Two months of Balkan traveling. An interim conclusion on the journey home.

08/19/2023 - 08/20/2023

MARKUS:

I accompanied Tanja for almost two months, now she continues alone. However, you are never really alone when traveling, unless you want to be.

I experience the first real culture shock after almost 22 hours of bus travel (after more than five hours at the external border to the EU, which has truly developed into a fortress) just behind the German border at a rest stop: I'm sitting with a mediocre four euro coffee in my mouth Hand, chatting and laughing with almost thirty people from North Macedonia at tables. Mind you, very few of them knew each other before, everyone already has a day's trip under their belt. But no one is complaining. We drink, smoke and laugh. Camera panning to the left: German drivers sit scattered in groups of two, obediently respecting each other's privacy - preferring to stand rather than sit in free seats next to others - and have isolated, muffled conversations. I share my observation and receive an answer from an Albanian who has been living and working in Germany for six years: "That's how the Germans are, anti-social (he doesn't mean this in a derogatory way, but in the sense of inhibited from communicating). Everyone builds their own security space and that's it "Hello can be seen as an invasion of privacy" (he actually says this almost verbatim and speaks fantastic German). And he ends with a joke that makes me a little proud: "You're a strange German. Two months through the Balkans and now here on the bus. We have to do this, we work in Germany and can't afford anything other than 35 hours Bus ride. But you don't have to and you do it anyway. You're either crazy or a criminal." Those who speak German well enough to understand him laugh. And I was the loudest with it.

What remains after these weeks? - An attempt at catchphrases (with somewhat unobjective generalizations and a bit of a sense of mission;):

(Almost) all people are great. So many encounters with people from different cultures and backgrounds and everyone, really everyone, was warm, open-minded and interested in telling their stories and listening to ours. People are overwhelmingly great!

Help is coming. Are you lost? You don't have the money for an overnight stay or to continue your journey? Help is coming. And always exactly when you no longer expect them. Prerequisite: approach people openly, smile, talk, give away what you don't need at the moment and be helpful and shareable yourself. People like to help. Altruism is a natural instinct. Actually, this conclusion could also be: We reap what we sow.

Nothing is permanent. Time is relative in our own opinion, but a minute always lasts 60 seconds. Everything comes and goes at the same pace. Therefore, enjoy the beautiful moments, be in the present as often as possible and completely with the person who is accompanying you. And when it sucks - and yes, traveling can really suck! - it is very comforting and empowering to know that this time will not last either.

Make a decision. Every model of life is located between the poles of security and freedom and has its value. How we live is up to each and everyone. Just: make a conscious decision and don't just follow a model that "just happens like that".