Behind the Pen

Who’s writing all this and why does she think she has a mandate on putting her opinions on other cultures, people, history and politics out there for people to read and perhaps get influenced by?

To answer these questions in order I just give the superficial explanation of who I am. My given name is Jessica, but I also respond to Jess, Jessie, or “Hey, you”. I’m not that formal. I was born and raised in Sweden and tend to come back there in between travels. My main issue in life is that I can’t keep still for too long, and my main privilege in life is that I don’t have to. I have found a balance of coming and going, earning and spending money, running away from things and running towards things, that have kept me more or less in a constant motion for the past decade. Between the trips I have done I mananged to get a masters degree in history, which explains why I keep on falling back to writing historical analyses and tend to see the remnants of colonisation wherever I travel. Travelling is in many ways a continuation of colonisation, and that is why I believe it being important that we, as travellers, take full responsibility while travelling, showing respect and appreciation towards the places and people we visit. I personally do this a lot through couch surfing, hitch hiking or by travelling solo as far outside my comfort zone as I am comfortable.

I ticked in on about 75 countries, but I can’t say I prioritise quantity ahead of quality. That’s why I’ve spent nearly half years in countries like China and India, respectivley, and still can’t wrap my head around them. I also tend to go back to countries which has captured my heart completly like the Balkan countries or Italy.

What else do you need to know about me? Not much. I don’t know that much about you.

My aim with this blog is to share stories, histories, thoughts and ideas about what it means to be a human and a traveller in this complex, globalised but still so tribalised world where we are closer connected than ever before but still are plagued by this immense distance between humans and humans; what my heritage as a white person, as a Scandinavian and as a woman is signalling and how it is interpreted, how it is limiting or liberating me depending on where I am and what I am doing.

If you love travelling, hate travelling or are completely indifferent about travelling, I still hope you can enjoy some of my existential rambling about the meaning of life, purpose and happiness, which I believe binds all human beings together. Except for maybe Trump.