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RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL
  • ASIA , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , TRAVEL , Travel

šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§NEPAL WITH ACTIONAID – STORIES AND LESSONS OF HUMANITY

October 20, 2018 0 Comment
I just got back from one of the most unforgettable trips of my life, Nepal on ActionAid’s side. ITAšŸ‡®šŸ‡¹ If …
  • ASIA , Journal , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , TRAVEL , Travel

šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹IN NEPAL CON ACTIONAID – STORIE DI UMANITA’

October 17, 2018 0 Comment
Sono tornata da poco da uno dei viaggi piu indimenticabili della mia vita, il Nepal a fianco di ActionAid. ENGšŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ …
volunteer africa impact
  • AFRICA , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , Tanzania , Travel

VOLUNTEERING IN MOSHI- 2 weeks with African Impact

April 02, 2018 1 Comment
As I told you in one of my latest posts, I want to show you more meaningful and sustainable ways …
  • AFRICA , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , Travel

VOLUNTEER TRAVEL – Another way to see the world

March 13, 2018 5 Comments
Volunteer Travel is a great way to see the world while also doing good. A closer look to this alternative …
india violence against women
  • ASIA , India , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , THOUGHTS , Travel

DOCUMENTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA with ACTIONAID

November 24, 2017 6 Comments
šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹VERSIONE ITALIANA A few weeks ago I went back to India, this time with ActionAid Italia for a project on …
Travel photography portrait
  • CREATIVITY , Creativity ALL , Photography , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , Travel

HOW TO TAKE TRAVEL PORTRAITS ETHICALLY

October 29, 2017 20 Comments
šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹ļøVERSIONE ITALIANA Taking portraits of the people I meet on my travels is one of the most challenging, inspiring and …
  • ASIA , India , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , THOUGHTS , Travel

THE DARK SIDE OF HOLI

October 04, 2017 47 Comments
šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹VERSIONE ITALIANA Holi. The Festival of colors. The Hindu celebration of good overcoming evil, of the arrival of spring and …
  • ASIA , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , THOUGHTS , Tips & Guides , Travel , Uncategorized

WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER EVER RIDE ELEPHANTS

August 20, 2017 3 Comments
šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹VERSIONE ITALIANA Elephant rides are one of the most popular tourist activities in many Asian countries. When we think about …
  • ASIA , Photography , RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL , Sri Lanka , THOUGHTS , Travel

THE FAKE STILT FISHERMEN OF SRI LANKA

July 03, 2017 24 Comments
šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹Ā versione italiana Most people, when hearing the name ‘Sri Lanka’, picture beautiful beaches, elephants and tea plantations. Not me though. …
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My name is Sara and I'm the photographer behind QUEST FOR BEAUTY.
I’m an Artist, a former dancer, a writer, a traveler, a Dreamer and I recently left my life in NYC to be on the road full time. Join me on my adventures around the world!

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  • šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§it has been 10 years since I left my own country. I’ve lived in LA, Vegas, London & NYC; I’ve traveled to over 30 countries, I changed 13  apartments, 38 roommates and I haven’t slept in the same bed for more than a week straight for the past 3 years.
Beautiful? Yes
Exhausting? Very
Worth it? Fuck yeah! Every bit of it.
Today I hold in my hands the keys to my new apartment in my home town, my own little place to call home. A place where I can finally keep my books, a refuge  I can return to in between trips, a nest where I can rest and pause among the joy and the sorrows life will gift me. 
Throughout the years In constant movement I asked myself a million time, where is Home? And could never answer. But today I realized that home is not just a place, home is me.
I don’t know how long I’ll stay in this apt, in this city, in this country, or where life will bring me from here, but I’m home no matter what and I can’t wait to find out where I’ll be 10 years from now! .✨
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šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹Sono passati 10 anni. Ho avuto tante case. Ho vissuto a Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Londra e New York, ho viaggiato in oltre 30 paesi, ho cambiato 13 appartamenti, 38 coinquilini e non ho dormito nello stesso letto per più di 1 settimana di fila per gli ultimi 3 anni. 
Bello? Tanto.
Estenuante? Tantissimo.
Ne e’ valsa la pena? Tutta.
E dopo 3 anni on the road vivendo con una valigia in mano oggi invece ho finalmente in mano le chiavi di un posto tutto mio da chiamare CASA; un nido dove costruire dopo il terremoto; un rifugio dove poter tornare tra un viaggio e l’altro, tra un avventura e un lavoro, tra le gioie e i dolori che la vita mi regalerĆ . 
In questi anni di continuo movimento mi sono chiesta allo sfinimento: cos’è casa per me? E non sono mai riuscita a rispondermi. Ma oggi ho capito che Casa non e’ solo un posto: casa sono io. Ovunque.
Non so quanto staro’ in questo nuovo appartamento, in questa cittĆ , in questo paese, ma sono a casa in ogni caso, e non vedo l’ora di vedere dove mi porterĆ  la vita nei prossimi 10 anni.✨
  • ā€œšŸ‡¬šŸ‡§We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity; more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.ā€
—Charles Chaplin
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Just got the news that a new project in Africa may be in the cards soon, can’t wait to tell you more about it✨ I hope you guys had a great weekend and I wish you all a week full of beautiful things and unexpected surprises, sometimes all we need to do is to believe they’ll come😘
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šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹ā€Pensiamo troppo e sentiamo troppo poco.
Più delle macchine abbiamo bisogno di più umanitĆ . Più dell’intelligenza abbiamo bisogno di gentilezza.
Senza queste qualitĆ  la vita sarĆ  solo violenta e tutto sarĆ  perso.ā€
—Charles Chaplin .
Ho appena ricevuto la notizia che un nuovo progetto in Africa potrebbe essere nelle mie carte a breve ✨ spero il vostro weekend sia stato fantastico e che la settimana che vi aspetta vi porti cose belle e sorprese inaspettate, a volte basta credere davvero che arriveranno 😘
  • šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹vi lascio le mie parole di oggi nelle stories per spiegarvi tra le righe un po’ del casino che ho dentro ultimamentešŸ’›
Much love guys
—S
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šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ ā€œThere are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.ā€ ― John Lennon
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It always comes down to those two things, Let’s just leave it at that today✨
  • šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ā€Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to seek those answers that continues to give meaning to life. You can spend your life wallowing in despair, wondering why you were the one who was led towards the road strewn with pain, or you can be grateful that you are strong enough to survive it.ā€
J.D. Stroube
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Almost ready to be back online guys, thank you so much for being patient and understanding that I’m human too and sometime a break is needed! A few more weeks and I’ll be back on the road, I can’t wait to show you this new country, it’s somewhere I’ve been wanting to se for a very very long time! Guess where?!
Love,
—S✨
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ā€œLa vita e’ piena di domande senza risposta, ma e’ il coraggio di andare a cercare quelle risposte che continua a a dare senso alla vita. Puoi passare la tua vita cadendo nella disperazione, chiedendoti perchĆ© doveva toccare proprio a te di esser portato su una strada cosparsa di dolore, oppure puoi essere grato di essere abbastanza forte per soppravviverla.ā€
—J.D. Stroube
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Sono quasi pronta per tornare online ragazzi, grazie mille per la vostra pazienza col mio assenteismo e per aver capito che sono semplicemente umana e anch’io ogni tanto non ce la faccio a essere sempre a 100. Da oggi ricomincio a rispondere a tutti i vostri DM promesso šŸ’›
Tra qualche settimana partirò per un nuovo viaggio e vi porterò tutti con me in questo nuovo paese che sogno di vedere da tanto tanto tempo...indovinate dove?
Love,
—S✨
  • šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ā€When you're lost in the woods, it sometimes takes you a while to realize that you are lost. For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you've just wandered off the path, that you'll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now. Then night falls again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and it's time to admit that you have bewildered yourself so far off the path that you don't even know from which direction the sun rises anymore.ā€
—Elizabeth Gilbert
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Sorry for not being here much anymore lately. I’m currently fixing my life behind the screen, facing my biggest dragons and fighting my scariest demons. Sometime the only way to go on is to slow down and reset... I promise you I’ll be back soon with something damn good, cause only good can come from looking so deep within yourself. 
Love you all šŸ’›
Sara
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šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹ā€quando sei perso nel bosco a volte ci vuole un po’ per capire di essere persi. Per molto tempo, puoi convincerti che sei solo uscito dal percorso, che ritroverai il sentiero a breve. Ma poi la notte cade di nuovo, e di nuovo, e di nuovo e tu non hai ancora idea di dove sei, e e’ ora di ammettere che ti sei allontanato talmente tanto dal sentiero che non sai nemmeno più da quale parte sorge il sole.ā€
—Elizabeth Gilbert
.
Scusate se non sono quasi mai qui ultimamente. Al momento sto aggiustando la mia vita dietro allo schermo, affrontando tutti i miei draghi più grandi e combattendo i miei demoni più terrificanti. A volte l’unico modo per andare avanti e’ rallentare e resettarsi...vi prometto che ritorno a breve con qualcosa di fottutamente buono da farvi vedere (o leggere), perchĆ© solo cose buone possono arrivare dal guardarsi dentro cosƬ a fondo.
Much love a tutti šŸ’›
Sara
  • šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ ā€œKeep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.ā€
—Walt Whitman
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Gokarna, India - December 2018
A man performing rituals for the morning puja. Maybe that’s what keeps bringing me back to India: true believers, sheer devotion, moments of stillness in the chaos, a world so far away from mine.
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šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹ā€Tieni il volto verso il sole, e le ombre cadranno dietro di teā€
—Walt Whitman
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Gokarna, India - Dicembre 2018.
Un uomo che svolge i rituali della puja mattutina. Credo sia questo che continua a riportarmi in India, la devozione della gente, quella magia ormai persa, quei momenti di quiete nel chaos, un mondo cosƬ diverso dal mio.
  • šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ā€œThere comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you’d better learn the sound of it.ā€
—Sarah Dessen
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Hey guys! I took a little break from the web to focus on my life on the other side of the screen, which is the only one that really matter in the end. I’m back in action and have lots of new things to share with you soon!
Much love to all of you šŸ’›
—S
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šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹ā€arriva un tempo dove il mondo diventa silenzioso e l’unica cosa rimasta e’ il proprio cuore, quindi meglio impararne il suonoā€
—Sarah Dessen .
Ciao ragazzi šŸ¤— Mi sono presa una pausa dal web per concentrarmi sulla mia vita al di lĆ  dello schermo.(che e’ l’unica che conta davvero!)
Ritorno in azione adesso promesso, ho un po’ di cose nuove da condividere con voi a breve! 
Intanto much love a tutti šŸ’›
—S
  • šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ā€œAnd those who were swing dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the musicā€
—Friedrich Nietzsche
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Memories from Vietnam, looking forward to go back in April! Where are you all traveling to this year?
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šŸ‡®šŸ‡¹ā€e quelli che ballavano erano visti come pazzi da quelli che non riuscivano a sentire la musicaā€
—Friedrich Nietzsche
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RAGAZZE: chi viene in Vietnam con me a Aprile???per chi si e’ persa le mie stories (rifarò a breve) ho appena aperto le iscrizioni al mio retreat @riseandshine_retreats in Vietnam a Aprile! Date 20Aprile-1maggio, sono rimasti solo 3 posti!
Se volete ricevere il programma mandatemi la vostra email nei DM,  trovate tutte le info nella cartella ā€˜Retreats’ salvata nelle highlights 😘

©Sara Melotti 2018