THE GIRL AROUND
ILARIA'S TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
Ilaria is 27 years old and has been traveling for about 10 years, moving from a tent to a 5-star hotel. His life changed when he discovered he had a multipod personality. What is it about? The Girl Around is the blog where Ilaria explains it to us, and tells us how this discovery has positively influenced her life and her travels.
Welcome to Easy Travel Hosting! Can you tell us a little about yourself, your first travels and how your blog was born?
HI! I started traveling when I was very young: my parents separated early and every weekend I packed my suitcase to stay with my father. From there I learned to organize myself, I then started to take advantage of any school opportunity to travel: competitions, Model UN, school trips.
Once I was an adult I started traveling alone or with friends thanks to low cost airlines. At University I then did 4 Erasmus projects, more than 20 European projects and an Ulysses, always taking advantage of the various funding.
Twice I won trips thanks to photo contests: in short, I was young and penniless and I used anything to afford to move and discover the world. My blog was born out of a need to share: often traveling alone I understood that happiness is beautiful if shared.
In the blog I was able to combine my fundamental passions: travel, writing and photography.
We read something very interesting, that is, how you discovered you are a multipod. Could you explain to us what it is and how this has changed your life?
I discovered relatively recently what it was and that I was affected by it. Have you ever had a thousand ideas and couldn't choose the right one? Or have no idea what you want to do with your life? This is physiological in adolescence or in strong periods of crisis.
If this condition, however, is constant and is induced by a difficulty in making daily choices because we like to do many things that are completely different from each other, it could be multipotentiality.
In addition to the various online tests that can help you understand if you are a multipod and what type of multipod you are (there are different types), I discovered I was one when I realized that I had too many completely different projects starting up, but above all I didn't see myself immersed in any of those projects in 5 years from now.
They would have bored me and I would have wanted to start something new. This is the constant in my life: I'm good at everything and excellent at nothing, I love beginnings, but I get bored quickly.
This has always been a problem at work and a frustration emotionally. Today, that I have recognized my diversity, I have decided to start my own business and be a project manager, helping others to plan a path that takes them from the idea to the goal.
So I pass on my technical skills in the start-up phase, but I don't stay long enough to get bored! Almost everyone believes that multipotentiality is an advantageous weapon, but no one talks about the negative sides.
I decided to do it myself in the book I'm writing, which will be available in 2021.
From tent to 5 star hotel, let's say you've tried all types of accommodation! What is your ideal type of trip?
As I said before, I have always traveled thanks to financing found online. Clearly, hostels, modest accommodations and the like were funded. When I worked as an employee of my former company, however, I was sent exclusively to luxury hotels.
I had the opportunity to try almost all the ones in Italy and experience life in a hotel. I slept in hotels basically 5 days a week. I have to admit: the scent of a luxury hotel, the cleanliness, the breakfast in the room, are pampering that anyone would enjoy.
But if I had to give feedback on the overall experience, I much prefer modest accommodation, with the peace of mind of not answering emails from 7 in the morning to 11.30 at night.
Very often I was sent to a resort with a spa and sauna and I didn't have the opportunity to see them due to work commitments. Today when I look for accommodation for my personal trips I give a lot of weight to sustainability: this summer I had the opportunity to travel around Sardinia exclusively through farmhouses.
What do you do to make your travels more eco-friendly?
Unfortunately, having been born in Sardinia and having kept my birthplace as a base, I found myself having to travel by plane and I am aware of the amount of pollution I was creating.
During a European project based on sustainability, we analyzed our green footprint as travelers and I realized that although I considered myself super polluting, I wasn't among the worst.
This didn't relieve me, on the contrary. It made me even more sensitive to the environment. Today I do what I can: if I visit a city I go around on foot or by bike, I prefer 0 km foods and I use my travel bottles many times.
I prefer family-run accommodation or accommodation that respects the environment: I congratulate a structure if I find shower gel dispensers rather than disposable ones. I never use plastic plates or cups and I avoid fast food like death.
We should all make ourselves more sustainable, why not create a community of green travelers to be?
Easy Travel Hosting thanks Ilaria so much for taking part in our interview and talking to us about her years of travel and this interesting topic which is the multipod personality.
If you want to find out more, you can follow her on the site by clicking here. And on social media too!
Do you want to tell us your story? Contact us HERE.