VIOLETTA PESIN BLOG MARCH 2019: TRAVEL
VIOLETTA PESIN BLOG
MARCH 2019
“TRAVEL”
“TRAVEL”
FOR THIS MONTH’S BLOG OF MARCH 2019, I WILL BE SPEAKING ABOUT TRAVEL.
THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE SAID ABOUT TRAVEL, AS I AM SURE YOU CAN ALSO RELATE WITH YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES.
LET ME START BY SHARING SOME INSPIRING QUOTES ABOUT TRAVEL THAT I FOUND ONLINE.
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comforts of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things. -air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky. -all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese
“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all — the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” – Randy Komisar
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” -Helen Keller
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”― Mark Twain
“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” -Mark Jenkins
THE EXPERIENCE OF TRAVEL IS SOMETHING IN AND OF ITSELF. IT CAN BE STRESSFUL, SUCH AS WHEN PEOPLE ARE IMMIGRATING TO A NEW COUNTRY. IT CAN FEEL FOREIGN WHEN WE EXPERIENCE CULTURE SHOCK. IT CAN BE REFRESHING WHEN THE EXPERIENCE REJUVENATES US, WHICH IS A HEALTHY BREAK FROM OUR DAY TO DAY ROUTINE.
I BELIEVE TRAVEL IS NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT. WHY DO I SAY THIS? TRAVEL EXPANDS US AS A HUMAN BEING. WE SEE HOW PEOPLE LIVE ALL OVER THE WORLD.
SOMEONE ONCE SAID TO ME:
“THE REAL DIFFERENCE AMONG PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD IS MONEY.”
MONEY DETERMINES HOW PEOPLE LIVE AND I BELIEVE THERE IS TRUTH TO THOSE WORDS.
I CHOSE TO SPEAK ABOUT TRAVEL BECAUSE I PLAN TO TAKE A VACATION WITHIN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. MY LAST VACATION WAS IN JUNE 2018 WHEN I WENT TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FOR TWO WEEKS. QUITE SOME TIME HAS PASSED SINCE THEN. I WILL PROBABLY HEAD TO AN ALL-INCLUSIVE BEACHFRONT RESORT, AS I USUALLY DO. I PLAN TO STAY FOR ABOUT TWO TO THREE WEEKS.
I WANTED TO TAKE THIS VACATION MANY MONTHS AGO, AS I HAVE BEEN FEELING QUITE BURNED OUT AND EXHAUSTED. I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO BOOK THIS VACATION BECAUSE OF A LACK OF MONEY. I DID HAVE ENOUGH MONEY IN EARLY DECEMBER 2018 TO BOOK THIS VACATION BUT INSTEAD, I MADE THE DECISION TO USE THAT MONEY TOWARDS OUTSTANDING BILLS THAT I WAS BEHIND ON.
I HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE TO HAVE TRAVELLED TO MANY COUNTRIES. HERE IS A LIST OF PLACES I TRAVELLED TO.
WITHIN CANADA, I TRAVELLED TO OTTAWA, MONTREAL, QUEBEC, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA AND CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.
IN THE UNITED STATES, I TRAVELLED TO NEVADA, CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK, FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN.
IN THE CARIBBEAN, I TRAVELLED TO MEXICO, TURKS & CAICOS, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, CUBA AND JAMAICA.
IN EUROPE, I TRAVELLED TO UKRAINE, ITALY, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, SPAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS.
AND, I ALSO TRAVELLED TO AUSTRALIA.
I WAS FORTUNATE THAT FOR ALL OF MY TRIPS, I WAS SAFE, I WAS HEALTHY, I HAD ENOUGH MONEY TO TRAVEL AND I HAD A STABLE JOB TO RETURN TO. SINCE THEN, CIRCUMSTANCES IN MY LIFE HAVE CHANGED. I MAY NOT BE AS HEALTHY AS I WAS THEN. I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO TRAVEL. I AM SELF-EMPLOYED. BUT, EVEN WHEN ALL THE CIRCUMSTANCES DON’T SEEM TO BE THE GREATEST, IT SHOULD NOT STOP US FROM TRAVELLING, IF WE HAVE THE DESIRE.
CERTAINLY, THESE WERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF VACATIONS. SOME OF MY VACATIONS WERE SPENT ON A BEACHFRONT RESORT, OTHERS WERE ABOUT SIGHTSEEING AND OTHERS WERE FOR ART EXHIBITIONS.
TRAVELLING FOR AN ART EXHIBITION CERTAINLY BROADENED MY EXPERIENCE AND PERSPECTIVE OF TRAVEL ENTIRELY, SOMETHING I NEVER EXPERIENCED UNTIL THAT POINT. I EXHIBITED MY ARTWORK IN BARCELONA, SPAIN AND ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS IN 2016. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I WAS EXHIBITING MY ART ON AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL AND ALSO, MY FIRST TIME VISITING SPAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS. THE EXPERIENCE WAS INCREDIBLE!
EXHIBITING MY ART ALLOWED ME TO OFFER SOMETHING OF MYSELF IN A NEW COUNTRY. TRAVEL WAS NO LONGER JUST ABOUT SEEING BEAUTIFUL ARCHITECTURE OR GOING TO ONE OF THE BEST RESTAURANTS IN A NEW CITY. I KNEW I WAS OFFERING MYSELF TO THAT COUNTRY IN A WAY WHERE THEY COULD CONNECT WITH ME AND REMEMBER ME. I WAS NO LONGER JUST A TOURIST WHO VISITED THEIR COUNTRY AND LEFT. I SHARED MY ART WITH PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY WHICH ALLOWED THEM TO EXPERIENCE THE ART IN PERSON. THROUGH MY ARTWORK, I WAS ABLE TO CONNECT WITH PEOPLE ON A LEVEL THAT I NEVER BEFORE EXPERIENCED IN TRAVEL. TRAVELLING INTERNATIONALLY FOR AN ART EXHIBITION ALSO ALLOWED ME THE PRIVILEGE OF CONNECTING WITH OTHER ARTISTS REPRESENTING VARIOUS COUNTRIES. AT THE SAME TIME, I TRAVELLED WITHIN THE COUNTRY AS A TOURIST. WHEN I REMEMBER SPAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS, THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART FOR THOSE TRIPS.
THERE WAS THIS ONE ARTIST I WAS FOLLOWING ON INSTAGRAM, A SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM. I REMEMBER HIM POSTING THAT HE WAS TAKING VACATION. FROM HIS POSTS, HIS VACATION LASTED ABOUT TWO MONTHS IN THE SUMMER. HE LEFT IN JULY AND RETURNED IN SEPTEMBER.
I THOUGHT, “MUST BE NICE. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO TAKE THAT MUCH TIME OFF AS WELL ONE DAY.”
I KNEW I ALSO HAD THE POWER TO TAKE A VACATION FOR AS LONG AS I WANTED TO.
MY DAD IS IN HIS SEVENTIES. HE RECENTLY TRAVELLED TO AUSTRALIA TO VISIT RELATIVES WE HAVE THERE. HE TRAVELLED FOR ABOUT ONE MONTH.
WHEN HE RETURNED, HE SAID, “THAT WAS THE LONGEST VACATION I EVER TOOK.”
I THOUGHT, “THAT’S ACTUALLY SAD TO HEAR THOSE WORDS FROM HIM.”
NOBODY EVER STOPPED HIM FROM TAKING A VACATION FOR ONE MONTH, OR EVEN LONGER IF HE WANTED TO. ONLY HE PREVENTED HIMSELF.
MY MOM DID NOT VISIT AN ALL-INCLUSIVE BEACHFRONT RESORT FOR MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS OF HER LIFE WHILE SHE WORKED FULL-TIME. SHE RETURNED TO HER HOMETOWN CITY OF ODESSA IN UKRAINE ONLY AFTER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS SINCE SHE LEFT. I CONVINCED HER TO GO SINCE I ALSO WANTED TO SEE THE CITY WHERE I WAS BORN. IF I DID NOT CONVINCE MY MOM TO RETURN, SHE WOULD HAVE PROBABLY NEVER RETURNED TO HER HOMETOWN.
I PHOTOGRAPHED AT SOME OF THE SAME STATUES THAT I HAD PICTURES OF AS A BABY, ALTHOUGH NOW IT WAS THIRTY YEARS LATER. ALTHOUGH I DID NOT GROW UP IN THE CITY OF ODESSA, I FELT LIKE I WAS HOME SINCE MY PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS LIVED THERE. IT WAS ALSO A NICE CHANGE TO HEAR PEOPLE SPEAKING RUSSIAN AROUND ME, AS THE DOMINANT LANGUAGE. THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IS STILL ONE THAT I UNDERSTAND AND CAN SPEAK. I AM USUALLY USED TO HEARING ENGLISH, AS THE DOMINANT LANGUAGE.
I SEE MY PARENTS’ EXPERIENCE AS AN EXAMPLE, WHICH I BELIEVE HAPPENS TO MANY OF US. WE WORK SO HARD FOR MONEY THAT WE FORGET WHY WE ARE WORKING SO HARD FOR IT. AND, IN THAT PROCESS OF WORKING SO HARD FOR IT, WE FORGET TO ENJOY IT. I DON’T REGRET ANY MONEY SPENT ON TRAVEL, AS ALL OF MY TRIPS SERVED A PURPOSE AND ENHANCED MY LIFE.
IN CLOSING, I LEAVE YOU WITH THESE THOUGHTS.
NOBODY GETS TO DECIDE FOR US WHEN TO TAKE A VACATION, OR FOR HOW LONG OR THE TYPE OF VACATION TO TAKE. ONLY WE GET TO MAKE THOSE DECISIONS. IF WE ARE NOT IN FULL CONTROL OF THOSE DECISIONS, WE NEED TO ASK OURSELF WHY WE HAVE GIVEN THAT POWER AWAY OVER OUR LIFE.
VIOLETTA PESIN