THE INTERVIEW

The English translation of “THE INTERVIEW WITH: Veronika, who has traveled in Asia and South America for two years” by Anna Onderkova, a blogger from the travel blog TRAFAM.NET

Some time ago I wrote an article in EVA magazine about the traveler Veronika Sivová (31). The conversation with her was very inspiring, but at that time the amount of space in article was far from being able to mention all the fascinating and crazy experiences she had on her two-year trip to Asia and South America. I was completely fascinated by her journey. So I decided to post the whole interview with her on the blog here. I believe that her story will excite you too. Because her experiences are awesome!

What did you do in Slovakia before deciding on such a radical step as leaving the comfort zone, leaving your home and choosing to travel the world?

Before embarking on “my journey”, I was completing my doctoral studies in pharmacology at Medical faculty of Comenius University in Martin. In my work, I investigated the pharmacological effect of plants that originate mainly from India. So it was especially long hours in the lab, in addition to conducting pharmacology seminars for medical students and writing of my dissertation thesis in the evenings. Somewhere in between, I was trying to fit at least some yoga class in my this tight dailyschedule. During my doctorate, I began to travel extensively around Europe for research conferences, or even through the Erasmus + program, to get to know new countries and young people from them. In the last year of my studies, I left for a research stay in Oslo for six months. Typical of that period was that I began to surround myself with people who traveled a lot and many of them inspired me a lot.

When did the turning point occur to you that you decided to go abroad for even longer period of time?

In fact, there were two turning points. One small one, when I decided to travel to Vietnam, Cambodia and Nepal for only three months, but after that I returned. This decision came naturally – I finished my doctorate and had three months to wait for the results of the Norwegian grant for my potential postdoctoral project in Iceland. However, while I was in Nepal, walking alone around Annapurna for a few weeks and basically meditating all day while walking, the second, much bigger break came.

I suddenly realized that I was waiting for a grant, which I don’t really want at the moment. I don’t want to tie myself to the next three years of the project right now. It seemed crazy to me, but inside I felt that my heart wanted something more than scientific degrees and recognition. That’s when I said to myself that I didn’t care what everyone expected of me any more. I’m going to do what I want. So I went home, attended my PhD graduation ceremony, repackaged my things, and left for India in less than a month.

How did you choose the destinations you traveled to?

When I set out for the first three months, I chose countries that were described as easy for women solo travelers when they wanted to start traveling in Asia – Vietnam, Cambodia. But Nepal was also sure destination for me. It was, of course, for its mountains, but also for yoga. Because of yoga came to my mind also India as a destination, since yoga comes from there, but I had a huge respect for India. I didn’t think then (and I still don’t think) that India is suitable as the first destination when one does not have any previous experience of traveling in Asia. So Nepal won as a place to travel for yoga, and I easily found a yoga course there, which was held by an Indian yoga school.

Now, with the passage of time, I laugh how I had the whole journey in these countries planned in detail beforehand. But it was very necessary for me to learn how this is the exact opposite of how best to travel around Asia. Very quickly, I began to feel rigid and limited in my well-planned program as I couldn’t go on unplanned adventures with the people I met along the way. But in deed, this training in Vietnam and other countries was great for me in order to learn to travel in a completely opposite way in my future travel in India.

How long have you been on the road and which destinations have you visited?

If I include those three months in Asia before India, it was exactly two years. I had a plan to be in India for half a year, but in the end I stayed rotating India with Nepal for a whole year. And then I went to Ecuador and finally, unplannedly, I finally lived and traveled in Colombia for some time.

I traveled in Vietnam from north to south, but it was quite fast. In Cambodia, I especially liked Angkor Wat and the island of Koh Rong. I spent my first visit to Nepal mainly doing yoga and then trekking around Annapurna. I traveled in India from the south along the west coast – from tropical Kerala to Mumbai, through Gokarna or Hampi. Then I flew to Nepal for a trek to Lake Phoksundo in western Nepal. When I returned to India, I headed north to the mountains – Dharamsala, Manali, Spiti Valley, Ladakh. Then again Nepal, because my half-year visas in India expired. I was spending the time I had to wait for the rainy season to end in Nepal by volunteering and then I went on a one month lasting trek to Mount Everest and back. Then again India – Bodhgaya, Varanasi and especially Rishikesh. And then I flew to Ecuador.

In Ecuador, I stayed mainly in the surroundings of its capital, Quito. And eventualy, despite the original intention to head from there to the south to Peru and Argentina, I suddenly found myself on the way to Colombia, where I also passed a few tourist places such as San Gil, Las Lajas, Cali or Popayan. But I also spent a lot of time in places where tourists probably usually don’t go like Pitalito or Bucaramanga near the border with Venezuela. Even later I was in Ecuador in Cuenca and visited also the beautiful crater lake Quilota.

Do you travel alone or with someone?

I mostly traveled alone, but the truth is that I was still not alone on the road. Very easily, I always came across great and equally attuned people, with whom I then shared some sections of the road. In the mountains, for example, we always waited somewhere in the evening with “already known strangers from the trek” and we found a place for spending the night together, also to make it cheaper. I can say that I learned to have a good senses to choose people. This means that I really chose to travel together only those who completely fit to me and I did not waste time building bridges between two different styles of travel or worlds. People just come and go, and I valued the time I spent on the road so much that it would be a waste of my energy to focus on people I have nothing to talk with about. And that’s why I also many times rather preferred to go alone.

What do you see as the biggest benefits of traveling alone? Is it more comfortable for you? Or was it more of virtue out of necessity?

For me, it was really a virtue out of necessity from the beginning. It started with treking around Slovakia alone and the reason was exactly that I didn’t want to wait for someone all the time, just so I could go somewhere. So I started walking ant trekking alone. It continued with traveling alone in Europe, actually I also went to Svalbard to see their polar bears alone. Sometimes it’s really more convenient, because a person decides only for herself and does what she wants, she doesn’t have to explain anything, she doesn’t have to adapt, she can change her plans as she wants.

Of course, it also has its disadvantages. Traveling alone is more expensive especially due to accommodation. An also, all planning is in your hands and you have no one else to rely on. However, all this will teach you to know yourself perfectly. You need to be more communicative and you are forced to leave your comfort zone much more often. If you are interested in self-development, then this moves you further, and not only by steps, but literally by leaps and bounds.

When you travel alone, don’t you worry sometimes? Would many women perceive it as dangerous? Have you ever had a bad or dangerous situation?

I was not relaxed at first and I was also very suspicious. I remember avoiding anyone who spoke to me by himself the first night in India after my arrival as I walked in the dark from the airport to the train station. Now I know it was from their side with a sincere interest in helping me find my way, but I didn’t believe it then. But a year in India and Nepal was enough for me to learn to trust people, but at the same time to know what to expect from them. It is true that as a woman, I had to deal with local men in India in a very authoritative and strong and determined voice, in order to let them know that they could not play with me at all. And I couldn’t smile at them at all, because in a split second I would be able to read from their faces how they were already imagining a wedding with me. They are usually not “harmful” in any way, but their gazing can be unpleasant. On the way, I learned to lie that I was married and I had to fundamentally refuse selfies with men (in order to get rid of them easily it worked the best to ask money for the photo from them). I have always rather preferred to prevent dangerous situations.

You practice yoga. How did you come to yoga? Why does it impress you?

During my doctorate, I exercised a lot. Honestly, now I know that I could name it that I literally went to the gym to destroy myself and forced myself to run long kilometers. It was because I desperately tried hard to be fit and I was looking for a way to vent the stress. But then my roommate invited me to a yoga class, she suggested that it might help me to relax a bit more. I expected from yoga to be about strenuous poses that required high flexibility, and I wanted to prove myself that I can assume them all as soon as possible. But here I found myself among beginners and that time I really didn’t understand what they see in all that breathing and in those simple exercises, too simple for me. But I said to myself that I would give it its chance, and especially that I give a chance to that old guy who led the classes for us, who always in a position where I had to fully concentrate to manage to hold it, what naturally came with a strenuous look of my face” added a note “and don’t forget the smile … but the inner one”. So I gave yoga a chance and a promise to attend a few more classes.

It didn’t take long and I was returning from yoga classes as exchanged, completely rested, much more calm. I began to feel my body in a completely different way, I began to respect myself, to listen to my intuition, to feel that everything in this world, even disease, has a reason. Yoga has completely overturned my view of what health is. It is perfectly normal that, like me, many others start with yoga as an exercise and only then move on to its other dimensions, to spirituality and its spiritual aspect.

Yoga starts on a yoga mat, but over time you will find that on the mat there is only training before the real yoga, which takes place off the mat, and that is to realize and be aware how I behave, how I manage the situations, how I think, how I am in my daily reality. At the same time, yoga gives me a sense of certainty that no matter what happens in the outside world, only I can influence my world inside.

You also do Ayurveda. This is not just yoga or just an Ayurvedic diet, but a complex way of life. What does Ayurveda give you in life?

Ayuveda appealed to me with its complexity and logic, thousands of years of testing and use, finding the cause, recognizing the connection between mind and body, and the fact that, unlike Western medicine, it is personalized medicine. Ayurveda has helped me to understand and accept my body (and thus my mind) as it is and to learn what medicine is for me, what I personally need to make me to be in balance. By accepting my difference, I also began to respect other people’s differences more. I like that it is based mainly on prevention, which I can have fully in my hands. I feel like a co-creator of my health.

My Ayurvedic practices could be simplified to a few examples: the choosing right food in its proper combination, using spices in cooking, all of mentioned has to be appropriate to my dosha. All this taking into account the season and at the same time respecting the current phase of my menstrual cycle. Furthermore, cleaning the tongue with a scraper as the first thing in the morning, gargling with oil, Abhyanga – body massage … And I use Ayurvedic herbs to treat my problems.

Have you also studied yoga in Asian countries? Where and what yoga courses did you take and where did you teach yoga everywhere?

I completed a course as a yoga teacher (200 h YT) in Nepal. It included in particular Hatha, Ashtanga yoga and also a bit from meditations, Ayurveda and Bhakti yoga. It was very intense, but I consider it to be one of the best investments in my life.

However, the real yoga ride started in India. Along the way, I didn’t look for courses but for yoga masters, whom someone recommended me. Everyone from my masters handed me a piece of their treasure into my own yoga puzzle. I must say that what greatly altered my whole understanding of yoga was Vipassana meditation and later completing two levels of Reiki with my master Parveen in Rishikesh. The concept of chakras ultimately connected yoga to Ayurveda, psychology and spiritual development in such a way that I no longer even know how I could have existed without this understanding.

I taught yoga mainly in the south of India in a great Ayurvedic resort, it was my first volunteering in India. Then I taught also in an orphanage in Nepal and in Ecuador to a youth community. But basically it was that wherever I went and someone was interested in listening about Ayurveda and trying yoga, I shared it with them.

From what did you live off on the road? How did you earn?

I lived off my previously saved money. Probably a force majeure arranged that my new car was stolen during my doctorate. Since I had it completely insured, fortunately I didn’t lose anything. And I told myself that all bad things were really good for something, and I took it as an opportunity to rethink that I should put my money this time into education rather than material things again. So I chose travel and self-development, even at the cost of starting again from scratch after returning.

I did not work in my field on the road, because, unfortunately, as a pharmacist, I have not yet found a way to be a digital nomad and be able to work from anywhere through a computer. So at least I tried to control my costs. For example, I traveled by train, mostly in ordinary classes, as locals do as well. I didn´t need any luxury, I often stayed in hostels (not only are they cheap, but also full of interesting people). And I managed to significantly reduce costs, especially by volunteering, where I received accommodation and food in exchange for work. The countries I have traveled to are really cheap compared to Europe. And as a vegetarian, I had a really easy time in India, for example. If you learn to eat in small street restaurants, where the locals eat too, you will save a lot of money for overpriced meals in expensive restaurants for foreigners.

Which countries or areas visited have become mostly loved by you?

India, Nepal and Colombia. Each one for something different. India for its people, yoga, spirituality, contrasts, immediacy, food, diverse culture, at the same time amazing mountains, especially in the north, and all those incomprehensible moments “this can only happen in India”. Overall, India is not a country to travel to see beautiful things. India is for wandering, frequently pushing borders of your comfort zone and learning what is really important in life when you are confronted with the harsh reality.

I love Nepal most for its mountains, for the silence and freedom in the Himalayas, the closeness to the deep blue sky. Of course also for very nice people who gave me a little more space than those too exhausting Indians usually do. For me, Phoksundo Lake in the west of Nepal will definitely be the most beautiful lake in the world, and the trek in the Everest area was probably the most beautiful what I’ve ever seen in the mountains.

And Colombia, because it is wild, diverse, has everything from rainforests to cold mountains. For its temperament, markets full of fruits and especially medicinal plants and herbs. I was enchanted by its people, their immediacy. And especially in Colombia, I loved the unusual feeling of freedom I had there.

On the way, you certainly met many interesting people and had unusual experiences. Which do you like to remember?

Experience number one – the monkey bit me during Vipassana meditation, even twice, in each half of my buttock. And I also have a small scar there. So they had to get for me a vaccine against rabies right in the meditation center, and throughout my next few weeks I had to adjust the plan of my travel to be close to a hospital on certain days, because I had to get about six shots, in order to be vaccinated against rabies succesfully.

Another nice incident happened to me at the base camp under Stok Kangri. We were talking with the Base Camp manager that I was going to help them in the kitchen. But I asked him if he would show me some local medicinal herbs as an exchange for my help. An American friend accompanying me that time promptly added that this is because I had a PhD. from pharmacology and I am a pharmacist. I don’t even know how, but in that connection with medicine we actually found ourselves in a conversation about alcohol, and we ended up saying that alcohol can also be a medicine if it is used in a small amounts, and I tried to explain to him that in our country people use to drink small shots of a alcohol typically made from fruits as plums for this medicinal purpose. And the Indian manager responded immediatelly “Oh, you mean slivovitza? I have it here too. Shall we have some?” I could not understand how it is possible that he knows what “slivovica” is, because it is so typical for Slovakia and some bordering countries. He said it was a present from our “Czech brothers” (as we Slovaks familiarly name Czechs, since we had formed a common republic before and altough we got separated later, we separated peacefully and we still like each other a lot and consider ourselves as “brother nations”). It is so typical for Slovaks and Czechs, especially those from Moravia, a region close to the Slovakia borders, to bring always some homemade alcohol to their journey, and use it as a “internal desinfection” against diarrhea on the journey. And, as well, it is very easy for them to fnd many reasons to celebrate someting on the journey to have a reason to drink it on the way. All those events that happened would fill up a complete book …

You mentioned that you like to trek a lot. Where everywhere and what interesting treks did you do on your journey?

I started in Nepal with Annapurna circuit and Annapurna base camp trek. It was my first big trek alone and it was incredible to watch how what I could see from the vast massif changed every day. I highly recommend it to beginners as well.

Then, when I returned to Nepal for the second time, it was after some months in India, we went with my friends which I met on a Annapurna circuit trek, to western Nepal to Lower Dolpa – Shey Phoksundo National Park, to Phoksundo and Rara Lakes. It is close to the Tibetan border.

North India is also a great place for treks. For example, the Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh was beautiful, I went through it as a circuit and we slept one night in the Buddhist Key Monastery. It was long days of walking in beautiful places, completely without people, only some grazing yaks wandered there. The altitudes here ranged to a height of about 4600 MSL.

Another mountainous region of India that I visited is Ladakh. I decided to climb here on Stok Kangri (6153 metres above sea level), the highest trekking point in India available without the need for climbing equipment. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I started the ascent from Base Camp at 1 in the morning, an incredible almost 1,200 altitude meters awaited me. I joined a group of some Czechs that night. However, my group gradually disintegrated because they were not properly acclimatized. So I ended up to climb to the top completely alone, even without our guides, since they had to descend with the people who had to return.

And the complete highlight of my treks was a trek long about 300 km, alone, to Mount Everest (to Everest Base Camp) by the classic route from Jiri inlcuding the Three Passes circuit and back. Expeditions to Everest originally began from Jiri, when the airport in Lukla had not yet been built. Three Passes trek was really the culmination of all my previous treks, where I walked for two weeks in the heart of the Himalayas and climbing three three passes and some peaks around 5500 MSL.

You are obviously fascinated by mountain areas. But can you also enjoy the beach?

I can spend a few days at the beach. They are beautiful, they have their charm and the sea gives me a lot of energy. But after a while, it draws me back into the mountains. There is probably a bigger peace. Maybe because too much heat and humidity doesn’t do me any good as well. I feel much better in the cold mountains, best if there is a lot of sun. In addition, I don’t even enjoy lying idly on the beach and catching bronze, I’d rather do something or walk somewhere.

How would you describe yourself as a traveler? Are you the type who likes to take risks? Do you like adrenaline? Are you looking for authentic places that will bring you closer to local and local culture?

I don’t think I need to risk headless for the feeling of excitement. But the truth is, that I have been to many situations that many would consider risky. The travel of a woman by herself seems dangerous to many. From my point of view, it is more about the fact that I want to do in life what I desire and I do not like to be limited by the feeling of fear. All the scenarios that we can create in our heads for our fears can deprive us of all the beautiful things we could experience if we weren’t afraid to take risks from time to time.

It has always tempted me to understand, at least in part, how the locals live and, most importantly, what I can learn from them. And for that you need to travel like they travel, eat where they eat. And this is what traveling is for me. It is the broadening of horizons, the discovery of other worlds and the effort to understand our differences while feeling how we are all the same.

What did your luggage look like on the road? You said you were gone for two years. Do you travel light? What can’t be missing from your luggage?

I bought a backpack with a volume of 45 + 10 liters for the trip and whether I wanted or not, I had to fit everything there! Together with barefoot shoes, this backpack was the best investment for the whole trip. I knew I would be traversing various climatic regions – from the tropics of southern India to the peaks of the Himalayas. So I had to carry in the bag trekking shoes and a swimsuit at the same time. Therefore, I have often stored part of my luggage in a safe place so that I can travel locally only with the necessary minimum for the area or trek. Along the way, I also had to learn to give up things that no longer served me and especially not to buy what is not multifunctionally usable, even though I would really like it.

My luggage could’t miss the camera and always at least two lenses with it. Even on Stok Kangri, where people solved how much water they could take, whether one, two or three liters were enough just to not carry extra weight, I, of course, also dragged an DSLR camera to the top.

The computer was also important to me. And then after India, I also invested in a Kindle reader, because the hardest thing for me was always to give up books. Definitely also a sketchbook for drawings and a notebook for notes. In Asia, a copper water bottle. Cosmetics have been completely minimized for soap, shampoo, toothpowder, hand cream and coconut oil for the body. The ability to pack at a minimum, however, came with practice.

Has your view of life and the world changed in any way after visiting Asian countries such as India, Cambodia or Vietnam? Because me, personally, it affected a lot.

I realized how much we complain in Slovakia how bad is our situation, and at the same time we don’t even realize how good our life in fact is. We are still waiting for someone to do something for us to get better. But I saw people living in a hut that is washed away by the monsoon twice a year, or children who had nothing to wipe a mucus under their noses, but were happy, smiling, grateful for the little they have. I asked many Nepalese in the mountains if they would like to go to live somewhere else. Almost everyone said they wouldn’t leave. They are happy where they are – in nature, they live a happy life here, they don’t have a car, a big house and all the technical achievements, but they have peace. They are not slaves to work, they have their own, healthy food. Plus, the whole world is coming to them, so why would they go away.

India has probably changed me the most. India doesn’t hide anything. On one street you will see women in beautiful saree, right next to her a shitting cow, poverty and wealth, material poverty and spiritual wealth, everything is there in front of you without any apron. As if they did not even try to hide poverty, death or old age. After all, they won’t pretend it doesn’t exist when they know everything has two sides. They have so much to be offer to be learned from them. The Indians have taught me that there is a real willingness to help without wanting something back. They showed me that people know how to help and it is perfectly normal to be good to each other. India taught me to be much more grateful for everything I have, for example for running water or for such conveniences as a washing machine.

And Latin America? It made me feel what it was like to live freely, without so many rules, without a worrying that somebody will say something. I understood how many things I was doing just because I was told to do it, but I never wondered if it was right at all for me personally. Sometimes I envy them for more freedom, less systemic rules, even though they pay their tax in the form of higher crime and less comfort. I understand the huge tax we pay here in Europe for safety, comfort and surplus. It is a tax of freedom.

How did you get to South America? Why did you go there after Asia?

I never thought I that I would go to South America alone. An especially for my zero language skills with Spanish that time. But it happened that in an Ayurvedic cafe in Pokhara in Nepal, I met one Ecuadorian. We fit in completely, we talked about the Inca culture, the sun, shamanism, why he came to Nepal and what I do here. Eventually we agreed that if I wanted to come and see Ecuador, he would be happy to help me with accommodation and I could enrich his community with knowledge of yoga and Ayurveda. A few years ago, I would have thought it was a crazy and dangerous idea to go to South America with no language and to rely on a complete stranger. After a year in India, however, I already had a completely different opinion on such “coincidences”. So I eventually bought a flight ticket.

I love learning languages ​​and I know how important it is to know the language so that I can really understand culture, so it was absolutely paramount for me to at least try to learn Spanish when I came to Ecuador. It was exhausting, but in a month and a half I started talking and after two months it was almost fluent. During those two months in Quito, I devoted myself to meditation and Reiki, for which I did not have time in India because I was always moving from place to place and learning new things. So here, I devoted myself to my art, drawing, I was meeting young local artists, went to exhibitions and events, everyone liked to talk to me about their culture, and I again shared my knowledge from India and Nepal. It was a community of young people returning to their original Inca or Kitu roots.

What was different travel in South America than in Asia?

After two months in Quito, I set off again, but not to Peru as I had originally planned, but in the opposite direction – north to Colombia. This happened beacuse I met a young Colombian, and you know, everything got a little tangled, and finally, we set off together. We passed through Pasto, spent Easter in Popayán, passed through high altitude paramos, we lived in Pitalito for a month, then for a while in Bogota. We even reached to Bucaramanga in the north of the country on the border with Venezuela. It was a completely different style of travel that I had known before. I was not alone, we could afford to travel wild, we slept in a tent or were hitchhiking. This man helped me to learn to lose all my own barriers and shyness about the things, that I was just told to be ashamed of, because this all had only been taught to me, but is not actually intrinsic for me. For example, I overcame my pride and went to the markets with him, asking for vegetables and fruits from sellers, which they would throw away anyway. This, too, has helped us reduce the cost of living. I stopped being ashamed to sit on the street and sell the things and jewelry he made. He had lived like this freely for some time. For a while, we even slept on cardboard because we didn’t have a mattress in a small studio that we rented! I was a real hippie! It was simply overcoming stereotypes, learned patterns of behavior, and resistance to change every single day.

Currently you are in Slovakia again for about a year. What brought you back? What are you doing?

I came back for family reasons. I needed to be with my family when they needed me. We came here together with that Colombian boyfriend in order to settle somewhere in Europe, but somehow we couldn’t figure it all out. We kept running into new bureaucratic problems, he couldn´t stay in my country and to make matters even worse, the COVID-19 pandemic came into it and thus it was impossible for me to travel abroad and meet him. Exhaustion and stress have marked our relationship a lot.

When I returned, I wanted to completely change my European life, instead of pharmacy, I wanted to focus on yoga and Ayurveda. Everything I collected along the way, I wanted to transform into my own form of yoga. But the COVID-19 prevented all this, it would be crazy to try to survive in these conditions with a brand new yoga center. I accepted it the way it is. Even though we sometimes think it’s the right time, circumstances can show us that we were wrong and make us wait. Maybe I haven’t really processed yet everything I’ve experienced and learned along the way. So at the moment I work again as a pharmacist in a pharmacy and I do all these things privately in my free time.

Was it difficult to integrate into “ordinary” life in Slovakia after having been on the road for so long?

Honestly, it was really hard. Quite illogically, I tried to cram my new identity, which I found on the road, into the old one that I had here before. I didn’t realize right away that it was simply impossible to go back and things could never be the way they were before I left. I have returned to a world that has barely changed, but meanwhile I have changed too much. It was a mess. Who am I, what do I really want, and is it possible to achieve it here? … Of course, sometimes there were questions about whether the whole trip was worth me at all only to find out when I come back that I no longer fit here.

I missed here all the interesting travel souls that I was meeting on every corner on the way. I missed my “yoga circles” and all those nice and smiling people, the positive energy they spread. And also markets with fruits and vegetables, herbs, the opportunity to eat like in India.

I had a very difficult time when I started working in the pharmacy again. I was hypersensitive to bad behavior of the people here because I really got used in India to people who behave completely diferently, nicely, politely, always smiling and with respect. Despite these momentary doubts about the worth of my whole journey, because it just wasn’t easy right away after coming back, I’m absolutely convinced that it was the right step in my life, and everything will finally show the reason for which it was all necessary.

Are you planning to travel somewhere again when the situation around the COVID-19 calms down in the world?

Honestly, at the moment I don’t feel like taking my backpack on my back and going for such a long journey, unpacking and unpacking my whole portable “house” on my back every day. And when I imagine that I should go to sleep somewhere on the cardboard instead of the bed now, I definitely don’t want to. It is because I think it is good to step out of the comfort zone from time to time, but constantly exposing yourself to borderline situations is not suitable for anyone. It is good to have a period of determination, risky steps, growth and picking fruits of this growth afterwards. But then, naturally, there must be rest and time for self-reflection so that we can grow again in the future. I need that time for rest now. But in the future I would like to drive the whole South america in a caravan, already with a family, kids and dog on the board.