There’s something about being brave while travelling that adds another level of adrenaline to your body. Maybe it’s the 22 hours travelling time or the fear of heights topped up with a dash of turbulence every now and then to remind you that you’re alive and kicking that gets it started but all of a sudden you’re doing things that you might not otherwise do (maybe you would but how often do we venture out of our comfort zones during our 8 to 5 lives)?

I love travelling. Love it. It’s an escape, let’s be honest, from the normal. And I struggle when people ask me, “Did you love Bali? What was it that you enjoyed?” and they all look for this incredible answer of “Breathtaking landscapes; see through clear oceans with white sand beaches and oh, the food, don’t get me started!” when all I really want to say is, “I was in a different land, where the people can teach me something I wouldn’t otherwise learn and where I can experience oddities with a gem of a backdrop other than home. And then, I love coming home knowing that something about my journey has changed me.” so in short, I’d love any trip I can squeeze into.

There will always be something beneficial even if things go wrong (and trust me, they do)!
When I travel with friends away from the normal setting I get to see, understand and appreciate them on a different level then otherwise would have happened. I think back to a year ago of travels with a friend and can appreciate how we gasped and oooohhhh-ed at the normal ways of living in that country and a bond was created that would most likely stay forever. Jokes created that no one else will share, photographs taken that capture moments we would normally not remember. I think now to my Bali experience (yes, it was an experience) and doubt I’ll live down my title of “being unleashed” or doubt I will forget how one of my friends is so allergic to walking that we’d sit in a taxi for 40 minutes just so we wouldn’t have to walk 1.6 kilometres. Trust me, they’ll never live it down. I think to how because of someone else’s influence (it was never me, never ever!) I had a snake wrapped around my neck, a bat on my lap and was swinging in a stable harness from trees that looked a lot less stable. All at separate times of course.

I am always nervous about travelling with others. I worry about ensuring that everyone is always comfortable and everyone is happy. And thoughts of, “What if we come back no longer friends? Or what if they don’t like what I like doing? Or what if I don’t like what they enjoy doing? Will it be a wasted trip?” run over and over in my mind.

But it never is.

Being brave doesn’t come from the experiences themselves; it comes from being open to sharing them with others whether or not they’ll appreciate it as much as you do. Being brave comes from them experiencing you differently and them allowing you to experience them differently. And sometimes, just sometimes, being in a different country enforces the bravado.

#LoveLightKindness

#mybutterflydream