Axel Grafmanns

1. When do you leave?
   November 2003

2. How long do you plan to be away?
   6-12 Months

3. How much have you saved?
   €25000

4. How old are you?
   29

5. Nationality
   Germany

6. Where do you live now?
   Berlin, Germany

7. Occupation
   Broadcast Engineer

8. Is this job one that you actually like, or are you only doing it to pay for the trip?
   I'll come back if they'll have me

9. Have you traveled around the world before?
   No

10. What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
    Australia-New Zealand-Fiji-South America

11. Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
    Well, an old dream comes true. I am now close to the 30, and it's time to realise from what I talked my whole live. You have ever a reason that you don't do it.

12. What is your biggest fear about this trip?
    Illness and maybe to be lonely.

13. Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
    Yes, they support me. It was a long process. And they know, that traveling is a part of my live. It's important for me. I had already monthly trips to Thailand, India, USA, Mexico....

14. How much planning and preparing have you done?
    Just Enough

15. What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
    Sleeping back and some clothing staff, medicine, some books.

16. How do you think your round-the-world trip will change your life? How do you think it will affect and change you as a person?
    I don't know...it's not my first trip far away. But maybe I find out, what I will do the rest of my life, after my dreamn and what is important for me....

17. If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
    I am a male, but the feelings now I can describe with: pregnant (from high to low).

18. Why do you think people should go on round-the-world trips? Why not just take a regular old one- or two-week vacation instead?
    Because this time is not enough, that you get the feeling for different cultures and different people. Two weeks vacations are not enough, to realice that we live as world-citizens, and that nationality is not so important.

19. What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
    Everybody ask me five questions:
    1) What will you do after the trip?
    2) What is with your occupation?
    4) You do it alone?
    3) You have enough money for it?
    4) What the opinion of your parents to this?

20. Why do you like to travel?
    It's a part of my live, of my dreams and it's important to stop war and fighting each other. If you ever have a friend in a foreign country, you don't like to shoot him.

21. What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
    DO IT! It's easy, the most important thing is to make a decision....