TRAVEL_______________________________________________________________________
A South African in Seattle
By Sabeeha Mosam (Covered Magazine Brand Ambassador 2018 runner up)
M y end destination (for now) is Seattle, more
about that later. Where did it all begin? Everyone
who knows me, knows my love for travel. I’m
addicted, it’s my absolute obsession. What spurred
the travel on? I never had a nomadic lifestyle; I
was never the exotic kid from another city or
country in class at a new school. In my life to
date, I’ve lived in two places; an awesome
apartment until I got married and moved into my
favourite memory- filled townhouse. Then life
happened and BAM we relocated to the other end
of the world. I have fond memories of local trips
as a child. Some weekend getaways to
Drakensberg, the longer holidays to Eastern
Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) and some summer
vacations in Durban and once along the Garden
Route to Cape Town. I would say I am more
fortunate than many to have these childhood
travel memories, but I wasn’t a privileged traveller
growing up.
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I have four travel peaks in my life that have
defined travel for me and got me hooked. I like to
think of my travel journey thus far as an
adventurous roll-a-coaster. The start of the ride
was my first international trip while in University,
an all-girls trip for two weeks in Dubai with 5 of
my closest friends. We had the best time and the
travel bug nibbled. The second peak was a series
of seconds. It my second international getaway,
in my second year of work. I had just passed my
second board exam (I’m a chartered accountant
by profession) and figured I deserved a holiday, a
self-funded budget trip to London! Luckily, I have
family there and the free accommodation acted as
some reprieve against the Pound! This vacation
was the slow ride up the first part of the roll-a-
coaster. The third peak, likened to reaching the
top of the ride just before the big drop, was
residing in New York for 4 months (with work)
and the extensive six weeks of travel that I saved
up for thereafter. It was at this point that the
travel bug really stuck its teeth in and bit hard, I
was officially bitten.