#5 - Alex, how are you?

After Lovis described in his blog post three days ago how he is doing, now it's my turn to put my feelings into a solid form.

We are now 43 days on the road. On the one hand, it feels like we just started yesterday. On the other hand, we have already experienced so much that it also feels like half an eternity at the same time when I think back to the time in Istanbul. In the first weeks we traveled fast, too fast actually. After a good 3 weeks, we had already traveled to 3 of the 6 intended continents, although it must be said that Europe and Asia were already "ticked off" just by visiting Istanbul. As Lovis has already described, I also sometimes have to take a minute to realize that we are just on the other side of the world.

Now to my feelings. I have to say, these are diverse. So I am very, very happy to be embarking on this great unknown adventure with Lovis. I am learning every day, gaining new experiences and in a way I can enjoy my freedom. However, by traveling so fast and doing something so big overall, I have to be careful not to lose my gratitude. My gratitude to my family and Lovis for making this trip possible for me here. And also to Dennis, my former fellow student and current friend, who took me to Spain for a semester abroad simply out of the blue last year, which is what first gave me the idea to do this trip around the world.

I have to remember that I am in an extremely privileged position.

When you reach for the stars, you have to be careful not to forget to appreciate the little things in life as well. It's about living here now in the moment and not thinking about all the exciting stops to come.

Sydney has shaken me up the most so far. The place my parents have already fallen in love with has also really gotten to me! It was also the first place for us to get some peace and reflect on our time so far. We had the time to arrive in a place, which gave me the opportunity to become emotionally attached to Sydney. As much as I love traveling, Sydney reminded me of my time in Spain. Reminded me of what it's like to have a clique in a foreign country that you do something with every weekend. The atmosphere of young people coming here from all over the world to work, study and have the best time of their lives just grabbed me. I wanted to be part of this atmosphere, also because I got very fond of a young woman. So the stay in Sydney was great for me and yet moving at the same time.

The topic of saying goodbye and letting go will accompany us on the entire trip. And I'll be honest: I imagined it would be easier.

Overall, however, I don't want to give the impression here that I'm only struggling with my feelings - that's not the case, of course. It's just great to be able to get to know so many different countries, cultures and people. I already realize that this one year trip will leave a lasting mark on me in how I think about the world and what I will do after the trip.

Right now, I realize that this blog post will be too long if I go into more feelings that mainly affect Lovis and me.

So there will be a second post soon in which I will describe the togetherness of Lovis and me in more detail. But now to a day that Lovis also described in more detail in his article.

We dared to go our separate ways in Sydney for the first time, for a few hours. It was very good for me, too, to just let my mind wander, to go at my own pace and to do what only I really felt like doing. But in order to put that into practice, I have to rely on other people in everyday life. So with Lovis gone, other people had to come in. Fortunately, I have no problem approaching other people openly and asking them for help. So, of course, I first walked in a different direction than Lovis and had planned to walk through the "Royal Botanic Gardens" of Sydney. All the time I had a 360 degree camera attached to my head, so I was looked at even more than usual.

The "thing" on my head is the 360 degree camera with which I filmed my walk through Sydney. Could have been a very nice photo!

However, according to the motto "everything for the content", I skillfully ignored this. The problem was, I couldn't turn the camera on and off by myself and the memory capacity for the camera was only enough for 53 minutes of recordings. The solution was that I had to keep asking strangers if they could either turn the camera on or off for me. "There's this black circle up there, could you maybe press that once or twice? And I'd be happy to cut you out of the video should I put the footage online."

Philipp and Ivan kindly helped me up the stairs to the Botanical Garden!

First it hit two Australian sporty men, whom I had spied to carry me up the stairs to the Botanical Garden. After all, that's where I wanted to go. So they carried me up the stairs together, after I had explained to them how we could best do it. When they asked me: "How do you get back down there?", I had to laugh briefly and then said:

I do not know, I must probably address other people!

After this acquaintance I met some other nice people, among other things I was offered a free beer or helped to drink water. Lovis and I then wanted to talk on the phone together to discuss when and where we would meet again. The problem was: I only had my own cell phone with me, meaning no internet and only in an absolute emergency the possibility to make absolutely overpriced phone calls. So it was up to me to get to hotspots of strangers, which I managed to do quite well again. Lovis and I had decided to meet again at Bondi Beach in the evening and the day went so well that I even suggested to go there alone. So first walking alone again and then taking two different buses in a foreign country, something I would not have dared to do not so long ago. But it turned out to be no problem, both bus drivers and additionally passers-by helped me both times immediately, again I had met new nice people.

Such a day gives me an infinite feeling of freedom, one of the most beautiful feelings that exist for me.