Welcome to my travel blog!
I am a middle-aged nomad, who retired early and is trying to visit as much of the world as possible. I am very glad that you found your way here, so I can bring you along on my journeys. I hope to inspire others to go out there and explore the world, by sharing my photos, trip reports and useful information about all the amazing places I have visited.
My brief biography:
I was born over half a century ago in Munich, Germany, and spent the first 24 years of my life there. My first experience of living abroad began in the early nineties, when I moved to Cambridge, England, as a student, and I ended up living the next nine years in the UK. After completing my degree at Cambridge, I had a fairly short and unremarkable career in academia doing research in mathematical physics, most of which at the University of Durham. In 1999 I joined the world of finance and moved to London, where I started as a quantitative analyst in the risk department of an international investment bank. Two years later I was transferred to New York City, which became my home for the next eight years, while working at a number of different financial institutions there.
During the financial crisis of 2008, I quit my job and took off on my first solo trip around the world. I had the time of my life traveling through New Zealand, Australia and East Asia and would have loved to continue travelling, but after a few months my bank account demanded that I return to gainful employment. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to start a new job in Hong Kong in 2009. I instantly fell in love with the city and with Asia in general, and I ended up spending the next 8 years in Hong Kong and then 2 more years in Singapore, working in the risk department at Credit Suisse.
In 2019 after an almost 20 year career in banking, during which I had the fortune to be able to live and work in four of the greatest cities on earth (London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore), I decided to call it a day, leave the corporate world and dedicate most of my time to my true passion in life - travelling and exploring the world. Later that year, I also cancelled my apartment lease in Singapore, gave away most of my possessions and headed out into the world with two bags to become a nomad.
My life as a traveler:
My interests as a traveler range widely from natural wonders, exotic cultures to ancient ruins, gothic cathedrals and modern architecture. I feel equally at home climbing volcanoes on remote islands, stalking gorillas in deep jungles, as well as exploring museums in the great cities of the world.
Most of the time I am traveling solo and I feel being alone in a foreign country is a very different experience than traveling in a group. It forces you interact more with the people there and to immerse yourself more in the local culture. I try to create my own itineraries and use local guides whereever possible. I do enjoy traveling with friends now and then and I join tour groups in those places where traveling independently is just a bit too complicated or dangerous. I have met many fascinating people and some good friends on these organized group trips throughout the years.
I do have a lifelong ambition to visit every country in the world, but I don't consider myself just a country collector. I do want to fully experience and learn about the places I visit. Since I have a particular passion for history, archeology and architecture, I am also trying to visit as many of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the world as possible.
About my travel blog:
I started writing travel journals more than 25 years ago, just as a way to preserve my own memories about the amazing things I saw. It was in 2008, during my first long solo trip, when I began putting my experiences and pictures online. The initial reason for writing these travel blogs was just to share my photos and travel stories with friends and family. But I soon realized that it is also a way to inspire other people to travel more, and to travel to unusual, remote and strange places in the world. I would like my blog to be part entertainment, part lesson on history, politics and culture, part travel advice and part adventure story.
But most importantly, keeping a travel blog not only helps me remember things better, it also makes me a better traveler. It does not allow me to be a lazy tourist, but forces me to learn about the places I go to and interact with the people and cultures. Taking and editing pictures and writing about the destinations I visit, does help me to experience them more deeply.
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