During our travels, we have come across some pretty amazing, like-minded people. Though this post won’t have any travel tips, it will show you how you can expose yourself to such a diverse crowd while travelling.
In Turkey, we became good friends with a quirky Spanish man in his 40s (with small children) who sold everything in his name to fund a trip throughout the Middle East and Asia, with only a backpack and scooter in hand. He says the scooter helps him get around cities faster, I don’t doubt it!
Also in Turkey, we crossed paths with a soft-spoken man from Taiwan who was travelling from Germany to China – on a bike! He described to us how he would only take a train for extra-long journeys, and he would bike on average eight hours a day.
In the Philippines, a kick-ass lady from Poland who has been travelling on a shoestring for thirteen years introduced herself to us. She had been picking up odd-jobs along the way to fund her travels, such as a magician’s assistant (seriously!), fruit picker, and English teacher. She had so much passion talking about her experiences – and how she had made it to every continent in the world. Very inspiring.
Lastly, we worked on an organic farm/raw vegan culinary school with a man in his late-fifties from Australia. He lives in India for four months out of the year and the rest he splits between Australia and travelling the world. He recently got into yoga – and taught us all routines he learned from different ashrams across India. His passion for India inspired us to visit this colourful sub-continent – and sure enough, it became our favourite country.
The point to be made is there are so many extraordinary, open-minded, adventurous people exploring the world who can really change your perception and inspire you to do what you love. These are just some examples of many people we have been lucky enough to meet, and all of them start with the same story: they had a job with long hours they didn’t like, sold everything, and just left to go explore.
When you’re travelling, the sponteneity of not knowing who you’ll meet is exciting – and the stories each traveller have are always entertaining to hear. Want to know where we tend to meet these awesome, adventurous people? Read our blog on alternative travel.
