Let me tell you a story

Hi everyone!

Today’s post is going to be a little bit different than usual. The circumstances around us have changed in the last 3 weeks and I think it’s extremely important to be honest with ourselves and don’t do anything by force.

There are days when I feel strongly motivated to prepare guide content from my travels, and there are also days like today, when I prefer to go deeper. People in times of difficulty look for emotions and sincerity, we like to put ourselves in other’s shoes and get to know their feelings. I like to keep in touch with my readers and create connection which them. This connection goes beyond my travels. I like to know them more personally, understand where they come from and what are their goals. The Koalas Project has never been only about traveling and adventure. It’s about integrity with the world and spreading our passion with others. It’s the way of life that we created together. But how it all started?

Edwin and I met 16 months ago. It happened two weeks after my return from South America. I was postponing this trip for years, and it was on my bucket list since only I can remember. I had a lot behind me when I was heading to Peru. Toxic relationships with guys were my specialty, I was repeating the same scheme all over again. Sometimes, when you don’t feel good with yourself, you automatically attract the same kind of personalities, and these people are not convenient for your wellness. So this is what was happening to me.

Apart from that, I was feeling totally burned out in my job. I started to work as soon as I graduated from University in Poland. I packed my stuff and moved to Barcelona two weeks after graduation. I never had time to stop and take some time to make life decisions. My decision was already made, my only goal was to move to Barcelona. It was my dream. When I reached that goal, another step was to survive in one of the most expensive cities in Spain. I was coming from Poland where all my friends were buying their own apartments and new cars. The only thing I could afford was a rented room in a shared flat. That’s how I spent the next 4 years. I changed my job 3 times and I changed my apartment 6 times. I can’t count how many flatmates I had, but I was certainly living my own dream. I was truly happy because I created the life I always wanted. I was independent and I was living in one of the most amazing cities in the world.

I was far away from having a cozy place called home, but I was very lucky when it comes to friendships. After all these years today I can honestly say that I made my own family here in Barcelona. We’ve shared thousands of moments together and they’ve always been very supportive to me, with every crazy idea I had. 

I remember all these days sitting in the office and thinking “what the heal am I doing here? Is this something I wanna do for the rest of my life?” The answer was always “no”. I was earning money for my travel from a long time ago, so there was no obstacle on my way to finally conquer this dream. So when one day I decided to quit my job and finally make this dream come true, none of my friends were surprised. 

First I traveled in Europe for two months. Then I headed to South America with my friend. We visited 7 countries in 2 months and I came back to Barcelona more self-confident than ever before. But it wasn’t enough for me. I wasn’t ready to come back to the 9-6 office hours. Actually, I never wanted to live my life this way. So I bought ticket to Ecuador and this time I traveled alone. I spent two months in this amazing country, getting to know the local customs and especially getting to know myself. I promise I will write an article related to traveling solo very, very soon.

It was October 31st of 2018 when I came back to Barcelona. I left all my fears far behind and for the first time in many years I felt completely released. I didn’t need any boy to fill any emptiness in my heart, because my heart was happier than ever. In the past few months, I learned to love myself more than I did in my entire life before. And that was the moment when Edwin appeared.

You may think it sounds cliché when people say that we have to first love ourselves before we start a real relationship with another person, but for me this is exactly how it all happened. He moved to Spain from Venezuela when he was 16 years old and he had to grow up very quickly. My perception of the word “problem” was far away from what the real “problem” meant to him. This was one of the first things that made my fall in love with him. I was impressed with his maturity. When he told me that one of his biggest dreams was to travel the world on the motorcycle, my heart literally melted.

I started a new job right after I met him. I had to come back to the office but this time was different because I knew exactly that it would be just temporal. I had my goals very clear. I moved to my first apartment solo and enjoyed it for some months before he moved in with me. 

One month after out first anniversary we created Koalas on the Road. We had a lot of content from the trips that we did together and the ones that we did before we met, and we both wanted the same – to spread our passion with others.

I have no idea where we gonna be in five years and neither if we ever gonna be able to buy our own house, but as soon as we are together and we follow our dreams, it’s perfect to me. The way we define “happiness” doesn’t have to be similar to the way other people do.  And I can’t wait for our next adventures together as soon as the quarantine is over. 

To be honest, I didn’t expect this post to end up being that personal, but the words where coming out and I couldn’t stop writing. This is just a small summary of how did I end up here. Maybe my story will inspire some of you to leave your comfort zone and pursuit your biggest dream. It doesn’t matter how unavailable it seems to be, definite what happiness means to you and go for it! I am sure you will succeed.

From Barcelona with love,

M.