The trips that I remember most are the ones that have changed me. Sandy beaches and sunbeds are great. A week of relaxation with a fruit drink in hand can serve its purpose. But that's not what drives me to travel, it's something else. It's the desire to be fulfilled by the unexpected, that which challenges my established view of life and forces me to change. Here are ten such journeys that have changed me. Which journeys have changed you, and why?
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1st Iceland 1993
I was 17 years old and travelled for a year as an exchange student to France. Iceland. Ended up on Home Island. A year of strong winds, haddock for dinner five days a week and a new language. I can't even tell you who I would be if I didn't occasionally, within myself, formulate thoughts of Icelandic.
2. Train journey in Eastern Europe in 1995
My friend Johanna and I took the ferry to Estonia and visited her friend in Estonia. Latvia. She generously allowed us to stay in her room (in an apartment with five families, one in each room), offered fried potatoes, proudly showed the family's inherited vacuum cleaner from the 70s and at the same time was grateful and gave money to beggars. Continuing into the Poland where we had to burn LPG if we wanted hot water. Perspective for a Swedish 19-year-old!
3. Trans-Siberian Railway 2006
A few years after we met, Peter and I took the train from Moscow to Beijing. That rhythmic thumping of the train that put you in a trance as you looked out over these endless landscapes and cities of millions that you had never heard the name of. And then getting off in Irkutsk and meet all these people in beautiful dresses. I suddenly got the feeling that there is a big world outside of what the media reports...
4. New Zealand 2006
New Zealand itself is a fascinating place, with rainforests as well as glaciers and volcanoes. Nature alone is enough to turn your imagination upside down. We also had to challenge ourselves as campers! Those of us who never imagined camping rented a campervan to drive around - and then we were hooked. Without that trip, there probably wouldn't have been a motorhome!
5. Vietnam 2007
Vietnam is in itself a beautiful country, with Asian humid heat and friendly people. For us, it was even more special because we chose to get married there. We performed the ceremony at the Swedish Embassy and then travelled by boat in the country. Halong Bay. A journey that will forever be part of us now ...
6. Kenya and Tanzania 2007
We packed our backpacks and booked a plane ticket to Nairobi. It is not even possible to explain everything that happened afterwards - the unrest during the elections, all the people who were displaced, stabbed to death with machetes or burned inside.
The realisation that no one else comes to the rescue when you are travelling and that you have to manage on your own became clear. Also the realisation that you can make great friends and get help from strangers in difficult situations. And we appreciated the holiday all the more when we managed to get to the north of Tanzania!
7. Europe by campervan 2009
First time in Europe as real campers! Nice to challenge the image of yourself, and of camping. We admired the Austrian countryside, learned to love Italian tomatoes and drank alcohol with Czech miners on a camping holiday. Now we don't think camping is ridiculous anymore - it's a cool and wonderful way to travel!
8th Ukraine 2010
The most beautiful thing you own, you wear it! That's how it is in Ukraineand a luxurious fur coat in a dingy hotel room isn't bad at all. We fell in love with the idea of actually... get like things that sparkle and shine. It's great to free yourself from all the Swedish jante thinking!
9. Kenya 2012
Back in Kenyabut now with a Swedish-Kenyan friend. This time we met members of the Luo tribe and listened to their music until we both hated and loved it. We danced until late at night and experienced a fabulous wedding with 400 guests, silk fabrics and African rhythms.
We also ate goat guts, had a rooster in the kitchen and lived in a village with no electricity or running water. You can't put your finger on it, but nothing is really the same after that trip!
10. Morocco 2014
In February this year, we got the chance to go on a blogging trip to Morocco. Two things affected me. Firstly, sitting on a sand dune and watching the sun set over the Sahara. Wow, I say. And then - meeting all the other bloggers. We were so inspired and energised that blogging has never been more fun!
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Towis - Come fly with me says:
But yes, I agree with you about Morocco - that's exactly how it felt 🙂 And what a lovely post!
08 September 2014 - 21:18
Ditte says:
A different, thoughtful and exciting post. There are many journeys that have influenced me and I choose five; Thailand near the border with Cambodia in 1980 and working in refugee camps with Cambodians, often maimed, fleeing first from Pol Pot and then the Vietnamese invasion.
Cambodia's 'Field of Death', Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat 2012: an emotional encounter with a country whose people have suffered so much.
China; many trips in the country and Beijing. Our four years there have affected us forever.
Tibet; train journey there from Beijing for 48 hours by train. What nature and history that country has.
Fiji; Was part of a trip around the world we made in 2005 and where we got married on an atoll out in the sea in connection with a cruise we made for four days. (Then it was New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore).
Yes, all the travel memories that exist and they are many...
08 September 2014 - 22:16
BP says:
I completely agree with Ditte! My God, what wonderful things you have been through. Understand that they have affected you / you. Not so little exotic either to get married in Vietnam.
To be honest, I liked the Ukraine game the least, but that may be because I have some prejudices against all things ex-USSR and eastern states. Except Poland, then. There I definitely did NOT have my prejudices confirmed...
08 September 2014 - 23:12
admin says:
Towis, it was a great trip, which gave so much even afterwards!
🙂
Ditte, wow, you must have really experienced so much during your travels and stays abroad! Some experiences are perhaps more of the unpleasant kind, but of course you learn a lot both about the world and about yourself.
BP, haha, we like the East, even if it can be quite un-Swedish. Like Poland too, but can agree that it is quite different from, for example, Russia and Ukraine (however, I do NOT mean to bundle these two countries, which have a rather tense relationship right now...).
09 September 2014 - 7:12
Deciree says:
How nice to see where you got married. You were beautiful too. 🙂
09 September 2014 - 9:41
Lena says:
My conviction is that; it is the travelling you do that shapes us as people! You don't want to be without a trip, do you?
Or; it is not the destination but the journey that is worth the effort, said Ms Boje.
09 September 2014 - 10:30
admin says:
Deciree, thank you! It was a very simple wedding, but it was cosy!
🙂
Lena, can agree! I wouldn't want to be without a trip! And of course it is the journey itself many times, travelling, being on the road, what happens along the way and the people you meet...!
09 September 2014 - 13:40
Ladies Abroad says:
Nice to be on the list of the journey that has changed you! Thank you
09 September 2014 - 17:46
Mrs Christine says:
Ohhhh what a wonderful list!
There are many trips that have both changed and influenced me, almost all of them more or less in some way. I do not intend to recite them all here, but the year we lived in Bali is the trip that absolutely shaped me the most. So wonderful!
🙂
09 September 2014 - 21:16
admin says:
Ladies Abroad, thank you back! Fun and inspiring trip!
🙂
Christine, I can agree that all travelling affects you in some way... but maybe more or less. Understand that it becomes extra special when you live in another place for a long time!
09 September 2014 - 22:14
Ama de casa says:
Oh what fantastic journeys you have made! Unbelievable what memories they must give.
🙂
The trips that have influenced me the most were probably:
1: Berlin, 1989, in the summer before the wall fell. Of course I knew that the wall existed, but that it REALLY existed... There were armed soldiers standing there to shoot those who tried to get from East to West....
2: Vietnam, 1994. They had just opened the border to Westerners, and we were "unusual". Hard to travel around, but everyone was friendly and quite... curious.
3: Iran, 1995. Seeing how it really is/was in that country was interesting, while being very happy that I was born where I was born.
There are probably a lot of others as well, but those are the ones that first came to mind.
🙂
10 September 2014 - 4:20
Ama de casa says:
Well, also Irian Jaya 1991, (Indonesian part of New Guinea). Flying into the centre of the island (there were no roads) and then seeing the guys walking around with their penis cases... Yes. Nothing I had seen before anyway
🙂
10 September 2014 - 4:23
admin says:
Ama de casa, wow what exciting and interesting trips! I actually saw the Berlin Wall too, when I was 10 years old and on a ski trip with my parents, close to the border. Even then it affected me to see the border guards! Vietnam at that time sounds interesting and I would also love to visit Iran, although I wouldn't want to live there either....
10 September 2014 - 7:31
ActiveDays says:
What an interesting and thought-provoking post! Thank you for it!
10 September 2014 - 9:02
Renate's travels says:
Fantastic post! Very interesting and thought-provoking reading!
Maybe I'll borrow the idea to make a separate blog post about this 😉 But link to you of course 🙂 ).
10 September 2014 - 11:49