I'm 10. This Is How a Life of Traveling Has 'Ruined' Me.

3. Food

Travel has ruined my once boring appetite. In a western country, I would have pizza for lunch or other ‘fast food’. Now I have tried much more exciting and exotic food in places like Africa and South America.

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4. Zoos

I’m pretty well ruined as far as ever wanting to go to your average ol’ zoo again. Even the biggest and best zoo in the world doesn’t interest me compared to seeing animals in the wild. In Uganda and Kenya, I saw lions, zebra, buffalo, warthogs, monkeys, baboons, giraffes, elephants, and even hippos all roaming around in their natural habitat.

Photo: Exploramum & Explorason ©Copyright – Exploramum and Explorason

5. Recycling

I used to look at rubbish a different way – that was before I saw what it was doing to mess up the world. Since being in Africa, I have seen locals make amazing art and statues from trash. They even use bottles to make pathways. I can never look at litter the same way again –yep – even rubbish is ruined!

6. Caged Birds

I’ve always really loved birds, and my hobby now is photographing them. My first pet was a pretty blue bird. I could put my finger in his cage and he used to sit on it. But how could I ever put a bird in a cage now that I’ve seen them fly freely – from Toucans in the Amazon to Woodland Kingfishers in Uganda.

7. Movies

You might ask how watching a movie can be ruined for this ten-year-old kid? I’m a kid, so I’ve got to love movies – of course! But I hate it when people make incorrect movies about places. I get there and it is nothing like the movie, and I’m so disappointed. By travelling the world, I get to see what a place is really like. And they are often way better than a movie.

Photo: Exploramum & Explorason ©Copyright – Exploramum and Explorason

8. Art

I used to like visiting Art Galleries, but now most of those days are over. With world travel I have seen so many styles of art, and in so many different countries all around the world, and I love them all. I love to support local artists when we travel too, especially watching them paint in real life. I’ve even had a painting lesson from one of the amazing artists at Montmartre – now that was fun!

9. Animals

Some kids might be happy being led around in a circle on a horse at a fair. Now that would be so dull for me. I’ve ridden a camel for hours on end over several days – even in the Sahara Desert. I’ve swum with Pink Dolphins in the wilds of the South American Amazon. And on some islands we have stayed on there were no vehicles, so we rode a donkey to get around.

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10. Friends

Loneliness is not for me. Even though so many of you think being a kid traveller means that I might be without friends. But the truth is that I have so many friends I can hardly keep up with them because I’m nearly always out exploring the world. I keep on making more friends around the globe too: from Fiji to Brazil, or from Mexico to Spain. I have friends everywhere now.

11. Classrooms

And lastly, I’m going to tell you about World-schooling. When we travel, my Mum organizes for me to learn all about the places we stay and visit. So I don’t have to be stuck inside a classroom. I learn wherever we are.

I’ve had the most beautiful blue sky to look up at in Romania. At night, I’ve laid in the Moroccan desert in a Bedouin Camp looking up at the stars as I drifted off to sleep. I’ve even stomped with my snow-shoes on a night walk in Liechtenstein through the snowy alps, with my feet guiding me to areas I’ve never been before. And as I wandered through amazing places like Machu Picchu, I touched the walls that are alive with history.

Photo: Exploramum & Explorason ©Copyright – Exploramum and Explorason

My life has been ruined. It will never be the same. Thanks to travel, I’m ruined for the better.

Now when I grow up, I can teach people how to treat the world kindly so as to not ruin it, and to help protect what we have so it will be here for my kids to explore as well.