How Travel Has Changed My Life

by Aurore Bouquelle, Belgium

Before going deep into the subject, I would like to introduce myself. Hello, I’m Aurore and I come from Brussel, Belgium. I am 19 years old and I live with my parents, my brother and my dog. I am not really an extraordinary person, I prefer to fit in instead of standing out. When I was little I was very shy, was not confident and had just a couple of friends (but they were the best).

During my childhood, my father was always on the move because of his job and every weekend he would come back home and tell us all of his stories from all around the world. My little brother and I were amazed by his stories and to help me fall asleep I would always ask him to tell me more about the places he had been to.

Thanks to my situation and the hard work of my parents, I had the chance to travel a lot during these 19 years…From exploring the woods near where I live, to the favelas in Brazil, traveling has always been a big part of my life. I traveled with my family, my friends and alone.

During these travels, I have met extraordinary people who made me feel extraordinary. I have made a lot of friends around the world by always keeping an open mind. I learned that if you want to live happily and become someone, you have to be the one who’s going to speak first and break the ice. Don’t take anything or anyone for granted. -You could be surprised by some people. Thanks to all of the different situations and places I’ve traveled to, I grew in self-confidence, curiosity and I became more conscious of the world around us. I made changes in my everyday life to diminish my ecological impact and adopted a more simple lifestyle. 

I’m going to finish this article by giving five pieces of advice to get the best out of every trip.

#1: Life is short! Don’t wait to have the time to travel, take it. Figure out what you would do if you were going to die tomorrow and do that until the day you die. Your travels will have more impact on yourself.

# 2:  Embrace the unknown. Go to a place without a plan and see where it takes you. Sometimes you will discover places and meet people you would have just walked by if you had something planned.

#3: Trust in yourself.

#4: Dream big and accept being helped by others.

#5: Don’t ever forget that you are the creator of your own destiny.

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