I tore this from the Tarom (Romanian airline) flight magazine on a recent cheap, 40 minute, internal flight from Timisoara to Bucharest, and have transposed it:
The Traveler
"I've met an enormous number of tourists up to this point, but rarely have I met travelers. Those who take the road pushed by a relentless thirst, all alone, dragged forward by a lust to run away and not by opportunity or other's motivation. They are the people who, upon return, when they tell you about their adventures, they whisper, in a frugal manner, as if speaking about those places would take their magic away. They are the ones who come home with brute stones, with rumpled drawings received from a street artist, with a broken sea shell or a jar full of whatnots, that for them, gathered and and locked under a plated cover, mean the world.
They are few, you recognize them by the light in their eyes that turns on when someone tells them about a hidden city, abandoned ruins, virgin forests or untouched places surrounded by mystery and authenticity. And you never know when they come, nor when they go and how many worlds they traveled up and down, you can only guess by reading the wrinkles left by the sun and wind on their happy faces.
We have a lot to learn from travelers. To learn how to get lost, to forget our luggage at home, to stop planning, to turn off the map, to let go of uncertainty, doubt and fear of the unknown. Happiness is there, we just need to stop calculating less like a nitpicker when we reach it, where will be staying and does it also come with a bed & breakfast. Let's be travelers. A plane ticket and a lot of relaxation. That is all we need."
Olivia Vereha
