Alexandra Nicorici – I’m Afraid I Will Never Be Able to Stop Traveling
Froggy is one of a kind. She has been all over the world and she is not scared to leave it all behind and go chase dreams and ambitions. Self-proclaimed travel addict and wine lover Alexandra tells us about her eagerness to explore anything that moves, seeing new things and meeting new people.
1) Who inspired you to travel?
I started travelling when I went in Erasmus in 2010. In high-school I had all these friends who were very rich and were travelling in expensive locations and I promised myself I will do it too when ,,I’ll grow up’’. I was reading all these books on how travelling helped people and the reason why I wanted to travel was to ,,know people from other cultures and get to see my limits’’. The purpose stayed the same until now.
2) What is your biggest fear?
Except for my fear of heights and water, I am afraid that I will never be able to stop traveling and settle down somewhere. I am afraid I will end up alone just because I am too different from most people around me, who settled, got married and had kids already.
3) What is the most memorable moment you’ve had while traveling?
Wow, I’ve never thought about this. I’ve had many amazing moments during my travels, but I think one of the best times I’ve had was when I decided to travel alone for 10 days in Thailand. The reason why I chose Thailand is because I had an entire adventure, from getting lost in Chang Mai and not knowing the name of the hotel I was staying at, to missing the bus and taking a 14 hours train trip to Bangkok, meeting this weird Italian old man who started chasing me and ending up alone in the middle of Bangkok at 5 am in the morning after my ex housemate dropped me there because he was too busy getting home with a girl. Even if I had an entire adventure there, I met my friends in Thailand, got through the biggest water fight in the world, ate crocodile meat and travelled totally alone and got to understand myself better.
4) Who would you want to be stranded with on a deserted island?
My future boyfriend
5) Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without on travels?
Wine and meeting locals. I believe it’s truly important to get to know the local community and understand its behavior. And wine always makes things easier.
6) What does your family and friends say about you travelling so often?
Oh, that’s a difficult one. My younger sister wants to be ,,just like me’’, my grandmother and mom are telling me to settle down so that they can finally sleep with no stress that maybe I’m in the middle of nowhere and my friends think my life is ,,so cool’’ and that ,,I’ll definitely make something cool in life’’, but most of them don’t know the hard times or the cultural shocks I have gone through while travelling and how that impacted or shaped me as a person. At the end of the day, they only see the pictures on Facebook.
7) If you had a warning label, what would yours say?
Watch out. Interested in anything that moves
8) What’s on the top of your bucket list right now?
The Rio de Janeiro Carnival in Brazil and Burning Man in the United States.
9) What is the worst misadventure you’ve had during your travels?
I don’t know if this counts as a ,,during the travels’’ but when I was moving back home to Romania from Malaysia, I got stuck on the highway and I missed my flight to Istanbul. I had to fly with a friend. I spend the next 2 days in the airport, fighting with flight attendants and calling the company to rebook my flight. My visa would expire in 2 days and I really needed to get out of there. Happily, I managed to get a flight, but in Istanbul I had to pay for my ,,extra luggage’’. As if I didn’t spend already enough money on a new flight to reach home.
10) What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Everybody is asking me this. I think the strangest thing I’ve eaten was pork in Hong- Kong on Chinese New Year 2 years ago.
11) How do you make money and control your expenses to be on the road so often?
I got to travel quite a lot in the past year because of the NGO I was in. I was also travelling when I was working and I always got my trips planned. I don’t like to plan in detail but I need to know when I’m going where, to keep my motivation and excitement up. I am generally into this round circle: pay for trips, get reimbursement- pay the next trip. When I was working, I had almost 100 euros saved every month for trips, as I promised myself I will do this every month. I almost kept my promise.
12) Have you ever traveled alone, why or why not? If yes, where did you go the first time you did?
I travelled alone because I really needed a break. I was working in Malaysia, I had just resigned from my job and I needed some time off. The first time I travelled totally alone was in Thailand. Ever since I travelled alone a couple of times, because I don’t like to depend on anybody and I like to really plan my trips and go for it, no matter if my friends want to join or not.
13) Tell me about the craziest or most unforgettable night out during your travels.
All my trips are unforgettable for me. However, one of my craziest nights was in Hong-Kong, when we met some random dudes and one of them was actually Romanian. He started talking about food, moms and politics and I ended up rambling around the city, without knowing where we were going and the next morning I realized that I had lost my friends and I didn’t speak ,,Chinese’’. My biggest surprise was that the taxi drivers there speak very good English and I managed to get to my friends for the Chinese New Year lunch.
14) Where did you go on your most recent road trip?
I had a trip August in south Italy. It made me realize how much Italians are spending in the sun comparing to us.
15) What is one travel advice you’d like to give?
The best advice I think I could give is to keep an open mind and an open heart. I catch myself getting stuck sometimes with stereotypes and I am always trying to overcome that.
