I was talking on the phone with my head phones on and this young woman thought I was talking to her. She said, “What was that?”
I was hanging up then anyways so I said, “I was on the phone but we’re talking now. How ya doin?”
“Pretty good, just going for a walk.”
“You live in this neighborhood?”
“No, I’m traveling.”
“For any particular reason?”
“I have never really planned anything for my travels. Neither before I left Germany nor here in the States. I’m going where ever the wind takes me and that has been the best decision so far. I end up in the most random places, towns I have never heard of, meeting such unique and loving people. This way I can be open and spontaneous to everything, soak it up and learn from it. I’m getting inspired everyday, I discover a lot of new interests and try out new things. I worked to save money for this trip so of course not having to work makes that a lot easier.

I have all the time I want and I take it whenever something catches my attention. On this trip I flew in to Chicago January 17th, stayed a couple days there and then went down to Effingham, a small town in Illinois, where I went to High School for a year four years ago as a foreign exchange student (that was when I first discovered my passion about traveling). I saw my friends again and caught up a little bit. After a couple weeks there I headed to New Orleans, which I really liked, good vibe, awesome street musicians, beautiful architecture. Afterwards I went to Houston, pretty disappointing after Nola, nothing to do besides a lot of free museums. Then San Antonio, which was cool for a day, a lot of history there and the Mexican atmosphere is great. I was a little unlucky with my host there though. Next was Austin, awesome city. I stayed in a hippy treehouse co-op with 11 people. Waking up with a smell of weed every morning. It’s a city in progress, becoming greener and greener, a lot of young people with the right thinking, not like the rest of Texas at all.

Afterwards I went all the way up to the cold State of Colorado and stayed in Denver for a couple days. Besides the art walk, there was not that much to do for me, especially because it was winter, so I went to Boulder to go hike there. Beautiful nature, I got views of the Rockies, I met very interesting people there all connected to the nature and of course growing weed. My days were completly filled with hiking. Then I went back to Denver to catch my flight to Phoenix from there. Weird city, when I got there on a Sunday afternoon everything was dead, coffee shop and restaurants were closed, no people on the streets. But my host (which I had to find that day, because the person I was supposed to meet there, who has family and friends in Phoenix, ditched me) was amazing and I met the San Franpsycho crew there who were touring with the band The Sam Chase(from the Bay area) to SXSW. We partied all night together and they promised me a couch whenever I make it to SF. Flagstaff was next, from where I saw the Grand Canyon and Sedona. I really enjoyed that, it was a calm stay.

Afterwards a short stop in Las Vegas, which almost made me cry. I was so balanced and connected with the nature that I couldn’t handle all the fakeness and superficiality. So I left after one day and went all the way up to San Francisco. That was when I fell in love. For me the vibe of this city is outstanding. From the first second on I felt the power of love. Whoever I smile at on the streets, smiles back or even asked me how I was doing. I’ve met the most interesting people in San Francisco, and I think I also made friends for life. People are willing to help me with whatever everywhere. I’ve stayed a whole week, because I felt so comfortable and welcomed.

Then I went down the coast to Santa Cruz, a lot of interesting homeless people with amazing stories. I’ve never been afraid to spend my time with homeless, they’re humans as anybody else, with their own reasons for choosing that life. They share or trade whatever they have, I got so many little gifts from them and I like how they cherish the simple life. Next destination was San Luis Obispo, cute little college town. I liked SC and SLO because everybody was so connected to the nature, it takes big part in their daily life. Mountainbiking, hiking, surfing, snowboarding, so many activities you can choose from.

From there I went to Santa Barbara, which was first kinda tough on me, because people are a lot different there. Probably because of all the money that is around. They are very showy, arrogant and superficial. However, the surrounding nature offers beautiful hiking trails and the beaches are gorgeous. I wish I could open some peoples eyes and show them that there is more than work and money and that they can certainly smile back if they get smiled at on the street. Yesterday I headed to Long Beach. I’ll stay in the LA area for another week, before my flight leaves to Curacao, the Carribean. I hope I’ll find a nice host in Santa Monica or Venice, because Long Beach is definitely not my thing.

The next three months I’ll be exploring South America. After Curacao I’ll go to Suriname, the jungle, and then Brazil. I’m really excited for that. I have family in every place there.”

“What insight have you gained?" 

"Where should I start? First thing, never be afraid! You will miss out on a lot of things if you let your fears control you. I’m very glad I had the guts to do this all by myself. I’ve been asked so many times if I’m not afraid and I don’t see what I should be scared of. There is bad people everywhere but I’ll still enjoy life. Actually what I forgot to tell you at the beginning is, that I’ve been couchsurfing the whole time. It was amazing how many random people let me stay in there homes, giving me keys, bikes, food, all for free. Trust has been a big topic on this trip. And I love how everything is going in circles. What goes around comes around. It’s been the poorest people that have asked me if I’m hungry or need anything else when I was sitting on the streets with all my bags.

Another thing I opened myself for is spirituality. For the longest time I have been really skeptical about it, but now I take the time to learn and talk about it. People have told me how their believe in gems or plants have changed their life. I got introduced to yoga and meditation, which I am very grateful for. But the biggest insight I gained is definitely the power of now. Traveling makes it really easy for you to live in the now, because you never know what tomorrow is going to bring. It’s been hard for me to do so in Germany, always working, worrying about money and daily life problems. Here I cherish the moment, every moment and I have never felt so free and independent. I am so happy, it’s almost like being high without drugs. The most amazing feeling I have ever had. I wish I could just keep on traveling for the rest of my life. I have been strongly reinforced in my philosophy of life, ‘go where ever the wind takes you’. What’s supposed to happen will happen, take it, learn from it and move forward with a smile.”