Andy´s Story

There´s a question which I have been asked quite frequently over the last few months, which in fact felt like etenity.

This question came (politely, but determined) from a few of my close friends, and I was asked it (a little less polite, but also not as determined) by some of my collegues at work, usually connected with words like „stupid“ or „crazy“.

The question was: „Why do you do that?“

The simple answer is: Because I have to.

I always wanted to do it. Never with a burning heart, that is true. But since I first read Jules Verne, I wanted to explore the world (or at least, as many parts of it as possible). Reading the early 20th century travel stories inherited from my grandfather, I felt obliged to do it – there is a whole planet outside your door, with 7008449999 different  people on it (according tohttp://www.ibiblio.org/lunarbin/worldpop in the second of writing this).

You SHOULD find out how it looks like.

Second reason is: I need to do it exactly in this time of my life.I would survive if I wouldn´t go now, but later I couldn´t go at all. It has been difficult enough to burn all the bridges now. Later, well, we want to marry, have kids etc. Later ist too late.

Simple answers are not the ones that are understood by most of the people who asked. The much more approbiate answer would have been:

„I can´t survive without doing that. I am fed up with my life I live in Germany, I want to break free, breathe some fresh air, change my way of life and of thinking, live more conscious.“

As everybody knows who spent some time abroad, this answer is not exactly approbiate.

You can not simply run away fom your life or your problems. You still carry the same stupid head and brain (hopefully) with you. Getting the first chance to act like at home, your brain will switch to standard behaviour.

Wherever you go, you come back to yourself. If you have problems with your self, travelling will not eraze those problems. But it can make you facing your old problems in a different way.

Your mind is like a big house. Travelling opens some doors in it which you never expected to be there. Maybe it even can show you solutions which you didn´t find before. But be aware – this state won´t last forever, once you returned.

Let´s return to the „why“.

I tried to give the people the answer which I thought was the right one, for me. For many of them, it didn´t seem to fit. Leaving a well-paid job with interesting challenges in the midst of a crisis without prospect for entering an equal position after my return? For quite a few people this is close to homicide. Convincing them that my reason to travel – something (in this case: the world) simply being there which you want to explore – outweights their arguments, proved impossible.