It is indeed so that already one year has passed by and it
is time also for me to make some consideration about this year.
Since October 2016, when I started to blog I have shared my
travel experiences (together with some random
thoughts and marketing of my book). Whether they were on the extreme
side or on the more relaxed one, they told a story not only about places, but also about the people I met and
their traditions.
However, those stories also said
something about me, and about my feelings when visiting those countries. The
world is a big place if you want to visit
it, but it can also be a very small one when you think about people you meet in the
journey of your life. Nowadays, traveling
is getting increasingly affordable, and besides,
you do not need to have a five-star hotel
or a full service. Travel require just being creative.
You can do either backpacking, which
is a great budget option if you also like to socialize and get to know new
people with which share some part of the travel. Certainly, you will need to
adapt to the very basics and be flexible. You can also see if some of the
hotels are accepting people to work part-time
on their premises in exchange for a place
where to sleep and food. This kind of traveling is starting to become an alternative
way for the hotels to get help, particularly in the high season, and for the traveler to stay in the budget.
You can check out some volunteer, part-time jobs, and in
this case, you need to be able to agree
with your employer a longer period of work. In this way, you can get very close to the culture and heritage of the
target country.
With the recent difficulties of me losing the job together
with the unemployment of my husband, we were a little too much out of any reasonable budget to do the same
travels we used to do when we both had a job. Moreover, we are totally on our
own when we talk about money. I do not
have a family anymore, and when I had it, I had to help them financially, and
in the country where I live, it is not
common for parents to give some help to their children, once they get out of
their house.
Nevertheless, as we are a couple of travelaholic we needed to get our dose of travel. As my husband used to say, “I don’t feel
comfortable without a travel ticket in my pocket.”
Therefore, even in this case,
we kept our options, shrank the
budget to whatever would have fit and
managed to have at least a couple of trips. Our
luck is that we are surrounded by many different countries, so traveling there becomes
cheap and doable. Luckily things are getting better now, and I have a new job
that allows me to pay for some travels.
Sharing my experience was for
me a way to give a chance to those who do not have any chance to travel, to
have a virtual tour of the places I have been visiting. I wanted to be their
eyes, and have the chance to share with them as much as possible the world
outside. For those who can afford but they do not dare to travel in some
countries, I hope to give them the right input and try something that might be
a life changer. For those who have shared my same travel experiences, is a way
to exchange our points of views.
Another reason for me to travel
is getting to know interesting stories to inspire the next novel, it can be an
unsolved murder, or about a particular person/situation. Under the aspect of literary
productivity, this year has been quite good. Although I haven’t published anything new, I have been writing a lot,
and a couple of novels are now under editing.
I also decided to give the second
round of editing to my first novel, I know what you say that once it is published, it shouldn’t be
changed. However, there won’t be any sort of substantial
changes, only small fixes here and there to make the reading of the story easier.
The story remains the same, the same characters, the same suspenseful plot, the
same exciting story to keep a reader from the beginning to the end, but with
some extra fixes to make it outstanding.
Next year, I expect it to be full of surprises, first because I am going to publish a couple (or
more) novels. Second, because the past two years have been quite unfortunate,
and I really hope for better luck.
Third, because I will republish the old novel, so stay
tuned, if you didn’t read it so far.
Fourth, because a new year of adventures around the globe
will start, and if you enjoyed my tales about travel, you won’t like to miss the next ones.
Fifth, and also last, but definitely not least, I will put
into practice all the marketing tricks I have learned this year, and I really
hope they will be fruitful.
Tomorrow I leave for a holiday, and next year I will be able
to tell you more about everything.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, whether you believe
or not, I wish you all a very lucky New Year filled with joy, love, fulfillment
and one little dream to keep in your pocket to shine your days.