Get to know the world = getting to know yourself
This has not been my first solo trip, but for sure one of my best ones so far. Other than usual, I actually spent a lot of time planning my route with interrail as well as pre booking a few nights, as I knew it would be high season for some places I wanted to visit.
Flying from A to B is quite affordable nowadays, if not even cheap in certain cases. You could fly from Geneva to London for 30 CHF where as I pay 30 CHF to just take a train from Lausanne to Basel. How does that work? For us who want to travel and explore but also do all this on a budget, this is great news but do we ever think about the consequences? Most likely we don’t. Because we think, why should I care, everyone else doing it too and why should I not fly, the plane is going there anyway. And we are not completely wrong. But then again some part of the responsibility also lays in our hands, and we have to take steps to acknowledge that. I have started to live more consciously over the last years. Yes, I also still fly sometimes but I now check for trains first, then Buses and sometimes even consider hitchhiking, and all of this is a process. For that reason I was so excited to be able to take this YOALIN journey to think about all the times/ occasions we could do small changes in our lifestyle or choices and have a small positive impact on our environment.
So it starts with taking trains whenever possible, it is amazing how much less CO2 we produce compared to a car or plane. My next challenge was not to buy any PET bottles for drinks, I only had tap water in my two reusable bottles I brought. No take away coffee or tea, or if you want to take away bring a reusable cup and lid. Otherwise take a few minutes and have your tea/coffee break while sitting down, much more relaxed and healthy anyway. Or don’t have a coffee everyday, saves money as well as does not hurt your body either, unless you are addicted to caffeine. 😉 For my meals I mostly went to a Restaurant to eat, or bought fruits at a local market, bought tasty treats at the bakery or gat a slice of pizza and ate it right there. There is many ways on how to reduce your waste if you just think about it and are willing to change a few behaviours. I am nowhere near perfect, and I don’t aim to be. I just want to be more conscious and in control of my decisions, consumptions and waste production. And through talking about it with other people I find more and more people doing similar things.
By living more conscious and winning back control over your live you not only have a more positive impact on the environment but also on yourself. Take the time to listen to your body, to your moods, your desires and the things that bring you joy. Live is so crazy fast in 2018, we are distracted all the time, we read disturbing news, we check facebook and instagram, we watch youtube… there is no break. I am guilty of that too, but when I am traveling, especially traveling alone or with partner, you have more time to do nothing on reflect on life, your behaviours and everything that is connected to them.
This is one of the main reasons why I love traveling, I am pushed to open my mind, learn about other cultures while also getting the chance to learn about myself. After each trip I come home richer, richer in experiences, richer in understanding and acceptance and maybe also richer in motivation to change things or fight for change in the world.
While traveling I love taking videos, when I am not taking videos I might take one of the iconic photos with a beautiful background plus myself standing there and enjoying the view. I have found joy in sharing these photos because they allow some of my folks that maybe can’t travel to travel through the things I share as well as motivate the people that are a bit to scared or lazy to go and explore, to plan their own small or bigger trips.
So in that sense I hope I managed to inspire or motivate you to plan your next journey, how about a interrail trips through the alps?!
Tabea Hablützel