7 years traveling around the world - What I learned

On the 21st of January I will celebrate 7 years traveling.

Time to draw conclusions has come, it's time to review a series of events that in these unique and unforgettable 84 months traveling (Oh God! 84months) brought me up to here.
With a backpack, which has been lost in the meantime we do not know where in Quito, a computer and a pair of glasses with now scratched lenses, I walked slowly making a world tour that started as a race against time and which, turned out to be a walk between cultures, peoples and amazing historic and geographical sites.

In 2012, after a year traveling, I wrote a series of things that I learned during the first year of solo travels. At the time I did not know that this year would be extended until today.

Has something changed? My feelings and my way of living  the journey has undergone changes that I can retraced in my way of being?
Maybe not, maybe what I learned, because now part of my cultural background, today are part of me, but surely there is always something that you learn even when you don't want.
And so here are the things that in this journey , started in January 2011, I learned and that I will cherish forever with me.

The journey has taken a different direction than expected, the roads I've taken have little to do with what I had imagined. I met many people who have made me think, who taught me something that is worth remembering forever, who trusted me (even before myseld), those who have disappointed me, who made me fall into an abyss from which it seemed difficult to come up and also who offered a helping hand to stand again.
All lessons of life more than travel. One important lesson? We have to deal with situations with an open and friendly mind ... the rest will follow.

What I learned in seven years of solo traveles

• That only those who believe in what they do can succeed
• That things don't happen for chance events
• That my intuitions rarely goes wrong
• That is worth to trust people, and if you feel hurt then it's their problem, not yours
• That is more beautiful travel slowly
• That sometimes cultural differences can be a huge limitations
• That cultural differences are a wonderful opportunity to meet other people and learn a different way of thinking and living
• That we should not be afraid of the unknown, this is precisely what gives you the most beautiful and precious moments
• That things that go wrong on the road at the end are those who will always remember with a smile
• That if you do not find opportunities at home ... there are thousands out there
• That positivity pays off, always
• That I believe in the law of attraction
• That I don't need much to be happy
• That we are animals, and, as such, we adapt to whatever situation
• That Italian food is the best in the world
• That the most glorious but also hard continent to travel is Africa
• That the only expectations you should listen to are yours and not the others's
  That every person I met has a value and an important meaning
• That true friends are, and I am too, forever
• I now have many friends around the world and the next trip will be dedicated to them ... so I'm going to find them out wherever they are
• We all have our past that affects us and sometimes we should let it go for what it is and live better our present
• That you, only you, you are the designer of your destiny
• That my favourite Countries are Burma, Bolivia, Guatemala and Ethiopia
• I do not like New York
• That I love the sea and don't like mountains
• It doesn't matter I'm a backpacker, I have a duty to take care of myself. I am a woman before being a traveler
• I have fantastic parents
• I have two sisters who love me
• That I have to eat everything ... even what I don't like
• That a smile works all over the world even when you can not communicate in words.

84 months ... thousands of people met, thousands of kilometers clocked up.
So many broken things. So many things lost. So many things earned ... those really important.

Those who are in my heart and in my mind and will keep for long time.
The memories that no one will ever steal. A way of living and experiencing my life healthier, essential and probably better.
Seven years on the roads around the world solo but never alone.

Thanks to those who I've had the pleasure to meet, thanks to those who have followed me so far, those who came to see me just to spend some time together, thanks to those who gave me the strength with email, words or comments, to continue in this adventure even when, I thought, I wasn't able to make it anymore, remembering that the value of what we do is in what our eyes see, our brain stores and processes and  our words exert.