The boys from Bhutan. Photo by babasteve

Imagine if you had the wisdom of a lifetime but with a twist…you still had years left to put it into action. Read the excellent 30 True Things You Need to Know Now

“Shouldn’t we be technologically advanced enough here in the 21st Century to quit siphoning off the pus of the Earth?” says the provocative article 8 Reasons We’ll Rejoice When Oil Hits $8 A Gallon.

When will the copyright boards realize they’re plugging holes in a rapidly leaking dam? Not for a while, considering this new article proposing tougher laws on illegal files.

How to plan your day, but remain open to better opportunities than may come knocking? Check out The Other Side of Productivity: Coincidences, Synchronicity, and Serendipity

Delicious Baby has a great roundup of Myanmar (Burma) photos meant to inspire aid to the country.

Could God be a product of evolution? Software says yes. Read the intriguing article from New Scientist.

Finally, the Tao of Travel, according to Dustin Wax, is that traveling “should be about something more than doing what the locals do.” Read the full article here.

Enjoy the weekend!

Some local cuisine? Photo from Robin Esrock

One of the biggest reasons to travel is to expose yourself to a new culture, to see how things are done in another place.

As a traveler, you should strive to embrace cultural differences. But we are all creatures of habit and might not recognize our actions that are not appreciated in certain places.

For instance, in Japan, my friend blew his nose in public only to be met by odd stares and embarrassed looks. We later found out this no-no was considered distasteful, something Japanese only do in private. (Makes sense, actually!)

Some cultural taboos are culture-specific. Others are nearly universal. And fear of breaking cultural taboos can lead us to make the most inoffensive choices. But you can keep your travels interesting without offending anyone else.

Consider these 8 ways to make the journey a little less comfortable and a little more memorable.

DON’T Hail a Taxi

Stretch your travel budget by avoiding these gas-guzzling, wallet-draining rides as much as possible. Most cities ‘round the world have some amazing public transportation that is often clearly marked and easy to understand if you take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the system.

Traveling with the locals provides a great feeling of accomplishment as you navigate your way through the airport to the city bus or metro train.

DON’T seek the nearest McDonald’s

First of all, you can always eat at McDonald’s, KFC, or Starbucks at home. When you are somewhere different-take it all in by indulging in the many tempting treats at your fingertips.

From local food stands to gastropubs to sensory-overloading markets, trying local foods can be a cheap, fun, and a palette-expanding experience.

DON’T stick to expat bars

It’s time to immerse yourself in the culture of the city, including the people. One of the best places to meet people is at the local watering hole where the beers are cheap and the locals are (almost) always friendly.

Drinking with the locals is a way of embracing our differences and realizing how alike we all are at the same time. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to enrich your trip tenfold.

DON’T party at your hostel the entire week

Getting cheeky. Photo by Genista

Yes, hostels are great. We all know the amazing benefits and the comfort of having other travelers and your fellow countrymen to vent, empathize and share general travel highs and lows. Get out instead. You are traveling to discover new places and people.

DON’T blather on in English

We are extremely fortunate to speak English and even more fortunate that so many people in the world speak it also. But don’t expect everyone to speak English or understand you.

Take the time to learn a few words in the mother tongue of the country you are visiting. Challenge yourself to try and speak the local dialect. Greeting someone with a smile in their language is easy and goes a long way.

DON’T keep your nose in a travel guide

There is no denying that your dog-eared, coffee-stained Lonely Planet Guide is an extremely helpful amalgamation of maps, tips, and sleep/eat suggestions. But don’t become too LP dependent.

Pick up a local paper. Ask other travelers. Query your inn-keeper where he likes go. Then leave your guidebook in the room and explore.

DON’T keep your eye in the viewfinder

Travelers tend to sightsee with one eye looking into an LCD screen. It’s great fun to take home these precious memories, but don’t forget to enjoy the moment while it lasts. Put the camera away and focus on the here and now-breathe it all in-the sights, sounds, smells-of this boundless present moment.

DON’T expect things to be how they are at home

Whether you are in Tulsa or Timbuktu or Togo, remember that each place has its own way of doing things. Open yourself up to the idea that your way is not the right or best way.

Profound travel comes down to exposing all of your senses to this amazing world. If you travel wide open, you will know that travel is about more than sightseeing and souvenir-shopping.

The greatest gifts come not from what you see or buy, but from who you meet and the experiences you share with new friends from all over the world.

Community Connection!

Matador is a community of passionate, engaged travelers. We are dedicated to building empathy worldwide. Join the conversation by checking out the people of Matador today.

Resist the urge.

When I came home after my first significant travels, my experience matched that worn-out definition that most call “re-entry culture shock.”

I felt disappointed at how uninterested my friends and family seemed towards my trip. I felt betrayed at how quickly my life-altering experience seemed to slip away.

Years later on another trip, I stepped off the plane in West Africa, a more hardened traveler.

Not this time, I thought confidently, as Africa instantly swallowed me up in its colour and life so indescribably different from that of the West. I would know how to keep myself together this time; to deal with the conflicted feelings of “re-entry” when the time came.

After four months in Benin and Ghana, hitting Cairo and Zürich on my way home weaned me away from the African reality back towards full Western industrial comforts. By the time I arrived in Montreal, not even the fluorescent supermarkets and sparkling bathrooms seemed unexpected.

It turned out that I had matured since that first trip back in the day – I felt a bit of disappointment, but mostly it just felt great to be home after a great trip.

I had learned much and was more motivated to change the world than ever.

The Urge To Spend

At home I had eagerly tossed my traveling clothes in the donation bag and set out to buy a few staple items like a sweater and jeans.

I didn’t feel the need for more – after all, I had always been the “thrift-store queen” among friends, making do with about a third of the wardrobe burdened on others.

What’s more, Africa had taught me a lot about needs. I felt happy to ditch my well-worn threads, and committed myself to becoming even more scrupulous about making the distinction between “necessary” and “unnecessary” clothing items.

What happened next changed the very understanding of myself.

I became excited about fashion; even more than my early high school years, which was the last time I felt aimlessly “shopping” was a viable past-time. After the jeans and sweater I realized I didn’t own dress pants, and that had to be remedied. I threw in some new summer t-shirts as well.

A friend opened a designer consignment store, and I quickly dropped $250 in a little over a week. Then it was a new $100 bikini, a belt, a summer dress, a designer jacket, all of it purchased new at, horror of horrors, the mall.

I was buying something almost every day. And the line between what I “needed” and didn’t was getting hazier.

The Trend Continues

Photo by fafoutis

What was worse than the gratuitous purchasing was the attitude I seemed to have adopted towards it: after a couple hours of working on a paper for school, at break time I’d excitedly log on to shoe website and browse for half an hour.

I would casually add things to my cart with little or no intention of buying them; just for the sake of imagining having those clogs or these sandals.

While shopping centers had saddened me immediately after my trip (I had vowed to never let myself slip into that consumer-crazed mindset), two weeks later, I barely resisted the urge to stop by the mall on my way home from the library.

I felt a lack of control over my behaviour and unease at how I didn’t recognize this person.

“Don’t worry about it,” my mother would say, “you’ve spent so many years shopping at Value Village, I think buying some new things evens it out, don’t you?”

Getting Rid Of Stuff

Coming home I knew it would not be possible to live with African simplicity in western society. I had not, however, expected to fall prey to the common western problem of wanting things just because they were there, or more importantly, buying things just because I could.

Having momentarily forgotten the swollen abundance of available products, and the general “if you’ve got the money, you deserve to buy it” western attitude, I was suddenly overcome by the distorted value our society places on having stuff.

For me “that stuff” just happened to be clothing. Friends and family congratulated me repeatedly on getting good deals or good purchases, but inside it all felt wrong.

Moreover, in Africa I had seen it’s possible to live with less than we could possibly imagine.

How could I walk into the store and buy a $130 dress, when that same amount of money would pay for six kids to go to school for a year in Benin? How could justify this, after seeing how my fellow human beings were living, in squalor or filth, and poverty?

How could I spend hours sifting through shoes online when I could use my time and brains to change things, to help those with less, to learn more about what forces had given me so much and they had so little?

Enough Is Enough

One night at dinner it almost became too much for me. I suddenly stopped short of putting a luscious spoonful of rosemary lentil soup with feta cheese in my red wine-stained mouth.

What were my friends in Benin eating for dinner tonight?

I have since learned that this is a struggle that many other travelers returning from developing countries have experienced. Once we know with how little it takes to live, how can we apply these lessons to our lives at home?

We must learn to consume in a way that does not perpetuate economic inequity, while acknowledging the fact that we live in the West and therefore must live within a reasonable western standard.

The challenge for all of us is to find a space where we can balance these two objectives. Where we can take realistic action towards change and let go of any unproductive guilt for having what we have.

The outcome of my somewhat unorthodox “re-entry shock” is sure: it caused me to think.

I re-evaluated my level of self-awareness and became committed to testing out ways to find that balance for myself. This is the real magic of travel: that it finds ways to keep teaching you long after you have come home.

It ensures that you’ll continue to question your ways and the ways of the world, and you’ll try to come to terms with your place in it, even if you never set foot on foreign soil again.

What do you think of the consumerist urge? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Photo by Shapeshift

Amid the violence of Tibet, a debate has emerged in the west: Should we boycott the Beijing Olympic Games?

Protesters in Paris disrupted the torch relay forcing officials to extinguish the torch 5 times. Similar incidents happened when they lit the Olympic torch in Greece and London.

There is talk in the United States of boycotting the opening ceremonies, Germany is talking about boycotting the whole event, and many groups are calling for the general populace and for athletes to boycott the event altogether.

All of this is designed to “shame” China on their human rights record and thereby cause enough embarrassment that China will be forced to change their ways in order to seem credible on the world stage.

Will this be successful? Should we politicize this sporting event? Will we really push China in a new direction?

The answer, I believe, is a resounding NO.

While China certainly needs to improve its human rights, boycotting the Olympics will not get them to do so. Those who believe it will lack a complete understanding of Chinese psychology and history.

The Prism Of History

China strongly maintains a policy of staying out of people’s affairs. They believe it’s no one’s place to tell them how to live their life and thereby take great offense when people tell them what to do.

Nationalist pride is at stake and they won’t be seen as bowing to foreign pressure.

Over the years, the Chinese government has stoked nationalism as a way to legitimatize itself amid a diminishing communist system. That is why in recent years there have been severe Chinese protests in response to what the Chinese people see as foreign pressure.

To them, the Olympics are a matter of honor. It is a matter of national pride, and they view western calls for a boycott as just another example of Western interference in China.

Chinese history is filled with incidents in which the West has subjugated China, and they still harbor a lot of resentment about this past.

Issues like Tibet and Taiwan are seen through the prism of historical events like the Opium Wars and partitioning of places like Hong Kong and Macau.

Any talk of what “China must do” only increases their resistance and hardens their position. Chinese youth have been educated in this system and, watching the news, one understands why they are behind the furor.

The Chinese government has raised a generation on nationalism. To them, this is just another example of Western interference and hypocrisy.

Starting A Dialogue

Photo by Yves

China entered the world through engagement in the 1970s and will only reform through further engagement.

The most effective action is to go, talk, and get the Chinese people involved. If there is both internal and external pressure, you might get some change.

The Chinese government is always more willing to work a deal when it is done behind closed doors. Saving face and avoiding shame is a must for a government who legitimizes itself through nationalistic pride.

If the people feel they caved, they lose all credibility making maintaining stability even harder to achieve. The government will never risk such an outcome.

If the Olympics are a disaster and China views the debacle as the West once again trying to control their affairs, China will only become more resistant to working with the West on other global issues.

We can’t let that happen. China is too important – we need them on climate change, Darfur, and Iran.

A Slap In The Face

Looking at Chinese history will show you how they will act now. Chinese leaders are pragmatic. They need to be perceived as a global player and have done things in the past to change, albeit slowly.

However, they also know they have a population of 1.4 billion that wakes up each day and needs to be fed and cared for. Their first goal is stability – and they won’t risk stability for global recognition.

I don’t agree with many of China’s policies. I think they should do more on Darfur, talk to the Dalai Lama, and reduce abuses within their borders.

But the Chinese want to be taken seriously. They have come a long way from the China of Mao and one can’t expect a democracy that took Western civilization a thousand years to appear in thirty. We have prodded them this far and this is their way of showing the world they have arrived.

Boycotting the Olympics, an event the Chinese see as their coming out party, will only be viewed as a slap in the face.

So don’t boycott the Olympics. Go and spread ideas. Interact with the people. Dispel myths about westerners, show them they are respected, that we can work together.

Then you’ll begin change China. From the bottom up.

Should the international community boycott China? Share your thoughts in the comments!

My English teacher once told me that good short stories were the ones that spoke to universal truths.

These were the stories that go beyond mere characters and their antics through an imaginary universe. They offer an insight into the human condition: what is life? what is truth? what is reality?

The same could be said for memorable films. Only films convey their meaning in a more sensory way – using both audio and visual elements to enter the mind of the viewer.

And perhaps even shift your perspective.

The following 10 films are chosen because they shed light on the forces at work within our lives, this very moment. They use satire and metaphor to approach the truths that would otherwise be too difficult to understand, or too terrifying to comprehend.

Most of all, these films challenge you to wake up.

The Truman Show (1998)

Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, the first child ever legally adopted by a corporation. His entire life is constructed inside a gigantic set, encompassing the picturesque town of SeaHaven. Everything is artificial — from the buildings, to the people, to the very sun above his head.

It’s too easy to call the film a satirical extension of “reality television.” Instead, Peter Weir deftly uses the motif of reality TV to present the “un-realities” of our own world. How the majority of us are psychologically controlled, through fear and comfort to, as Cristof says, “accept the reality of the world that we’re given.”

Read more: The Meaning Of The Truman Show

I Heart Huckabees (2004)

Imagine you were experiencing an existential crisis. But rather than work through it yourself, you hire existential detectives to help you track down the source of your suffering. Imagine one of those detectives is Dustin Hoffman with a bad haircut.

I Heart Huckabees is a quirky, rabbit hole of a film. Many of the characters, from the smarmy marketing executive (Jude Law), to the angry nihlistic firefighter (Mark Walberg) act out the various philosophies of the past thousand years.

Read more: Essay on I Heart Huckabees

Waking Life (2001)

What if you were chained in a dimly-lit cave your whole life where you saw only shadows of real things reflected on its back wall?

Suddenly you’re free and come into the sunlight. Would you recognize this new world as more real than your cave world? Would you be able to wake up?

Talk about a mind trip. Richard Linklater’s film Waking Life, is both visually beautiful and intellectually stimulating. The filmmakers use a ground-breaking technique (at the time) called ‘rotoscoping’ to colour over the images to create a dream-like animation.

Just a few of the ideas covered in unbroken dialogues: dreaming versus reality, existentialism, buddhism, situationism, post-modernism, the list goes on.

Read more: Essay on Waking Life

The Matrix (1999)

For obvious reasons, this was a paradigm-shifting film in the world of movies. But it also introduced a whole generation (myself included) to question the nature of reality. What is real? And how do you know it’s real?

The film’s other great contribution to mass society was the possibility that an unseen force is controlling our destiny. Morpheus reveals the ultimate truth that Neo’s mind can barely process: the Matrix is control. And the only way to break free? Open your mind.

Read more: Collection of essays on The Matrix

Dark City (1998)

Do you ever feel like you’re playing a role? Released 1 year before The Matrix, another film introduced the concept of a hidden beings controlling the destiny of humanity.

Dark City follows Rufus Sewell, a man framed for murder, as he’s pursued by faceless super beings that can manipulate time. Unfortunately for the beings, the protagonist is unwittingly gifted with their own powers of psychokinesis, and a challenge for domination ensues.

Read more: Dark City on Wikipedia

American Beauty (1999)

Horny suburban dad obsesses over his daughter’s friend, a vapid cheerleader. But there’s much more to this dark tale of the American dream gone awry.

Notable elements of this award-winning film include the dehumanizing effects of consumerism, the repressed sexuality of a gay military man, and the pot smoking defiance of Ricky Fitts, who sees the beauty of the entire universe in a single, swaying plastic bag.

Read more: American Beauty and the Idea Of Freedom

Fight Club (1999)

“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives.”

Tyler Durden’s words ring true in this dark, angry look at young people’s failures to interact with the value system they’re expected to uphold. Far from being a manifesto for violence, the film is rumination on the lengths we will go to experience real emotion, even if it means (metaphorically) bashing someone’s head in.

Read more Fight Club: A Ritual Cure For The Spiritual Ailment Of American Masculinity

Donnie Darko (2001)

Sometimes, to make something better, you’ve got to burn it all down and start over. Such is the relationship between Graham Greene’s The Destructors, and the cult classic Donnie Darko.

The film seamlessly weaves together notions of God, the non-linear nature of time, mind-control, and the freakiest bunny mask you’ve ever seen. It may take multiple viewings to discern a few messages from this multi-layered flick, but each time around will be just as rewarding.

Read more: Essay on Donnie Darko

Brazil (1985)

A dystopian, black comedy, Brazil reveals the terrifying indifference of bureaucracy in a totalitarian state. Although director Terry Gilliam claims never to have read 1984, the themes are too similar to dismiss.

Sam Lowry, a government cog in their machine, habitually escapes his dead-end job by imagining a fantasy world of romantic struggles.

Unfortunately, the system roots out dissidents with fervour. The villains in the film are neither malicious nor sadistic, they are merely doing their jobs.

Read more: Analysis of Brazil

Network (1976)

The news stopped being about enlightening the masses a long time ago.

Instead, news attempts to portray a world view that allows those in power to stay in power. This is never more true than 30 years after the film Network was released, when Howard Beale proclaimed “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

He called for viewers everywhere to stand up, and demand democratic control over their lives once again. The irony is even more biting when it’s revealed democracy, along with nations, peoples, and countries, no longer exists. The only thing left: the global system of finance.

Read more: The Rise of the Superclass

What do you think of the films in the list? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Vietnam. Photo by Rhys Stacker

We’re not all lucky enough to travel all of the time.

Chances are that unless you’re a travel writer, roving salesperson, international spy or Rolf Potts, your excursions overseas are most likely to be measured in weeks or months rather than years.

So how do you keep the travel buzz going in between trips?

Whether you’re saving for your first overseas excursion, recently returned from an around the world trip or just in between travels, the below tips are to encourage you to keep traveling – at home.

Explore your own country

In this age of cheap international travel its easy to focus on overseas destinations.

How many of us have claimed that we’ll see our own country when we’re older? But older often brings with it commitments.

Now is the best time to go on that road trip, reconnect with friends in different cities or explore the the countryside.

State or federal tourist offices are a great place to start in planning a trip. While they’ll tell you about the obvious locations and activities to see and do, they’re also great sources of information about quirky museums, out of the way towns and under the radar festivals.

Take photos

Photography forces you to look at familiar objects in a new way. Even that cafe you’ve been going to for years will offer new angles when seen through the view finder.

And the best thing is that with local knowledge, you’ll know when the interesting characters will be there, or when the best afternoon light will stream through the window.

Taking photos at home also develops your skills so that when you’re standing at the entrance to somewhere like Angkor Wat you’ve got a better chance of taking a great photo.

Photo community sites like Flickr.com can show you how visitors have photographed your home town, giving you a fresh perspective.

Get to know ethnic neighbourhoods

Croatia. Photo by Rhys Stacker

I’m not talking about those slightly tacky Chinatowns that seem to have more tourists than actual Chinese.

I’m talking about real ethnic neighbourhoods with thriving markets, cosy cafes and speciality food stores selling things you’ve never seen before, let alone know how to cook.

These neighbourhoods are great places for an authentic meal in a family-run restaurant. It gives you the chance to pick up some of the language – a please and thank you can go a long way overseas – as well as the opportunity to train your palate to appreciate new tastes ready for the next destination.

Research your next trip

Travel doesn’t have to begin at the airport. It can start weeks or months earlier at home, discussing plans with your travel buddy, looking over maps and researching destinations on the internet.

But don’t obsess – a little information can go a long way. Landing in an airport in a foreign country is still the single most challenging part of travelling for many.

A reputable guide book will tell you that a bus from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport to Khao San Road is dirt cheap, but it may fail to mention it can also can take hours.

Better to spend a little extra and jump in an air conditioned taxi to give you more time to explore the city – from outside the confines of a sweaty bus.

Read travel blogs

A guidebook is good for giving you the basics. But to find out what a destination is really like you can’t go past first-hand accounts from everyday travellers.

You may not know them personally, but through their blog posts they’ll tell you about the best bus operators, recommend guest houses and warn you about scams. Best of all the information is interactive. Leaving comments is a great way to kick start a friendship with a fellow traveller.

Matador Travel has taken that a step further by encouraging people to nominate themselves as local experts, swap tips on the forum and contribute travel articles.

Host a fellow traveler

Offering your couch to a traveler for a few nights is a win-win situation, They get a roof over their heads and the chance to learn about the town from someone that knows it best – you.

In return, you get to play tour guide (who doesn’t like showing off their home town?) and have a friend in another city or country that you can stay with on your next travels.

Popular websites like Couchsurfing are a great start and have a system where users vouch for each other. But even more general social networks like Facebook and MySpace can help to connect friends of friends looking for somewhere to crash for a night or two.

What tips do you offer for keeping the travel flame alive while at home? Share your advice in the comments!

Photo by Ann Jones

“There is a common misperception about travel junkies,” says Kelly Westhoff for the Huffington Post. “It is often said that we travel to “find” ourselves. We do not. Or at least, I do not. I go looking for God.” Read My Travel, My God here.

Have a question about travel? Chances are, it’s on this list: Your 50 most asked travel questions.

Travel agents are a dying breed, proclaims Chris Eliott. But don’t let that stop you from finding the most competent agents left.

“Real change has content and direction. It’s driven by courageous people unafraid to speak up, even — or perhaps especially — when it’s risky.” Read an important article by Ann Jones on making change.

The easiest way to save the world is stay home, says Laura Vanderkam for USA Today. Fortunately, the technology to work virtually already exists.

Win some sweet travel gear! FitnessTravelGear is looking for travel essays that will inspire readers to plan their own adventures.

The travel journal blog ‘o sphere is big. Check out the Top 100 as chosen by Christina Laun.

Finally, would you be willing to bare it all on a nude vacation? Check out No Shirt, No Shoes, No Worries in the NY Times.

Enjoy the weekend!

Photo by Wazari

“Where is your Russian-ness, Katia?” an ex-boyfriend once accused me while visiting me in Amsterdam.

His remark was provoked by the fact that I didn’t offer him a whole cooked dinner – only a cup of tea with a cookie.

I wasn’t happy about his remark but I did start to think about my Russian-ness later, when I saw a program on Russia on the television.

The presenter of the program described Russian people as the nation of soul seekers, who dwell upon questions about existence even when there is no food in the house.

I was sad about the fact that some of my Russian roots seem to have gone to the wind, especially when the criticism came from a man with whom I used to have vivid fights about democracy in Russia.

“You don’t know the meaning of democracy in the Western world! And stop talking about my country in such a bad way,” I would shout at him, even ready to defend the image of my country in a physical way.

Keep On Keepin’ On

Nowadays, however, when someone asks me about the politics in Russia, I simply smile in an English elusive sweet way (I am in the UK now) and say something like: “Or you know, we always manage.”

There are a lot of articles about expats and research being done on those who leave their country in order to return afterwards. There are also a lot of articles and books about immigrants, those who leave their country for good.

But there seems to be little research on so-called ‘soul-seekers’ – those who leave their country with no precise idea as to where the journey will take them.

My friend from Italy is a perfect example of a ‘soul-seeker’. We met while studying in Belgium, she from Italy, me from Russia, and we both traveled to different countries afterwards. Margerita went to Russia, I went to the Netherlands.

For a while, Margerita stayed in the Netherlands, while I returned to Belgium, and I remember what she told me on one occasion: “I don’t know what is worse, to live in total misery or not knowing where you belong.”

No End In Sight

On a TV program in Russia, one man described how my people have always managed to live under extremely difficult conditions. He said:

“Here in Russia, we have life and daily survival. Life is about discovery, when you read, or write, or listen to music or just try to answer the questions about existence and the world around you. And daily survival is the job, the cleaning, metro, sleep. Here in Russia most people prefer to live.”

I would apply his description to the nation of soul-seekers, and all those who go for the discovery of wonder.

It happened to me. Never in my early life did I imagine I would leave Russia at the age of nineteen and change four countries of residence in eleven years.

I became a strange Russian-European hybrid. I have nostalgia for four different places and don’t feel one hundred percent happy in any of them, because I miss the other three.

I am simply between countries, cultures, friends, jobs and languages and am not sure whether I will ever settle in any of the places I visit. Travel is like an addiction.

I know that there are more and more people like me. They go to discover the world but realize at some point that they don’t know where they belong anymore.

Your own culture back at home may simply be not enough once you return. And so you travel again and again and again. Until you find your better half or reach retirement.

Frankly I am not sure what is more likely to happen, as I’m not married nor am I entitled to a retirement yet.

Do you ever feel like you don’t belong anywhere? Share your thoughts in the comments!