So here I am, on a plane…. another flight, another adventure. It’s been some time since I have put my thoughts to paper and its feels like its time…time to try to explain the meanderings of my mind, if that is at all possible!
Friends and family are always asking me, why do you travel so much? You should be thinking about your retirement…what kind of destination is that? Are you absolutely mad? There is a war there you know…. etc.
Let me go back in time for a bit, shed some light on my subconscious if you permit me. When I was a child, at that age when adults start asking you ‘what do you want to be when you’re big?’, I still remember this clearly. Weird, I don’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday but I remember this as if it were yesterday.
I looked up to the sky and pointed to the tiny spec of a plane. The answer seemed satisfactory, they assumed I meant to be an air hostess (in my time they were air hostesses) and I did sometimes wonder why no-one thought I could be the pilot! Anyhow, a long story short, it seems that my fate was defined. I was to be one of those poor souls destined to work in aviation!
Growing up, life happens and you plan your academic career, blindly assuming that you would go to university and do something worthwhile with your life. To my parent’s dismay, and due to their life choices, I may add, I ended up getting a summer job at Faro airport in 1986. I was hooked. I was a traffic agent, ground hostess if you want, and I loved every minute of it!
Airports truly are interesting places at times, the comings and goings of people, they arrive grey and sad and leave brown and happy. I understood that what I really wanted when I looked at that plane in the sky, was to travel.
Escape reality for a while and come back happier and wiser than before.
Being who I am, I threw myself into my job, but not travelling as much as I would have hoped for. Once a year if I was lucky and it was something to work for. Then before I knew it, I was in my late thirties and wondering what the hell had happened. Don’t get me wrong, I regret nothing of my life, we walk the path we have chosen but we can choose to do it slower or faster. And I was reflecting on that.
To help and organize my thoughts, in 2004, I decided to travel on my own to Peru. Top of my bucket list. All sorts of thoughts went through my mind, are you nuts? Going so far alone? What if something happens??
It was the best thing I ever did!!
Fear is what stops you from finding yourself.
It was such an enriching experience; you are treated so differently when you are on your own. I was adopted by everyone I met, which led to some truly amazing experiences. One day, in Cusco, while getting used to the madly high altitude which is immensely helped with coca tea (the plant leaves are used to produce cocaine), I went to the city centre taxi rank.
In my awful Spanish, I asked the drivers who was free for the day. Most macho asses laughed (Dudes, get your mind out of the gutter) but this young guy came to me and asked, what do you want?
Me, I want a personal driver to take me a few places in the Andes and I showed him my map. He smiled (but I guess he was thinking that I was a crazy lady) and he said, ok, I’ll take you where you want and gave me his price.
It wasn’t expensive but I didn’t tell him that! I told him that I want to see how the Andean people lived and I didn’t want to be a usual tourist, and please, I would like to try some of the Andean River trout for lunch.
What a wonderful day! We had so much fun and he asked more questions than I did. We really learned from each other. A true exchange of cultures and ideas.
I had my trout lunch, at his sister’s house, deliciously prepared by her with some kind of gooseberry. Simple meals are the tastiest and boy was I hungry. There is a lot of humidity and all kinds of grasses grow abundantly everywhere. Did you know that the best lawnmowers are llamas? It felt so natural having your fish and coca tea, with a baby llama chewing the lawn next to you. I was blessed and I truly hooked. I wanted more of these experiences!
Next day I went to Machu Pichu. I cannot describe how this magnificent place impacts you. Truly a very spiritual place and it will affect you whether you are ready for it or not.
I love mountains and of course I had to climb Wayna Picchu, the lady mountain which is the peak we see in all pictures. Machu Picchu are the mountains surrounding the village.
You do need to spend a few days in Cusco acclimatizing or you may lose your mind at these altitudes. At the top, you will feel like you can fly!
I decided to change the direction of my career and complicated my life for some time, but I had a plan. I had to find the untreaded path which would give me time and money so I could have more experiences like these. Again, life happens, you know, best laid plans and all that, and I decided a needed a break from aviation. I needed to know if I could do something else with my life which didn’t involve aircraft and passengers!
Seems like I could. Humans, we adapt easily, if you choose to roll with what life throws at you. I worked for 4 months in Malawi, part of my heart is forever in Africa, and I loved the experience. Malawi was then considered the poorest country of Africa. I disagree, they were rich. Very rich in values that matter. I grew up a lot there, a very good lesson in humility and gratitude. However, I knew that sooner or later I would make my way back to aviation. Just needed something different, I kept telling myself.
I was searching for another international job and through one of my previous clients, I ended up in the UAE. If you had asked me before, if I ever wanted to live in Dubai, I would have replied, Fuck no! That place is for superficial rich people etc. But I was wrong. The UAE, especially Dubai, is a place where you are an outsider and yet you have something in common with 90% of the people living there. We are all expats, searching for something better, realizing dreams, a career trampoline, whichever reason you choose, it teaches you so much you don’t even realize it. Dealing with so many nationalities and cultures, your mind has no choice but to expand. And once it has expanded, it can’t go back to what it was before.
Your soul won’t let you! And you give in, you let God take the reins.
Life becomes interesting, rewarding, enriching and opportunities you would never think of, arise.
So, before I bore you with more details of my life, and how I ended up with the best of both worlds, let me tell you the main lesson I have learnt. If you really want something, go for it. Listen to your soul. Don’t worry too much about the money, somehow it all works out. Buy your flight tickets 6-8 months before, they are way cheaper. Then you have the goal to save for the trip, the tour and if you are lucky enough to join a small group, the tour is even cheaper! (solo travel is expensive man!)
I felt the need to share my experience, create something which could intrigue and inspire like-minded people to travel with me. So Hodophile Experience was created. Just as I would plan for myself, so it can be for those who want to travel the path least trodden.
Getting back to yesterday, and a conversation had with my Mum….” you don’t have to travel the whole world you know!” I replied, the whole world no, its 195 countries! But I still have many I want to visit…Can you imagine her reaction? I love her! Her reactions and concern; a mum will always worry.
But she doesn’t know, or trusts, that when you go where your heart leads you, even with mishaps and issues, by the grace of God it always works out well.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, in answer to the query…. I travel to learn and grow.
Travel has made me a better person, more tolerant and grateful. A better photographer, obsessed with UNESCO World Heritage sites and ancient civilizations. Flying to a live, show and tell, lesson of life!
Not to mention the interesting, good, people you meet along the way! But that is a topic for another day…
I have been blessed and travelled to 47 countries already, my main plan is to visit all of Africa, Middle East and a few bucket list places…Am not even halfway with Africa yet! So much planning to do still! And, I hope to see you along with me on my next adventure.
Here are a just few ideas to inspire you for this year.
Egypt
Dates: 04Oct25-15Oct25 (shorter trip also available)
São Tomé
Dates: 14-21 Mar25 & 28Nov-05Dec25
Dates: 15-22Jul25 & 29Aug-05Sep25
Syria
Dates: 24-31May25
Libya
Dates: 18-25Apr25 & 22-28Oct25
Yemen, Socotra
Dates: 18-24Apr25 & 02-09May25 & 07-14Nov25
Join me.
Take the step and trust….
Bela