Let me tell you a secret. I started travelling with absolutely no idea where it would lead me — no goal, no destination, no plan.
I wanted to travel, see the world, and figured I'd do a few round trips during that year of 2011 while studying for some civil service exams.
I'd already taken the first step towards making something of my life. A few months earlier I'd quit my job, left my life in another city behind, and got rid of everything tying me down.
To be honest, I didn't even know what my dreams were. I just wanted to open my eyes. Discover something new. Live a different life.
What are your dreams?
Maybe you have clear goals — something you want to do with your life, somewhere you want to see. But in many cases all we're aware of is a nagging feeling that something is missing.
The only way to discover what your dreams actually are is to break free from the routine that feels monotonous. You only have one life — enjoy it.
Get out there, go somewhere far away, grab a backpack and travel. See something new, open your eyes and take off the blinkers that the media puts on us.
The world isn't dangerous. Don't be afraid, don't hide. Live. Say yes.
Say yes more often
If you want to, you can. Make your dreams real — say yes. Yes, I want to. Yes, I can. Yes, I'm going to do it.
The key to happiness runs through saying yes more often. We're afraid to say yes. As kids we're told not to accept things from strangers — they'll eat you or kidnap you.
Next time a stranger offers you a sweet, say yes.
Since I started cycling round the world, 300 days ago, hundreds of strangers have invited me to eat or sleep with them. Hundreds.
Sometimes we shared a language; sometimes we didn't. Sometimes I'd found them online through Couchsurfing or Warmshowers profiles, and sometimes I simply ran into them in the middle of the Balkans.
**I've learned to say yes.
**Yes, thank you. Yes, please.
How saying yes led me to my dreams
I started travelling four years ago with absolutely no idea what I was doing. I'd never travelled solo, had barely left Spain, and couldn't hold a conversation in English. But I did it — I took the first step.
My first destination was Athens — a round trip. My first hostel, my first attempts at English. I couldn't really hold a conversation, but I smiled, nodded, and made an effort to talk to the other guests.
There I met other travellers — people who'd been on the road for months, others who'd been to dozens of countries. The simple idea of seeing so many different places grabbed me. It opened my eyes and gave me the travel bug.
And I said yes. I said yes, I could travel from place to place instead of doing round trips. I decided to travel — rather than go on holiday. To make travel a life, and to say yes more often.
The rest is history. Over the following months I kept saying yes to other opportunities and ideas as they came up, and that's what led me to make my dreams real.
- I said yes to Couchsurfing, and slept in strangers' homes.
- I said yes to hitchhiking, and travelled thousands of kilometres for free.
- I said yes to Ilze, and a two-week trip together became three and a half years together.
- I said yes to cycling, and now we're cycling round the world.