Russia

Here comes a snapshot of our first destination: Russia. Though one should not think of having even the slightest idea about this vast and contradictory country by visiting St Petersburg and a few other places. It is a country one cannot assume to understand probably even throughout a lifetime. It is a country full of contradictions and extremes; on one hand the vast cultural heritage one shall discover in the grad architecture of Peter the Great till the jewels of the Orthodox church in the most remote places. On the other hand you find the poverty and weariness of the countryside and people lining up to cross the border on foot at Ivangorod to Estonia, listening to their complains about wages, pension system and politics. Flashy shopping malls and overwhelming Christmas decorations in St. Petersburg mix up with the rush hour traffic jams making even the underground an impossible place to bare. However romantic the frosty trees, the ice over the river Neva and biting minuses are, one cannot escape from the possibility of not seeing the sun and the blue sky maybe over a month. It is difficult to make a difference between midnight and 9 am in the morning on Nevskij prospect and should not be too much astonished to meet girls on horseback offering a ride or ask money to support the animals.

The beginning

Are you having a cup of coffee? Then all right, just enjoy! Whether you take a break during a busy day or share the morning coffee with us, it is up to you. We can be the company during your recharge and you can virtually accompany us on our journey; a mental and at the same time a very real vagabonding.

Where did it all begin?

Every once in a while I like to take a look in retrospect and to expand what I see to the future; to imagine my future life as a prolongation of my past. And every once in a while, about every 7th year I take a deep breath and jump. So far the direction of my jump has been away from my past, rather than towards something specific. And it has been all very fine. Around 30 - as a friend of mine cutely reminded me - one shall take a more profound look; let me use her words: one should summarize. And even if it does not happen overnight or exactly on your birthday, the idea crawls under your skin until one fine day you raise the question: what did I achieve? and does it make me happy? The answer is: yes, I achieved a lot, but no, if I imagine passing my next 10 years as I have lived the last 8, it won't make me happy. The next question is a bit harder to answer: when 10 years from now I shall glance back, will I feel that I had been happy or successful? Yeah, of course both. But if you have to choose, which comes first?

Well, here we are. We resigned from our job. We left home. We left our families to create a new family: we got married. And no, we will not start building our new home - in its' physical sense at least -, nor start looking for a new job. Instead we gave ourselves 12 months. An experiment under the theme of simplicity. Give up all what is not necessary, let all your comforting institutions behind and first of all empty your head. Do not start making commitments and plans for the 13th month. Put on a backpack and start the journey. Let yourself drift with the flow and keep one thought in your mind all along the way: the confidence, that no matter what happens during the 12 months, it will be the most rewarding experience of your life.