I really don’t know exactly how long I’ve wanted to travel for such a long time, but I do know that this feeling has only increased with each voyage I’ve taken the last four years. And quite simply, the urge grew so strong and reached such a ferocity that I could no longer ignore it, no longer delay what has been pending for so long. For me, travel is my greatest passion, and it never fails to inspire and invigorate. Every interaction in a foreign land, every time I touch ground in a place I’ve never been, every encounter with a local or a fellow traveller just gives me so much energy. Through my explorations around the world, I’ve actually found that I’ve discovered countless wealth about myself, my strengths and weaknesses, comforts and anxieties, what I can live with and what I can do without, the person I perceive myself to be, the person I strive to be…

Travelling solo also gives you further insight into what you’re truly capable of – physically, mentally, spiritually… Away from everything and everyone you know and love and everything that you’re familiar with, it’s a constant opportunity to evaluate yourself independent of the preconceptions that you have lived with in your day-to-day life which you have always assumed or accepted as fact. Every day in this beautiful world of ours presents multiple opportunities to challenge yourself and your thinking and not give in or say yes or no to something simply because that’s how you’ve previously reacted. I marvel at the times that I’ve thought “I could never do that” and its dozens of variations, and realized that it was just a perceived limitation on my part, and that all too often the only thing stopping me from doing something is actually myself…

So, that’s a bit of why I travel so much. Join me here to read about my (mis)adventures during the next six months around Europe, with forays into north Africa and the Caucasus too. I’ll admit that I’m not the most disciplined in blogging, but I hope to share my thoughts and impressions here quite often…