The End Game: The Last Push Into Eastern Europe

[Note: this post is a bit overdue as I’m already in Eastern Europe]

It took me many years of constant travelling, living and discovering the world to realize I cannot be and will never be a citizen of the world.

Three years ago when I was living in Argentina I had this crazy idea of living 3-6 months in various places around the world, while learning various languages and absorbing the culture. I was going to live in Argentina to perfect my Spanish then maybe move to France (or Montreal) to learn French, and then maybe Berlin to learn German, followed by somewhere in Italy to learn Italian.

Thinking back it seems like a perfectly fine plan, a plan that would’ve greatly expanded my horizons of picking up world’s greatest languages as well as valuable life experience.

But all that is in the past now.

Six months ago I came to Colombia with open arms and an open mind and was planning to live there for six months. Thinking it would be similar to Brazil, and having heard many positive things I was naturally very excited about living somewhere new.

Unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. The city where I settled was, for the lack of a better word, underwhelming, with people mostly uninterested in having anything to do with tourists. A perfect example of a city built for Colombians by Colombians. An insider’s city that duly shut outsiders out and away.

I lasted three months and was very happy when I boarded a bus out of the city. Eventually things got better when I discovered Cali, a city that very much redeemed Colombia in my eyes. I  immediately realized that that’s the city I should’ve been living in right from the beginning.

In many ways I’m happy of the life lessons and experiences from this trip. It’s experiences in cities like Medellin that make a profound impact on how you view the world. Experiences that make you reanalyze what you’re doing and force you to focus on what’s important. Because, let’s be brutally honest, if you don’t NEED to be in a place like Medellin; if you don’t have any BUSINESS there, then the city will fight back and will eventually win.

So I’m done.

I’m done with Latin America. I feel that I’ve seen enough of the continent. I’ve been visiting the land for 6 years now; initially as quick weekend trip to Tijuana culminating in years of living in places such as Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.

I still haven’t been to Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia and the Guyanas, but I really have no interest in any of them save for the bragging rights of boasting that I’ve been everywhere in Latin America. But I’m not that kind of person; I don’t need to visit a place just to complete some checklist or to fill in any gaps on my “countries visited” map.

I also won’t miss being called a gringo.

After six years of travelling and living there, it’s time to retire Latin America.

I also have less of a desire to live around the world like I used to. There’re a bunch of places I’m still curious about (the Balkans, the Baltics) but I can’t live everywhere and I’m not getting any younger. As much as I love this nomadic lifestyle, I don’t see doing it much longer than perhaps another year or two at the max. Sooner or later I’d need to get serious about what I want out of life by setting up a more permanent base and making certain investments such as buying property and focusing more on my business.

Soon I will embark on a one-way trip to London, a trip that will take me through most of the countries of Western Europe, a continent that I was born in, but have only visited once in the last ten years. I’ll try to visit most of my friends that I made while living in Brazil as well as a few that I made when I was living in Colombia, most of which are back to their normal lives in Europe.

After I’m done with Western Europe, I plan on going back to my roots. I will visit Ukraine, a country where I was born and left more twenty years ago. There’s a possibility that I will meet up with a friend in Berlin and make the trip to Odessa by car, so I booked a one-way ticket to a city in Poland, just outside of Berlin in case that happens. If not, I’ll be happy to catch a few trains through Poland into Ukraine.

So why back to Eastern Europe?

It’s time for a change. It’s time to return to my and my family’s birthplace. A place where I can freely speak the language (although it’s been a while since I spoke it day to day, though I don’t believe I have an accent). A place where I’m no longer a foreigner, but a local.

A place where I can hopefully connect with the people, and develop a regular social life that any foreigner can only be envious of.

I have two advantages over foreigners trying to do the same. First, Russian is one of the hardest languages in Europe, so learning it isn’t a piece of cake. Second, in this part of the world (Russia, Ukraine) few people speak conversational English so it breaking the cultural barrier will be difficult for non-Russian speakers. This is in contrast to most foreigners who easily pick up Spanish and end up getting around Latin America with ease.

The time has come to capitalize on my heritage and become the person that I could never become in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico or Argentina.

I’m not coming alone, though. I’m taking with me all the experience, the blood, the tears, the happiness, the sadness, the good and the bad that I’ve accumulated while travelling and living abroad for the past six years.

I’m no longer just a Russian speaking New Yorker born in Ukraine — but a Brazilian, Colombian, Mexican and Argentine all rolled into a Russian speaking Maverick Traveler from New York.

I can’t wait to get out of the train station and see cars bearing Ukrainian license plates; to stand on the soil of my birthplace; to answer “here” when people ask where you’re from; to speak the same language that my mother speaks to me in. You truly take some of those for granted when you travel and immerse yourself into other cultures.

As always I’m hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. Nevertheless, it should be interesting how this unfolds.

If you liked that, you'll probably like these too:

1. A Blitz Through Europe – Impressions from Visiting Over 20 New Countries This Summer
2. A Russian Who Spoke Fluent Spanish
3. The Top Cities To Live In Latin America
4. Is Dating Easier For Foreigners?
5. Is Latin America Really Dangerous?