I connected with Cristina in a group for women who love to travel. This week, I am lucky to be able to share her story with you all! Cristina tells us what she’s learned about people’s world perspectives and why she thinks all countries are worth visiting. She even lets us in on a personal travel memory. Thanks, Cristina, for telling us your travel tale this Wednesday!
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Tell us about yourself?
Hi, my name is Cristina, I’m 24 years old and I’m from Romania – this is how I should start, but my name weighs nothing if when saying it, it doesn’t bring smiles to people’s faces, or a reminder of that nice girl that helped them. My mind’s age is way past 24 years and I don’t feel I belong to Romania – I’m from everywhere, I am people’s person.
Why do you travel?
I travel because I like meeting new people, hearing new life stories and getting to explore virgin territories for me! I get to learn other ways of living, thinking, surviving, and getting on with life, other cultures and opinions about what they, as a nation, think is right and wrong to do. I learn beauty secrets, fashion ideas and with every trip I improve myself.
How do you balance work and travel?
My job makes it possible but also my driven desire of always traveling. I am a model and I’ve done this for 10 years now. As I’m working as a freelance, I often get short/long period contracts in another countries. I travel based on my contracts and all expenses are payed by the company hiring me. If I’m going for 1 day magazine shooting, usually the companies buys me go and return flight tickets with a period of 5-6 days in between, as I need to do fitting days before shooting, I need to get used to the jet-lag, as well as I need rest after one day shooting, before I travel again. Besides the day of the shooting- that is a full day working, the other days I have time to explore around.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from your travels?
The best thing that I’ve learned from my trips is that my way of living and thinking doesn’t suit everybody’s situation and the way I see happiness is not the same way some people see it. I’ve met people that didn’t agree with the fact that traveling would make you feel free and would teach you different things about nations, people and places, as they thought time with family in their own house and getting to know better the members of their families meant more. I’ve met people that, what I considered little for them meant a lot and I’ve met people that what I thought is a lot for them was nothing. The best lesson I’ve learned is to listen and never judge or try to change a person or a place to your liking, accept them for who and what they are!
The moment I saw Symphony of Lights in Hong Kong, I cried. I don’t get emotional easily and if I’m crying usually it is out of anger or pure, never experienced happiness. It made me feel that everything I went through in my life was worth it, it made total sense of the days I had nothing, the days I was alone, the days I felt so down. The good and bad times I had in my life got together to bring me to this place. This was my prize!
There are no places/ countries/ people better than the others, the difference is that some countries have more money to invest in tourism. You can find amazing landscapes and people in places low advertised in media. Go for what it suits you!
Thanks for reading! Want more travel tips from Cristina and women like her?
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