This week we have an Exclusive Interview with a fellow travel blogger named Julia. She speaks with us about her experiences repelling down waterfalls in Vietnam! When she is not traveling the globe, working on her music career is top priority. She also spoke with us about her world experiences, adventures, and philosophy in life. Enjoy!
I know it’s difficult to pick favorites sometimes, but what is one of your most memorable moments during your travels?
This is a definitely a hard question because there were so many first-time experiences I had while traveling that I can’t compare one to another. But if I had to pick one, it would be rappelling down waterfalls in Da Lat, Vietnam.
Da Lat is a small French-influenced town in the mountains of southern Vietnam and is known for its incredible hiking trails and towering waterfalls. I was with three girls I had been traveling with from the UK, and we went with a small organized group to go rappelling. I had never done anything like this before, so I was extremely nervous as soon as we began putting on the equipment.
Our guides were experienced but slightly lackadaisical, but they wasted no time getting us to the top of our first waterfall. I looked down over the first 20 foot drop and decided that it was possible I would die doing this but it would be a cool way to go out so I was ok with it. Then, just like that I was rappelling down a waterfall for the first time. It was a mix of an adrenaline rush and an out of body experience as I carefully placed each foot along the rocky ledge and let the rushing water splash against me.
By the third waterfall, I realized this was one of the most fun things I had ever done. The final waterfall was over 30 feet high and instead of rappelling we all decided to jump off of the top.
I will never forget the feeling of freedom I got from running and jumping 30 feet down into the warm rushing water of Vietnamese waterfalls.
You’ve seen much of the world and have experienced a lot of things that some people will never get to. How do you think you have changed as a person through your years traveling?
Traveling has changed me in so many ways; from my perception of the world & of myself to the way I interact with people. Ever traveler will tell you that traveling opens you up in ways that you are not prepared for, sometimes in ways that you didn’t even know existed!
For me, traveling opened up a world of unlimited possibilities. It made me realize that, as an American, it is easy to get stuck in the culture trap here and forget that there an entire world of possibilities and opportunities outside of the traditional US lifestyle.
Before traveling, I only knew of what I grew up around; I thought that “success” was measured by how well you did in college or how well-paying your job was after college. Traveling made me realize that there is no universal measure of success, and in some cultures “success” is as simple as being close with your family and community. I learned that success is measured by personal happiness and contentment, not prestige, and that at the end of the day, everyone is just a human…nothing more, nothing less.
As you well know, we at Impulse Odyssey have made it a goal to explore the unknown together, as a community of wanderers and globetrotters. What is a piece of advice from a veteran as yourself that our novice travelers in this family could apply to their own lives? To use in their future expeditions and to help them grow as individuals.
Aside from specific travel tactics & tips, the one piece of advice I would give to anyone who is looking to travel for their first time is to do it with a purpose, but don’t set expectations. Travel has become a trend recently, and more and more people are wanting to travel just to say they did it. That is cool and all, but traveling is such a soul-awakening experience and it shouldn’t be reduced to something as trivial as a status update or Instagram picture. The best moments from travel occur offline.
So for those of you who are about to endeavor on your first journey, don’t worry about planning every detail or setting expectations, instead, go where your heart is telling you, get the big details laid out, and then let your wanderlust navigate the rest of the journey. Life-changing experiences can’t happen until you are no longer afraid of change.
xx
Julia
