MY PASSION FOR TRAVEL

Since I was a child I have always been fascinated by the idea of discovering new places outside my own country. I was curious to know that there was such a vast world outside the door of my house, and I wanted to travel it as soon as possible. Studying English at school aroused  my passion for this language together with  my interest in all the countries where it is spoken, but in particular Great Britain. Lots of my relatives told me about their adventures all over the world, they showed me photos, videos and they brought me gadgets and I remember being really impressed with what they showed me about London. I don’t know why, probably because I saw that city very different from my village, it seemed another world to me and at that time I was just a 10-year-old girl.

So I started to ask my parents to go to visit London, I dreamed of getting on that strange giant wheel known as the London Eye which seemed to me just a wonderful carousel, I couldn’t wait to see the beautiful palace of the Queen and I even wanted to put on her crown, just to feel like a princess!

Years passed, but my desire of visiting the capital of Great Britain  remained essentially unchanged as I grew up. I was also learning the traditions and customs of the country, and then  those attractions, which as a child seemed so strange to me, began to take their real form, and they continued to captivate me very much … until Christmas 2017!

I had never  travelled abroad before, and my parents knew how much I wanted to have that  experience, so they offered me the flight ticket to London. I was amazingly surprised and extremely happy! Finally my dream would come true!

It was a magnificent trip, I visited most of the city: I took a ride on the London Eye, I walked along the Tower Bridge, I got on the famous red London buses and I admired the imposing beauty of Buckingham Palace, but I couldn't wear the Queen's crown of course!

After that journey my passion for travel got bigger and bigger and it continues to grow. Travelling makes me feel infinite emotions, it makes me feel free, happy and small in such a big world. I believe that every place I go to makes me discover not only new things, cultures and traditions, but also new parts of me I don’t know, and every new adventure is an extra piece that makes me grow, change and discover myself day after day. I  also think that to make a trip is the best way to find serenity in a difficult period in life because you can take care of your brain and yourself, it is like a breath of fresh air after days spent indoors!

The most important thing is not where you go, how or who you travel with, but the approach to everything new  you are about to come in contact with, everything else is less important.

Another aspect which makes me love travelling is the fact that it allows me to "create memories": every place I visited is in my heart forever,  for different reasons, not only because  of its beauty. What I can’t forget is the emotions and sensations those places transmitted to me, the experiences I had, the sense of freedom and airiness they left to me. Whenever something is wrong in my life, when I feel sad or I just want to relive those incredible moments, I just have to think back to the trips I made, see the photos I took or the souvenirs I bought, and immediately a smile appears on my face.

Travelling for me is not only the time when I visit a new city or country, but it is also "a journey of the mind" to those past moments which made me happy and, recollecting them, I feel contented again.

I would like to go back to those moments every day, especially  at the present time, when the Coronavirus is preventing us from travelling and it is forcing us to stay at home. But I hope that all this will pass soon, and in the meantime I console myself by thinking of those happy moments and putting money aside for the trips I will make when we are granted freedom again. I believe that, as soon as possible, I will travel a lot  and I hope that in the future I will have the opportunity to travel abroad too.

I would like to live outside Italy for some time, to learn languages better and to discover  new lifestyles and cultures different from mine. I don't know where exactly, but I'll see what the future holds for me. Meanwhile, I can't wait to be able to pack my suitcase and return to travel safely! So I just keep my fingers crossed!

Irene Panzini,  5^C Linguistico