WHY AM I TRAVELING?

Answering this question is quite easy, yet the story isn't short. 

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16/07/2015; A truck driver didn’t see me and hit my car. The car flipped. Physically I was fine. I had some bruises but hey, I was alive. Mentally, I was a wreck.

I started thinking about life and it being too short. About how lucky I was and how much worse it could have been. I started realizing that life was passing by but I had so many dreams to chase. My biggest dream of all was to see the whole world. This process took a few months but then I knew: I needed to see more of the world. Well, my heart knew I wanted to travel but it took a while for my mind to get along with that plan. I had this perfect job with awesome colleagues and why the heck was I going to leave that for traveling?

So another few months later and lot’s of talks with Michiel P. made me realize that it’s OK to chase your dreams now. There’s plenty of time left to work on that career, build a house and have children. On the other hand, besides the job, the timing was perfect. I’ve got no husband nor children to look after, I don’t have payments for a house… the only one stopping me from chasing my dreams was me.

 

I was extremely nervous on the day I decided to talk to my boss. Especially because I decided to talk to her like 50 times before. But then, that one day seemed like the day and oh, what am I a lucky bastard. My boss understood and was very open minded towards my plans. She supported me chasing my dreams; even though she mentioned quite a few times that she was going to miss me (I will miss you guys too!). Taking into account the compliment, I did stick to my plan. I decided to live the YOLO-life for a year. I filled out the paperwork and started booking my flights. In the blink of an eye my plans became reality.

 

Climbing out of the car after it crashed, I was furious! I started yelling at everyone around me. The aid workers in the ambulance said that my blood pressure was slightly elevated. Of course it was! I build that car from scratch with my dad, a lot of sweat and tears and all of that was gone in 3 seconds? People around me started to hush me and tell me that everything was going to be OK. I knew, immediately, that my car was going to be declared as “total loss” and that rebuilding was going to take years. I was heart broken. I never knew I could be so sad about… a car. But, I’d been trough so many great adventures with my Bella that she had become really special to me. I went on a trip to Spain with a friend in this car and later on another trip to the south of France with 3(!) friends and camping gear in this car!

 

So many months later, I understand that this horrible moment was my wake-up moment. I saw life flashing by and I knew I couldn’t continue living the perfect life without chasing my dreams. No, I’ll never be thankful for the truck driver crashing my car, but I can be thankful for waking up from the “go to school, get a job, find a husband, get married, have children and live happily ever after-story”. I need this crazy adventure. I need to live my own story.

 

I’d like to thank the following people for inspiring me. They all made a life makeover somehow. I’ve always thought they were brave people and I would never have the guts to be that brave person. Thanks to these inspiring stories, I found my own adventure.

 

• My little brother, living and studying in Bangkok!

• Alissa M., after finishing a degree in university she started all over to become an archeologist!

• Inkeri S., my friend from Finland who found the love of her life in Japan and now lives in New York!

• Maya L. who, after an internship in Peru, got a tattoo (!) and decided to continue living in Peru for an unknown amount of years!

• Nils M. who decided living and working in New Zealand could be fun for a while!

• Noémie V.V. who’s doing her PhD in Glasgow

• Kristien H., worked as an interior designer for many years and decided to open her own fashion shop!

• Ilse C., for moving to Japan for a year with her husband.

• Christiaan and Nika, who made a world trip during one year.

• …