Travel contributed a fair portion of what and who I am today. It stretched my horizon, literally speaking. When I was 29, I went on a backpacking holiday in Europe alone. Backpacking is the word used by travelers who cannot afford hotel accommodations. If you read between the lines, you get my drift. A segment of that adventure took me on a Eurail ride from Paris to Madrid with 5 other passengers in the same cabin with 6 beds. The trip lasted more than 12 hours (overnight). We were a small United Nations in that cabin: a French, an Arab, a Swede, a Spaniard and me. It was one fun ride for me because I speak little of all their languages. I speak 𝘶𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘶 𝘥𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤̧𝘢𝘪𝘴 because I self-studied it just so I could get by being a tourist in France. I speak a bit more Arabic because I worked in Saudi for five years and I picked up 5 years worth of the language. I speak 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘚𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘬 because I worked in a Swedish company and worked with Swedes in Saudi. And Spanish, 𝘱𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰, because I watched 𝘿𝙤𝙧𝙖 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙧.

We had world events and world peace on our conversation plate for most of the time, missing sleep. Plans were also laid out in case the sun finally explodes and we’re stranded in total darkness. Words to that effect.

We are to be blamed for what the world is facing right now because of the decisions we made during that train ride.

It’s really a small world. We just have to communicate best, which requires listening to understand one another.

Here’s to world peace. Cheers! #MyCafeNotes