Did you catch Annapurna Mellor’s interview on the podcast? Anna is an award winning travel photographer and she shared how the best way to travel, especially if you want to get good photographs, is to travel like a local. Traveling like a local is how you are going to really connect with people, to get to know them and capture amazing moments of their everyday lives. It is all about the human connection.

In case you missed Annapurna’s interview you can listen to it here.

To travel is to truly experience the world for yourself. The best way to do that is to let go of any preconceived notions or hearsay and go with an open mind and an open heart. Monique Jöris, a traveler who has been exploring the world since 2013 shared some of her most memorable travel adventures – all intricately tied to the kindness of fellow travelers and helpful locals who made each experience amazing.

From Monique,

In May 2013 I successfully defended my PhD and 2 weeks later I was on a plane. You see, 2 years prior, while I was still pursuing my PhD, I had made a conscious decision to travel the world solo after my graduation – a motivator of sorts. That was 6 years ago and I have not lived in the Netherlands since then.

At first I rented out my house. Then eventually I sold it and now base myself in Ubud, Bali. I have travelled to all 7 continents even though 6 years ago, at the age of 33 I hadn’t even left Europe. There were a lot of factors that enabled me to live a nomadic lifestyle away from my home country – having an employer that let me work remote in my field of work, saving money, cutting out luxuries, owning little to nothing, be willing to leave the stability of a home, family, friends and, by traveling slow and cheap.

I would like to share some of my favourite travel stories from incredible places and people around the world that are dear to my heart. I hope they will inspire some to go and see the world and engage in local culture without fear.

Sydney, Australia

I arrived in Sydney and connected with a friend I had met earlier in New Zealand. We only had one night booked in a hostel and it turned out they were fully booked the following days. Soon we found out that pretty much all affordable accommodation in Sydney was fully booked. We decided to have some food first before trying to deal with that. We went to an Italian restaurant where my friend noticed a piano. He waved to the waitress and said to her ‘If I play a few songs can you give us a discount on the pizza and beers?’ I didn’t know him very well at that point so I had no idea if he even could play the piano. The waitress went to talk to the owner who was her boyfriend and came back to say he agreed. Turned out my friend was a really good piano player and the whole restaurant enjoyed his performance very much. Approaching closing time the waitress sat down at our table to have a chat and asked us where we were staying. So we told her we had not figured that out yet. She promptly invited us to stay with her and her boyfriend. At first we hesitated, we didn’t want to impose but she insisted. Turned out that we ended up staying with them and the sister of the owner of the restaurant for about a week. A few weeks later I even came back to celebrate Christmas and New Year with them. The sister took us away for a weekend to the beaches south of Sydney and we had an amazing time together. Fast forward a few years, the sister moved to the Netherlands and I met her there again. Sometimes you just instantly click with strangers who feel like long lost friends.

A great lesson learn is to sometimes take a chance – you never know what that might lead to.On the way from Sydney to the beaches south of Sydney we stopped at a winery to do a tasting.

Antarctica

When I tell people I travelled to Antarctica, I always get an avalanche of questions. But the one thing that is the most amazing about my travel there, is how and why I went. I am on social media but don’t have a huge following nor do I consider myself as an influencer. Sometimes people think you need a huge following to make an impact but that is not true. By sharing genuine personal experiences and/or photos you can touch and reach people without even knowing it. At least this is what happened to me. I received a direct message on my Instagram from the owner of a company that organises trips to Antarctica asking me if I was free in Dec/Jan that year and if I would like to travel to Antarctica for one month in exchange for photos and videos. He told me he followed me for a while and that he really liked the way I took photos. Please note, I am not a photographer. I just do photography for fun. Naturally at first I thought it was a joke, but it turned out to be real. Four months later I was on a ship crossing the Drake passage to the white continent pinching myself, considering myself extremely lucky. Until this day, my trip still feels like a dream.

The whole experience taught me to always be myself. You might not make an impact on a whole lot of people but sometimes you just need to make an impact on one.A skua trying to steal a penguin egg on Half Moon Island.

Merida, Mexico

On my first day in Mérida, my first day in Mexico I met a man at the park who turned out to be an intelligent Mayan language professor. By talking to him and listening to him, I learned so many things about Mexico, Mayan people and racism.He had not only been conducting interviews with tourist for 20 years in Mexico and Guatemala but also in Europe where he lived and worked for 5 years asking only a few questions regarding their ideas about racism. He told me he found that my fellow Dutch people were the most racist he had met. That may come as a big shock to many people. When I asked him why he thought so, he said that because they all thought they were being tolerant because their country was great and they were unlike other countries. He told me that in his opinion, Dutch people think they are better than everyone else, and that belief lies at the heart of racism.

He told me that even though he is Mayan, has a PhD in Mayan language and wrote several critically acclaimed books on the subject, Caucasians still thought they knew better than him based on things they read written by other Caucasians on the subject. I took a chance and spent 2 days with him, drinking coffee, mescal, and eating great food. I will never forget him and the things we discussed.

Always keep an open mind about the people you meet and interact with. You never know how enriching that experience can be.

Havana, Cuba

When visiting Callejon the Hamel I met a guy who invited me to go dancing. I love salsa I obviously said yes. Turns out he didn’t take me to a club or anything. Instead he took me to the Malecon where we danced to music blasting from his little portable speaker while breathing the salty ocean air. That evening he took me to his grandmother for diner where we ate creole food and his family told me about Orishas. The next few days, I hung out with them, celebrating his birthday and hanging out at the beach drinking rum from little cartons.

Saying yes to proposals from locals will give you unforgettable experiences for sure.

Varanasi, India

I travelled with my boyfriend to India. We stayed in Varanasi for 2 weeks because my boyfriend was taking Indian violin lessons every day. One night he took his violin to the banks of the Ganga and we saw some people on one of the Ghats playing music. There we met a 29 years old sadhu from Nepal. He travelled to Varanasi where he attracted people from all over with his charisma and friendly nature. We visited him 3 nights in the same spot where he shared his knowledge, shared his love for music,  shared tea and some smokes. He told us how he ended up being a sadhu, that he loves Deep Purple and wishes to travel to Alaska one day like the movie ‘Into the wild’. We connected with him on social media and still keep in touch with him in the hopes of meeting him someday, somewhere in the world.Laundry laid out to be dried on the ghats early morning in Varanasi

Penang, Malaysia + Ubud, Indonesia

When I arrived in Georgetown Penang, I met a girl from Norway and we decided to go out for diner. While we were walking around town, she told me how she had met some really cool musicians in an antique shop earlier in the week and suggested we go together to see them again. Turned out we didn’t have to go too far because we met them on the street as they were also walking around. The next 5 days I spend my evenings in Georgetown with them, drinking coffee and beers while listening to their music. It was a diverse group of people every night, but the core was the owner of the antique shop, two guys from Indonesia, a guy from Turkey and a girl from Sweden. Unfortunately, it was soon time for me to move on, but we all stayed in touch. Fast forward 2 years, I found myself back in Ubud and met one of the Indonesian musicians again. We hung out a few evenings and I went to see some of his performances. We found ourselves falling in love and 3 years later, I am based Indonesia with him. He is my true love and favorite person in the world.Saying yes to impromptu plans can sometimes turn your life completely around.

Shiraz, Iran

On a trip to Shiraz Iran, we were looking for a coffee place, which is quite a hard thing to come by in Iran. A young couple approached us asking if we needed help and they pointed us in the direction of a place where we could get a coffee. After a few moments the man came back to us and asked if we would like to have dinner with them that evening in their house? Without a moment’s hesitation, we said yes, and that evening they picked us up and drove to their home. The thing in Iran is that people are genuinely interested in what life is like outside Iran. They also want to know what tourists think about Iran after actually visiting the country and how it is different from their ideas before their trip. We had a great time with them discussing these kinds of things and it felt like visiting old friends. They were very proud to serve us a traditional dish of sheep head and feet (kaleh pacheh), which was a bit of a shock to say the least. I can’t say I really liked it, but we ate every last bit of it.

A lot of times we think the world is a scary place and people are not trustworthy. But this is far from the truth. Most people are kind and generous with their time and resources and this mindset leads to some amazing adventures.The traditional dish of Kaleh Pacheh that was served to us.

Kalaiya, Nepal

The first time I heard about Gadhimai I knew I wanted to visit and experience this festival. Gadhimai Festival in Nepal is a Hindu religious event that takes place every 5 years. Animal sacrifice is offered to Gadhimai. Millions of people come to celebrate this festival in a field with no real facilities. It was chaotic and at some point on the festival grounds close to the Gadhimai temple it got so busy that it was impossible to decide for yourself to go in any direction, the masses would just take you. However, soon after I arrived two young boys approached me out of curiosity and decided to adopt me for the day. I was really grateful for this because I was quite intimidated by the sheer amount of people there. They took me to the food stalls, a Ferris wheel and other attractions along with the sacrifice of the animals in the surrounding fields. Explaining as much as they could and truly keeping me safe from being trampled on, they were there for me throughout the day.

In the end it was an incredible experience of a culture so different from mine. As much as this festival is about religious sacrifice of animals, it is also about spending time with family and enjoying life. I was surprised I didn’t feel horrified by all the death, but rather saw this event bringing people together.At dawn people started walking in the fields, crossing small rivers towards the temple of Gadhimai. Some brought their own goats and cooking utensils to be able to cook them up after the sacrifice.

Irkutsk, Russia

Right after I stepped into a church in Irkutsk I was approached by a man.  He told me that he lived there and was a local and asked if I liked taking pictures, pointing to my camera. I said yes and asked if I could take a few. After 5 minutes he came up to me and said he had a present for me and asked me to follow him. He took all the way up to the top of the church where the big bells were hanging. It had a great view of the city. One story below he showed me his room and how he plays the bells. His name was Andrej, he lived in this church for 5 years and he had a pet pigeon with a broken wing. On my last morning in Irkutsk at 9 am when I was waiting for the tram to bring me to the train station I heard him play a song.

I will always remember Andrej when ever I think of my travels in Russia.The church where I met Andrej.

Sao Paolo, Brazil

In Sao Paolo I couch surfed with a local family. At some point they were skyping their daughter who lives in France, and one by one they all left the room and I ended up chatting with her alone. The mom brought home all the sweets you can imagine exist in Brazil for me to try. As a thank you for all that they did for me, I cooked a traditional Dutch dish (Hutspot with sausage), they liked it so much that I wrote down the recipe for them to try. After I left for Iguazu, they sent me pictures of them making the dish themselves. When they found out I was going to take a bus from Iguazu all the way to Bonito (close to the Pantanal on my way to Bolivia), they insisted I would take a plane. There was no reasoning with them that I would be fine on a bus. Turned out their other daughter works for a Brazilian airline, and she arranged a free flight, all I had to pay for were the taxes. She met me at the airport with a farewell giftbag from her mother and made sure I got on the plane alight.

The generosity of the people was truly astonishing and I hope I can visit them again in the future.The Dutch dish I cooked.

Traveling alone or traveling as a solo woman travel can be scary at times. But though all my adventures I have found that people are kind, generous and want to look after you. Of course, not all experiences are always this pleasant. The thing to remember is to be smart and safe but also say yes to adventures – you never know where things might lead.

Thank you Monique for sharing your adventures. Your wonderful experiences certainly alleviate some of the fears of traveling alone for a lot of us. Like you said, be smart and safe but also be open to experiences that force you to step outside your comfort zone.

{Words and photos by Monique Jöris, Instagram: @m00tj3}

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