And girls will be girls. But sometimes girls can act like most of people think boys should act. And it’s fine, because when you travel – and in the everyday life too, of course – gender should not be a problem to realize your dream, whatever the shape it takes.

What are your dreams?  Do they look impossible to reach? Do you think you are not good enough? That it’s not worth losing things on the way? 
Sometimes we are so self centered and so pessimistic with ourself that we don’t realise that the only thing who stop us is ourself and that no dream is too big or forbidden to realise. We look our lives with magnifying glass instead of taking one step back. We are so hard with ourselves that we create problems and excuses to stop us being our own hero. 

About hero… I met one, today. Her name is Chantal and she is one of the most badass woman I’ve been able to meet in my life. She had a dream. She realised it.

As she understood that it’s ok to have projects and succeed in life, she start to have a bigger vision about world and about what it’s actually ok to do. Hence, her new dream was bigger. Let me correct what I just said: her new dreams is actually incredible.
    

Chantal is from the Netherlands. She spent few years in Australia and was riding there a big motorbike: a “chook chaser” as she calls it. One day, she took her stuff and her motorbike in direction of the sunset. To reach home, she will have to fill thousand of paper works, cross seas, oceans, rivers, also mountains and valleys. She will meet happy, sad, enthusiastic, helpfull, crazy, funny, scary, unique people and situations. I’ve never heard somebody doing the same journey as her before and the fact that she is a woman made this project even more particular for me.

She took an hour to talk with me about her journey and herself in front of my camera… It was precious. A little gem in my collection of interviews for the Wanderlust Queens Project.  
    

I met Chantal while she was crossing Java. She was not at the beggining of her road trip but still far far far away from the end. She already had particular stories in her bags. The kind of things that only can happened if you are travelling solo, if you are a blond blue eyed girl and that you are visiting small villages in South East Asia on a big bike. 
  

What I loved about her was her approach on life and the way she was traveling. For her, it was normal to know how to learn few words in the country she was traveling. She thought that being scared is normal, what was not was the fact that fear stopped you. In her opinion, we are only scared of things because we don’t trust ourself enough to find a solution when we are confronted to a problem… “If I fall from my bike, I’ll find a doctor”, “If my bike is broken, I can repare it”, “If my stuff get stolen, I can go to the police station”. 

It was GOOD to hear somebody being so positive about life. Specially when everybody is scared for you all the time about anything. She trusted herself and had faith in humanity.

About the fact that she was a woman doing what everybody would expect a boy do… Well, she has been really inspiring and watching her riding to another destination after our interview started to make me consider passing my bike driver license and do the same… She showed me that you can still be feminine and travel hard.

In the end, I will probably not do the same now, because even if we were sharing the same passion for travelling and adventure, my dream for the moment was not exactly the same. I had to prove myself other things and my dreams have different shades. They can look more common and easier to realise but I’ve learn to respect dreams. What could look incredible for you is maybe not for somebody else. Few months ago, I couldn’t imagine myself capable of doing what is my everyday life right now. Nevertheless, here I am. I needed somebody to tell me it’s actually something that woman can do too, to open my eyes on this buried dream. I’m sure Chatal is inspiring many people on the way. Not just women but men too. Follow her on her website if you feel a big admiration for her!
  

Do we need to prove that women can do it too? Chantal was feminine but she was not hiding her masculine part either. However, outside the fact that this project is not a feminist project, she admitted that she started to enhance and allow herself to show her girly side. Nails done and bright pink handles, because why not?

Also, her bro is sailing on his own from a continent to another. I don’t know if it’s genetic or if they are just the most craziest and interesting siblings ever. 

Chantal. I can’t show you how much our quick meeting was important for me. Thank you. Bon voyage!

 https://fr-fr.facebook.com/chickonthechookchaser/

Chick On The Chook Chaser