To take away, please.

Exploring the unknown has always been in my DNA. To be exact, my wish to travel was born on the 10th of February, 1989, in a Brazilian hospital.

I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I haven’t won the lottery and don’t make rivers of money working. That’s why I value travelling so much. It was a dream I thought it would never come true.

It did. I went backpacking in Europe and this was the first time I lived by myself, washed my own clothes, damaged my own clothes, struggled and had the freedom to ride my rollerblades, at two in the morning because I wasn’t able to sleep.

I learned to enjoy my own company, I met wonderful people, went beyond my limits and went back home with a wonderful feeling and a pair of jeans that had to go straight to the rubbish bin.

I learned a lot about myself, but there was so much more to learn. And even after travelling to a few other countries, it was in Brazil that I found out about something much bigger. I’lI explain. My boyfriend is a sailor. His dream is to buy a boat and sail the world. Of course I was super keen to make this happen one day. Being from the countryside, I had never been on a real boat trip before, but the thought of it was amazing.

We went on a trip in Brazil and after missing our bus, at five in the morning and finding out that the next one was just in the afternoon, we went on a walk. On this walk we met two random guys on the dock, who were delivering a boat to another city and offered us a ride. We said a big yes straight away and threw our bags on the boat. They were not going to the city we were planning to go, but who cares? We were getting a ride on this super yatch, to an amazing city, and it would only take 20 hours. It didn’t sound like a lot at the time. So we bought some takeaway food and there we went.

20 hours I said? The trip lasted for 30. For the first two, I was happy and taking photos like crazy. For the next 28, I was sick. And so was the captain. It was the sickest I’ve ever been. I would try to sleep, which was probably the worse thing to do. I would jump 15 feet in the air from the bed. I would try to eat, but my take-away food was literally taken away. Taken away from me.

Well my friends, that was a big lesson. What I learned was that even with all the trouble, pain, and a lot going wrong, I would do everything again. But shooting a few less photos on the boats and taking two more pairs of jeans to Europe.