Confessions of a Serial Wanderer
Adventures, Misadventures, and Everything in Between
Hi! I’m Silvie
Traveler. Observer. Explorer. An endlessly curious soul, who derives the greatest satisfaction by quenching her thirst for finding truth and meaning in life through travel experiences. There’s nothing more enriching for me than getting comfortable with the discomfort, putting myself in foreign lands, surrounded by foreign language, and finding a new home not long after. These are my memos from around the world.
Life’s a trip! Embark on this journey with me!
Traveling. It leaves you speechless then turns you
into a storyteller.
Ibn Battuta
Some wild encounters that put life in perspective…
From jungles to deserts, from ocean depths to mountaintops, worlds’ wonders give much to ponder.
Guanaco
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Salineras de Maras
Penguins in their Habitat, Antactica
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Moai on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Majestic King of the Skies, Mongolia
Each shade, a story. Each border, a question.
Frequently Asked Questions
Just a few quick thoughts on the most frequently asked questions.
A few. 60-something. idk, I stopped counting, really. Why? Because it doesn’t matter. The more I traveled, the more I realized how much more there is to see and how little of it I’ve seen. And how a lot of what constitutes “countries” today are just arbitrarily drawn borders at some point or another. I care more to learn about the culture of the place, the people and the land and what makes them coexist in harmony (cultures and places do have an indisputable symbiosis wherein the place shapes the culture and the culture, in turn, shapes the place – but this is a whole post in its own right). And the more I learned about people and cultures, the less I saw them defined by their borders; and, conversely, borders having so many cultures and sub-cultures, that I can’t say I “know” the place sufficiently by having spent a few days there. Which raises the next question:
NO 🙂 Flying over a country, even stepping foot on the ground for a layover, does NOT count as having been to a country! Heck, I have a hard time including the places where I only spent 3-4 days! It sounds frivolous, but stepping foot on the ground in the airport counts only slightly more than knowing someone from a certain place and saying you know the place. Interestingly, the question “Have you been to (say) Djibouti?” in English translates to: “Coñoces Djibouti”, in Spanish equivalent, which literally means: “Do you know Djibouti?”. So trust me when I say I know the places I have been to, EVEN on a layover 😉
This is by far the most common question I get asked. The short answer is always the same: I could not conceivably choose a favorite! Every place left its unique mark on me, every place was special in its own way, I had such amazing experiences in every place that it wouldn’t do them justice if I were to pick one. But… I could name the most surprising, the wildest, the most transformative, the most underrated, etc.. But even then – it wouldn’t do these places justice to just list them in a rapid fire way, so see a more elaborate answer here 🙂
Haha, I wish were rich (maybe one day). But in the meantime, my motto in life has enabled most of what I’ve accomplished in life – if there’s will, there is a way!
Well… Let me tell ya – I am very adventurous when it comes to experiencing the outdoors and everything most things this world has to offer, but I am quite ‘conservative’ when it comes to certain foods – especially meats. I will eat pretty much anything vegetarian, but going crazy Andrew Zimmern way with bizarre foods isn’t my thing. That said, I have dotingly looked kangaroos in the eye during the day and had a kangaroo meat for dinner – when in Australia… (I suppressed the memory so deep that I don’t even recall if it was a stake or a burger). Other than that, I have had an alligator burger in New Orleans, Louisiana – I wouldn’t do it again.
On the flip side, some of my best discoveries were healthy foods like jackfruit tacos in Bali – those were the best! Haven’t found anything like that anywhere else. As far as cuisine, food in Brazil is my favorite, hands down! Followed by Indian, Thai, Middle Eastern, Ethiopian (disclaimer: haven’t been to Ethiopia yet), Korean, Armenian, Georgian… and ok, fine, guess Italian is fine, too 🙂 (pizza Portuguesa in Sao Paulo rules though).