Life Around the Planet

Once a week I hope to post an interview from a local I have met during my travels. I hope you enjoy reading their answers to my questions! Please feel free to lend me your feedback! What question(s) do you enjoy reading about? What question(s) do you think I should add? Like, Comment, and Share to see more!

Local #1: Pamela

For the past year I have been following my friend Scott’s travel blog, Travelstache.  When he was in Croatia he met up with Pamela.  They met via social media and were both travelers so Pam decided to host him in Zagreb.  They got along well and decided to road trip around Southeastern Europe and even over to the Middle East.  As I was following along their adventures I commented on one of his pictures saying that he inspired me to travel to Croatia.  Pam saw my comment and told me to contact her if I ever made it to Zagreb… A year later I messaged her on facebook and said, “I don’t know if you remember me but I told Scott that I would be traveling to Croatia after I saw all of his pictures and you told me to contact you if I go to Zagreb.  If you are around, would you be willing to host me or show me around?” She said yes and a few days later our own adventures began.

We quickly connected and after she realized how awesome I am (you can already notice her sarcasm rubbed off on me) she told me she had a few days off from work and wanted to tag along.  We were discussing some tentative plans when all of a sudden she received a text from a friend. Her friend, Domagoj, helped organize a volunteer camp that helped the refugees after they cross the border from Serbia into Croatia.  So for the next several days we choose to volunteer instead of travel South together and you can read about that adventure on an older blog post from volunteering.

After volunteering, we came back to Zagreb to relax, hangout, and talk more about life.  It rained for 4 straight days, but that did not stop us from walking around Zagreb and going to some of her favorite places to eat.  We talked about my blog and I told her how I planned to interview people along the way and if she wanted to be the first person I interviewed.  She helped me formulate some of the questions and below are her answers to the questions! Enjoy!

Bio:

=Name: Pamela also known as Skinny Chick Traveling

=Age: 29

=How did we meet?: You were my fan. I always try to make time for my fans. Rest is history 😀

=Where were you born? In a small but very old city in south Croatia called Metković

=Where did you grow up? When I was a teenager my family moved to Croatian capital Zagreb

=Where do you live now and why? Zagreb, Croatia cause it’s a long story 😀

=Tell me a little more background information about yourself? (for example about your childhood and or life in general.  Anything you want to add about yourself)

What’s the secret to keep this short, interesting but leave enough personal mystery for the in person interaction?! 😀

Born into a traditional Balkan very dysfunctional family – result – more issues then Vogue. Have an 8 year older sister who taught me how to read when I was 3 years old with help of Virginia Wolf. Moved to Zagreb in a truck in 1997, the same year I had a very bad hip injury while rollerskating. Fell in love with tourism since age 13 so did whole education in that direction. Also studied English & Russian language. Got engaged on my 21st birthday, never got married 😀 In 2010 instead of visiting a friend in London decided to go on a hithhciking race from Zagreb to Istanbul with 15 people I’ve never met before – changed my life completely!  The travel bug became incurable.

Define Passion (non-romantic passion)

Strong deep emotion I can’t live without. Can’t define it better than that 😀

List 3-5 of your passions: 

– life

– humans

– travelling

– hitchhiking

– music

In your own words, what does it mean to be successful?

To be happy, in peace with yourself and aware and kind to other beings.

What does being happy mean to you and or define happiness?

To be aware of all the pain within yourself and world around you and still be able to see positive things in everything and smile. It’s the hardest to achieve but most rewarding capability.

What is/are the most important thing(s) in life?

Spiritual growth which leads to acceptance and love of yourself which transfers while interacting with other human beings.

What is your biggest accomplishment in life and/or what else do you wish to accomplish in life?

My biggest accomplishment so far is the dedication to work on myself and to be a better person and change I wanna see in the world.

One thing I wish to accomplish is for my family to be proud of me and supportive.

Short-term goals?

Make the current dream come true in Central America.

Long-term goals?

Save the world and have a home away from home for travelers a.k.a hostel.

Favorite quote(s)?

Ugh, too many put here are just a few 😀

“It’s not about being a tourist. It’s about experiencing true risk and adventure so you don’t have to live in fear for the rest of your life.“ J. Goins

„Sometimes I’m terrified of my heart; of it’s constant hunger for whatever it is it wants. The way it stops and starts“ E.A. Poe

“I drank to drown my sorrows, but the damned things learned how to swim.“ F. Kahlo

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be and how would you suggest changing it?

Can I have two? 😀 Awareness and understanding for the unknown it would lead to more love and peace between us. How would I make it happen?  I’d ask all the billionaires to donate money and I would take as many people as possible during my lifetime on a trip, but my way 😉 I’d guarantee you a change!

What is your philosophy on life?

The only constant one is this – You don’t have to earn my love and respect, I’ll give you those from the first moment we meet. Until you screw me over, then I don’t guarantee you’ll ever bring them back.

And since I’m a female gemini others are changing all the time 😀 The current one is – shit happens, if at first you don’t succeed – flush again  😉

Why do you travel?

To try to put it in short  – I travel cause I want my thoughts and opinions to be shaped by my own personal experiences, tastes, smells, views. But most importantly –  connecting with locals. Yes, it’s nice to see buildings, museums or meet other travelers in hostels or bars – but that’s not a good enough reason for me to go 4000 kilometers away from home 😉 That doesn’t do the trick for changing the world, if you know what I mean. 😀