market in Ecuador, picture by Vitoria Netto © 2011
{Wanderlust n.m.} very strong or irresistible impulse to travel
I am fully indulging in Wanderlust lately!
As you read this I am on a plane flying over the Middle East on my way to Asia. The main purpose of my trip is to visit somebody cute (aka my nephew) and meet up with the rest of the family. Actually, let’s face it, my whole family is cute. We’ve got good genes, what can I say? (nothing).
And before that I have been in Europe for one week, staying at my parents and getting ready for the second leg of my trip. There was a terrible wave of polar cold coming from the North and I had a real hard time adapting. But honestly, I knew it could have been worst. The second night I was there I saw a segment on the news about a young homeless man having to brave the cold during nights in a row until a local charity found him a shelter. It was really heartbreaking to watch this as I was under my two cosy blankets sipping hot green tea with honey.
Which makes me think of all the things we take for granted. Before leaving Ecuador – which is now my home – so many people asked me what traveling was like. Friends and neighbours interrogated me. What is it like to be on a plane? How does it feel to touch snow? What are people like in your country? How does French sound like? Can you say a few words, oh please do!!
A neighbour of mine, 18 years old and cute as hell couldn’t stop asking: What does it feel like the first time you step out of a plane and realize you are in a foreign country? What is the experience? Do you feel different? It must be sooo great!! I knew she wanted to hear something very specific but I really didn’t know what to answer. I mean, honestly, I have no recollection whatsoever of the first time I traveled to a foreign country. Traveling has just become second nature to me.
So yes, Wanderlust is awesome. And so is being grateful for all the things we can easily take for granted.
Here are a few things I am grateful for:
- That hot shower I just took. With the right pressure and perfect temperature. I am not taking it for granted, believe me. (Here’s an ode to hot water by the way, totally clickworthy).
- Central heating in my parent’s house. So so good. I know some people a few blocks from here might not have the same privileges.
- Being able to travel. Oh my, big one. Especially when I know what it costs to the environment.
- Skype. And the 5 computers I could use it on.
- Having a family that is healthy and relatively normal. (hey, I said relatively).
- My education. The one that allows me to go to a developing country and be part of the elite because I have been educated in the West. And that allows me to work online and make in an day more than some locals make in a week.
- My health insurance that I am going to make full use of on this trip. A friend in Latin America just had to pay from her own pocket to have a tumour extracted from her brain. I hurts, doubly.
- My books. All my books that have been waiting for me patiently on the shelves until I come back. Books are expensive, did you ever realize?
- The bus system in Geneva. Clean, efficient and a little overpriced.
- Safety. Wow, big one here. Coming from a country where danger is at every street corner I am in pure awe of the safety one feels in Switzerland. Not that I didn’t know, I had just forgotten.
- I could go on and on.
But you get the point.
This is not about ”Do you realize how lucky you are – some poor kid is dying in Africa??!!” But more like, “Wow, do you realize how damn lucky you are? Yes, life is that good to you.”
So just pause and say: ‘thanks, life.’
And then, tell me… What are you most grateful for right now?
