Many young people tell me they would love to travel the world as I do.  They tell me they love traveling and that is what they want to do when they grow up.  Traveling is very nice and I love it, I am fortunate that my career provides me with the opportunity to travel. Besides that my husband and I have decent jobs and so we can also afford to save some of our earnings so we can for nice vacations.  Truth is that it is not just traveling that I like, it is what traveling allows me to be and to do that I really love. So if you say you want  to travel then be clear about why you want to travel. Always start with WHY and then the what and how of your traveling will be clear. Do not ask me why I travel because that is none of your business; rather ask yourself why you want to travel. Just saying you want to travel like I do is not good enough because you have no idea why I do what I do in the way that I do it.

There are so many people who travel the world but their reasons for traveling are not the same. I know that if you have never been anywhere outside South Africa you are probably thinking that all you want to do is travel the world and you do not care what you travel for. But believe me, once you start traveling it will matter what the purpose of your traveling is.  Nobody wants to travel the world as a whore for dangerous men. Well, my apologies if that is what you want to do – what you do with your body and life is none of my damn business. The point I am trying to make is that there are people who travel the world like kings and queens and there are those who travel like slaves – it is your choice why and how you travel. Different strokes for different folks!

You see, air hostesses or cabin attendants travel the world and what they get busy with in the flight is not something that I want to find myself doing when I travel. Hey wait! Don’t get me wrong – I appreciate the work that cabin attendants do and I know it is important, however that is not the kind of work I ever want to do in my life. Dressings up, putting on make up and looking good to serve people food and clean after them is not my kind of fun.  It does not excite me and I appreciate the fact that there are people who are passionate about it and they make my flying very pleasant. God knows that we need clean toilets while flying and those of us who have a tendency to throw up while flying need cabin attendants to deal with that mess when it happens. It is just not my thing, askies! It does not matter how much you pay me, I do not want to do it!

Traveling around the world as an assistant to some big person (president or minister or whatever) is also not something that I would like to do.  Of course I will be happy to travel with a Minister or the President or some big important person who invites me because I have a specific technical or professional skill or experience and they think I will add value during the visit. Presidents’ wives travel the world with their husbands and they stay in top class hotels and get to do whatever while their husbands are attending meetings. That is very cool and hey someone has to take care of the president’s private needs while he or she is on duty overseas, it is just not something that excites me at all. I want to travel where I want to when I want to.

You see I like having choices and so even the travels that I do in my career are not imposed, I select them. The travels that we do for our vacations are also not random they are carefully selected. These choices are based on the reasons why we travel.

All I am saying is that traveling should not be your sole purpose – I have dealt with too many cases of young women who just wanted to travel and then ended up selling drugs or selling their bodies just to get a meal. So make sure you focus on why you travel and do not just wish for other people’s travels because you see pictures on face book, look into why they are traveling.  Follow your own path, have a bigger purpose for why you do what you do. Have a why and a vision for your travels. #WiseUp