“Here we were thinking you are from France; your style is
very European”, said the receptionist at the Kaisariani monastery after I
revealed that I’m African, Tanzanian specifically. “Uhm, Thanks?”, not sure
whether it was supposed to be a compliment.
“See, we don’t get many visitors in this monastery, you are
the first African we have seen in months. Are you travelling alone?”
“Yes”
“We weren’t exactly expecting a young African girl to visit
us, alone. [Laughs] Anyways, enjoy your hike”
“Thank you!”
And that my friend was how I realized that I’ve become that
girl. What girl? You ask. Let’s rewind a
few steps back.
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| I dreamt this moment |
At the beginning of the year, I had planned to do the
traditional grand tour after completing my degree. No specifics, just places I
hadn’t been to before. I researched at night, and reflected on my morning run. I
decided to follow my fascination with Europe and perhaps Asia. I read blog
after blog on how to travel cheap and bookmarked all travel sites I could find.
It was time consuming but it kept me going through the tests and assignments. Having
travelled before, I didn’t want to miss this opportunity so I did more planning
and booking. What could possibly go wrong, right? Unfortunately, though expected, protests
happened, the semester was prolonged into my anticipated travel period,
sickness happened, a breakup amongst other life happenings; not exactly the
foreplay for a grand tour. Thanks to my proactive self I had solid reasons to
be travelling, my papers were accepted to three conferences, which not only
gave me approval from the University but also funds.
To the monastery receptionist, I may have appeared to be an
eccentric African girl defying the odds but deep down I was just a messed up
girl either escaping or dealing with life. Travel therapy might be cheap for
actual Europeans but for the rest of us, some creative effort is required and
it goes a long way. Some of these efforts include the following:
1. First things first, get money. For me, that meant working
internships during holidays and part-time in the semester. Putting so much
effort meant I gave lots of thought before swiping my card for anything,
whether that is groceries, transport, clothing etc. It worked out really well
because most of my time studying and perhaps tweeting #WinWin.
2. Give it another name. I come from a culture that doesn’t
put enough importance to extra-curricular interests, especially if they are
challenging or appear expensive at face value. ‘I’m going to conferences and
travelling in between’ seems more like an appropriate response when asked why I
was travelling. Thankfully both my conferences were in Europe, a fact that
appeased the visa gods. Thanks to friends at Web Summit (won an open source
scholarship) and paper reviewers at NEUREL in Belgrade and WIML in Barcelona
(won a travel grant), my passport was stamped with a very long Schengen visa.
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| Friends I made at conferences |
3. Travel cheap: Will you stay at the Hilton’s or in a backpacker’s
hostel? Does the hostel have kitchen facilities to prepare quick meals? Will
you take a shared or private room? Will you take the plane or the bus? The
metro or Uber? These are the questions that define how much damage you will
incur. I managed to get away with a very friendly budget because I lived cheap.
since I would be out most of the time, I didn’t a little discomfort at the
hostels. I continued my habit of preparing my own meals, which also made it
incredibly cheaper. Little equipment is needed to make a sandwich, Europe is a
very small continent to be moving by plane, Did I mention my student card gave
me discounts and sometimes free entrance to museums and galleries?
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| When on top of Athens |
4. Plan ahead, almost to the minute. Complimentary to the
point above. When you are away and alone, and a problem hits you, it’s easier
to throw money at it. A little bit of planning goes a long way. How often does
the bus stop here? Are trains available at this hour of the night? Does the
hotel offer complimentary Wi-Fi? You are in a new place, excited about almost
everything. You will want to buy all the souvenirs and touristy things. It’s
easy to fall into the trap of spontaneous splashing. I cured this craving with
fridge magnets. Be responsibly spontaneous, if at all such a term exists.
5. It’s a learning experience not a vacation. A lot of
people think travel is expensive because they equate travel with luxury, hence
the need for expensive hotels, flights, restaurants, shopping, excursions and
commercial luxuries, most of which are attainable without traveling. I believe
the most important aspect of traveling is learning. Being perhaps the only time
I would spend in the cities, I indulged in the history, art, geography, politics
and culture of the cities through museums, galleries, walking tours, cultural
events and hostel conversations with strangers.
Turns out most of these activities are cheap and fun, not to mention
guarantee that you’ll be in good company.
Was it worth the effort?
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| Friends |
I would like to say ‘I started the year ZAR 20,000 poorer’
but the more accurate description would be ‘completely broke’. And the insane
part is that I actually planned for that, like I actually worked my ass to land
back to square one. Yeah, it gets worse, I may have mentioned it before but I
lost my phone, missed my flight, lost a couple of miscellaneous items, mostly
because of the overhead that comes with planning every minute.
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| One of few spontaneous moments in Berlin |
Honestly speaking, as fancy as it sounds, travelling is in
reality very uncomfortable. It takes a while to acclimatize to new place, that
is if it’s even safe, an even longer while to have meaningful interactions with
the locals and forever to have a stable routine, a luxury I couldn’t afford
since I wanted to fit everything in. There were days when the need for
stability and acceptance made me question all my life choices.
All things considered, I’m glad I
did it. Without the goal I wouldn’t have worked ruthlessly or planned
exhaustively or saved aggressively and generally grown as a person. The
downside of solo travelling is that it can get stressful and lonely but the
upside is you find yourself making friends who would normally be out of your
reach. It might not seem like it but
most people are nice people, or at least they are not out to eat you.
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| These strangers didn't bite |
I may or may not have enjoyed the trip but one thing for
sure is that I learnt. My practical self would never find herself reading about
the Athens Acropolis or the Holocaust or the Monastery of Montserrat unless
they were right in front of me. The
tours might have been introductory but they are the reason my shelf is currently
filled with history books and why I can engage in such conversations.
 |
This marks the end of my posts of my 2 months’ solo
adventure in Europe and Asia. Some might label it as unnecessary and a waste of
time and money, and to a degree it was.
Travel isn’t cheap and it definitely doesn’t make you better than
others, but with the right reasons, it’s a good way to spend your time and hard-earned
money. It challenges you mentally, physically, financially, emotionally and
socially, but in the end it redefines your limits and leaves you craving for
more. Stay tuned for my next adventure.
