Holidays are for spending time with family, having fun, touring places, and for me, I have been
traveling! Having visited most cities in the North of France and the neighboring countries, what
struck me the most was visiting Luxembourg and Alsace, Germany, near Strasbourg, a very
beautiful French city which sits just 3km away from Germany. What’s amazing about Strasbourg
is that there are buses, tramways and trains that get into Germany and back, it doesn't even seem
like you've crossed a national boundary. It’s like moving from Nairobi to Thika, no stress, just
occasional border police to check your documents, and in my case, my French visa.
When visiting to Luxembourg, we carpooled, and our driver happened to be driving to Brussels
via Luxembourg, and was from visiting his cousin who lives in France, and works in
Luxembourg. He was a pretty nice guy and for the next 1 h 30mins ride, he kept going on about
his travel experiences, how he could work in France and be visiting relatives living in various
countries whenever he wanted. All I could think about was the free movement! The freedom to
live, work, study, travel within the Schengen region in Europe (the world’s largest visa and
passport free zone comprising of 27 countries), and how I wish we could have that in Africa! The
freedom to move however you want, like working in Luxembourg, a very rich country, and
expensive too, while living in France which is way cheaper, isn’t that really cool?
About the money, all you need is Euros. Unlike moving from Kenya to Uganda and having to
convert currencies, it is so easy here with the shared currency. The most interesting part is the
transport, not expensive compared to in Africa when traveling from country A to B. Air tickets
within Schengen cost up to as low as 15 euros, while flights from Kenya to Tanzania cost around
40,000Kshs, that's a whopping 330 euros. The math aside, movement within European countries
is easy and cheap, and I can't help but compare it to movement in Africa, we really have a long
way to go.
Oh and did I mention the free transport in Luxembourg, hoping on the bus, taking the tram to
anywhere you want without buying a ticket, mind blowing! My dream is that one day I could
visit other countries like Nigeria visa free, get cheap and affordable flights to South Africa, not
having to change currencies at every borderline in Africa, I dream of an Africa with fully
functioning transport systems, cities with metros and trams that can give people the freedom to
move the way they want, the freedom to move!