I thought I was going to Thailand for a 2-month trip. I was wrong. Things kind of escalated. I ended up travelling around the world for 2 years instead — and I’ve been a travel addict ever since.
I went to Thailand in part because I was frustrated with my life. I had just lost my job working in the video game industry in London. Many would have considered it a dream job, but to be honest, it was fraught with endless meetings and corporate politics. It was the fourth job that slipped through my fingers due to corporate strategic shifts or cancelled projects. I felt frustrated with my career and needed a break from it all.
I arrived in Bangkok thinking I’d take this time to figure out my next steps… maybe emailing some recruiters and updating my CV while chilling on a beach somewhere.
I never even opened my CV. Instead, I got sucked into the world of travel. Thailand got me hooked, and then I simply couldn’t stop. One thing quickly led to another. I travelled all around Southeast Asia for nearly one year, and then from Mexico to Argentina in another. I burned through all my redundancy money, but it was 100% worth it — in fact, it was the most epic, most fun, and the most fulfilling thing I’d ever done.
You see, to me travel isn’t just about relaxing or being on a holiday; it’s also about venturing out into the unknown, following your own path, and pushing beyond your comfort zone. It means trying new food, experiencing other cultures, and doing silly things sometimes. At its best, travel lets you view the world with a sense of awe and wonder.
It probably sounds cheesy, but travel let me rediscover who I truly am and helped me better understand the world I live in.
It’s also been a lot of stupid fun.
Eventually, I did realize that being a perpetual nomad has its downsides, so I went back to having a fixed base again. I now live in Lisbon, Portugal, while going on different trips throughout the year. These days, this blog is my only job, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to do something I love while being fully location-independent.
With this blog I hope to encourage others to travel more and to travel independently, by sharing real stories and honest advice. You can dive in by checking out my best travel tips. And don’t miss my 91 Weird & Wonderful Lessons From Traveling the World, which will give you a sense of what truly drives me to travel — and may just inspire you to go on an epic trip too.
I’m from The Netherlands (hoi!) and my mum is Polish (hence my first name). When I’m not exploring caves in Thailand or eating guinea pig in Peru, you can probably find me working from a park or cafe in beautiful sunny Lisbon. If you ever find yourself there, be sure to come and say hello at the Lisbon Digital Nomads events, of which I’m an occasional co-organizer.
Good luck on your travels, and thanks for stopping by!
– Marek
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And if you want to jump into the deep end up travel, then don’t miss my pragmatic and inspiring book Travel the World Without Worries. It will tell you how you can travel longer and further, or just more adventurously on your next trip. The book is the one thing I’m most proud of and that readers seem to have connected with the most profoundly. If you need the push and the confidence to just go for it and travel more, then this book is written for you.
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