MD
Round-the-World Traveler Round the World Travel GuideYour One-stop Source to Plan & Book Around-the-World Trips
March-October 1997
21
Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
My career hasn't much started yet, but so far the trip affected my life only in positive ways. I wouldn't want to exchange the trip I took with a nice career anyway, but furthermore I hardly doubt it'll have any negative effects.
East Coast U.S., Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, a bit of Southeast Asia
I worked in Florida for a year and didn't want to go back to Germany to start university there, so I decided to go to Australia for some time. Then all the other places came on my mind. Financing was a problem, and I have no idea how exactly I had the idea to do the trip. I'm still thinking about why everything went so smoothly, don't know.
I don't want to try to classify all the memorable persons I met on my trip, most of them are freaks in their own ways.
Just Enough
Pocketknife and camera.
Can't remember, my backpack has proved very efficiently packed. Everything I didn't need anymore I either gave away, sent home or threw away.
I've learned to listen to the opinions of other people and to see things from different angles. To sum it up I got a new hobby and I travel a lot more. The thing is, the dreams about travelling around the world don't end once I've actually been around the world. There are so many places left to see, and now I have proof that it's possible, if not easy, to go to all these places.
It's been the best idea I've ever had.
I'm not very keen on travelling around the globe right now. I've picked my favourite region during the trip to where I've done an extended trip in the past, will definitely go there again in the future and maybe settle there.
Depends on how they do their trip. It doesn't really matter if you travel the whole globe or stick around a place for a while, which actually would be the better choice when you're short on time. One or two weeks, vacation or not, are definitely too short for anything.
That it's a big mistake to see different cultures only through European, "civilized" eyes. As an example: democracy, which we regard as the best system, isn't worth much in places like Samoa, because they're used to having their own ways to rule their place, which in their standards has worked quite well for centuries. It's not about backwards, it's just different. I don't see things in black and white any more.
The people who haven't done it compare it to travelling to the moon, people who've done it know that all this actually is easily possible on the surface of the Earth.
Because of overwhelming boredom at home.
Get in contact with the locals and stay away from gossiping with your mate about the latest newspaper from home during the trip. Travel alone if possible. Keep an eye on your money, travelling without it isn't much fun. Most important: make your ideas and dreams become real.
