What I've learned from travelling.

It's quite cute the plans I made in advance. With schedules and fixed routes. Reviews and all the tips I have collected in advance. Travel guides, travel blogs and very important experiential information. Not to mention hours of research on the internet about precise directions, bus connections and the best reviews. How do I get from A to B and back, for how long and for how much money.

The point is, once you're on the road, it doesn't matter much anymore. Because 500 km distance is relative when you are travelling in the Andes. What takes 5 hours on German motorways can easily take 20 in the mountains, as long as the bus has ideal conditions and no flat tyres on the way. It's best to ask the locals on the spot.

And apart from the organisational aspects... assuming you really want to dive in and let yourself drift. Because when you're there, you immediately feel if you like a place, if you like the vibe, if the people are nice or if you want to move on.

The magical component of any trip is coincidence!

Yes, you may look sceptical now, but this is the secret ingredient that makes every trip unforgettable. Random encounters that turn out to be soulmates, incredibly fun, insane meet-ups and sooner than you think, you find yourself in a colourful circle of people who came out of nowhere and blow up any construed plan. After all, what could be better than being given a good time in the best company?

And honestly, if you really want to book a tour to see a sight, okay go fot it. But somehow it's all a bit contrived here... a bunch of tourists who usually only have 2 or 3 weeks to travel and are watching the clock. Tour guides giving the same speech for the hundredth time, lunch from 1 to 2, all following the green flag, toilets to the left ladies and gentlemen and on the way back everyone fell asleep in the bus. Please leave a tip and your recommendation on tripadvisor. Applause.

You can do that. It's not always wrong. But have you ever had a sunset in a Mayan site all to yourself? I have. Okay, I admit, I snuck in there after closing time because I was running a little late. The guys I'd been travelling with all week passed me around drinking rum and were dying to show me their funniest YouTube video favourites. I admit, this day turned out to be funnier than I could have ever planned for myself.

But the best thing of all is to forget about time. I have spent the last decade in time slots of planning. Timetables, to dos, meetings from to. Lunch break, quickly warming up the previous day's food. Microwave rings. Eat. Oops 2 minutes too late. Continue. Every day was the same. The alarm clock rings like in a bad movie from the 80s. Only precious annual leave or a well-deserved flu offers a restful respite.

Rock 'n' roll.

My only plan on my first long trip was: to forget about time. To forget the sense of duty. To be free. Like a child playing in the sun, measuring time only in units of how many more times he has to sleep. To forget the day of the week. Forgetting the date. Forgetting the month. Waking up in the morning and asking yourself, where am I again? South America. Nice. Time becomes more and more fluid until it disappears completely into itself and hardly matters.

I've made it.

How old did you say I was? Oh yes, over 30, but I have laugh lines and no frown lines.