I went on my first self-planned trip when I was 17. With a friend I biked three weeks across the Alps from Southern Germany through the Alps to Italy. Before that, I had roamed pristine areas of Eastern Europe, hiked Scandinavian mountain ranges and canoed in German lake districts; however, all of this had not been organized by me – they were family or youth group trips and the responsibility lay with others. Naturally, tours on my own initiative and with my own planning increased with age. On a road trip to Romania in 2006 I revived my childhood memories of the country and did some easy hiking in the Carpathian Mountains. I also hiked the Camino Francés, starting in the south of France, crossing the Pyrenees for the second time and continuing through the north of Spain. Then I hiked on the West Highland Way with a couple of friends and climbed this hill called Ben Nevis. However, I did all these trips when I looked at outdoor activities as a hobby which is obviously not what this website is designed for, so I won’t get into any further detail.

Unfortunately there are hardly any pictures of my early travels which is why there is only a small and rather random selection of pictures in this section – mostly out of nostalgia.