What gives value to travel is fear

by Anastasiia Petrenko (Ukraine)

A leap into the unknown Greece

Albert Camus said that fear adds value to travel. At the time of reading this phrase, I did not quite understand what he had in mind and naturally did not agree with the great prose writer, but I remembered the phrase. Now, after two years of my journey, where fear was my faithful companion, I undoubtedly understand what he meant by that. Imagine a girl, about 18 years old, who went to seek luck in a foreign country. She spent days preparing for the trip, thinking through every step and word, but the reality was still not the same as in her colourful dreams. The company from which she was travelling inspired confidence, worrying about each preparatory stage of the trip and provided contact information for representatives of the company where she was going to work. And so, having come a long way to her destination, she is standing at the airport all alone. Her hair is dishevelled, her eyes sleepy, and her heart makes her pulse faster and faster because no one met her upon arrival, her contact phone number didn’t pick up the phone, and no internet and complete not knowing what to do made her go astray. After asking people how to get to her hotel, she understood that there was only one bus that goes to the place where she needs to, but from the final stop, she had to stomp another 5 km along the roads that are located in the mountains. The case was a loser, taking into account the fact that it was evening and it was getting dark pretty quickly. Fear captured her thoughts so much that every second ways to solve the situation flashed through her mind, but they blinked so fast that it was difficult to grasp. Yes, she had undeniable experience in changing places of residence, schools and groups, but she was clearly not prepared for this. She is alone, in a foreign country and there is no one to expect help from. The only solution is to take a taxi, paying all her savings. But there is nothing to do. After spending 3 hours at the exit of the airport in the hope that they would come for her, she realized that there was no particular choice. The girl took a taxi and the scenery changed instantly. She saw an incredibly gentle sea, beautiful buildings, an unusually beautiful plant, and a taxi driver told her about the places that must be visited during the trip. Having finally arrived at the hotel, company employees met her and apologized for the situation, but physical and emotional fatigue was so great that she did not listen to them. Having entered the room, having taken a shower and calling relatives, she fell onto a fresh bed and instantly fell asleep. In the morning, finding herself in a beautiful hotel, she did not believe that all this was with her. Being a pretty “homemade” child, she was able to get out of the situation. Yes, this is not the biggest problem that can be with a change of residence. But for her, it was already an indicator that she alone was responsible for her life and that she could bear it. As you probably already understood, this girl is me. And of course, this was only the beginning of my trip, and then other obstacles that happened to foreigners awaited me, but I passed them much more confidently. Albert Camus was right. Fear really means a lot when travelling. We give up everything that is familiar to us and go generally to another world, to gain experience and knowledge. It is because of such feelings as a fear that we are so excited that any event can make a very strong impression on us that will undoubtedly affect us and our worldview as a whole. All that we need on the journey lies in ourselves - the ability to learn, to be sincere and open to new things, to observe and adopt something for ourselves. And the journey, in turn, will help us regain ourselves.