I started following up with one of my dreams which is writing my first book. Simultaneously I decided to record an audio version to get my mind and memory going. In this episode I talk about how a 6 week backpacking trip in Thailand in 2011 changed my life, how I made my final decision to leave everything behind and the adventure of the first 5 month traveling/ living in Africa.

And here is the beginning of my book (First Draft):

It was late summer 2011 when I decided to go backpacking in Thailand. For the first time in my life I decided to go by myself abroad without having any plans or bookings. A few weeks earlier I came across the word backpacking the first time and started to research it. Quickly Thailand landed on my radar as the number one spot as easy entry for backpacking. I read countless blogs and travel sites and fell in love with the idea of an adventure. I always felt drawn to real adventures but would’ve never imagined I could actually do it. And here it was. The opportunity to live an adventure. I checked my working schedule and decided to take 4 week off in October/ November 2011. My shift system had one week off every 5 weeks. Together with one week before and one week after those 4 weeks I got 6 weeks in total. Awesome.

Once that was set I booked a flight and that was it. I bought all the fancy backpacking equipment starting with a 65L backpack, daypack, mosquito net and so on. The day came quick and off I was. I didn’t speak much English at that time but I felt confident enough to go without any plans or bookings. Once arrived in Bangkok I made my way to the famous Khao San road and here my new life started to unfold. Today I don’t like this area anymore. Too much hustle and all those backpackers (ha!) but back then it felt like home away from home. So many people to meet and socialize.

I quickly booked my ticket to get south to the islands starting with Koh Tao. Once down there I took a diving course and got my advanced license within a week. Absolute amazing and well worth the money. From now on I was able to dive anywhere in the world and I did.

Again I met so many people and made many new friends. Some of whom I’m still in touch today. I remember meeting 2 guys who told me they’ve been traveling since 3 years. 3 years!! I couldn’t warp my head around that. The longer I traveled the more of such people I met. One to two years seemed to be normal and money was never a big issue. Life out here was cheap. After about 3 weeks I was on Koh Phangan and I must have read a book at that time that printed one quote into my mind. Till today I live by this quote. “Everything happens for a reason”. At that time I was just starting out to think about the bigger questions of life but that quote became the foundation of my future. Thinking back I’m actually impressed with myself knowing what journey it took to become who I am today and remembering that even back than as a newbie in life I already realized the value of those words without knowing their deeper meaning.

The night I wanted to leave Koh Phangan with a night boat has become one of the strong memories of that trip. It was like 10 PM when the ferry was supposed to leave and I went to the port on time. But the crew was asleep and the watchman told me that the boat isn’t gonna go tonight. It was late and most shops were closed. The little port town was almost like a ghost town. I remember thinking, okay, there is reason I’m in this situation. Instead of being worried I just took it with a pinch of salt and walked across the dark streets until a guy in a pub called for me. He was actually German and funny enough, he had a guest room for me upstairs. The next day I took the day ferry and made friends with a group of 4 guys. We became good friends and stayed together for the next 2 weeks. There was the reason I was looking for. If the night ferry wouldn’t have been out of service I wouldn’t have met those guys.