Travelling is not a contest

Traveling banget! *plakk

"Udah pernah kemana aja? emang bagus? di sana ada apa aja? abis brapa?" 

Beberapa pertanyaan paling sering yang ditanya kalo ketemu ato kenalan dengan temen baru yg kebetulan doyan jalan2 juga.

Traveling to me is like... peng-make-dreams-come-true-an mimpi2 and all those bucket list i've been keeping since high school . Tapi gwe baru mulai jalan2 ketika setelah kerja, pas udah dapet duit sendiri. Iya sedikit telat, but what could i do, masa muda di bangku kuliahan n sekolah gwe, budgetnya buat prioritas lain :).

 Dulu pas gwe di bangku sekolah n kuliah, term traveling/backpacking/flashpacking ga semenjamur sekarang. Informasi how to travel in  budget, promo tiket murah, sampe informasi tempat2 to visit masih susah juga didapet. So it was really cool then to be able travel so somewhere else new.




Gwe mulai jadi active-traveler (minjem istilah temen gwe), mungkin sekitar tahun 2009-an. Baru dapet kerja n brasa kaya bisa punya duit sendiri :p. N so i started to make the dreams come true. Btw aktif disini ga seaktif mba trinity or si den @alidabdul kali ya,

Masih inget, awal gwe mulai this so called "backpacking" thing, yang sebenernya ternyata what i've done ga masuk kriteria backpacking, it's more like flashpacking, since yeah i traveled in a fixed time and fixed place. I don't really matter the term juga sih. The point is that... i want to explore every corner on the world.

as time flies, kemarin sore nemu artikel ini "travel is not a contest"

"(travel) is not about who's been to more countries, or speaks more language, or has logged more days in uncomfortable places"

"(travel) is not about the number of "flags" you've collected. or the world heritage sites you've ticked off of your list"

 After reading that, jadi nginget2 awal2 gwe jalan2. Those things happened, when you feel happy and alive and proud of yourself every time you hit a new place where no one ever heard before. It's a special goosebumping feeling ketika lo nambah checklist-an tempat2 yang masih jarang orang datengin. Seneng gitu liat postingan di blog or album photo di facebook per-tempat baru yg akhirnya lo kunjungin or liat cap2an keimigrasian di paspor.

So those two quotes di atas tadi... was once applied to me. N I believe that happened to most of new travelers. Euforia buat jalan2 emang kayak gitu :)  itu normal. amat sangat normal. but you'll know if it's really your way when it gives your some good impacts :)

It's a process. Though.

Well i never label myself as a "true traveler" or whatsoever term it is. All i know, i like to travel, to know, to dive in to some new places. Experiencing new things so called as human's civilization products. Throwing myself in to random changing emotion both good and bad, which to me adalah salah satu ciri-ciri manusia hidup, to feel.

 But as i grew up #huopo, i mean udah lumayan mengalami berbagai macam random situation during my travel times, all this checklist-visit-place thing has become not the one i'm looking for. As ternyata, from all those trips i do... i really do learn a lot.. about anything.

Hal-hal yang selalu ga yakin gwe punya, i found it when i travel. Things yang selalu ga yakin bisa gwe lakuin, i finally know i am able to, when i travel. Somehow, those trips, brings out some many lil things i don't even know i have it. I've found my next dreams to chase, when i travel. I simply feel like i'm a better person every time i have a trip :)

Banyak orang yang masih mencari jati diri .kalo klisenya, in many ways.... to me..  i've been trying many things, and now i can say "with travel" i think i've found what i exactly am n want to search in life #halah.

Jadi kalau ditanya "why do you travel?" ... i might say :

"I am a citizen of the world, not a country. I want to really witness what's written in Quran, in books, in what older people told me, about history, the human, the civilization, the diversities, in every corner of the earth. So when i die, i know i'd die with feeling loving the most amazing God's masterpiece. The earth and everything in it. "

So,... cheesy it is.. but these 3 years-travel times i've had, i can finally feel what's state in the article above. That travel is more than a contest. It's not only book a flight, spend your money, book a hostel, book a tour, and get home tanned. It's a way :)

"(With travel)  I'm learning about the world and myself. It does not matter where i've been, or where i'm going, i'm just writing my own life"

So why do you travel? .. come and share!