ohwanderlin

Aren’t you tired of the word traveling? All these pretty travel quotes and nomadic lifestyles…When will someone stand out and tell the truth: Travel isn’t always pretty!

How I started to realize…

I met him in my hostel in Portugal, he was from the states and he was visiting Portugal to catch the waves(I mean duh🙄).

He was (one of )the one chasing the waves, literally carrying his surfboard to wherever.
(So my standard question:)👧🏻: “what is your job?”(Always inspired by so many freelancers about what they did!)
Like others, this guy also surprised me with his job.

A tour guide who works 6 months and travels 6 months

He was a tour guide in the states. Instead of just offering day trips, he drove tourists around the country, which most of the time took him weeks, sometimes even months.

The most incredible thing was how he “travels”. He works for 6 months and travels for another 6 months. When he travels, he brings his surfboard to wherever the wave calls. He had been living like that for more than 8 years or so.

He told me also, that one of the reasons that he has been able to travel for such a long time is because he had no “home“. He meant Literally. When he was in the states, he was always on the road so it didn’t make sense to have a “house” that he would not live in. Even with his parents, there wasn’t a spare room just for him..sometimes he would crash on the couch of his brother’s. 

Wherever and whenever he goes to different places, he just writes on Facebook to see if any of his friends were there.

A real Nomad I would call him.

From his face, I saw pure happiness.

His life seemed so unimaginable to me. I asked him, “how does it feel like if there is no place you could call home?” Without hesitation, he said he felt FREE, with a big smile on his face. He can go wherever he wants, there were no rents, debts…

He was so inspiring to me, his life was so unimaginable and sounded so uncertain. However, he found the best lifestyle for himself.

It doesn’t have to make sense to them, as long as it makes sense to you

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The more people I met, the more I hated the word “travel“.

To me, “travel” = no base.

You meet so many people and made so many friends, but this also meant that they were meant to be friends that you can’t see often, no matter how strong the connection was..

“Travel” means uncertainty, it means that maybe your friends at home will think that you are living a glamorous life, but in fact that they have no idea how lonely you felt from time to time.

So, what do you think?