How I Travel and What to Expect from This Blog

I’m not going down the highway, ’cause I had the might to stop and turn around before it was too late.

Instead I’m slowly going my way and if I don’t reach the top, I still got loads here I appreciate.

Millencolin, Highway Donkey

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I guess that everyone who has been bitten by the travel bug at some time can attest to the fact that journeying around the globe quickly becomes more than a hobby or a quick escape from the daily routine and moves somewhere closer into the vicinity of eating, drinking and breathing. Meaning that you just can’t imagine your life without it anymore. If you’re anything like me, you’ll return from a trip to immediately start planning the next one mentally (or already more substantially). Unless, of course you’re on a lifelong journey anyway, in which way: congratulations, you’re living the dream:-)

I’m lucky enough to be able to travel as part of my job as an archaeologist, which frequently allows me a deeper glimpse into local societies than would be possible by visiting a country for a couple of weeks as a tourist. I generally try to apply this deeper sense of cultural immersion to my private journeys as well. As a result, I’m not a fan of the seemingly increasing trend to take short trips to countries, to check them off a real or imaginary list. Instead of visiting five countries in five days, I try to really get a feel for a place, regularly straying off the tourist trail.

Whether it’s Uganda, Dominica, Siberia or Myanmar: the less tourist infrastructure existed, the more rewarding I usually found my trips to be. Even if I had to rough it for a bit, I’ve found that that just gives you a greater sense of achievement in the end. That doesn’t mean that I don’t find myself in places that are popular with tourists every once in a while, but even there I seek out lesser-known places, like when I explored the Isan-Region for a few weeks – a beautiful low-key corner of Thailand, where I sometimes didn’t meet another (Non-Thai) traveller for days.

During my travels I’ve come to realize that in most cases it doesn’t take more than going a tiny bit further than the rest of the crowd to find that unique authentic experience and I plan to help you do the same thing!

Stay tuned for my first few posts about Dominica, a true tropical gem of an island in the Caribbean – completely without crowds or holiday resorts.