Hello Steemers! My name is Angeliki and I grew up in Greece. I am 27 years old and I am a primary school teacher and a solo traveler.

Hello Steemers! My name is Angeliki and I grew up in Greece. I am 27 years old and I am a primary school teacher and a solo traveler.

I love teaching. Teaching keeps you young at heart. You continually learn and grow each day but also you get the opportunity to touch the lives of your students and make connections that will last a lifetime.

For three years, I was working as a primary school educator for a private school in Greece, where I taught to 1st and 2nd grade. I was passionate and really happy. But unfortunately I wasn’t getting paid for three years(!) yeap.. That was a normal scenario in Greece at the time because of the economic crises. Everybody would think that I was lucky as there was high unemployment. After three years of teaching, I decided to quit and to make my dream come true…to travel around the world!

“What? How is that possible?”, “are you crazy?” you may ask. Everyone typically thinks everywhere outside from Europe is extremely dangerous! Lots of friends and family questioned why I would go-” “what if you get lonely. You don’t know anyone, will you safe”… In Greece we don’t travel very far from our own country soooo I google it..! And guess what! It is possible to travel around the world!!:-)

So, I started saving money..I had three jobs and I sold my car. I booked the tickets and I flew away… ready to discover the world by myself!

My first stop was in Africa to volunteering in schools. The happiest time in my entire life was living in Tanzania making absolutely no money and teaching, playing, dancing and singing with my students. Money is not the key of happiness. Feel free and loved is… “Pura vida”

It’s challenging to go from a fast lifestyle to a very simple slow reality. But when something goes wrong.. I just eat chocolate. I breathe… I make time to feel. I make time to cry tears that need to go. I breathe again and I keep going.

In those months of travelling I have visited 42 countries, taken more than 50 flights, 39 boats, 88 long distance buses, I have hitchhiked, couchsurfed and taken part in 3 volunteering programs. I swam in a volcanic crater, in an underground lake, in the Amazon River, in the biggest waterfalls in the world and in four oceans with sharks, turtles, manatees, stingrays, eagle rays and dolphins…I drove a boat in the Amazon, a caravan in Australia, a golf cart in Mexico, rode a scooter in Cuba and a bike in Costa Rica… I skydived in NZ, hiked in Patagonia, jumped the highest bungee in the world in S. Africa, I sandboarded in Peru, volcanoboarded in Nicaragua, danced salsa in Colombia, samba in Rio de Janeiro and tango in Argentina…as well as so many more incredible things…

But the people I have met, not the places, have inspired me, motivated me and pushed me past my limits. Ultimately it’s the people we meet, not always the places we visit, that unquestionably change our lives. That is why my stories will be all about the people who have taught me something new about myself.

I am so excited to be part of the steemcommunity!

It will be FUN! :)