Traveling can teach you a lot you know… You’ll probably not find the meaning of life but you’ll find a lot about yourself, your aspirations, beliefs, values. But first, you should know that I’m a traveler, not a tourist! I don’t move around to see places, buildings, towers, gardens. I travel to meet local people and live their way! I’ve been abroad for a long time now meeting people, living their life, observing their culture. All that made me stronger. I now believe that anything I want to do is possible! This is something traveling taught me and it goes like that:

What do you want?

Do you really want that? Are you ready to commit to it?

Do it!

The first step is actually the hardest one. Many people don’t know what they want. So figure that first.

One day, when I was 18 at school, I was drawing on my notebook traveling paths crossing all Capitals from Europe. I saw myself traveling in all these countries while listening to boring mathematics. Today, I visited most of those cities.

One day, I saw the movie Diarios de Motocicleta (The motorbike diaries). After seeing this movie I dreamt about doing a motorbike trip in South America as well. The next year, I bought a motorbike in Colombia and travel the North of the country in 3000 Kms.

One day, when I was living in Colombia, I thought about traveling the World doing what I like; meeting people, building projects, experiencing new ways of living…. I worked alone on this traveling project for long months, building my website, making contacts, finding ways to travel cheap, working hard to earn enough money to leave France. Today, I’m traveling the World. I will not go everywhere, not even on the five main continents but I’m doing something that really looks like what I wanted back there.

So, the people I meet on the road often ask me:

Are you rich (a white European guy is always very rich in some countries…)? Where the money comes from?

Where did you find the time to do so?

Aren’t you scared to do it alone?

I’m not rich. I just worked hard to get enough money to feel ‘financially safe’ to leave France. You can travel for very cheap actually if you have time and if you are not a prince/princess and if you are resourceful. Couchsurfing, Hitchhiking will help you to do so!

I took the time… Because I really wanted to do this trip! Everyone has time, it just depends what you want to do with it.

Where does fear come from? TV mostly… I stopped watching TV a long time ago. The World is full of those people we call ‘the others’ and who we fear. And you know what? You’ll find good people anywhere… They are actually more numerous than bad people haha! And you know what? It is actually easy to recognize bad people. So avoid them! Fear is something made up to limit us, to prevent us of changing the rules and thinking that everything is actually possible… Fear kills creativity, innocence, confidence so GO OVER IT!

Don’t listen to fears, they are always wrong. Listen to your will! Find what you want to do,
commit to it, work hard and you’ll make it happen! It is not an easy Game but it is worth it because at the end, you’ll find joy and pride by following your will and aspirations.
And to open the subject, this doesn’t only apply to traveling. I also wanted to write and direct theater plays, I did it. I wanted to write novels, I did it. I wanted to play theater, I did it….

So, now you know that everything is possible; what do you want? …

PS: To go further into a similar subject, watch the TEDx Video by Tomislav Perko. This guy truly inspired me and I thank him!