"Wherever you go, go with all your heart" by Confucius

Sometimes, just sometimes new is not always better. This quote originates from a professor as ancient as they get, who comes from a country which already back then had a thriving culture, we Europeans back then could have only dreamed about. The man, who inspired my blog is Confucius. He is the first great Chinese philosopher and the founder of the Confucius school, a way of thinking, learning and living. I first crumbled upon this quote, when I was 18 years old and lived in Qingdao, China for 3 months and went on a weekend trip to discover his hometown Qufu and went to see his school and his cemetery, where he and all of the great minds, that he thought are buried. For me, this quote stands for the way I want to travel, but on the same side also is my reason to travel and moreover the way I try (not always successfully I admit) to live my life to the fullest. For me traveling is not only about checking out the highlights of each country, the places you find in a bucket list book and being swept away of your feet by the wild and exotic nature of some places on this beautiful planet, we call earth. Sure, this is all part of the deal and it’s also always part of my travel. However, my best travels were when I really traveled with all my heart, sunk into the culture, lived and laughed with the locals, tried their “craziest” dish, listened to their everyday worries and tried to at least get a grasp of the country besides its paradise tourist destinations. Of course, this insight is rare and I know to be granted these possibilities is not a given and depends on a lot of conditions, like communication problems and culture differences. However, I truly believe that traveling with these perspectives is twice as much enriching. You always take something home, that you adored in this different culture, something you want to last in your life and it will be the challenge to adapt it to your daily journey.