Today, I welcome Roxana Valea, author of Through Dust and Dreams, to share her thoughts with us. Thank you to the author and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity!
The Road Less Travelled
I remember when we chose it: the road less travelled. We were in Chad, in the middle of Central Africa. We could have gone West and cross into Sudan, then into Kenya and go down the West coast of Africa, the way all the tourists and gap year travellers go.
Or we could go South and cross into Cameroon and follow the East coast of Africa, the way nobody went because there was a civil war in Congo at the time and another one just finished in Angola.
In our small group of three travellers, decisions were easy to take, when two would say one way the third one had to obey. It was a simple rule and it worked well for us all through the four months we had been on the road already. But that day when we set off from N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, we didn’t need a vote.
“South?” one of us asked.
“South.” we all answered.
The road less travelled.
We had met a traveller the previous day who told us he had heard from other travellers that the way through Angola was open now. The country had just come out of a civil war and started opening its borders. We didn’t know if it was true or not, and there was no way to find any information online. But we knew one thing. The adventure would be worth it.
Choosing the road less travelled requires faith. In yourself and those you travel with. It requires also courage and a certain level of acceptance. When you make that choice, you already accept all the hardships you will encounter. You accept there will be more setbacks than if you had chosen the other way, that it may take longer and that it’s not even certain you will make it.
Given all this, why would you chose it? Because the road les travelled is the road that will offer the highest value. It will show you more beauty. It will teach you more lessons. It will make you grow faster. It will give you the adventure of a lifetime, something you will be proud to look back on for years to come. If will teach you who you truly are. And this last lesson in particular is priceless.
And the magic of the road less travelled doesn’t stop there. It brings along excitement and adventure. And one more thing.
That feeling deep down inside that tells you you’ve made the right choice.
So, are you ready to go South?
Read more about what happened after we decided to go South in my book “Through dust and dreams” The Story of an African Adventure.
Book Details
Standalone book
Genre: Travel Memoir
Publication date: December 14, 2014
Publisher: RV Publications
Pages: 423
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2VWzWJ0
Purchase Links:
Amazon.com — https://www.amazon.com/Through-Dust-Dreams-African-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00QZDP394/
Amazon India — https://amzn.to/3bDQRXK
At a crossroads in her life, Roxana decides to take a ten-day safari trip to Africa. In Namibia, she meets a local guide who talks about “the courage to become who you are” and tells her that “the world belongs to those who dream”.
Her holiday over, Roxana still carries the spell of his words within her soul. Six months later she quits her job and searches for a way to fulfil an old dream: crossing Africa from north to south. Teaming up with Richard and Peter, two total strangers she meets over the Internet, Roxana starts a journey that will take her and her companions from Morocco to Namibia, crossing deserts and war-torn countries and surviving threats from corrupt officials and tensions within their own group.
Through Dust and Dreams is the story of their journey: a story of courage and friendship, of daring to ask questions and search for answers, and of self-discovery on a long, dusty road south.
About the Author
Roxana Valea was born in Romania and lived in Italy, Switzerland, England and Argentina before settling in Spain. She has a BA in journalism and an MBA degree. She spent more than twenty years in the business world as an entrepreneur, manager and management consultant working for top companies like Apple, eBay, and Sony. She is also a Reiki Master and shamanic energy medicine practitioner.
As an author, Roxana writes books inspired by real events. Her memoir Through Dust and Dreams is a faithful account of a trip she took at the age of twenty-eight across Africa by car in the company of two strangers she met over the internet. Her following book, Personal Power: Mindfulness Techniques for the Corporate World is a nonfiction book filled with personal anecdotes from her consulting years. The Polo Diaries series is inspired by her experiences as a female polo player–traveling to Argentina, falling in love, and surviving the highs and lows of this dangerous sport.
Roxana lives with her husband in Mallorca, Spain, where she writes, coaches, and does energy therapies, but her first passion remains writing.
Website: https://www.roxanavaleaauthor.com/
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