Biggest Life and Travel Challenge – Part 2

You have been volunteers at Hostelling International Slovenia for several years. How did you find out about the organization and why do you still collaborate with them?

We have really been volunteers for a while now and sometimes we are more, sometimes less active. My friend Anja, who was already a volunteer there at the time, told me about the association and later on Jure also joined. It definitely brought us some interesting acquaintances. Last but not least, we took advantage of staying at HI hostels in Australia and Japan, where we were really impressed with them.

The most photogenic place?

Wow, we don’t know how to pick just one. The ones in Slovenia are definitely Velika planina in spring, Soča valley, the hills in Jeruzalem, fields in Prekmurje, Karst and our beautiful short coast.

Abroad in these terms, we have Japan and China, definitely India, the underwater world in the Philippines and Indonesia, architecture on the Spanish and Greek islands, amazing views of Madeira, the diversity of wildlife on safaris somewhere in Africa…

Which travel apps are on your mobile phones?

Hahaha, we are not that modern, so we only use Google Maps.

One or two interesting facts about you?

We both had completely different ideas about our future as children. The fact that, until college, we both trained and competed in two different sports (one played football, the other played volleyball, you be the judge who played what). We stopped eating meat two years ago. We've been a couple for almost half of our lives.

Where did you experience the greatest poverty? How are the authorities trying to eliminate it?

The greatest poverty? Well, we don't know. We have seen many forms of poverty, even the ones that we think is poverty, but it is not poverty at all.

We remember when we arrived in LA late at night. It was like in a movie; people slept together by the road covered with cardboard, there was a man lucky enough with a tent here or there, some were leaning on full shopping carts, again others were warming themselves by the barrels from which sparks of fire were flying. We couldn’t believe we were seeing this in one of the richest countries in the world. This trend continued even then in Hawaii.

We also experienced poverty in India which did not leave us indifferent. Again hundreds of people along the road, so skinny we could see every rib of theirs, some with such a bitter look that we stared fixated into their chests, wondering if they were still breathing.

We must also mention Africa. During our trip in Tanzania we visited a local orphanage where we brought school supplies, some clothes and toys. That orphanage was built for children whose parents died of HIV and quite a few children were infected themselves. We spent one morning with them. I, Simona, haven’t felt so much sincerity, warmth and desire for affection in a long time, if ever. When the time came and we had to say goodbye and drive to the airport, my tears flowed in streams.

Then we have countries that we think are poor, like countries in Southeast Asia. It’s true that most people there don’t have such big and beautiful houses, they don’t have the latest cars and cell phones worth hundreds of euros. Still they are happy and content with their lives. When we buy vegetables and fruits right there at the local market, it never occurs to us to bargain with that old woman for one euro, at best we give her some more.

Where did you use couchsurfing? The best and worst experience with it?

We've had more worse than good experiences with couchsurfing. Although we really tried with the messages and edited our profile, we got very little feedback and most of it was negative. Plus if anyone just virtually agreed for us to stay at their place, they canceled the deal a day or two before our scheduled arrival. So we completely abandoned this method a few months after starting our journey around the world.

A moment during travelling that made you laugh to tears?

Again, we can’t decide on a single moment. Though we can tell you our motto when something bad and unforeseen happens: we ask ourselves when will it become funny. Those four days when they lost my luggage and I waited for it was horrible and now I just smile at that. We landed in Bali, I had my flats and a dress on, I had no spare underwear, let alone a swimsuit. All I had were flats, so the next day I started walking barefoot. I wore Jure's underwear, people started avoiding me on the third day at the reception because I always lost my temper on the phone and burst into tears. It’s funny to me today, but it wasn’t back then.

We also laughed to tears when I forgot our passports when buying local sim cards at the store. After it was all arranged at the store, we went to dinner when all of a sudden this new local phone number rang. Jure answered and they told us that our passports were waiting for us in their shop. The first moment, of course, was a shock to us, as we realized that this could end quite badly, but the very next moment we laughed to tears.

Do you have any tricks when packing?

We roll up our clothes. We try to pack as little as possible. We always put a spare T-shirt, underwear and a toothbrush in our hand luggage. We always wear the biggest piece of our clothes on the day we are boarding on the plane.

See you next time for the next part…