Thursday Traveler: Nithya of Life Out of a Suitcase

Every Thursday, A Dangerous Business will be shining the spotlight on a world nomad, travel blogger, armchair adventurer, or just someone really cool in the travel world. This week, the traveler is Nithya of Life Out of a Suitcase. Nithya is a serial expat who has traveled and lived in Spain and India in the last year alone. Now, waiting to embark on her next adventure working for an NGO in São Paulo, Brazil, she has launched a new website that is aimed at the 20-something female traveler and expat.

1. How do you define the word “traveler,” and why would you consider yourself one?

A dictionary may define a traveler as someone who changes location. To me, it’s much more! It’s what you experience while en route to that location, and what you experience when you get there. It’s about experiencing this location with all 5 of your senses, not just seeing a sight and snapping a picture. It’s about tasting the food, listening to the music, smelling the flowers in a park, and feeling the warmth of the people.

I consider myself a traveler because I have this desire to learn as much as I can about the culture and country I’m visiting. I’m not a huge fan of the trips where you see 478 countries in 30 days. For me, it’s about appreciating a place with all of your senses, even if that means only seeing one country or one city for an extended period of time.

2. What has been your favorite travel experience thus far?

I lived in Madrid, Spain for a year in 2009-10. Even though it was more of an expat experience, I was working with an NGO there and had to travel a lot for work. I made it a point to take at least a day and either get a tour of the city or venture out on my own for a bit. I became completely engulfed in Spanish culture and the Spanish way of life, trying to learn as much as I could about the people and their ways. I even got to learn how to ride horses in Spanish (with Spanish stallions might I add)! You can’t get any more authentic than that!

3. How about your proudest travel moment?

On my way to work in Madrid, I was walking from my flat to the metro and someone asked ME for directions and I could actually give them directions and in SPANISH! It seems so minor, but considering I had only been in Madrid a few months, I was by myself and could direct someone correctly in a foreign language? I felt pretty damn proud of myself. It made me realize that I had adopted Madrid as my new home and that I was totally comfortable in a different country.

4. Have you had any travel mishaps or bad experiences? If so, have these influenced how you view the place where they happened? Would you go back?

When in Fés, Morocco, a friend and I were looking for a place to eat dinner. Our hotel was a little sketchy and near the railway station. As soon as the sun had set, we didn’t see any other women in the street and just guys leering at us. One even ran by and smacked my friend on the bum nice and hard. This did taint the experience and Morocco for us a little because we felt that our safety was jeopardized, but I think I would go back and give it a second shot!

5. Name one thing you can’t travel without.

This is going to sound like the girliest, most high maintenance thing ever, but mousse for my hair. Yes I said it, hair product. You have to understand something though, I have super curly, super frizzy hair and if I didn’t have hair product, I would look like a crazy homeless person – not just homeless but crazy as well. This is why I could never travel with just a carry on – you can’t take a bottle of mousse through security!

6. Name one thing you wish you COULD travel without.

Um see above answer! If I could get away without hair product, it would be a totally different traveling world for me!

7. What do you think has been the biggest thing you’ve learned while traveling (about yourself, a destination, a culture, travel itself)?

The biggest thing I have learnt is that I don’t know anything about the world. Traveling is like going to a school that I like. I hated school and university because of the strict confines in which you had to try and gain knowledge. But traveling – that is something completely different. It has given me perspective, taught me to appreciate different opinions and how to understand differences in a culture. I have learnt so much more living, working and traveling abroad than I did in my 4 years in University.

8. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I would love to live in Europe again. Europe fascinates me; the landmass of Europe is small (compared to Canada, where I’m from) but there are so many different cultures and ethnicities contained within it. Spending more time in Europe is like getting a crash course in the cultures of the world. Not to mention low cost airline carriers makes this course a little more affordable.

9. Name one place you’d like to see or one experience you’d like to have before you die.

Antarctica. I want to travel to all of the continents and the icing on my travel cake will be Antarctica. I just have Australia left before I allow myself to even think about my penguin party in Antarctica. I also hope that traveling to Antarctica will become cheaper before I die! Where are the “budget trips to Antarctica” sites? Maybe it will be the newest niche in travel websites.

10. If there was one thing you wish somebody would have told you before you started traveling, what would it be?

Forget everything you think you know. The only way to absorb everything another culture has to offer is to just enjoy and take it all in. Sure, compare it to your own country and culture, but don’t worry if it’s not the same. Take note of the cultural differences and in turn you will learn about the culture you are visiting and your own culture as well.

Visit Nithya’s site: Life Out of a Suitcase
Follow Nithya on Twitter: @LifeOutofaSuitc
“Like” Nithya on Facebook: Life Out of a Suitcase

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Are you a travel blogger who has something to say on these topics? Do you know of somebody really interesting in the travel universe that you’d like to see interviewed? Speak up! The Thursday Traveler needs some interview subjects.

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