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#travel #solotravel #tripplanning #adventure #challenge
A man’s character is his fate.
Have you ever played “Who am I”? It’s my favorite game, and the rules are quite straight-forward. You select a person you represent – you are this person for the duration of the game. People around you can ask only yes-or-no questions, and you are bound to answer truthfully (to your best knowledge). As long as a player asks questions that are answered with “yes”, they get to keep on asking. The moment the answer is “no”, it’s the following player’s turn.
I love playing it with my friends, because the moment someone guesses the right character, everyone reverts to questions asked, and mostly finds something funny or oddly satisfying about it. In fact, why not make it a game now! But I will have to change the rules at this point, in order not to torment my faithful readers – questions will be open-ended. Alright, let’s go!
- What is your name?
- Why the difficult questions right off the bat? My name is Igor. Most people I know simply call me Iggy – and that’s become a part of my identity. Anyway, the name Igor stems from the Nordic name Ing, which means hard-working farmer. And guess what, I was born on a Monday morning! Onomatologically and astrologically… This is my character (read: fate).
- How young are you?
- Ah, I love this question! Most people I know believe that everyone has a note of oldness within. I doubt that, and luckily, signs work to my favor. I believe a man is as young, not as their birth certificate says, but as their brains say. So, I guess I’m like… 13. Maybe 13 and a half. But I’ve been living on this planet for 32 years, you do the math.
- Where are you from?
- Difficult questions again, seriously? Well, I was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In fact, at the time of my birth, I’m quite sure it still used to be Yugoslavia. But anyway, I don’t believe in being “from” a place. “From” is past, and we live in the present, moving towards the future. A better question would be “Where are you to?”, if you know what I mean.
- Where are you to?
- Not every future step needs to be uncovered. But I’ll give you a hint: two countries in Western Europe.
- What if the road takes you elsewhere?
- Then four countries in Southern Europe.
- What do you do for a living?
- I blog, apparently! Other than that, I work as a project manager, and part-time as a business and marketing consultant and travel agent. Sometimes I feel like a Swiss army knife. Hmm, Swiss… (Writes the destination down.)
- Who is your role model?
- I don’t have one. But the closest person to a role model that I have is myself. In difficult moments, people usually ask what would person X do. In my case, it’s more like “what would I do”. I’m not saying this is the right approach, but I was never introduced to a better one – and this one’s been working since forever, so I stuck to it. Really helps me out.
- Where did you find the courage to travel alone when you were 7? And what were you thinking?!
- The easier question first – I was 7, so I guess I wasn’t thinking at all. And sometimes, not thinking keeps us alive and kicking. And supports us on our road forward! My goal at that time was to spend more time with my grandparents, not to wait for my parents to be available to chaperone me. I achieved it the same night.
- If you could choose to be anyone for a day, who would you be?
- Other than myself? Why would I ever choose to be anyone else?
- People like to imagine themselves in new roles, to forget about their day-to-day lives and tasks.
- Let me tell you an anecdote. Recently, I was taking part in a workshop, where the exposition was planned so that all the participants would create stage names and stage personalities for themselves. Mine was the same age as me, with the same background as me, but I had to modify the name a little bit – I chose Ing Johansson. Not everyone is cut out to be someone else. And why would anyone be anyone else. Let’s all be ourselves! In fact, there is only one of each and every one of us out there – why waste it on being someone else’s copy?
- Do you find yourself to be intriguing?
- Not one bit.
- Do others find you intriguing?
- Why is that?
- I speak from the heart, and my actions are always in line with my thoughts and words. I believe people are used to discord among these categories.
- What’s your favorite country that you’ve lived in so far?
- Since Yugoslavia split up like 5 times since I was born, I guess that adds quite a volume to my choice pool, haha. But still, USA is USA. It’s the first place on Earth where I felt freedom and belonging. And home. Also, so many natural and man-made beauties lying out there for everyone to grasp. Absolutely wonderful!
- What’s the second place where you’ve felt home?
- Jordan! One of my favorite countries in the Middle East. Filled with wonderful and hospitable people. And marvelous food, I must add! After that, Cyprus and France really felt like home. Germany as well, but most likely because I already have family and friends there. Since last week, Malta also. But, in general, when you’re self-aware and mentally grown-up, any place will feel like home – because in all of them, you will get to be who and what you already are.
- What are your goals for 2023?
- Remember when I said not everything should be laying out there for anyone to see? I am already planning a number of new countries to visit. Some of them are regular travel destinations – but whenever in doubt, I will always give priority to the ones “off the beaten path”. Also, you can check my 2023 goals in the About page.
- What brainfood can your readers expect in the near future?
- Malta was a great experience for me, and I’d love to share the story of Malta in at least one more of my following posts. My birthday in Paris was not something I managed to share yet, so a couple of Paris posts are a must. Jordan really changed my life – can’t go without at least one or two posts. But most of all, since I’ve had countless comments of gratitude for helping people reach a better version of self, or becoming braver and daring, I believe constant nudges in this direction will be inevitable. At least twice a month! So, all in all, increased writing activity is the way to go.
- Any Holiday wishes for your readers?
- I wish you to dare. I wish you to do whatever you were fearing, or whatever was holding you back. Toss yourself into the ocean of greatness. It will not be easy, but you will enjoy every step of the process. And your future self will love you for that!
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