Manifesting trust in strangers.

An artist, Nabil Sabio Azadi, has created a series of books that centre around the human experience. One book, titled For You The Traveller, is a kind of travel guide, but more so, it is a collection of strangers willing to open their doors to your eyes, soul, mind and heart. The 'blurb', if you will, goes as follows:

For You The Traveller is a directory of kind people who will act as ports-of-call to travellers passing through their region and bearing this guide. These people are scattered across five continents from Argentina to Norway to Kenya and beyond. They live in metropolitan cities and rural areas alike. They are metalworkers, scientists, builders, farmers, ecologists, urban designers, musicians, shipwrights, leatherworkers, political analysts and many other things. Some are old, others are young. What they have in common is that they trust you. If you share yourself with them, they will share their shelter, philosophy, and land with you.

So Nabil fashions these one-off books, beautifully with natural materials, and sends them out. Sure, they are quite costly, but it is an art form and an idea so beautiful and unique that I could say it warrants that.

He states in an article within an old issue of Frankie Magazine that, as a point of difference, travelling should be all about "manifesting trust" in strangers. But, I think, this rings true for life itself. Having recently jumped on board the hosting side of AirBnb after being a visitor on many occasions in my time overseas, I am learning that trust is so truthfully a two-way exchange. Just as much as you trust a host to take care of you, to respect privacy and your exclusive right to your possessions, so too must the host be able to trust you in their home - to trust that their belongings will be respected, their space, their personal time. 

And in doing so, in the last week I have met four lovely people. A young couple who have just graduated from the University of Nottingham in England with degrees in medicine who have promised to return the favour and show me around wherever they end up living after they find jobs and return to the UK. Young and polite, wide eyed to the new world that is Australia, the new world that is life after study. 

And, on the other hand, two seasoned travellers (one of which has been to Australia from Holland nine times) who have taken sabbaticals from their lives back in Europe and are travelling Australia, coast hopping and seeing friends. Renewing their love for the country, for open plans and for life and its unexpected twists and turns. We exchanged greetings and sat talking for hours over pasta and white wine, listening to Johnny Clegg and drawing up little maps of the East Coast of Australia.

In the morning, we rose in time to watch the sun rise over the ocean, a real treat for those from the continent. But that blessing was nothing in comparison to the blessing of being able to connect with like minds. To meet people that are not only wanderers in the physical sense, but wanderers in the mind, the soul. That is the greatest blessing.