I. Made. It. I fukcing made it and I am very happy to wish myself a happy 3rd monthversary on the road! I survived those three months but sometimes I wonder how! M’s expertise and moral support helped for sure and this monthversary was definitely calling for an introspection… After my beloved running shoes went missing (read: stupidly forgotten on a bus. Yes, it can happen), I wondered what the fukc was wrong with me. As you do. I wondered if I was tailored to be on this journey. I had been thinking that I was a seasoned traveler! What if I was wrong? What if I wasn’t a seasoned traveler after all? What abut you? Do you think you are a seasoned traveler? You know you are a seasoned traveler when:

1. You don’t cross a border without being sure that you have enough cash to survive in the country. What if your credit cards don’t work… 
2. You don’t fall asleep on a bus. Never. Ever. No exception. I mean seriously who would anyway… 
3. You know that you need to pack warm clothes not to freeze your butt when staying overnight on a freaking windy volcano where the temps drastically drop at night
4. You can read any map and thanks to your sense of orientation you don’t have to rely on anybody else to find your way 
5. You have researched all the countries you will come across during your travel and aren’t surprised while crossing the briefer that they speak English back to you and nose Spanish 
6. You don’t leave your wallet unattended in a shop and you surely don’t walk away from it, forgetting about it until somebody is looking for the owner
7. You can spell your name right while buying a plane ticket. It does help to find your e-ticket and be allowed to board the plane 
8. You remember in which country you must throw your used toilet paper in the trash because you wouldn’t want to deal with a clogged toilet, would you? 
9. You know that you should only have two things to carry, your backpack and your daypack. Any other item will be forgotten on a bus. Be ready for heartbroken farewells with any item that which is not packed or attached to your backpack. Bye bye hat, bye bye running shoes… *sob*
10. You double check you sit on the right bus to avoid driving to the wrong city! 

If you’ve answered ‘oops’ to most of all the above (welcome to my life), I’m afraid that the ‘seasoned traveler’ club might not be for you. BUT this club is anyway overrated and cramped with travel experts (read: snobs who seriously need to take it easy on traveling websites giving arrogant advice). Congrats though! You have earned the right to call yourself a gooppy traveler. The one for goofy but happy travelers known as gooppy. You will end up finding yourself silly and you will laugh a lot in the process. Don’t worry, there surely is a ‘traveling for dummies’ book available, if you are afraid not to make it. But otherwise, remember: take it easy, ‘mistakes are proof that we are trying’.

Happy trails and remember: Carpe Diem!

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