Here’s a situation I don’t think I’ll be in very often over the next few months: I’m sitting on a couch in a cosy little living room, with cushions and blankets around me and the television in front of me. Apollo, my dog, alternates between lying on the floor, dog-tired, and pacing around the room. I also have the great privilege of sleeping in a proper bed tonight, probably for the last time for the foreseeable future. My wife, Svenja, and I are about to embark on what we call “The Great Journey”: a 10-month tour of Europe, Arabia and Central Asia in our home-made camper van. At least that’s the plan… But how did we get here?
The idea for this trip came about four or five years ago, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Social distancing, home office and the long wait for vaccination, or at least for the summer, made us want to break out of our daily routines. But the lockdown also meant that Svenja and I could walk around the city a lot. It was then, and perhaps during one of these walks, that I suggested we take a year off, a real sabbatical: travel around the world, see things, experience things. Svenja was immediately on board. Of course, we couldn’t leave right away. Apart from the fact that a tiny virus was in our way, neither of us was in a position to take such a long break: I was doing my PhD in Halle and Svenja was finishing her Masters. Nevertheless, we promised ourselves that we’d make it before the age of 35. So a goal was set, rough plans were made and money was to be earned.
My original plan was to travel around the world with only a backpack because I liked the idea of a round-trip journey around the globe. Svenja, on the other hand, wanted to have a mobile home, rather than spend months in hostels. So we came up with the plan to get a campervan, which, I think, was a plan that Svenja secretly had had for a long time. Due to budget constraints, buying a complete campervan was out of the question. We knew we’d have to channel our inner craftsman and craftswoman (they’re not very handy…) and build one ourselves. I’ll write a separate post about the campervan and the renovation process, another time, but suffice to say, it was a much, much bigger task than originally thought…
By the end of 2024 things were getting really serious: I had graduated early in the year, we had somehow adopted a dog on one of our camper test drives, we had both negotiated with our employers to take sabbaticals, and we had found a subtenant for our flat for the first 5 months.
The last few weeks before our trip were filled with finalising the van, emptying our flat, packing and saying many hard goodbyes to our friends in Halle. Leaving Halle was a strange experience. On the one hand, we knew we’d be gone for many months, but on the other, it wasn’t really the start of the journey as we’d still be visiting family and doing some work on the camper.
So here I am, sitting in my in-laws’ living room, trying to sort out my thoughts in this strange in-between phase between leaving our old lives and starting a new and very different one. Although this is the beginning of The Great Journey on this blog, it really started a few years ago when we made the decision to embark on this journey together. I’m proud of the many steps we’ve taken so far. Whatever the next few months bring, the experiences we’ve had, the things we’ve learnt and the courage we’ve shown have already been worth it. Let’s see where this journey takes us and what happens along the way!