Dear travel,

I sometimes wish that I could see you in the flesh, to tell you face to face all that you have meant to me since the very first day that we met. I would thank you for being the best thing that ever happened to me, the one who has stood by my side for the better of my teenage and adult years. Although age has made me wiser too, you are the one that made me stronger, braver and comfortable with who I am.

Because I wanted to get to know you I ventured to the end of the world and back. Every new adventure accelerated the desire for more time by your side until it was imperative to be with you more than I was not. Wanting your company has not only led me to the happiest days of my life, but shaped every inch of my being. Without you I don’t know who I am, but with you I am a better person.

Because of you I know the value of my fortune, the undisputed luck that I am graced with solely for being born into the nationality that I am. One who knows that her freedom, her health and her opportunities are not a given, but part of the four-leafed clover that has sheltered me from the day I came into this world.

Because of you I had to let go of my fears; bury in the soil of my home the person I was to become the person I had to be in order to follow you. It’s on our adventures that I have learnt to live without the timid shell that was protecting me against the daunting unknown, an unknown world that I conquered as my own and which has let me blossom into something better. Thank you for teaching me that my courage is stronger than my fears and that only through leaving my safe haven can I encounter the existence that conditions my happiest and most fulfilling state of being. Thank you for showing me that I am independent, resilient and capable, and that overthinking and escalating the challenges that lie ahead is pointless. Thank you for leaving me alone to my surroundings so that I could understand that, no matter what, life works out.

More than anything I want to thank you for teaching me that alone I am strong, alone I am comfortable and alone I am confident. My destiny lies open before me, my dreams always bearing the spirit of opportunity because I am unfettered by the dependency on others. You showed me that I am able to succeed and by myself I can pursue any adventure.

Yet you have made me understand that I am never alone. That regardless of where I venture, I will always cross paths with people who see the world in the same shades as me. Somewhere out there are souls that mirror our own, some of which we are fortunate to meet. Near or far, because of you I have met people that have enriched my life forever and who have made me believe that it is our diversity that make us interesting and our curious similarities that unite us. Because of you I have friends from all corners of the world, some have returned, others I will never see again, but they are all eternally bound to my heart for the memories we share, even if just for a moment.

I treasure the time that we have shared more than I can tell you. I have had a lifetime of adventures, yet I have only just begun. You have showed me the unforgettable colours and shapes of this planet and a world so beautiful I have fallen in love more times than I can count. Amongst Mother Earth’s magical splendour I have witnessed our people’s diversity as if we were nature itself. No lesson you’ve taught has been more profound than the awareness of how all equal life so unequally share the wealth of this world. Thank you for igniting my sense of responsibility, my self awareness and my ability to reflect upon the priorities of my life. Thank you for reminding me every day of who I should be and what I cannot let myself become.

Thank you for being the one who has made my life make sense, for guiding me down a path that is my own, one where I leave footprints I am proud of and see to the untouched future only with hope and anticipation of becoming a better human than I am today.

Helle

26 February 2017