I still can't believe what I've done yesterday - I've booked a flight to Israel! I still find it hard to think of this journey as of a real event, which is going to happen quite soon - on 7th of January! The idea of traveling to Israel this winter (and not in the summer, as I had previously planned) came to my mind on Friday. I knew I'd be flying to Brussels from Budapest on 14th January (I always fly either from Hungary or from Poland, because the flights from Ukraine are much more expensive), and I also knew that Wizzair offered cheap flights from Budapest to Tel Aviv, so why not fly there right before or right after my trip to Belgium? :) I talked to my Israeli friend to find out, which option would be better for her, so we agreed on 7th-12th January... but it still took me several hours to make the final decision and to push the "buy tickets" button in my browser. In the end my hands were really shaking! And no, it's not because of the price - those flights were actually cheap! But it really felt like making a big step out of my comfort zone. "Me traveling out of Europe on my own?! No way!" - I would have said a year ago. I'd probably also say that I'm not really interested in the destinations out of European continent. But something has been changing in me, perhaps I've been becoming braver and more open for new experiences. I still wonder, how far this change could take me... Not only in terms of my journeys, but mostly of my attitude to life. Yet at the moment I'm just really excited about my trip and have been reading about Israel a lot :) Of course, I've also started to realise that my plans are totally crazy - not only because I have an aviaphobia and because I'll have to spend one night at Budapest airport, but also because I'll probably have to spend 3 weeks traveling with just my small backpack, due to Wizzair's luggage limitations and me being too greedy to pay additional luggage fee :D But isn't life about being crazy sometimes? Aren't those crazy adventures the ones that we'll recall with tears in our eyes, when we grow old?
I can also feel it with my heart and soul, how blessed I am to have my dear penpals. No, I'm not trying to say that it's cool to have penpals all around the world, because then you can travel a lot just to visit them ;) There's Couchsurfing and other similar projects for those, who want to travel the world and have free accomodation - and you don't even have to put all that effort into writing letters and forming a friendship :) But isn't it great, when you become interested in a certain country, because you have a true friend there? A real friend, who understands and supports you even better than those people, whom you meet everyday. When your main motivation for traveling is to meet this friend rather than just to see some ancient cities, beautiful mountains or cool beaches? In such moments I feel it to the deepest that penpalling is much more than just a hobby and also more than a lifestyle - it's the best way to get in touch with kindred spirits, no matter what's their geographical locations. In the last several years I had quite a strong preference for European penpals, because the possibility of meeting them felt more real than in case with those, who live on other continents. But when you're brave enough and have access to low-cost airlines, distance isn't such a big problem anymore :)
As for my weekend, it's been calm and relaxing :) It's already quite cold outside (it's -6 C), but today I've been to one of my favourite café's in Lviv and started writing an extreme letter to my dear Tündi, while drinking Chai Latte ;)
I'll do my best to fit into 30 pages, but I can't promise anything, because I often get carried away, while answering Tündi's letters ;)
Moreover, I've received one and sent 2 letters during this weekend:
This letter to Marina in Russia was sent on Friday :) I hope it'll arrive just as quickly, as her last letter to me did!
And that's my first letter for Mihaela in Romania, which I've sent today. Actually, we've been exchanging mesages on Interpals for about 2 months, so it didn't feel like writing an intro, but rather like simply continuing our discussion :) Mihaela offered to switch to snail mail after seeing my blog, so I hope my letter won't disappoint her :)
Is it really the last day of November today? And is there really just one month left until the end of 2014? Unbelievable... Time passes by so quickly... But I love it that the winter is coming. I'm happy to see even just a tiny bit of snow. It reminds me about the atmosphere of Christmas, which I haven't experienced for many years, but I have those memories somewhere deep in my heart and probably that's why winter feels... warmer than other seasons :) Have a lovely December!
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