How I transformed my life through travel

My travel project “Good Things Everywhere” was the single most enriching life event I can remember, a real game changer… 2 years of non-stop travel, experiences, people, countries, languages, interesting work and challenging situations. I say ‘was’, because now it changed into something else, the life I choose after everything I learned, I guess. I’m…

NuMundo – Building a platform for the new world in Chile

In early April, I crossed Brazil and Argentina and arrived in Santiago de Chile, after almost 5 month in Brazil, living and working at the eco-village Piracanga in Bahia. I had heard about Project Nuevo Mundo, now suitably rebranded to NuMundo, while volunteering at Boom Festival in Portugal in August last year. A startup with…

Wind, Sand and Kitesurfing in Tatajuba, Brazil

Tatajuba feels a bit like the end of the world. It’s a small settlement far out on the coast in the northeast of Brazil – the roads are made of sand, loose pigs and goats wander around searching for something edible and the strong winds blow away whatever isn’t bolted down. A massive sand dune…

India – A transformative experience (Part I)

India. The second most populous country of the world, thousands of years of history and culture, a multitude of languages and uncountable dialects, utter variety of religions and customs, stretching from tropical beaches and dry planes to the high peaks and fertile rich forests of the Himalayan mountains. India is no easy place to write…

10 days of silence

From all the countries I’ve visited and things I’ve done the last 9 months, one of the most astounding experiences was to spend 10 days in complete silence, meditating 10 hours every day. I attended a Vipassana course at the Dhamma Bodhi International Meditation Centre in Bodh Gaya, a famous place in northeast India, where…

Beautiful Indonesia from Bali to Java

Indonesia. A culture and temperature shock was likely, and yes, it was quite an experience to be amidst the crowds, heat, smells, motorbikes, colours and things of busy Denpasar on Bali, coming from Australia and New Zealand. I got a full dose in Kuta and quickly escaped to quiet Padang Bai, crossed to Lombok with…

When we walked through clouds

White clouds of all shapes perform an eternal dance through Aotearoa’s south island fiords, from the rain-soaked rainforest valleys of the west coast up to the mighty mountain ranges around Mount Cook in the interior. Snow-topped mountains, thousands of meters in height, mirror in extensive lakes both in their depth as on their spotless cobalt…

Road trip to Melbourne

It was time to hit the road again after the beautiful stay with Ben and his family in Jervis Bay. I am writing this in the first days of 2014 (shame on me, i promise to keep my journal updated more frequently from now on), but memories are still very much alive, exciting times lay…

Blue Mountains – Nature is mighty!

There are these moments when Nature just makes you go silent. The moment you step on to a lookout and everywhere around you rock formations drop for hundreds of meters, clouds are passing, the sun is painting shapes on to the surrounding plateaus and you just stop thinking for a little while. The moment a…

Sydney, Australia – Garden meets Skyscraper

A week ago i arrived in Sydney. It’s been a potpourri of weather states and temperatures but i went out and about to discover. Sydney has many faces, from the quirky bars, trendy shops and backyard sceneries of Crown street in Surry Hills and Oxford street, to the busy centre around Circular Quay and the…