“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard
A semi-nomadic life, always on the road, an existence as a vagabond – a lot of people are surprised when I tell them about my chosen lifestyle. Most people I know want to take roots, build something up, and to live in a (selfchosen) community.
I always had the desire to be on the way, to travel, to linger, to explore a landscape, city or region, and then move on, in search of new impressions and impulses. For many years traveling was for me the most important triviality in the world – taking every opportunity to travel, whenever possible adding a weekend during business trips and, of course, travel long as possible during holidays.
But I never got enough. Southeast Asia for two months, later five months in India – and there’s always more to see. In consequence of all the travelling I start to look different at things. I’m interested in the big picture and in small details. Less and less I want to travel in a hurry and instead prefer to stay longer, sometimes even weeks, in a place. Travelling slowly does not only mean to visit fewer places in a certain amount of time, but also to explore by foot or on bycicle.
“I want my life to consist only of travel” – what I actually knew for a long time, I realized it for real during my five-month trip to India. I don’t want to stay at one place for eleven months, just to see in the 12th month, what I missed in the preceding time. I want to spend my life in different places – and I can strike roots temporarily – like now in Turkey, where I will stay until before Christmas in a lovely cottage in the forest.
Then I am going to spend 6 weeks in Austria. Because this is also important to me – not to lose touch with my roots. But in February, the wind and my desire to travel will drive me forward again.
The financing of this is done with a mixture of work (online and on “the way”) and sometimes in kind (such as food and housing) and saving(which of course is easier in countries with a lower purchasing power …)
How long this lifestyle is going to please me is written in the stars. Currently, I want to live in nature and to spend as much time as possible outdoors – and I am very grateful that I have at present good opportunities to pursue this wish. Everything else the future will tell.