Episode Details

Not all who wander are lost. 

Luka came to pick me up at a station near him called Latina. It was about one hour train ride from Rome. As soon as we got in his car, he handed me his phone and asked me to be his DJ. I played music I liked from his phone and I introduced him to a few Taiwanese bands I like, for example Mayday and F.I.R. Luka loved receiving guests and learning English and cultures from couchsurfers. I could also see Luka was indeed very serious about his learning. Every day he spent one hour reading aloud from his book. He was also very keen to speak with me every day to practice his spoken English, and showed me all the scenic places around his town. 

Luka was a photographer and a fitness instructor. He lived by the beach and had a very healthy lifestyle. He gave me his spare room where I could listen to the ocean and wake up to say hello to the beach in the morning. 

I cooked for Luka almost every night that I stayed with him, and introduced him to lots of different kinds of Asian food. Luka had an open mind for food too. It was just very nice to be able to show him new food and try new recipes. Luka had a fully equipped kitchen and he didn’t mind doing the dishes afterwards. After his fitness class, Luka would take me to the nearby beach towns to have coffee and give me tours here and there. Before meeting Luka, I had only seen big cities in Italy like Rome, Milan and Florence. However, the small town was tranquill and lovely too, especially when walking and enjoying it with a local.

One morning after working on the computer, I cried in front of Luka because I felt the uncertainty of the future and it scared me too. I was stressed out. I knew I was going back to Taiwan, but I didn’t know what I would do there. It also felt like my travel life was ending, too. Luka was so lovely, didn’t mind me crying and encouraged me with his own story. He said he could relate a lot to my situation. Just like me, Luka had chosen not to get an office job and became self-employed. However, sometimes this lifestyle had its own downsides and sacrifices too. 

In the afternoon, Luka wanted to cheer me up and took me to an organic farm where he often purchased his groceries from. He told me he used to sell eggs from the farm and saw the unhappy chickens in the cage. He became really unhappy too. At that point he made a change in his career and pursued what his heart told him to. He was a lot happier. Also now, he only ate eggs from free-range chickens on organic farms. 

He told me this while pointing out the chickens in the farm and carrying a basket of organic products he had just purchased. I was watching the chickens running around a