I learned and lived this without leaving my home, during the strange times that we live. We can always travel through the stories and travels of others. We imagine ourselves seeing and experiencing what others have seen and lived.
We can always travel...
Through books. In a few days we can travel across Continents, meet new people and lifestyles and different times - when traveling was not just "checking" the sights just because everyone does.
We can always travel...
Through others, through other people's life stories. Talking to colleagues/friends who don't have the same nationality as us, who lived another life, who have another culture. The world can be a global village, we may think we know everything but maybe we only know the names of the cities, the geographical location and landmarks/historic sites, we may not know the daily lives of those who live there, the difficulties they have or the traditions that they are proud of.
Traveling is a trend that we all want to follow and that’s a good thing. But it is no longer good when we only compete for the number of stamps in the passport and the kilometers we travel. For me, this isn’t what makes us travelers. It is the stories we live and what we feel. We become travelers when we put ourselves in the other's shoes and learn what tolerance is, when we accept the difference naturally.
Windows of the World is now 4 years. In this time, I didn’t travel or write as much as I wanted, for different reasons. In these 4 years, I have published articles that I am proud of, others not so much, but it is part of growth, of going back to the origins and remembering why I created this space: because I like to travel but, above all, because I like to write. I like to write everything down - what I have to do, what happened to me, good or bad. I like to register my life in photos and in words what I feel - although it is not always easy.
It doesn’t make me happy to travel the world without having a home to return to. Without having time for family and friends. It does not make sense to me to see the whole world - or to have stamps in my passport - and not to know my own country, its cultures, traditions and people. Maybe I'm not a real traveler, but the ones I do make sense, they make me happy and, I believe, they help make me a better person.
Windows of the World is my record, my vision, my experience and my passion. I'm trying to get back to the origins. Thank you to all who have been making this trip with me. ♥
