Extraordinary Like a Woman

Smile, woman
always smile at life
even if life does not smile at you.
Smile at loves that have ended
smile at your sorrows
smile anyway.
Your smile will be
a light for your journey
a lighthouse for lost sailors.
Your smile will be
a mother’s kiss,
the beat of wings,
a ray of sunshine for all

— Alda Merini

“Smile, woman, always smile at life even if life does not smile at you” — so wrote the poet Alda Merini, and the story we are about to tell you seems written by fate itself to make real what sometimes appears to be nothing more than a piece of good life advice.

Manuela’s story is one like many others — shaped by everyday life, by hard work in a small but beloved pastry shop, by a husband as a companion with whom to share small and great adventures, and by an unmistakable dreamer’s spirit that has always set her apart. In truth, one quality that always made Manuela feel a little different — especially from her peers at school and as she grew up — was a fierce curiosity for everything her eyes had not yet seen: travel, adventure, the desire to “go far away”, as she herself puts it. It was this great inner strength that Manuela drew upon when life stopped smiling at her. Her “even so” moment came in 2010, when life played the cruellest trick of all: her husband passed away following an accident. In that dark and painful time, relying solely on her own strength, she decided to follow her instincts as she always had — closing her pastry business and pursuing the desire she had carried within her since she was young: to travel.

But how? Where to begin? How to respond to those who told her she could not travel the world alone because she was a woman and because her English was not good enough? But as everyone knows, when a woman sets her mind on something, nothing can stop her — and so Manuela seized the moment and set off on her first real journey: trekking in Nepal. By pure coincidence, fate also presented her with the chance to swap her home with a woman from South Africa and move, after Nepal, to Cape Town.

After an initial burst of excitement, however, homesickness combined with a job that did not work out and too much free time created a mix of discouragement and loneliness: “only on that first long trip did I feel the strong absence of old friends — from that moment I learned to detach myself, in a good way, from people. Everyone has their own path, you meet new people who do not replace old friends — quite the opposite!”, says Manuela.

The cliché that travelling means above all not having a job makes her waver; on the other hand, being truly free nowadays takes time, practice and a good dose of courage. Over time, trip after trip, Manuela learns to make room for the unexpected, to step outside her comfort zone — choosing destinations she has never seen based on chance events like the cheapest flight, the first available accommodation or the season. Gradually she discovers the deep and sincere meaning of the word traveller: of time, of hospitality, of giving her positive energy in exchange for a place to stay.

Solitude holds no fear for her. She follows a rigorous method called destiny, leaves room for the unexpected and overcomes it with ease — and she shares her secret for long solo travel: “you need to have a backpack with you. So the lighter you make it, the better! Tired backs and arms are par for the course.” Manuela smiles now, from Nepal to Cambodia, through the Philippines, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, California, Mexico, Tokyo — her smile reaches every corner of the world, because it is the smile of someone who has fallen in love with life.

But life, as we know, takes and gives in equal measure — and unexpectedly, Manuela’s smile becomes a mother’s smile. On 26 October 2017 her daughter Andrea Sveva is born — a future great woman and, from that moment, a wonderful travel companion. Their first real trip together came a hundred days after her birth, to Brazil; then Prague and the Canary Islands at 7 months; Sveva took her first steps in Greece, spent her first Christmas in Mexico, and in 2019, between her first and second birthdays, came Thailand, Taiwan and Tokyo.

The pull of travel and meticulous planning made it possible for them to visit the North Pole in July to witness the midnight sun, then Greece in September — Kalymnos, a rock climbing paradise that Andrea Sveva has called home since she was still in the womb — and Jordan in December.

On all these travels around the world, they were kind enough to share a small secret with us — and what was it? A Marsupio backpack! “Being the seasoned travellers we are, we manage to fit all our changes of clothes, swimwear, flip flops, toys, nappies, creams and lotions into two Marsupio backpacks, which are exactly the right size to fit under the seat on the plane”, says Manuela. The moral of the story, as in any story worth telling, does exist — and it is a moral that asks nothing more than that we recognise the value of life, beyond all the “even so” moments.

“On this special day dedicated to women, 8 March, we wanted to share a story of strength, independence and courage — to inspire you to live your dreams and to see the world with eyes full of wonder, just as Manuela and her daughter Andrea Sveva do every single day.”