The awakening of my vagabonding 

This is the second time I buy a one-way ticket to the other side of the world, and I am doing it with the same certainty I did it the first time. One way or another, something good will come out of this. 

During the many evening walks along European cities Elena, one of the most amazing women I have ever met, convinced me to venture into the world. Until a few days before meeting Elena, I had never left Argentina. I had barely even travel outside of La Plata*, city in which I was born. Thankfully, our genetic disposition usually comes accompanied by the encouragement from our elders. My grandparents, who became addicted to Europe after retiring, decided to bring me along in their third visit to the old continent. I was about to turn twenty two, and I was studying to become an English teacher and working in two or three jobs. As busy as I was, my life seemed extremely plain and boring and I was waiting for a miracle to take me out of that stupor. That miracle came from my grandparents, who are real angels: a trip to Europe; a million cities in twenty six days. 

Elena joined the tour in London, which was also our first destination. Her English was pretty good because she had attended bilingual schools all her life. Her family was apparently well off. I noticed she chatted with the guards in the Windsor Castle and started admiring her. During the trip she did some daring things that made me respect her, in a sort of intimidated manner, even more. At a nice restaurant in Zurich she pulled a bottle of wine from her purse and had it with dinner, sharing it with my grandparents. She quickly met people: a triathlonist from Germany who did not speak much English and an Italian cook that did not speak any English at all but who talked to us for hours waking along with us during an evening in Nice. And, to top my fascination with a huge cherry, she stayed in Barcelona instead of returning to Guatemala, where her parents were waiting for her. They had made her become an architect to dissuade her from following her true passion, which was art. So she used the trip, which had been a graduation present from her grandmother, to free herself from them. I heard several years later that she lived in London and had turned into a recognized artist. 

If I had been alone like Elena I might have dared to stay in Spain too, but my grandparents did not like the idea of leaving me there. We all came back to Argentina. A van brought us home from the airport and I remember watching the endless plains of the Pampas through tears because I did not want to be back. Soon enough, though, I found the way to leave for another taste of the world.  

As per Elena’s advice, I visited a travel agency for young people called Asatej to obtain a travel discount card for students. In the office I saw the ad: Want to become an Au Pair in America? Since I did not have enough money to move to Europe the au pair program seemed like a reasonable option. And that is how I moved to the United States for a year – and stayed thirteen.

*La Plata is the capital of the province of Buenos Aires and is different from Mar del Plata, which is a city in by the ocean and a vacation destination.