The Outstanding blogger Award:

I think it was in my Travel Photo post that I mentioned Aiva’s beautiful blog: Our Crossings. Well, I will mention it again today, to thank her for her nomination to this award! Her blog is truly outstanding and beautiful, and her posts are incredibly interesting and informative, so if you haven’t done it already, please go and check out her blog!

Thank you so much for this nomination Aiva, I feel really honoured that you thought of me for this award! I loved reading through your answers and I’m very excited now to reply to your questions!

The rules:

1. Provide a link to the creator’s original award post.
2. Answer the questions provided.
3. Create 7 unique questions.
4. Nominate other bloggers. Ensure that they are aware of their nomination. Neither the award’s creator nor the blogger that nominated you can be nominated.

The questions:

What was the last book you read and what did you think of it?

The last book I read was a small book about Romania and its people. It is part of a series of very short books that talk about the history of a country, city or region, specifically focusing on the population and on how the history of the country influences its people. It was extremely interesting and I loved that it put the population in the spotlight, rather than following a very factual historical approach.

When you travel to the far corners of the earth, do you feel like the world shrinks or grows?

I actually feel like it does both, weirdly. It grows because in every new place there are hundreds of new and beautiful things to marvel at and to explore. The world seems so much bigger because it feels like you are constantly opening new doors that lead to bigger rooms with more doors, and it seems impossible to see everything that our beautiful world has to offer.

On the other side, when you are in a completely foreign place, to the far corners of the earth, it also feels like the world shrinks, as you can always find a bit of “home”: in how other people live, in some mundane, day-to-day actions, feelings… it kind of brings us closer together as a species, and that makes the world seem smaller, but in a good way!

Does traveling make you a better person?

Absolutely! Traveling opens your mind and takes you outside of your comfort zone in many different ways: meeting new people, being faced with another culture, religion, belief, adapting to other realities and ways of living, witnessing hardships or inequalities, getting lost and finding your way, admiring natural wonders or beautiful architecture, or even learning about the history of a place… all of these things, and countless others, take you outside of yourself and your life, it gives you perspective, and that, in turn, makes you a better person. I truly think that traveling, or even learning a new language or meeting someone from abroad, is incredibly beneficial!

What’s the longest plane ride you have ever been on?

Funnily enough (not really, actually), it was also the worst one: going from Italy to Japan, with 12 incredibly long hours. I usually don’t mind flights and I was so excited to go to Japan that it could have been great… If I didn’t start feeling sick only six hours in, with six other hours to go. I especially hated it because it took me a few days to recover and eat normally, but there were so many delicious things to eat in Tokyo – it felt like torture!

If you were offered a one-way ticket to go on your dream adventure tomorrow, what would you say?

“YES, absolutely!” I think I would go without much of a doubt, especially now that we can telework more easily. I really miss traveling, and going on my dream adventure would be amazing, even though I’m not even sure of what it would be ahaha!

If you wrote a novel, what would it be about?

I think it would be about the lives of different individuals, and about people in general. I really like books or movies that talks about the life of someone – even if it is not full of adventures and excitement. I think writing a book about snippets of other people’s lives would be super interesting! Actually, I have always wanted to write a book one day, so maybe it will come to life!

Could you live in another country for the rest of your life?

I have already lived in five different countries, so for sure I could live in another one for the rest of my life, it just depends which one! I think I would rather live in Europe or in a big – but not too big – city, quite international.

Here are the questions for my nominees:

1. What is one thing you would like to see/visit/do at least once in your life?
2. When traveling, what was your biggest cultural shock or “oh wow – this culture is so different from mine” moment?
3. Is there something that you saw in another country that you wish could be in yours (it can be anything: objects, food, nature, etc.)?
4. How do you plan your holidays – if you plan them at all?
5. When the pandemic is over, you are granted a whole month off from work/studying. What would you do?
6. Tell us about one interesting person you met when traveling, even if you only met them very briefly.
7. A high school student from your town wants to take a gap year to travel before starting university. Where would you tell them to go? Why?

Finally, here are my nominees:

• Andy’s World Journey
• Rebecca Goes Rendezvous
• Markus + Micah
• Earlgreykick
• Lingo in Transit
• Happy Panda
• Handstands Around the World
• Travelling Han

If you have been nominated and want to participate, please let me know when you do, so I can check your answers!

I loved answering to these questions and I hoped it was fun for you to read them as well. I couldn’t possibly nominate every blogger who supports me regularly, but I all appreciate you very much and feel very lucky to be part of this awesome and wholesome community!

Since I couldn’t mention everyone, feel free to answer some of these questions in the comments as well, I’m super curious to know your answers! 😊