Indonesia: One of my TOP Choices of Traveling
Being a teenager who grew up in different cities and countries is not easy. It makes me feel like I’ve lost my sense of belonging to a particular place. But, I believe I am not the only one. I see it as an advantage as it allowed me to experience more about the world, be open to new ideas, cultures and beliefs and meet a lot of interesting people. I found that traveling is my passion and I have started traveling six years ago. Yet, I have never explored Indonesia closely as a traveler as I always do it in a comfortable touristy way. Ironically, my Belgian friend whom I met on my traveling in Laos has seen Indonesia more than me and my neighbor and his wife from Australia told me that “Indonesia is beautiful”. His wife who has traveled around Indonesia, shared her traveling experiences with me through all the beautiful photos she has taken, which make me want to explore my home country and to know more about the people and culture. It is a shame that those people from other countries can treasure our home country more than us. If they can survive in Indonesia, why can’t we?
In this article, I want to share with you my opinion why Indonesia is one of my top choices of traveling. Indonesia is a beautiful country and to see its beauty, you have to sacrifice a lot of things, like the old saying there is nothing comes easily, everything has to be earned.
Are you are traveler or tourist?
I always ask myself before I start a journey: am I a traveler or a tourist? I consider myself more as a traveler. I always want to meet new people during my travels, to see places, to know cultures, and to always expect the unexpected. In reality, traveling is about adapting to new cultures and meeting new people. Along the way of course you will meet a lot of ‘weirdos’ or even worse than that. It is because there is no place that can guarantee you a perfect safety in this world. Wherever you go, there will always be bad people and scams but it all depends on how you bring yourself and be street smart.
Bumpy roads, insecure feelings, frustrations because you can’t find transportation from one place to another, or lack of information about the destination can become excuses for you not to visit a place. However, I believe with technology nowadays not only that you can find information on the internet, you can also exchange experience with others about different places that you have have visited. For example, the website http://indonesiantravelbloggers.com – provideds such facility of knowledge exchange. With this knowledge and in combination with some common sense, you will be fine whenever you are going traveling.
Well, if you are not ready, don’t be shy to be an ordinary tourist (and agree with the article ‘Indonesia: Not My top choices of traveling’). You can just go to any travel agents and be a victim of mass tourism, get someone to guide you everywhere and tell you what or where to go or having all the activities scheduled for the next few days. It seems really easy and comfortable and that’s why everything is charged more expensive. In my opinion, tourists just want to see what they want to see in the most comfortable way in a short time period. Like what my friend always say ”If life gives you lemon, make lemonade out of it”. But I am not like that as I am a traveler. And to me, traveling is about the whole experience, good and bad, which is of course priceless.
Nevertheless, I don’t need to say much to convince you that Indonesia is indeed one of my top choices of traveling. Just enjoy the photos in this article. Now, can you tell the world and promote you country? Let us see what the world will say about Indonesia.
“A wise traveler never despises his own country” – Carlo Goldoni.
Photos taken by Fransisca Barnes.
Editorial note:
This article that is titled "Indonesia: One of my TOP Choices of Traveling" was submitted in response to an earlier published article: "Indonesia: Not My Top Choice for Traveling". We thank the authors of both articles for their constructive opinion pieces.
