Why travel?

Why travel? What’s the point after all? What are all of us travelers searching for in these foreign destinations? Thrill? New sights? Culture shock? Excitement? Challenges? Unique food? Independence? Inspiration? Self-discovery? Adventure? New experiences? 

I follow tons of legit travel bloggers on social media. And when I mean legit, I mean that they dedicate their lives to travel; they quit their jobs and are now traveling long-term as their profession. They make money through their blogs from writing freelance articles, advertising, marketing, campaigns, etc. When reading the “about me” pages and posts of all these bloggers, no one ever really talks about why they travel, they just explain how to travel. I guess everyone just assumes that the answer is obvious? Why not?

One day, Ajay, an Indian guy staying at the same hostel as me in Kiel asked me, "Wanna go to Laboe tomorrow?"

"You should really come!", Leila, a Kenyan girl also staying at our hostel said to me. Maybe you remember Ajay and Leila from my last blog post? Well at the time they asked me to go to Laboe, I had just met Ajay that day and I had only met Leila the day before. They also had only met each other that day but both had free time and were planning a day trip to Laboe, a small beach town on the Baltic sea. Even though I didn't know them very well, they were so friendly so of course I said yes and the next morning we set off on the ferry ride to Laboe. 

Laboe is nothing special, especially not in October when the sun basically doesn't exist in northern Germany and rain falls almost everyday. But it was Leila's first time in Europe and she found everything absolutely "amazing". Literally. She kept pointing at the sea and the buildings saying, "this is just amazing!!". It was nice to see someone so excited about a place that most people consider normal or even dull.

Ajay and Leila turned out being really funny and we all pretty much clicked immediately. We had a lot of fun that day, walking on the empty beach, taking pictures, eating fish sandwiches, checking out the Naval Memorial and the WWII German submarine. Laboe is no Berlin or Frankfurt or Cologne or Hamburg; very few international tourists have even heard of Laboe much less traveled there yet I had a lot of fun that day, solely because of the people I was with. The next night they also surprised me with an early birthday present of chocolate, caramel Müsli (probably my favorite German food ever). It was so sweet of them!

I love these cute, little pod-like beach chair things all over German beaches! 

Naval Memorial commemorating sailors of all nationalities that died during the World Wars

U-boat Nazi submarine

Müsli!!!!!!!! YES

A week or so later, a few days before my birthday, I was feeling a little sad because I knew Mihai would be in school and have German language lessons afterwards until 5pm so I would be alone all day. I asked Leila if she'd like to get lunch with me and she said she was busy on the actual day of my birthday but the day before she could meet! We went to a German restaurant that Mihai's host family recommended and got smoked salmon pizza. And when the check came, Leila insisted on paying for me because I was the birthday girl. I was so surprised, I had only met her a week ago. She was so kind and thoughtful and really cheered me up.

On the actual day of my birthday I was alone in the German countryside waiting to meet Mihai after his German lessons. I couldn't help being a tad bummed. It didn't even feel like my birthday. But that night I met up with Mihai, we went back to his house and he surprised me with a strawberry cake with those sparkler candles that won't stop burning and his whole host family standing around the table singing happy birthday and a few presents. One present was a hat that I had seen at a German market, which was a little expensive. At the market I said I'd think about buying it and keep looking. Later, I went back to buy it, only to find that someone had beat me to it and bought it already. I was so mad!! Little did I know that that someone turned out to be Mihai. After eating cake with his host family, Mihai and I went out for dinner at a sushi restaurant. Definitely turned out being a perfect birthday, all thanks to my perfect boyfriend :)

Before coming to Germany, I knew I'd be alone during the day while Mihai was at school. But then he found out he had a two week fall break from school in the end of October. We were thrilled! We'd be able to spend all day everyday together for those two weeks. Then we found out that Mihai had to go to German language lessons the entire month I was there from 1pm until 5 everyday, even during his fall break. We were upset to say the least. I often got really mad because the whole reason I was going to Germany was to see Mihai. But we did our best not to let this get in the way. We often woke up early at 6 or 7am to spend the morning together before he had to go to his lessons and always met up afterwards in the evening. We definitely did our best to spend every moment together! And now that I'm in Japan I even miss the hour long sleepy bus rides at 6 am with Mihai.

Early morning in Schwedeneck

One of our early morning breakfasts in Schwedeneck before Mihai's German lesson

Like I said before in a previous post, I was forced to learn how to spend a lot of time alone out in the middle of nowhere German countryside. This alone time also made me appreciate conversation and socializing so much more. Silke, the owner of the hostel stopped by often to help clean, make jam or get some other errands done. We'd also sit and chat while sipping on tea and I got to know her a little bit. After finishing gymnasium (German high school) she spent a year au pairing in Ireland. In university, she majored in English and art. She spent a year studying abroad in Canada/backpacking around the U.S. Silke then saved up money during university and after graduating spent a year backpacking around New Zealand, Fiji and Thailand. Silke is in her 40s so she did all of this traveling in the 90s, back when there were no cell phones, much less iPhones. I asked her if it was scary, not being able to call someone if she needed help, or look up directions with a GPS if she got lost. She said no and that she liked the freedom traveling gave her. She physically couldn't text or call her parents everyday and liked the independence. She also did all of this travel alone. She said she prefers traveling alone because she could do exactly as she pleased. She loves horseback riding and hiking. Originally, she wanted to be an art teacher but after staying at so many hostels around the world, she decided that she too wanted to open up her own hostel. Silke said she's done traveling and settled down with her boyfriend and daughter in Kiel but enjoys meeting travelers that stay at her hostel, like me, because it makes her feel like she's still seeing the world. Wow. Talk about inspiring.

One day when Silke and I were making jam together I mentioned that my birthday was in a week. She asked me what my astrology sign was. I told her that I was a libra and she said she wasn't surprised. "My birthday is in October too but I knew you couldn't be a scorpio like me", she said. "Why??", I asked. She said that she could never do what I was doing; traveling the world by myself at age 19. I argued that she had done nearly the same thing!! But she said she wasn't quite as young when she traveled independently (in her mid twenties) and is not as outgoing as I am. I found this to be such a wonderful compliment from such an experienced traveler like Silke.

One Friday, Mihai's host family went to spend the night in Hamburg to visit their eldest daughter/sister. They told Mihai he should spend time with me because I'd be leaving soon and I was welcome to sleepover while they were gone. We went out that night to some bars/clubs in Kiel. The next day we were pretty tired and spent our day sleeping in, drinking tea, listening to music and just relaxing. We expected his host family to be home at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon but they never showed up. Every time we heard a noise, we thought it might be them but it never was. We felt like parents anxiously awaiting our kids arrival back home. We kept joking that we'd taken over their house and owned it now and they were never coming back. Finally, his host mom texted Mihai saying they wouldn't be home until around 8pm. We then went grocery shopping and decided to cook a big, delicious dinner as a surprise for his host family when they came home. Even though we barely left the house, I think this might've actually been one of my favorite days in Germany just because Mihai and I laughed so much!

We found this bent up spoon in Mihai's host fam's kitchen and couldn't stop laughing

So you're probably wondering why I'm telling you all of these random stories from Germany? Well, all of these moments made me realize that more often than not, the people we spend our time with are more important than where we are. Northern Germany may not have been on the top of my travel list but it turned out being an amazing month because of the people I was with. And yeah, maybe Mihai and I didn't get to spend all day, every day together but we did our best! Plus, seeing him only for a few hours everyday will always be better than not seeing him at all.

This realization brings me back to the question, why travel? Why travel if, like I just said, the destination is irrelevant compared to the people? Well, ironically, I never would have made this realization if I didn't travel. That's what traveling does, it exposes you to new challenges, new experiences, new situations, new cultures and new people, which forces you to learn lessons that you'd never learn by just staying at home. And that's why I travel. Oh yeah, and because it's fun and I like foreign food ;)

One blonde backpacking through the entire world?

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but there's been a couple major curveballs affecting my travel plans for next year that I've had to deal with!

So first of all, has anyone ever heard of the Schengen agreement? Nope? Well that makes two of us. So basically, an American is allowed to travel freely within the Schengen Area without a visa for up to a max of 3 months. The Schengen Area includes the majority of European countries excluding the United Kingdom, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Ireland. So my initial plan of staying in Germany for the year wasn't possible without a visa. In order to get a visa you either have to have proof of enrollment as a student at a European school, proof of a source income in Europe or proof of marriage to a European citizen, all of which I do not have. And since the Schengen Area includes so many countries, not only am I unable to stay in Germany for longer than 3 months but I'm also unable to stay in Italy, Denmark, Germany and nearly any other European country collectively for longer than 3 months. Well crap... What am I supposed to do then? My plan was to go to Italy for a couple weeks, Denmark for a couple weeks and then Germany for the rest of the year... Now I can only stay in those three countries for a max of 3 months...

After closer research I discovered that all I have to do is leave the Schengen area for 3 months and then I'm allowed to come back again for another 3 months! I looked over the non-Schengen countries and realized that leaving wouldn't be impossible. My boyfriend, Mihai, has relatives in Romania that I could stay with for about a month or so and I could come home to Ohio for Christmas and spend another month in either Ireland, Croatia or the U.K. doing a Workaway program (hosts give you a place to stay and food in exchange for around 25 hours of work per week). Problem solved! I began buying plane tickets and getting into the details of my trip. I'm leaving on August 5 to visit one of my prior host families in the Southern Italian city of Brindisi for 3 weeks, then off to Copenhagen, Denmark to stay with a friend for another 3 weeks, then stay with another friend, Paula, in Central-Western Germany for another month and half, then go to Brasov, Romania for a month and a half, then come home to Ohio for Christmas and New Years then to Ireland for a month and lastly return to Germany and stay with Paula for the remaining 3 months! Sounded like a perfect year, I couldn't wait! I bought the first few plane tickets up until the one that would take me from Denmark to Dusseldorf, Germany.

Well thank goodness I never bought that plane ticket because a few days ago, Paula messaged me saying that her and her family would be unable to host me at all next year in Germany. Well CRAP... now I'm really in a pickle... I was supposed to spend half of my year in Germany...

My entire year revolved around Germany, the only reason I was going to Romania and Ireland was to essentially kill time until I could come back to Germany. Germany was supposed to be my "home base" next year since I had a good friend and welcoming family to stay with. Now I questioned all of my plans. I mean I could just do a bunch of workaways in Germany but that didn't feel right. The main reason I wanted to go to Germany was because I had people I knew there who could host me, instead of strangers. It felt like I was back at square one again. Besides Italy and Denmark the entire year was pretty much a clean slate.

I began thinking of every single possibility. A new opportunity opened up that I had never even thought of: I could stay with my distant relatives in Japan! I talked to my Obachan (grandma in Japanese) and she said her sister would happily host me for a couple months in Tokyo! My Obachan even said she would meet me there and take me sightseeing all around Japan! I've never been to Japan or met any of my relatives there but I've always wanted to! I studied Japanese for two years when I lived in Australia, I'm beyond obsessed with sushi and Japanese cultures in general, so I was exhilarated by the possibility. There were so many options; I was overwhelmed. I could volunteer with IVHQ? Stay with friends in Australia? Still go to Romania? Do a bunch of workaways all over Europe? Volunteer in Ghana, Madagascar, the Philippines, Nepal or Vietnam? There were also doubts and worries. Did I have enough money to go all the way to Japan? Did I still want to stay in Europe for a while since I already bought my plane tickets to Italy and Denmark? Did I want to visit Mihai in Germany? Would our relationship suffer if we didn't see each other at all for an entire year? How long did I want to stay in each destination?

If you know me at all, I'm an extremely indecisive person and all the questions had completely consumed my mind. I wanted to be able to do it all: Visit Mihai in Germany, go to Tokyo with Obachan and volunteer with IVHQ. However, I didn't think it was financially possible to travel to 3 continents in one year. I thought I had to give up either Japan or volunteering but I couldn't decide for the life of me. I drove my family and Mihai crazy with all my deliberations and uncertainty. I spent two days thinking, looking up flights, researching and calculating hypothetical budgets to see what was possible. It was easy to eliminate the Philippines and Vietnam because they weren't the safest of countries. Madagascar has a really cool scuba diving program but it's nearly double the price of other IVHQ programs so I eliminated that as well. Nepal made the most geographical sense since it's near Japan however my parents were cautious of more earthquakes so I finally decided on Ghana. I'm not sure if you remember my first blog post, but I mentioned Ghana as an option. I've always wanted to see Africa. It's really cool that all these challenges and changes in travel plans led me back to Ghana!

Anyway, I discovered it would actually be possible to do everything I wanted: go to Europe, Tokyo AND Ghana! However, I would be on a very tight budget so my parents decided to help me out a little bit. I'm so lucky to have such supporting parents that allow me to accomplish my dreams.

Now I'm just hammering out the final details but I'm so happy to have the main itinerary figured out! After Italy and Denmark, I'm pretty sure I'll spend a month in Germany, then 3 months in Japan, 2 months in Ghana and lastly 2 more months back in Germany! But who knows, from experience, everything could easily change again and those timeframes may become completely different (but I really hope that doesn't happen)! I can't believe how many times my plans have changed. Back in April I still thought I'd be going to South Korea with NSLI-Y, then I thought I'd be spending the year in Germany, then I thought I'd travel throughout Europe and finally I'm traveling to three different continents! Every curveball has brought me here to my final plan, which I think is the best one yet! I have such an amazing, life-changing experience ahead of me, I can't wait for it to begin!!

Stay tuned for updates from around the world ;)

P.S. I'm not sure if I should change the name of my blog since I'm not really going to be just in Europe anymore? Opinons?