The Traveller

I woke up to do homework at ten past eight because, as hard as I always tried, I could never convince myself to wake up at eight o’clock, when the alarm went off. After scribbling for roughly two hours I then grabbed everything, stuck it in my bagpack and got dressed in fifteen minutes. I remember jumping down the stairs two steps at a time and walking out the door with my heart beating much faster than I ran. The bus, of course, was always a couple of minutes late.

And I think it was during those moments when I first realised, while sitting there waiting, that none of what I saw felt like mine in any way. My town was just the place where I happened to find myself in most of the time, but I didn’t know any of the people passing by or any of the stores, and no one there knew me, either.

Today, I travel for a living. It’s always been travelling when I’ve been most comfortable. Be it because I’ve always done it, in a way, or because I’ve always preferred the process of doing things rather than actually getting them done. However, my absolute freedom has only recently begun and so have my revelations and my most beautiful discoveries. I’m a tenacious defender of universal lifelong learning and I believe knowledge only comes with the journey, not with reaching one’s goals. The way I see it, once you’re there, there’s nothing left for you to do. I also believe freedom is our most beautiful gift.

Growing up, I only felt free during our vacation, when we travelled for weeks on end in the mobile home. My head out the window, the air would run through my hair, pouring all its freshness and rich scents on me. That feeling is what I live for, because when I say that I travel for a living, I don’t mean I travel to earn a living. No, I travel to live. No part of me would feel mine if I had a home I had to go back to every day. The end of vacation was my biggest enemy as a child and I feel I’ve finally beat it by never stopping my feet from going a little further.

This world is just too extraordinary not to try to take as much as we can from all that it’s offering us.