Universal Passport

There's something that unites us crazy travelers of the world, the ones that don't ever stop and are always hungry for more. That something is our reaction to the dreaded "Where are you from?" question. We wince. We cower. We don't know how to answer it.

But finally, it seems there's an answer that would satisfy, if not our interlocutor, at least ourselves in replying: "I'm an Earthling." Simple. No complications. No explanations. Short and to the point.

I always thought borders and visas were artificial inventions that spoiled a little bit the joys of traveling. We were all born on the same planet, why should some of us have different rights than others? Following a discussion with my good friend J., he sent me a link to this Universal Passport. It's an awesome idea, and I love what it says on the bottom right corner:

"The bearer of this passport is allowed to travel freely throughout the entire planet.

As a citizen of Planet Earth, the owner of this document agrees to maintain and respect all the traditions and cultures of the lands he or she travels or lives in."

I couldn't have said it better myself. It's perfect! I just hope someday it becomes a reality and we don't need to go through full-body scans before we are allowed to border a plane. 

Travel companions

Choosing your travel companion is probably the most important decision you will ever make about a trip. Not where you're going, or for how long, or what you should take in your backpack. Those are all important considerations that may affect the quality of your trip, but nothing can make or break a trip as much as who you travel with. That is probably why most of the time I prefer to travel alone.

However, sometimes you find yourself with the opportunity of realizing someone else's dream, and you can't say no to that. So this time I decided, against all my better judgment, to travel for 40 days with my mom, and make her dream of visiting Israel and Greece a reality-- something she would never have done on her own.

The thing about travel companions is that it doesn't matter how well you know them. How well you get along in normal life. How much you enjoy spending time with them. None of those things matter. The three things that are vital in a travel companion are these: independence, flexibility, and the ability to go with the flow and not stress out. If those 3 characteristics are met, you will not have any problems. Example:

A- You want to spend a day in a museum, but your travel companion wants to go shopping instead. No problem! You go to the museum, he/she goes shopping, and you meet back at the hotel before dinner. That's independence.


B- You have a bus/train pass that allows you to travel around. You had decided to go from Barcelona to Marseille. Unfortunately the bus that took you from the hostel to the bus/train station took forever to go by, and you missed the bus/train. But you've already seen Barcelona and you were planning on leaving today, so you simply check where the next bus/train is going to, and take it just for the heck of it. After all, you've never been to Andorra before. That's flexibility.

C- You really want to continue your trip as fast as possible. You have a bus ticket for early the next morning. You're excited about it. However, you eat something for dinner that makes you feel seriously ill. You know it'll go away, but you just want to be on that bus in the morning!!! Except there's no way you can face 15hrs in a crappy bus on crappy roads puking your guts out the window.... so you just lay back, relax, and go with the flow. Another day in this little town is not what you would've wanted, but it's no big deal after all...

Any travel problem can be solved or at least endured if you and your travel companion have those three characteristics. If you don't, you're in for some seriously stressful times.

That was just a little introduction to the posts that will follow, the trip with my mom. By the very nature of the trip, and the fact that my mom had never before traveled the way I do, independence was not in the cards. Flexibility was good, and we had some good laughs about that, but the art of relaxing when things don't seem to go exactly your way is hard to achieve and only seasoned travelers have it. So we had our stressful moments. But no amount of stress can beat the joy of making someone's dream come true, and since this trip was her dream coming true, I'd have to say I'd do it all over again. :) We had some great times, saw some amazing places, met some awesome people, and the memories will definitely last a lifetime. Stay tuned for pictures and details!

--> Word to the wise: 40 days was perhaps a little bit too long though. But oh well...