The illusion of freedom
- Richard
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Since leaving our working lives behind and traveling with Globus 2 , it feels like the world is open to us. Boundaries that barely exist. We drive, stop wherever it is beautiful, and stay somewhere as long as it feels right. No one tells us exactly where we need to be and at what time. Until now, that is...
A passport as a key
Even outside Europe, we still experience that freedom. With some patience, a visa, and a bit of preparation, we get far. Countries open their doors to us Europeans. Our passport acts like a key. Sometimes it beeps briefly in the lock, but eventually, it almost always turns open. However, not everyone carries such a key with them.
The other side of freedom
Here in Tunisia, we speak to people who dream of Europe. Not to flee, not to escape from anything, but simply to go on holiday. To see what lies beyond the horizon. Their stories touch us. For while we move without thinking about it, they face closed doors. With a Dutch passport, you can travel to approximately 185 destinations without applying for a visa in advance. A Tunisian passport offers visa-free access to less than half that number. Without a visa, no permission. No freedom to discover the world the way we do.
When freedom is restricted
As seen in our latest video , we were recently in an area colored red on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs map. A place where you are not allowed to be. Where safety is not a given. That meant continuing our journey under police escort and spending the night right in front of the police station. We couldn't even grab a loaf of bread without an officer walking along with us.
Traveling is seeing, feeling, and connecting with nature and people.
Freedom in small things
Sometimes freedom lies in something seemingly small. A bank card. Access to your own money. When our cards were replaced and the old ones expired, we suddenly had a problem. The new cards were patiently waiting for us in the Netherlands. The old cards continued to work for another 90 days, but what if you are away from home for longer...? It shows how thin that line sometimes is. How dependent freedom can be on systems over which you have no influence.
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Freedom is not a given
For how free are you really, if it can disappear so quickly? If a boundary, a situation, or someone else's decision suddenly makes your world smaller? We often think that freedom is something we possess. But perhaps it is something granted to us temporarily. Something that can shift, without warning.
The world is not open everywhere.
For us, too, there are places that remain out of reach. Not because we don't want to, but simply because it is not possible. Wars, tensions, unrest. Parts of Africa or the vast Russian wilderness remain a longing. Not far away in kilometers, but unreachable in this moment.
What remains
We love to show how beautiful the world is. We focus on what is possible. On the bright spots, the encounters, the nature that touches us time and again.
A deep sense of gratitude for the space we experience. For the freedom to move, to choose, and to discover. Not as something taken for granted, but as something we receive anew every day.
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