Do you have favourite versions of yourself? You know how different situations bring out different yous? I am definitely loving travel Joke. I think she’s my version of choice. Oh, and festival Joke is pretty fun too. I appreciate every version of me that is not homegirl Joke. That one I’m not the biggest fan of. Even though I enjoy all things homely and cosy.
I can lose track of time cooking in my little kitchen while singing along to George Michael (anyone seen the movie Babygirl? I sang along to that song for many a day after watching that movie, including that sexy awkward dance of course), playing records, reading my book under a fluffy blanket on the couch. I relish in that sweet snug wintry stuff. But it’s not where I thrive. You know what I mean? I need the slow and soft to balance out the crazy creature I turn into when the travel or festival spirit takes over.
Travel me has changed over the years, for sure. I’ve gone from couch surfing and sleeping on floors to booking private rooms so I can guarantee myself a good night’s sleep and be fresh for the next day of exploring. But then again, I am still that budget bitch. I will book a private room, but it will be the cheapest private room the city has to offer. It won’t have a window but it will have an arbre magique hanging above the door that makes the entire room smell like a car. It will be clean but definitely not too clean, more like: just clean enough. The itch you feel when slipping under the blanket was already written about in the reviews so you knew what you signed up for. But it’s your own private room and it’s cheap and you pray you don’t get any disease from spending an entire night in that bed and breathing in car perfume for 10 hours straight.
The most ridiculous part of it is that I will have browsed on Booking.com for about 3 hours before choosing this miserable guesthouse. I am slightly obsessed with reading reviews. So I would click on every accommodation and read allllll the reviews, get excited and then read one that says: the person in the room next door was snoring and I would click it away IMMEDIATELY. Can’t have people snoring. Can’t have party people come in drunk at 4 am. Can’t have unfriendly receptionist. A windowless room with itchy bed sheets, sign me up!
I just spent a delicious week exploring Sevilla and Granada with a dear friend. Sevilla was rainy and Granada freezing cold but I managed to fall in love with both cities. Sevilla provided cosy indoor fun like flamenco shows, cinema nights and amazing bars and restaurants for when the rain got too much. The people were so friendly, I believed I moved to the wrong city! Except for the receptionist of my guesthouse, who was a grumpy old man. Must have missed that one in the reviews.
I booked an extra day in Sevilla because I just had to see the city bathed in sunlight and I’m so glad I did. I spent an entire day in the palace and its twenty gardens, loving life and connecting with the peacocks that were strolling about. By the time I arrived in Granada, my friend was already sick of the city’s busyness and bad weather, so he booked himself a bus ticket to sunnier Malaga.
I continued to wander the beautiful streets and got in to the Alhambra very last minute. A sweet day was spent soaking up the first rays of sunshine in that cold city, while the Sierra Nevada was blindingly stunning. Being in the Alhambra made me feel peaceful and happy. I remembered my first time there, about 14 years ago. There were hardly any tourists, no waiting in line to take pictures, lots of space to roam and mostly the Spanish language tickling my earholes.
I was couch surfing back then, a fresh 22 year old me, arranging to sleep 2 nights on the floor of an Erasmus student from Berlin who had a room in the center of Granada but no spare mattress or couch. No worries! The first night he took me to a story telling event in the basement of a house in Albaicín and while a man was telling tales of 1001 nights, I fell in love. With that moment, with Granada, with travel me, with all the wonderful people and experiences travelling had offered me already. I ended up really falling in love with a Greek boy and spent 6 weeks in Granada instead of the planned 3 days.
The magic of couch surfing and being open to new connections! You never know who you might meet. It’s definitely been my favourite way of travelling. To be open to whatever might happen, allowing the different people you meet to guide you. The trip you planned on doing will turn out so differently, because you will find out about places not known to tourists, and you will create friendships that make you want to stay longer.
That’s how, after months of travelling through Spain and Portugal back in 2011, I ended up in Sevilla which was going to be my last stop before flying back to Belgium. But instead of exploring yet another new city, I decided to hop on the first bus to Granada to see my friends and Greek lover again. I believe that when travelling and living life in general it's all about the people you meet and surround yourself with. You'll be able to explore that new city, but it might take you 14 years.
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