Travelling changes you. If I was to summarize what travelling has done to me, those 3 words would be perfect. Ever since I was a kid, I craved to travel and I wanted to discover what the world around me held, how did people live in these other countries?, what types of food did they eat?, what wonders of nature existed? and what man-made structures could I learn about and admire?

As time passed by and I was able to afford travelling, I started my adventure with travelling to Europe for about 10 days which included 5 days in Germany, 3 days in Italy and 2 days in Switzerland. While the trip was short, it was fun and helped me learn a lot about myself and taught me a number of things. One being that you have to be flexible while travelling. What I mean by this is, there might be situations where you might have a delayed or cancelled flight, the weather might make you change your plans and something else might come up. You have to embrace what is thrown at you and still continue to enjoy your trip. If you have read my previous travel posts, you would know that I have had pretty interesting experiences as a part of my travel journey.

Once I got the taste of travelling, there was no stopping me. After that it was one destination after another, I was hiking, visiting islands and relaxing by the beach, doing adventurous stuff, learning about dishes from different countries and trying them with my own twist as I would get back home. I was not only becoming open to new experiences in life and growing as an individual as I would interact with people everywhere I went, sometimes connecting over stories about travel, while other times, it was due to the love for food.

Over the years, I have met plenty of individuals and couples, from the couple who I met in Zanzibar, who were travelling for the first time after a break of 16 years due to their responsibilities towards their kids, the aged man I met at a restaurant in Quebec, who was visiting Montreal to spend Christmas with his brother for the first time in 15 years, the family from Czech Republic who I met in Philippines and wanted me to stay at their place whenever I visited Czech Republic again and the girl who I met on an airplane while on a flight via Minnesota while I was browsing all the amazing pics I had clicked on my camera. Finally the couple I met at a beach in Cyprus, where the lady had broken all barriers and escaped from her ex-husband who had abused her, she had escaped from a country in Asia, travelled across Europe and met this kind gentleman in UK, and she was able to open her heart again and they were now married and were on a vacation in Cyprus. Each individual I have met had their own story but was kind and friendly and some of them are still connected to me via social media, even though I am not very active there now.

What I realized that no matter where you are from, no matter what you are, we as individuals crave the same things, a friendly connection, some common things to talk about and forget about the challenges our daily life brings. Travel nourishes your mind, body and soul alike. They say that you generally take over the energy, tone of communication and behaviour from the environment you generally are in and the people you interact with on a daily basis. It is therefore important to choose wisely, however it is important to give people a chance and be kind. Don’t let your past stories define your present and future. Open your heart and you will be surprised on how some people might blow you away (in a good way ofcourse).

I have digressed a little far from the main title of the post but it was important to throw that in. The idea of 40 by 40 was born during my second or probably third trip. I want to have travelled 40 countries by the time I turn 40. We did have Covid throw me off for a bit and then moving to Canada meant travelling for pleasure had to be mixed with my trips to see family. All is not lost as I stand at 36 years young with 30 countries already been ticked off the list.

The first few places I visited were for fewer days than I would have wanted but I was on more of a ticking spree to get more and more countries off my list, however now I try as much as possible to at least spend 3-5 days in one location before moving on to the next. Most places need at least 5 days for you to start discovering them but it gets a bit difficult when you are on a tight travel schedule. The aim now is to enjoy myself, go with the flow of things and expect to learn something new that I can carry throughout my life.

While travelling to the smaller islands in Maldives, I realized that there was one boat in the morning to the island and one boat back from the island in the afternoon. This boat carried people and the daily produce. This helped me value food more and understand how blessed I was to be living in a city where I could just go to a store and get what I wanted. What if they ran out of it, well walk to the next supermarket that was 5 minutes away. People living on those islands in Maldives did not have the same luxury I had.

As mentioned previously, travelling has changed me, it has made me much kinder that I ever was, it has made me more patient and more inquisitive about people, that’s why when I meet people I ask more questions and try to understand why the behave in the way they do. It’s like Ted Lasso says, be curious not judgmental. I am not saying, that I am perfect in anyway but what I mean to say is that, I am able to connect with people at a more deeper level, life has more meaning now and if I was even able to change even one person’s life for the better, it would be a win for me.

Am I stressed about what will happen over the next 3 years and if I will be able to make it to 40 countries? Well I cannot necessarily say that I have control over everything around me, but I will surely give my dream a try. I will try with all my might as they say and I will travel with kindness and love and gratitude, knowing that these experiences will only make me a better person. So if ever in life, faced with the question – to travel or not to travel, the answer would be Travel, please travel to know how much more this world holds, there are so many beautiful places to be visited, so many delicious food to be tried, so many beautiful souls to interact with.

Always travel, with love in your heart and a smile on your face.

Countries visited by continent:

North America: 2, Europe: 19, Asia: 8, Africa: 1