Meet Anna Grechishkina, the Ukranian girl who decided to go around the globe in a motorcycle that arrived to Colombia a couple weeks ago. Anna started riding around 10 years, initially traveling through Europe and Asia, and through places like Rusia, Turkey, Greece, Syria and India. Always dreaming about traveling through the world. Now, 2 years into her trip, and after a year of preparations, her dream is coming true.
Riding and KTM 1190 Adventure, courtesy of KTM, Anna started her trip in July 2013, starting in Kiev, her home town in the Ukraine, and in 22 months going already through 4 continents. Anna’s friends, family and own efforts have allowed her to go travel to countries like Rusia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapour, Australia, United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and now Colombia, in spite of the mere USD1.000 she had in her pocket when she first started. People she’s meet along the way have helped her with food, accommodation and travel tips everywhere she goes.
Under the motto «I have a dream» Anna speaks in behalf of kids in orphanages, asylums, hospitals and schools, talking about her adventures and the importance of following ones dreams, no matter how big or small.
«This has been a life changing experience, allowing me to meet so many people and see everyday miracles so I can on going» , told Anna in a press event held by KTM Colombia in Medellín.
Anna heard a lot of stories of Colombia from other motorcycle riders and online communities such as IBAR , the International Brotherhood of Adventure Riders, which gathers riders from around the globe and got a lot travel destinations and tips. From Panama she arrived to Cartagena, where she fell in love with the old colonial town and got to know the warmth of the Colombian people.
When talking the world trip and how she got to going and preparing for such a trip, she had this to say:
» I think that one should start with honest answers to some questions. Do I really want this? And if yes, why do I want this? You should give the answers not to somebody else but to yourself with looking into the deepest depths of your soul. They say that a person actually knows all the answers with regard to himself/herself.
The second thing which is important to realize and accept is that it will never be easy – either in preparation or in the process. Nothing is easy when it’s something significant. But that’s why it’s so precious.
And when you passed through this preparatory stage, the next and the main one is just do it! Don’t think and don’t contemplate too much and too long! The more you think and analyze, the more reasons and excuses you will find for not to go or not to do. For any idea you can easily find strong reasons and explanations why it is not viable.
The idea about world trip came into my mind not so long ago. As soon as it showed up, I got scared and tried to bury it. But I didn’t succeed, and that’s how I realized that I really want this, to go for a world trip. Between the moment of the first appearance of the idea and start of actual preparation, just a few months passed. If I continued to contemplate on whether to go or not for at least a year, something tells me that I would still be contemplating: )
By no means I encourage you to go crazy and careless, and do anything without common sense. But there is a difference between search for excuses and search for solutions. And again, if you are honest with yourself, you will know what you are up to.
One more thing which you have to take into account and which is absolutely normal.. You’ll never be able to calculate and foresee everything that’s ahead of you on the way to your goal. This is natural and normal, and this is not the reason not to start, it’s only an excuse. As we say in Russian, the road will be conquered by somebody who walks it. Start your road, make the first step, second and further ones will soon reveal themselves.
But I agree that the first step is the most difficult one. Since I started my world trip, I encountered many difficulties and trials. But even now I still think that the hardest one was that first day, that first step. I am not sure if I would be able to do anything like that again. But at the same time I am absolutely confident that that first day was one of the happiest, and that first step was one the most correct decisions in my life.
But no matter what I’ll tell you here, I will not find for your sufficient motivation if you don’t find it for yourself. And this returns us to the very first question – if you really want this?
It’s actually not the world trip that matters. If you don’t go for it, nothing wrong will happen either in your life, or in the world. Perhaps, your heart and your real aspirations are in something else. Find it, and just do it, step by step, falling and ascending. You’ll never regret it.»
Anna passes through Medellin after a quick stop at KTM for a bike check up, a couple of talks and going through some of the local places to go like the Metro Cable, and spending some time exploring the less developed areas of Medellin, meeting amazing people along the way. The road will now take her to the country’s capital city, Bogota, then south as she makes her way to Ecuador.
Bye Anna, it was great having you.
You can follow the rest of Anna’s trip on her facebook page Female World Trip on Motorcycle.
