Many years ago, I took a gap year between university and work, dodging a professional career – and the associated responsibility – for one more year. It was quite common in those days, as it perhaps still is, for young people to take a proper time-out and hit the road with a backpack, visiting different countries – especially Europe. It was the era before mobile phones, e-mail and the internet and most of us backpacked with the Let’ s Go Europe travel guide tucked under the arm.
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You always have a choice.
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into Hungary. In many places, we bartered with cigarettes for petrol and food.
It is important to note that at the time of my travels, South Africa was just emerging from apartheid – and as a young traveller, journeying through so many cultures after years of isolation was a profound education. formative year it was in terms of my personal development, my values, my moral compass. Few education experiences could match the“ education” of that year.
It taught me many lessons— but three stand out most.
First, it taught me to never judge a person by their nationality, religion, culture, ethnicity or role / position, and to always judge by their personal values and character. I learnt that I could easily make close friends with people from very different
During that year, I visited 16 countries, often sleeping on trains, in parks and on beaches. At times, I even worked on construction sites to earn some money. But that allowed me to stand on the northernmost point of mainland Scotland and south to Turkey. I headed to Spain in the west and the Black Sea in the east. I even had the privilege to visit Eastern Europe shortly after the Berlin Wall had fallen – highly likely one of the very few South Africans to do so at the time. Travelling behind the erstwhile“ Iron Curtain” was certainly an experience at the time! Romanian officials did not know what to do with South African passport holders, so my travel partners and I risked travelling from Bulgaria through war-torn Serbia
There were hikes in the Scottish Highlands, cycling through Holland, wine tours in Burgundy and Eger, watching tennis at Wimbledon and rugby at Twickenham, Shakespeare in Regent’ s Park and opera in Prague. We rode trains, ferries, buses, cars and motorbikes through the Greek islands. I crossed a stormy English Channel, being the only passenger on the ferry, in the dead of winter, and when nearly all our possessions were stolen in Turkey, we shrugged it off as part of the ride. The list of( remarkable) experiences is long.
As time elapsed after this backpack adventure, I have often reflected on what a religious, cultural or ethnic backgrounds and that people from my own“ tribe” could sometimes be bad people. I started to challenge myself to always be open to and appreciate different cultures and views. I promised myself to never judge others by superficial traits but to always look deeper – valuing character over appearances and keeping an open mind. Nationality became somewhat artificial, unimportant. Of course, we all have our subconscious biases. Nobody is immune to that. This openness – the ability to appreciate the good in people regardless of their background, especially those different from us and the eagerness to connect and make new friends – has been a true blessing throughout my life.
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