Growing up, I hadn’t visited many places. I was born and raised in Jersey, a small island near the north of France, so my experience of the beauty of the planet was pretty limited. The trip that opened up my horizon of travelling was, quite unconventionally, a school trip during an end-of-year activity week. Up until then, I had only ever been to England and France, but this was mainly to visit my family.
Five days in the Metropolitan City of Naples - and I was captivated in the very first second. I can remember so clearly stepping out of the airport and onto our coach to the hotel, and my mind was blown away by the mountains. Looking around me, I know I was probably the only person so mesmerised by something relatively unimpressive. Who’s never seen mountains before? Well, me. Now you can imagine how even more staggering it was when I saw Mount Vesuvius, which was actually on fire at the time. For comparison, Vesuvius National Park is over half the size of Jersey.
This was - as Aladdin would say - a whole new world. I had spent my whole life up until this point not caring that I hadn’t travelled to many places. I always thought well, I’ll get around to it eventually, but there’s no rush. But since that trip, I have never been so eager to explore further. There’s only so much to see on a 9-by-5-mile island, and I was no longer content with sticking to what I know.
During this trip, we explored the world-famous Pompeii ruins, visited the beautiful beach of Positano, and chair-lifted to the top of the Isle of Capri - an island even smaller than Jersey! Each of these events individually shaped my travelling mindset.
I was no longer content with sticking to what I know.
Firstly, there’s only so much I can say about Pompeii that hasn’t been said before, but it really does take you aback. Learning in depth the history of the tragic Roman city whilst seeing it with my own eyes was such an enriching and emotional experience. This really heightened my desire to explore the vast range of cultures and cultural history that the world has to offer.
Positano and Capri were so different from anything I had seen before. The colourful cliffside houses in Positano piqued my curiosity about how architecture varies from place to place, and looking down at the sea from nearly 2000 ft above on Capri was a view I never thought I’d see. Everything just seems so insignificant when you are up that high, looking down on the minuscule-looking boats.
I probably sound ridiculous right now, describing obvious observations, but for someone who had very little previous travelling experience, it was breathtaking. Now that I knew what I was missing, I wanted more of it, and since then I have been lucky enough to travel to Portugal and Spain. After university, I want to visit so many new places, and venture outside of Europe because this planet has endless possibilities for exploration.
