I believe in happiness through variety: our mind constantly needs to be stimulated to be satisfied. We need to experience something new everyday, no matter if that’s as simple as trying out a new recipe, redecorating our home or making a big change such as starting a new job.
If what we’re doing everyday becomes too much of a routine, we get bored, we feel stressed and admire people who seem to live a much more interesting life than ourselves. Result: We’re unhappy, grumpy and just want to snuggle up in bed with a hot chocolate all day. That ‘something new’ is something different for every person- for me, it’s traveling.
My name is Caroline, I was born and raised in a small town in Germany, but realised quite early that life in one place just isn’t for me. I had my first ‘real’ experience abroad when I was 12: I attended a language course and lived with a host family in England for 2 weeks.
‘Real’ because for me personally traveling isn’t about staying in a hotel, eating a continental breakfast and then going on tour pre-planned by an travel agent; for me it’s about experiencing the lifestyle of the people who live in a place, hearing their stories and trying to figure my own way out. I didn’t find it easy at first to go to a foreign country without knowing anybody, but after overcoming that first fear I discovered my love for traveling and the challenge of meeting like- minded people that cross my path.
When I was 14 I moved to Australia for a year to study at a local high school and again, live with a host family. If my trips to England hadn’t set my travel fever yet, living in Australia certainly gave it its last push. I have used every opportunity since to escape every day boredom and my what I call ‘Too-Long-In-One-Place-Grumpiness’ that I tend to suffer from. To sum it up: I have backpacked across Eastern and Southern Europe, explored China and Singapore, graduated from high school in Germany, studied in South Africa, competed in the Netherlands, France and Ireland, worked in Namibia and finally settled in London to go to university since.
I’m what you’d probably call a low-budget traveller- I stay at hostels, sleep in tents, busses or trains and simply buy the cheapest ticket to anywhere that I can find rather than planning a trip ahead. It might be a little more challenging, but the experiences are invaluable: the wind blowing through your hair on top of that mountain you just climbed, the freezing waves crashing against your body and the sounds of wild animals surrounding your tent at night. But honestly, who cares if the ground you sleep on is a little rocky if you can spot a millions stars as you’re falling asleep?!
What else should you know about me? Other than traveling I enjoy sports- I started swimming when I was just a few months old and joined our local surf- lifesaving club las I got older. Obviously I spend quite a lot of time writing- also something I already did as a little kid: it started with drawn booklets about a hedgehog family and eventually resulted in blogging about a year ago. While studying in Australia I also discovered my passion for the arts. Especially film and photography fascinated me, which matches my love for traveling perfectly: my camera is probably my favourite travel buddy.
If you’re looking for some travel inspiration, (hopefully) useful travel advice or simply feel like dreaming of places far away for a bit- watch this space!
Click here to visit Caroline’s Travel blogÂ
