Marine and Solene: Surprising Women

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Marine and Solene are two young, exuberant travelers from Paris, France. Almost two years ago they met as waitresses at the world-famous Moulin Rouge. A bit tired of the Parisian Life, they dreamed of traveling the world. They began their year-long journey through Asia by traveling through Sri Lanka. Currently in Nepal and fresh off the Everest Base Camp trek, these fearless travelers are busy working on their travel blog. They aim to share women’s stories of travel from around the world through their blog, where they also feature their adventures.

Congrats on just completing the Everest Base Camp Trek! It’s on many adventurer’s bucket lists, and an amazing accomplishment! How would you describe your experience?

When we arrived in Nepal, we directly went to Bhaktapur, to celebrate the Nepali new year. And then we started the Everest Base Camp trek. We chose to do it solo, without guides or porters. It was hard sometimes because of the altitude, and our heavy backpacks (13/14kg), but it definitely worth it. The landscapes are absolutely amazing. I (Solene) am an ocean lover, and I have already traveled a little bit (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Scandinavia), but I have never seen something as beautiful as those mountains. You feel so small surrounded by the white giants.  When we came back from the trek, Marine told me “I am falling in love with Nepal.” It is hard to describe this experience; it definitely changed us. Sometimes it was so hard, we only walk with our heads, it was only about strength. Because we saw how people live up there, we are now more humble, I think. They may have hard lives, but they always smiled at us.

What were the biggest challenges you faced on the Everest Base Camp trek?

One of the biggest challenges during the trek was the altitude. It was the first time for us, and we didn’t know if we would suffer from altitude sickness. Luckily we only had slight symptoms. It was a little bit hard to breath for Marine over 4500m, and I couldn’t really sleep. The other challenge was our bags, but we have been strong enough to carry it. There was no way we wanted to take a porter; if we couldn’t carry it, we would just go back, because we didn’t want to see a kid in flip flops carry our bags.

 

How many countries have you guys been to? What has been your favorite so far?

 Together we have been to 3 countries: Portugal, Sri Lanka and Nepal. So far, Nepal is our favorite. People are always so kind, and it is so beautiful. Their culture is really interesting, and the architecture is amazing.

 

Where do you get a lot of your adventure and travel inspiration?

We get a lot of travel inspiration on social media, like Instagram, Vimeo or Youtube. My favorite is Instagram because I love photography. It inspires us for new destinations. There is a place in Sri Lanka, famous on Instagram, because there is a rope swing on the beach; we went there only for the rope swing, unfortunately it was broken.

We at This Adventure Life want our readers to live life fearlessly in the pursuit of living their ideal life. What would your advice be for someone who wants to live fearlessly and pursue their wildest dreams?

It was a hard decision for me, stay or leave. Finish school or travel. The world is full of amazing people and wonderful places. And it is my dream to travel the world, even if I don’t have a lot of money or even if I haven’t finished school. I think sometimes you just have to be brave enough to follow your dreams, no matter how scary it is. Just do it. Lots of people asked us: “What will you do after you travel?” We don’t know, we actually have no idea; if we have to be waitresses again to keep doing what we love the most, we will. We aren’t really scared about the future (maybe it is because we are young), and we don’t really think about it. Things never happen like you plan. So we just live the moment, fully and deeply. We only can encourage people to pursue their dreams. It is exactly what we are doing, and it feels so good.

What is your next big adventure?

The next adventure? Good question. We are going to stay in Nepal for one or two more months. We want to volunteer, probably in a school in a small village. We don’t have tickets for the next country, but it probably will be Myanmar. The unknown is exciting for us.

 

Check out their blog: surprising-women.com

Follow them on Instagram: @surprisingwomen

Like them on Facebook: facebook.com/surprisingwomen

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