How I caught the travel bug

“Travelling – it leaves you speechless then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

I love travelling, I really do. Today I want to tell you the story of how I caught the travel bug in the first place.

When I was a child my school or kindergarten holidays would consist of being at my grandparents house in the mountains for skiing or hiking trips, my granddads holiday house at Wörthersee, a lake in Carinthia here in Austria, at home or at my granddads boat once in Greece then for years in Croatia. So while we had no money for fancy vacations or hotels, we still had amazing times wherever we were.

However, it was only when I was eleven years old that I really caught the travel bug. For my eleventh birthday my aunt and godmother invited me to join her, my uncle and my cousin for a city trip to Paris. Unfortunately, I don’t remember much of this trip. I don’t even have pictures of it.* There used to be some, taken by a disposable camera but they have been lost since then. Simply, the good old days of 2005.

There are only a couple of things I remember from that trip. The flight with Air France, I got a portable CD holder and was allowed to take the window seat. I remember entering Galerie Lafayette and how busy it was, seeing the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur and Montmatre. I especially remember my aunt and uncle laughing at the fact that I did not know what all these women at night in the windows were doing. Personally, I think it’s good that I didn’t know this at only eleven years old.

The only other thing I remember about this time is that I enjoyed it so much. I loved flying to a strange city and seeing different things and most of all getting to know the city. From that moment on, I was hooked. I fell in love with travelling. I wanted to see more and more and eventually – I hope – to see the entire world.

So, that’s the story of how the travel bug bit me and so far has not let go. How about you? Did the travel bug bite you as well? Can you remember when you first had that feeling of wanderlust? I would love to hear your stories in the comments.

*Disclaimer: The picture I’m using in this blog post was taken by myself in 2012 when I visited Paris for a second time.