Home / Posts tagged 'travel philosophy'
Manu | 2 November 2012 | 2 comments

 

The road to Cape Town

A step closer to Africa and another further from Amsterdam: that’s how I feel at the beginning of this November, on my last month in my house in Amsterdam, with my friends, at work and on the month of My1stimpressions 1st birthday.

Good news is: I found my 1st Sponsor. GlobeLink Travel Insurance is going to be My official Insurance Provider for Africa and, hopefully, for my next trips worldwide. It’s a pleasure to be assisted by them. They liked and followed my page from the beginning and they have been so nice in assisting me in this occasion.

These days Iam studying how to shoot a Star Time Lapse at night, for the days I am going to be on the road. I am going to see so many stars, the sky won’t look anymore like a dark blanket to my eyes, and I want to capture the emotion of being under the stars in the desert, there where the dark and the stars reign. I am also checking how to get a Working Visa in South Africa, in case I decide to stay there for a bit. I am busy in general finding all the info I may need once I won’t have internet available all the time.

I am going to finish my vaccinations in the next few weeks, and I have given notices for everything here in Amsterdam: my house, my phone, my insurance, my gym. It’s a great feeling, I don’t feel spoiled, I feel free! Oh well, almost. My freedom is going to start next month, when I am officially homeless, when I am going to quit my job, prepare my backpack and leave Amsterdam.

For the rest, lots of emotions going on!

My travel philosophy!


I am scared. It’s normal. Scared to leave this place and this life, scared to start again from the beginning, to put myself again on the game table and play it again. It’s like a bet, and I bet I can do it. But being alone in this challenge means also I have to find double strength to accomplish it. It’s difficult to leave your comfort zone and start again. But it’s also exciting, and I wouldn’t change this feeling for any comforting zone ever at this stage. I am in the game and I am going to play my role.

Compared to October, when I suddenly realized how close I was to the end of the year, I now feel much better. I feel great actually! I finally took awareness of the fact that something amazing is going to happen in my life soon, in few weeks, and that is something I always wanted it to happen. Traveling, traveling and traveling, for months in a fully free life condition.

I am not worried or sad anymore in this period. I feel good. I am spending a great time with my friends, taking care of them and of the good time I have with them, I enjoy every single day at the most, as I know I have limited time left. When they get sad for my departure we finish having a laugh about it and think it’s still early for goodbye tears. I think it’s the best way to afford all this. Amsterdam, after Rome, is the only place where I have been living for a considerable amount of time. 4 years in the same place for me it’s like a lifetime. People are asking me if I consider it a bit as a second home and I do, really. This town means the world to me. It’s the place where I came to recover after a rough time in Australia and England. Since the first moment this town welcome me with a smile and a sense of friendship and beauty. I always got the feeling it was giving me good vibes, good energy, as since I arrived here my life started to get better.

I am going to miss Amsterdam!

I love Amsterdam and I am sad to leave, but I also feel it’s time to go. If the project of Vikings Across Africa didn’t exist, I would have probably been gone already. I stayed here the last year only for this reason, waiting for my departure. And now the time is arriving. It’s all happening.

When you have to leave, to move forward, and I talk about moving in general, moving forward in life, there is always a point when you get just sure of your decisions. Fortunately!!! That’s where I stand now. And I like it. I am going to leave yes, but for one of the greatest adventures of my life. In less than 2 months this is started, and I will be heading down the Planet. The thing is: when I look at that map of thousands of kilometers, countries and places I am going to see I can’t stop smiling, and for me this is the sign I am doing something good, something that makes me happy. I can’t wait any longer to fill my backpack again, close the door of my house, give back the keys, and just leave!

I feel my time here in Amsterdam is expiring, and even thought in a way this is sad, in another this is life! You don’t recycle, you go further! And it’s now time to go and do a step further on my life path.