena of one of the most popular fútbol teams in Argentina and in South America “Boca Juniors”. It was fun to go there with Nico since He’s a huge fan of the opponent and also big fútbol team “River Plate”. So entertaining to see and feel that huge well known Argentinian fútbol fanaticism from hearing my friend complaint about the place, its people and all that represents Boca Juniors. A truly Argentinian experience. Aguante River amigo!
Boca Juniors fútbol player mural Picturesque Boca Neighborhood
I saw Juan, also a good friend whom I share a lot of fun stories with, (mostly involving dancing, trouble and love) I visited his sisters home, a beautiful old house in the middle of the city. Huge windows, high ceilings and the smell of souls that habited that house sometime before many of us were born. A very nice, bohemian place they call “El palacio” The Palace.
El Palacio
The day after staying with Juan and his sister, Juan and I joined the peaceful demonstration “March 9”, where women voiced their urge to choose over their own bodies. I was fortunate to have taken part in such an event. Argentina is one of those countries where women are really fighting and resisting the oppression of patriarchy. They have put themselves as an example to other Latin American countries. There were thousands of women marching wearing their green bandanas and their passionate voices. Wow I’m really happy I was there and got to share a moment In history with Juan. 💚
Juan – the only man I saw at the 9M demonstration 9M demonstration Buenos Aires
Now that I’m remembering everything I feel super content. What are the chances of seeing your friends in their home countries when you met them in a completely different and far away place like it is Canada?. I’m the luckiest, and yes I know. I make magic happens.
I also got to see my Fati, another warm soul I adore, and also the only friend I have seen in four different counties, I will go visit her to the end of the world if it comes to it. She’s one of those people whose presence makes you giggle and dance a little. I’m glad I got to see her before she left Argentina to continue traveling.
Fati love
Friends are definitely what makes every situation a better situation. I got to see 3 out of 5 of them and I’m hoping to see the last 2 once the madness ends (one day not too far from now).
And well this is all I have for today, it has been a while since I wrote last and it feels good, however there are so many memories that bring up different emotions and changes of mood. I hope to be back tomorrow. There’s so much I want to share with you people, so so much. It has been a very interesting year, specially now that I’m stuck in Argentina for almost 3 months now, how I suddenly became a “farm labourer” in California, my not so successfully surfing experience in Sri Lanka, falling asleep while riding a scooter through Vietnam, and living with 5 strangers in a hippie little town in the Argentinian Patagonia.
Plans always change… Back to the six! (Toronto’s nickname)
For some reason whenever I’m on a plane or a long bus ride I get very inspired. I start to think about all my inner conflict, and to stop the anxiety symptoms right away I compensate by thinking of pretty little things that surround me.
So we left beautiful Koh Tao this morning and now we are on our way to Bangkok, well I should say passing through Bangkok in our way to Toronto! Waaaaaaait what??? Yes, I’m going back to my lovely hectic second home.
As I mentioned before in one of my previous posts, I’m not yet a Canadian citizen. I have just applied for my citizenship documents this past January, and like everything in Canada it usually takes forever when it comes to immigration and citizenship applications, or at least that’s what I thought. But no!! Just 2 weeks ago I got an email with the date for my citizenship exam. In the middle of my trip. What a bummer!! Nah not really, I’m actually super excited to go back and see all my people, I know it has only been 3 months outside of Canada but still yaaaay! Plus I’m going back in the summer, what else can I ask for? Most of my friends don’t know that I’m arriving today, so I’m just going to pop up at one if my friend’s place where some of them will be.. and SURPRISE! can’t wait to see their faces and hug every one of them.
I was just wandering before I started to write this post… is this a coincidence or the universe and its magic, all the gods and goddess complots, maybe karma? What is this really? I’m going back to Toronto when all my dear friends are there, they were all travelling just weeks ago and now they happen to be there. This feels like a beautiful gift!! I’m truly happy and so grateful; I know this is happening just when I started a new journey, maybe it’s not the right time or maybe it is. I’m a firm believer on the power of people’s and places energies, and I feel like this is an opportunity to give and receive all the energy we all have gotten or let go in this time we have been apart. I honestly can’t even express how I feel right now. Maybe nervous, excited and curious??….. oh and a little worried about the citizenship exam. I’ve been reading the study guide but I just keep falling asleep, not saying that Canada’s history is boring, just not the kind of book I want to read at the beach, plus as soon I start studying all the excitement invaded my soul. Good thing we’ve got a 14 hour flight from Manila to Toronto, I guess I won’t have an excuse to not read.
Well, this island is quite gorgeous. Lots of beautiful beaches for scuba diving and snorkel if that’s your thing and a very bright and loud jungle. I might do the scuba diving part, I don’t know yet, I’m not a fish when it comes to swimming, I almost drown a few times when I was child, and although I can sort of swim right now it still scares me.
Back to my impression; I guess this is the kind of place you want to be in if you’re just sick of the cold or the busy city life, but still want westerners around you. (Again if you’re not into the diving part) I have enjoyed myself so far, very impressed by all the beaches, sunsets, the jungle, and of course Thai food, but when it comes to actually be part to understand the culture this is not the place, this is of course from my perspective! I have seen more white people here in 10 days that I have seen in Toronto for eleven years. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but I’m sure you get my point. Lots of youngsters, which makes me think of the amount of privileges other people have in the world compare to me. I see all these people in their 20’s who are just travelling casually when for me it is like THE DREAM to be able to explore the world at my 30s, still I know the privilege I have and do not forget that there are so many out there who wish to do the same. Then again, it’s not easy but for sure is doable. It’s just a matter to get to it, either by saving for a long time in your not so rich country or work for a while in a country with a “better economy” Anyway, the vibe is still nice, you can definitely sense that people come to this island to empty their minds, ready to take in whatever they feel like, from scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking, or just partying every night.
For me it has been a place to relax, enjoy my time with my boyfriend and do a little bit of it all, yes of course We have partied. Alright parties though. I think I didn’t enjoy myself so much at some point because once we were were promised to be taken back to the town after a party pretty far from the town, specially since we had been drinking… but no you’d have to pay if you wanted a ride back (Shady) and to add a cheer to the top Victor dropped 1000 baht! Of course it was an accident, but still we are not rich travellers, every penny counts. On a positive note, at least we had enough to get ourselves a greasy after party sandwich that saved the night.
Meeting people wasn’t easy, but we are not really looking, we were lucky to meet a sweet woman from Saint Petersburg through another friend, funny enough I didn’t meet anyone really when I was there 3 weeks ago, and here I come and meet this cool gal in Thailand who just stole a piece of my heart!
Overall Koh Tao was nice and inexpensive, but most importantly we got to spend time with each other and, a new good friend who really made a difference in our journey. My kind of favourite places are the ones where a piece of my heart stays there waiting for me to return
Ok! My stomach is making some funny dance moves. I’m definitely nervous right now We are on our way to the airport in Stockholm and soon boarding to travel to Thailand. It all seems so soon!! I feel almost no ready for this. We will see how I feel once I’m on the plane.
3 hours later…
Alright here we are, on a 11 hour flight.
We spent (Victor and I) 5 weeks in Stockholm, well I spent almost 4 since I was out of Sweden for 9 days all together.
Although we left 2 months ago from Toronto it feels like now the adventure begins, this is the first time I leave without a return ticket, pretty crazy, amazingly exciting, and somehow scary.
Sooooo…..we do not really have a home to go back at the moment, we have our family and friend’s places where we can go back to (I hope) but we don’t really have our own place which makes life actually a little more simple and complicated at times (when you miss having your own bed)
Anyway I feel a bunch of things, a bunch bunch. In the last month I’ve had lots of roller coaster moments, really fun times, full of adrenaline and pure pleasure and other times not that fun. I found myself feeling extremely sad, and homeless here and there. At some point I felt a sudden urge to go back to Toronto, that me leaving was a terrible idea and that this whole trip is just wrong. Several insecurity thoughts!!! Un montón (much)
I was also feeling lonely and guilty for leaving a new family I had built in Canada. All those very special people I met in the last decade that actually made a huge difference in my life.
I was so lost in the past, and in the future forgetting entirely about the present . I guess we all have been there, where we are just lost in thoughts and drowned in our own insecurities.
Luckily I was able to come back to my right now, and started enjoying what was surrounding me; my boyfriend, his family, his amazing best friend and other friends, the gorgeous city I was in (Stockholm) and its beautiful painteresque streets. And now I actually feel a little sad that we have left, I was so fortunate to feel home and to take in all the love that was given to me from the beginning, and yes I still miss a lot of my past but now it’s not as sad, on the contrary, I appreciate it even more, and understand that is just a beautiful chapter in my messy life book. You would think I would want to stop thinking about all these things that have made me feel down, but no, I do not want to stop thinking about it. I think it’s making me stronger to remember all those pleasent and not so pleasant times that have made the person I am today.
By the way I just had one of those airplane wine bottles plus an extra glass so I can put myself to sleep, I still have 9 hours ahead of me, but then again some times the perfect doze of happy juices can help the imagination and creativity, therefore here I am writing, and sharing with you my thoughts and feelings once again.
Until next time lovely people! Oh and FYI:
I really appreciate the time you take to read what my life is about at the moment.
This photo was taken two days before leaving Stockholm
I haven’t been writing lately, I got a little distracted (which actually happens a lot)
Anyway, I’m at the airport right now in Stockholm, on my way to Russia WHAT THE HELL!!! yess Russia. It all started last week when I was in Istanbul (also a crazy last minute trip, not as last minute as this one), where I met this really cool group of people ( I mentioned them in my Istanbul story) and felt the good vibes really everywhere in my body.
One of this magical humans is at the moment in Moscow, well actually he is on his way to Saint Petersburg where he is meeting with me for a 4 day trip. How amazing is that!!! I’m at the airport still so I’m not in Russia, but still can’t believe that I’m this close to go to “mother Russia” for four days.
What a privilege I must say oh and forgot to mention this part, I’m going there with my ecuadorian passport because I’ve got free entry for up to 90 days.. Just like that! Ok.. my over excitement is based on me being from a not so privileged country with not the best traveling passport, so when things like this happen I really get a little funny.
So we will see how that goes!!! So far I’ve googled how to get to the hostel from the airport, and maybe go for a walk after and see the sunset. That’s one thing I need to see everywhere I go and there’s water (lakes, rivers, ocean.. etc) and apparently Saint Petersburg is the Venice of Russia or Northern Europe. Mira tú! I had no idea and since I have not been to Venice (I was close but I don’t know…. meh..: wasn’t really feeling it) now it’s my time to get the Venice feel in one of the prettiest cities in the world (still have to see if it is actually like that since beauty is very much subjective)
Oh another thing about passports, Víctor couldn’t come with me because he needs a visa, oh I haven’t talked about Victor yet.. damn. That’s a very good story, but for now ill just tell you he’s my life partner.
Anyway Victor has a Swedish passport which is one of the top passports there is! And he can’t just go to Russia like that!! Super weird, he never needs a visa to go anywhere!! It’s sad that he couldn’t come, it sucks to say bye to him! Freaking visas..
Good thing I’ll be away for only 4 nights!
I will tell you more about him in one of my notes,but just so you get an idea of how cool he is I’ll share this: him and his pretty awesome mom actually convinced me to get into this little adventure, take this opportunity and live it up! No wonder Victor is pretty much perfect, his parents are really something.
Anyway I’m about to board now, I’ll try to write tomorrow but if I’m too busy I guess I’ll do it once I’m back!!
I regret not writing anything about Istanbul while I was there or a few days after the trip as I usually do. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy my stay in such a precious city, I just got disconnected and didn’t spend much time writing or on my phone other than for photo taking.
I will share a little bit of my experience before and after traveling to Istanbul.
My trip to Istanbul was based on going to see a friend, but that didn’t work well so I ended up just going alone which I actually turned to be pretty amazing.
So I’m a very active members of the CouchSurfing community, for those who do not what it is I will give you a brief description; it’s a community of travellers who help each other out with and to engage in the local community.
If you’re a budget traveler such as myself and enjoy meeting people from all cultures, specially those cultures you’re experiencing while travelling then couch-surfing is a great tool.
It is not always great but for most of the part is pretty awesome, why isn’t great sometimes?! Well some people use couchsurfing as a dating or hook up platform which is pretty awful if you’re a woman traveling alone (it sucks that we still have to deal with this shit). Before I traveled to Turkey I made my trip public on Couchsurfing to see if local people in Istanbul could offer me accommodations or maybe just want to hang out. Oh my Goddess!!! I got within 30h more than 50 messages from males only who offered me accommodation, food, a good time and even their bed where I could sleep next to them. How nice! Well that scared me quite a lot, and made me create all these scary movies in my mind the night before traveling. Anyway nothing happened, I didn’t accept any of the offers and stayed for the first 2 nights with this lovely couchsurfing hostess in Ataköy who later explained the couchsurfing male behaviour. Apparently we foreigners are fun to be with and due to religion impositions male find it easier to hook up or be with westerns. I don’t know if I’m a westerner myself, I come from a little country down in the hood (South America) but anyway that’s why I got so many messages, oh!! I even got invited to a Yacht party. How cool.
FYI I’m not trying to create a bad reputation for the straight men of Istanbul, just sharing my experience. I had the chance to actually meet Turkish men in Istanbul who are pretty amazing and respectful people.
Speaking of people, I also met a few travellers of the world, from different countries and amazing stories. One of them is now a forever friend with whom I shared lots of moments, feelings and laughs. We connected tremendously that we even met again in Saint Petersburg.
I did take some photos that I hope will tell you more about my little Journey.
Istanbul is a beautiful city, from corner to corner (Europe and Asia). You live their history, their culture, food and colours. It certainly is one of those cities that take your breath away.
Wanderer Sounds Better than Homeless 