"Back from Turkey" Petit_Prince's Profile

May 10th, 2007

Last trip in date was to Turkey (Istanbul and Cappadocia). It was very interesting to see "live" all the contradictions in this country which is between 2 continents (Europe and Asia) and two cultures (they are mainly Muslims but there is also a strong current to maintain laicism in the country, as the recent demonstrations showed). With its 70 million inhabitants, its "three names" jewel (Constantinople, Byzantium, Istanbul) Turkey is worth discovering.

Flags, make us good and bad

Well, here I am, watching our world and what we are doing with it.

I am really glad I discovered VT. It was by chance, at the beginning of 2003, and ever since I must confess I became a "VT addict". I already met really nice people in VT meetings we had in Madrid, in Valencia and other.

It's incredible how comfortable I feel with my new friends. For example in the VT meeting of Valencia, 16 of us travelled there from many places without knowing each other and we just spent a great time (thank you Amelia, Beatriz and Pilar, great job, well done!). This is due in a great measure to these qualities usually shared by travellers: people wishing to live new experiences, curious, tolerant and opened to hear from others.

VTers are welcome by others when they travel. We alle speak the same language: travelling, sharing, discovering. This is the cement of our community. I was able to check it once again in NYC.

The guardian of the colours

The VT community is exceptionnal, due to some simple reasons I guess:

- It is very easy to become a VT member: if you wish to, you are in! No problem

- But it is not so easy to be a "good" VT member. You have to think about your trips, explain them to other people, give them some clues about why the trip was so interesting to you and why you would recommend it …

- In VT, you "are what you do" (Can it be qualified as an "Existentialist site"?). If you share your enthusiasm about the place you have been, you give smart tips to others, you put good photos, you take care about people that are visitng your country or a place you know pretty well, you then will become an appreciated VT member. No more, no less. I was amazed to see that just by dropping some photographs and comments about a trip, I suddenly received a lot of comments, and this encouraged me a lot to keep on updating my pages. (I know, I have much work to do yet to build proper pages. I am on it!)

Fairy Cappadocia

- I feel so enthusiatic about VT that I recommended it to a lot of people around me. All and everyone think VT is great. But just a few of them will become members. There is a natural filter that makes you only enter if you feel the "travelling mood".

Anatolian kids, Uchisar

- With VT you discover for example that there is no need to make long, exotic trips to have this "travelling mood". Just realize that your hometown may be a trip destination for people travelling thousands of miles just to see "this place". So, if you are not able to travel (for family reasons, because you have not much time, or not enough money or whatever reason), just give some good tips about your hometown, get in touch with the community of travellers, and you will be on the mood, it's easy.

- All of us human beings have an opportunity to become better people. Countries and communities as well may become better, and I pretty much count on communities like VT to make this world become a better place to live for all. So, let's rock it!

Show me the fairy

- I don't know if you share my feeling about world-citizenship. I am french, that definitely means something, I live in Spain and this also means something. I am european, no doubt. But all over that. I consider myself a "citizen of the world", much interested in discovering new places, meeting people, knowing other cultures, ways to think and to do things.
I guess many of you share this feeling, that is why I am so happy I bumped into VT.

CARPE DIEM - ENJOY THE TRIP

Pro´s: "This guy is said to have some good pics. Will you find them out?"
Con's: "Not many words in his travel pages. Seems to suffer 'keyboardache' "
In a nutshell: "Working hard to be a person"