One of my favourites things to do is to travel. I love being on the road, meeting new people, immersing myself in a completely different world. Tasting food I’ve never heard of, feeling the vibe of a buzzing city or relaxing on a lonely beach. I love the adventures, living just for the moment without knowing what to expect next and being open for whatever might come. I love the liberty and the expansion of the horizon that comes with travelling.
I grew up in Appenzell, a small village in Switzerland. And as both my parents like travelling we often spent the holidays in a foreign country. I remember camping in Italy and hiking in the alps as kids, relaxing in an all-inclusive-hotel in Turkey and Greece as teenagers and as soon as we (I do have two younger sisters) were old enough we started doing city trips to the capitals like Paris or London.
When I was ten, my dad walked the Camino de Santiago and made friends from all over Europe. They organised yearly meetings in the home country of every single one of them. Like that, we experienced each country like a local and had our own guide the whole time. During this period I’ve been to several destinations in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland. They still meet, I’ve joined them just last summer for a day and it was so nice to see them all again.
As soon as I was old enough, I went travelling with friends or on my own. Interrailing in Spain or Scandinavia, bike tour through Switzerland, roadtrip in the south east of Europe - I’ve done all of that. Although most of the journeys led me through Europe, I’ve been in Thailand, Brazil and Morocco as well. I experienced a big variety in how to travel - all planned or planning during the trip, in hotels or in a tent, on my own or with friends or in a group, with bus, train, car, bicycle - and I prefer backpacking with having no exact plan.
I like that feeling of having all the possibilities and the liberty of deciding at any time what I crave. Without a plan the road leads you to undiscovered places and memorable moments. I never live so much in the moment as I do whilst travelling.
But it’s not only about the liberty. It is also about all the firsts you experience on a trip. Meeting people with a totally different background, tasting food you don’t even know the ingredients of, walking through cities and countrysides that look totally different compared to the ones at home. On journeys I get inspired and have plenty of ideas of what else I could do and try. And I learn so much about other cultures and about how people in different places live their lives. With breaking out of my daily routine, I can get more open and tolerant, and I can expand my horizon.
I’d like to share some of my adventures on the most recent journeys. I hope you can immerse yourself a little bit into those countries the way I did.