Last post of the year for a few considerations, with the Wandering Writer

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.