How has everything started, when, why? I have been asked a lot. Well, I did tray to answer here. So lets see…
Before everything started
Once upon a time… I was a “normal” person. As normal, as I have ever been, anyway. I had a normal job and was normally miserable.
I knew I need a change, but didn’t dare to even think about it. I had the responsibility to raise my daughter, so I was stuck to that normality for a while.
At the moment my girl finished school and went by her own path, I started looking for a change. They say – who is searching, finds! And I did. Actually I have been found. By two travellers (long story, full of “accidents”).
My first very shy experiment was kinda unwitting (just days before I meet the two guys). I went to a short trip to Bulgarian Black sea with no planing in advance.
Everyone said I was crazy. But yeah, I like being so! 😁😜
That went pretty well, I felt free and happy. Yet just a feeling, not a conscious thought.
Few days later I met the travellers, who made me think. About many things. Then I got, as planed in advance, another really organised trip with my dancing team to a festival at Montenegro. I did not enjoy sunbathing, sitting at the restaurant, etc. Turned out I cherish different things and I went exploring around by myself, while the others went to the beach.
Again that feeling – happiness and freedom! I had a great time meeting and speaking (sometimes with hands and feet) with random people, wandering around, even getting lost and found again.
I already knew I want THIS!!! And from that point I started preparing physically and mentally.
Does everything started yet?
Yeah, when you learn how to walk, you begin with small steps. So did I.
Made the first real experimental trip by walking and hitchhiking from my home town to one I have lived in for a while. It was a difficult track as I had to go through two mountains, but that’s what the tests are for, right?!
And it was absolute success!! My soul rejoiced!! Although my legs and back hated me… 😆
My enthusiasm soared higher and higher! I had an invitation for an organised hike in Rila mountain and I decided not to just take the bus to the starting point. Nah, too boring! I was not in a hurry, so better hitchhike and experiment one more time, right?! 😉
I was just getting more and more excited!
Okay, I was finally ready to go on the road.
With no money for travelling of course… 🤷♀️
I had no other option, but getting to work on the way. Yet I was not scared – I can do lots of things. And I am not ashamed to be a cleaner or wash dishes in a restaurant, or work on the fields somewhere, etc.
So, decided to start in Spain.
The plan was to work a bit there and just start my trip on from where I was. It didn’t happen that way, though.
Something came up last minute and I had to change my plans and get back in just a month. Well, nothing is random in this life… So, it has happened for a reason (still haven’t found it, though…).
And here we go…
After a tough period and quite a lot of waiting, it was time to make my hiking experiments international and see how it works. So I went to the nearest destination – Turkey.
I don’t know a word in Turkish. Yet I only know four languages, so most of the time I’ll be travelling without knowing the local one. Had to start somewhere. Google translate came quite in handy here.😉
It was a breathtaking experience!! Showed me my weak points, that I had to work more on, and all the beauty of that way of travelling, at the same time! Just amazing!
My daughter, following my adventures from a distance, got curious and excited about what am I doing. So I decided to go back and do something together before I go away for a long time. And we went hitchhiking to Romania for two weeks.
Great time and lots of fun! Well, mother-daughter time – there weren’t missing “I-want-to-cut-your-head-off” moments, too… 😆🤷♀️
First trip with no return date
After all those experiments it was time to go wild! Had just to stay away from Mental clinics, as someone probably would recognise me and take me in! 😆🤫
Needed destination, needed a way to earn money too. So I decided to go to the Netherlands.
No, I didn’t know anyone there, didn’t speak the language, didn’t have a place to stay or a job offer. Didn’t have a clue how the things work there. Have just heard that most of the people there speak English, so I could get along with that language (unlike in France or Germany, for example).
Had no idea where exactly am I going to, but had an idea what I want.
Would you be surprised that I got so much more from that adventure? I was surprised. It still feels like reading a fairy-tale book (more in this post)…
That was a head-spinning adventure! At least for me. I realised that there is almost nothing left from the person I was before. Well, except the stubbornity, of course… 😁😈
In the difficult moments (Oh yes, there are plenty of those too, don’t get fooled by the glamorous look of all the travel stories you see online!) I was sometimes thinking to give up. But then what? Going back to the old well-known routine?! I just can’t imagine doing that again…
As someone has said: If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine – it is lethal!
I have stayed in the Netherlands for a few months. Didn’t get the money I imagined (yeah, when you don’t actually know the facts, the imagination could trick you quite well), but at that time lots of things got upside-down in the whole world, so I was more than happy with what I have.
And then what?
Yet, it had to end. What I found out – ten months at one place are too much. It’s not good for the travel spirit! Now I know what a fellow traveller meant when he said “I must keep going, otherwise I’m getting used to be too comfortable and lazy again“
Yeah, it’s true. I terribly miss the road. Yet I need to force myself going there again – the backpack is too heavy, the road is too long, the hitchhiking is too unpredictable, too… tooo… tooooo…
Yeah, too spoiled and lazy! About this he was right…
But the way awaits! 😎