I remember it perfectly, the day roaming became free all over Europe. It was my second trip alone and I was in Hungary. I didn’t used to travel alone. I was afraid of not finding the places, getting bored, missing the train. However, I had already had an experience traveling alone that had not gone badly at all. I was in India, doing a Jobshadowing in Himachal Pradesh, and decided to take an extra week to explore the country a bit more, so I opened the book I was reading at the time (Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramansha Yogananda) and saw that it talked about a place called “Varanasi”, bought a plane ticket, booked a hotel and stood there, with my backpack and my fear of the unknown (both quite bigger than my back). I couldn’t say that everything would have gone smoothly, it took me a while to find the hotel, the monsoon fell on me as the plane flew and I arrived in New Delhi pinging and in the early hours of the morning. But I can say that I proved to myself that I could travel alone, that nothing happened, that I could enjoy and discover and get to know the place much better if I gave up the comfort of the group.
So when I had the opportunity to go to Hungary I decided to take a couple of days to visit Budapest. And it was there, in the middle of Budapest, when I could surf the internet with my mobile phone, when I could open google maps and search for “the most beautiful cafeteria in the world”, “the best bar in the world” and “the most charming spa in the world”. Yes, they were all in Budapest. I fell in love with the city, where I could finally wander around without fear, without more company than a little music and google maps. I was able to search for routes not only on foot but also by public transport. I can say that it has been one of the best trips of my life and I knew that I would no longer be afraid of not arriving, of getting lost, of not finding places. And that I could travel with people, of course, but I could and would enjoy traveling alone with google maps in my pocket.
Then a big community opened up, I started reading the contributions of the local guides, I started to discover more places, I started to feel every place in the world as my own home. And I also wanted to be part of that, I wanted those who came to my land to be able to discover with my hand the hidden corners, the best dish of the bar, the best park to go for a walk on a Sunday. Places that don’t seem special, that won’t appear in a tourist guide or a newspaper article, but that will make the world feel a little more like home.