I really have to strain to recall what my life was like before the trip. Over 1.5 years and 20+ countries have passed since, and it feels like a completely different life.
It's 17 September 2024. I'm standing at Düsseldorf airport with my family and my best friend. Fully packed backpack on my back, one-way ticket in hand, as we say goodbye. First stop Dubai for a few days, before I wanted to start in Chiang Mai, Thailand. How it would go from there, I didn't yet know.
When I landed at the airport in Thailand, I had these worries: what if this isn't the right thing? Was it a mistake to quit? What if I don't meet anyone? Now I'd given up everything back home and bet on this card, and how would it turn out? The worry was cleared away fairly quickly, because from the very first day I met cool people. We went on a jungle trek together right away. I then spent seven weeks in Thailand, loved the country, and the backpacking was great to start with.
A quick look at the trip: I was on the road for ten months across Southeast Asia and North America, then home for six weeks in summer 2025 to surprise family and friends. After that there was no money left in the travel budget, but I wanted to keep going. So the answer was work and travel. That's how I ended up in Australia, where I refilled the travel budget over seven months in Perth. Since April I've been back on the road with a full budget, to see Europe for the summer.
From the travel-story side it's of course all great and very rich, at the start I hadn't thought I'd be away this long. But there were of course the ugly sides too: the financial worry, the being alone, the constant deliberation about what to do, where to go, where I might be drawn next. The many cool encounters with great people, and just as much the hard goodbyes, even when you'd only known each other a few days. Because it was so intense, it still feels like a break-up, like heartache.
To sum up, I can say for sure: the 20 months of my trip were a rollercoaster of feelings and impressions. From encounters, new friendships, but also challenges as well as realisations about myself and so much more, this trip made a completely different person out of me. So, as on day one, I can still say: »It was the right decision!«
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