Anja's exploration of America and Europe

To start – who are you? What in life inspires you and you love doing?
I'm Anja, 28 years old. I like traveling, exploring, organizing trips. I'm not a fan of too crowded places, I'm friendly to the environment and I love having my peace. I like reading novels. I love reading articles on the web that touch me or talk about personal growth and marketing. Love listening to music as well. I love being at home and enjoying some good company.

What are your travel experiences? What type of a traveller are you?
I love vacations and excursions to the seaside. While in secondary school and during my studies I worked mostly on the coast. I also like exotic destinations. In 2013 I went for the first time via STA organization to the USA which was my great desire to go. For the first time I went somewhere much further than usually. I was traveling to New Hampshire. I worked there at the camp in the woods. I really enjoyed being there with young people and gained lots of new experiences. I was attracted by nature, hills, lakes, forests and waterfalls.

Normally I have ideas where I would like to go and the things that I would like to visit there. Based on that I will organize my trip. When coming there I am as spontaneous as possible, and I love to lose myself in the cities, nature... So far, I have been to Europe and America. In the future I want to see Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. Even when I went on a road trip last year in Croatia, I explored the location. The sea is always a good idea for me. I don't have to go far. Beautiful hidden gems are also in Europe. In fact even in Slovenia which I am now discovering more. When I discover and am searching for beauty, I let myself be soaked in it.

Wherever I am, I don't like to stay at one place too long. I want to move around. Even when I went with my husband only for a short break for a few days in Rovinj to Croatia, we went to see some ruins. We did not just swim and stay at our tent. Always be curious, I say.

I know that sometimes more exotic locations are associated with more finances. But this is not always the case. My plan is to take one long trip each year, one short vacation to see more nature and another short vacation visiting the city life. I like adversity. With better organization and ingenuity traveling can also be more affordable. I also follow the blog Wejusttravel where I saw that it's totally possible to go to Maldives for as nearly as 1000 euros for two people for 10 days without the plane tickets if you only adjust your style of travel a little.

Perhaps your best and worst experience on the go?
If I start with the best… me and my husband went to America last year. He went there to work and I went with him. To the state of Utah. There is the Zion National Park which is like »a dream come true«. Seeing it made a really big impact on us. We were staying in the north, these national parks were in the south, so we got up early and drove a couple of hours to get there. There are many hiking trails. Over the weekends parks are very visited. That's why I have searched for less travelled cool hiking trails on the internet through bloggers. They were wonderful and really a lot more peaceful. If I mention only some of the sights... we were camping in Kanab which is also called the Greatest show on Earth. From there we went to see the Bryce Canyon, the Horseshoe Bend which is in Arizona with a 360 degree view of the Colorado River. Lake Powell and Wire Pass Trail were also amazing.

Well, the worst ... But here I will say this: no pain, no gain. My work at the camp in the United States finished and I had to take a flight home from Los Angeles to Italy. Well, first I had to get to the airport at three o'clock in the morning. With a taxi. I knew that I had about 50$ in my bank account and some cash. I was thinking that I might have to split my bill and pay partly with a card and partly in cash, which would probably be embarrassing. Well even more at such a night time. How would this driver look at me? Well luckily it all ended well.

What convinced you to become a volunteer at Hostelling International Slovenia? What did you gain?
I became a volunteer here last summer as my student status was coming to an end. I was browsing the Slovene website prostovoljstvo.org (a Slovene website for projects regarding volunteering) and found this organization. I know that when searching for a job it's also necessary to be proactive, educate yourself, do additional trainings according to your own interests and acquire new skills. I was particularly attracted by the promotion of the organization. So you're a traveller and not a tourist. At the same time you get to know the destinations, you are spreading your horizons and both is intertwined. As I mentioned before, be curious to enrich yourself.

Firstly I wanted to manage the profile on the social network Pinterest but this was already taken by someone else. So I chose Instagram. I like beautiful photos and writing texts connected to them. I can connect quickly with the same minded people also through liking, commenting and using stories. I know that it is necessary to be more responsive and doing it faster. It's recommended to post at least 3 times a week, I do it 4 times. And I'm being consistent with my posts. I am inspired by posts with nice photos and short travelling quotes next to them. People also find stories very attractive. They are interesting and popular for them. I have gained around 100 followers myself in the last 4-5 months. Slowly everything will fall into place. I also find things faster here than on Facebook. Editing the Instagram profile is challenging, I could dedicate more time to it but I sometimes run out of it. Somehow I say that about 80% of the time is supposed to be dedicated to activity and 20% of the time to do the posts. I try to be authentic and give quality content as much as it is possible in today's world. I am of the opinion that I will not follow others if they follow me if their content does not attract me.

Would you like to invite others to join our team?
Yes, it would be great if there would be more people writing about their travel experiences in our articles in the online newspaper Globetrotter. We would have more good content available, more material for promotion and a wider choice what to promote for different categories. Similarly, we would be able to divide the management of a social network by mutual consent between two people if there would be more of us. There’s enough work for all. Foreigners are also invited as we have some volunteers from abroad. Work here is getting done in Slovene and in English language. Today many beautiful photos can also be taken from certain websites where you can download them absolutely for free.

And in the end... plans for the future?
To travel more, to be more daring, to say yes more times, not to look for excuses, to work on my personal growth, to improve. Doing the job I'm interested in, that I really like doing it ... It's always something in life ... or we're writing a diploma, we are looking for a job or changing jobs, we have some kind of project... Priorities must be set clearly because life is short. That's why you need to take time to see the world.

I am tempted to see Yukatan in Mexico where are the remains of the Mayan culture, ruins, jungle, cenotes (caves with fresh water in which it is possible to bathe). Also Central America... here I have in mind Nicaragua and Costa Rica, especially the first one because there’re no tourist crowds. Because of the sea, waterfalls, ruins, in short, there are many options what to see there.

Concrete plans for this year?
That would be a road trip across Bosnia and Albania. People say that Albania is the hidden pearl of the Balkans, they were saying the same about Greece 20 years ago. I am also interested in cities not just the sea. This is my plan for the summer. Well to go for a swim there too but if not also no biggie. If there won’t be any time in the summer, then I will take a trip in autumn. I would also like to explore the Azores, Madeira or Tenerife, also Ireland. I say »a girl can dream«.

I have seen the western and eastern coast of America, their national parks and in Europe in particular, Croatia and Greece. Now I want to spread my wings to some other places. I am not the type of a person who would travel for the same destination for 20 years, such as some go to Rovinj. I feel like I have just started travelling and it's getting addictive.