CityPages Kuwait June 2016 Issue June 2016 | Page 82

Do you like travelling?
Absolutely! I have the travel bug. Travelling is
enriching in so many different ways. I love exploring new places, meeting new people and
especially learning about their cultures. The
more I travel, the clearer I see; and the more
I appreciate things, the braver I become.
Do you think travelling is important
and why?
Travelling is definitely important. More
importantly, I love the light in people's eyes
when they learn I'm from Kuwait; full of
curiosity and excitement to learn and know
about our region. Truly amazing!
What have you learned from your many
trips?
Simply two things; nothing is impossible,
and happiness is in simplicity. People get so
busy and distracted with their daily lives they
tend to forget how beautiful the simple life is.
Nothing is impossible because it’s all in our
heads. I’ve been put in situations where I felt
I couldn't do it, but yet again I did it. As soon
as I programmed my mind that I can, then I
could, and I did.

Who is Fatima and what is Hello965?
Fatima is a travel blogger, owner of www.
hello965.com travel blog and social media
travel account Hello965; a female Kuwaiti
traveller who is curious to explore the world.
In Hello965, Fatima aims to shed light on
untraditional or new destinations, hotels,
resorts, adventures and even events around
the world.
Fatima loves diversity, from luxurious to lowbudget travel, group to solo travelling, and
aspires to conv ey a diverse style of travelling to all her readers and followers through
her social media channels and blog.
How did Hello965 start?
It started 7 years ago, but it was more
generic. Later, as I travelled more, I wanted
to keep a journal for myself and also for
the benefit of those reading it. After that I
decided to make the blog more focused and
centered so it became a travel blog rather
than a generic blog.
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JUNE, 2016

Travelling on the other hand, started long
ago. When I was younger, I was traveling with
the family. However, family trips were never
enough for me; I’ve always had the urge and
knew I wanted to see more, explore more
and wander more.
Is it hard to balance between your job
and travelling?
Having a full time job that you actually like,
and doing the thing you love is amazing, but
also time and energy consuming. It is definitely hard to balance. However, I’m blessed
with a supportive manager who appreciates
my day job work, as well as Hello965 and my
travels.
So I’ve been successfully balancing the two
and taking my work with me on my trips. I
have my email on my phone, and on longer
trips my laptop, so I can immediately correspond with my team and get work done.
It is hard to balance, but it’s doable. It also
gets easier as you get to be familiar with the
process of balancing.

What are your goals?
For Hello965: Hello965 aims to be one of
the most preferred travel blogs internationally.
For me personally: Create and live a life from
which I don’t need a vacation.
Any special or unusual travel related
incidents you would love to share with
us?
Jumping off a 20 meter cliff was truly challenging for me. I stood there, looked down
and stopped feeling my feet. I took a deep
breath, sat, then started crawling backwards.
There were 5 people waiting behind me to
jump as I volunteered to jump first.
Why put myself in this situation? It’s just not
worth it. You can’t do it. This is way out of
your comfort zone, just go back down. Those
were the voices in my head.
I took a few more breaths and thought, Why
not? Why can’t I do it? I love adventure, I can
do it. It’s just a matter of letting go. I then
stood up, took a few steps forward and let
go. I jumped. The rest is history.
As soon as I went into the water, I felt this