Before the Blog

These posts are from the time before the blog creation. I wrote some of these posts years after the events happened after I started blogging. Sometimes they’re based on memories and photos, sometimes they’re based on a snippet of a diary entry.

Before Mind of a Hitchhiker (est. 2015), there was a Facebook page and a Tumblr called Escapist. Before that, I had a travel blog on one of those travel blog aggregator websites. Those old blogs don’t exist anymore. I took some of the content, edited it here, and republished it.

I backdated them to the date the events actually happened to not mess up the homepage with old stories. That’s why the writing style and quality can be all over the place. Thank you for digging deep into the past of this website!

 

I’m Taking a Gap Year from Travel to Finish University

Wow. What a pretentious title. I haven’t updated my blog in a long time because I’ve returned to university. I always knew I had to finish my Bachelor’s Degree in A Whole Lotta Crap one day, and that day has come. Back in December, I flew out of Bogotá to Madrid. Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana never happened for me. After a few days in Madrid, adjusting back to Europe after more than two years in South America, took yet another plane to go to Frankfurt . I attended Christmas dinners in Germany and the Netherlands, celebrated New Year’sContinue reading

Schönbrunn, Vienna

Checking in on Foursquare at Schönbrunn, Vienna. A long, long time ago, I was a full-time student. In the summer of 2013, I joined two friends on a 10-day road trip through Europe. Our route was from Maastricht, through Luxembourg to Strasbourg in France. Then to Zürich in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, München (Munich) in Bavaria, Salzburg and Vienna in Austria. It was during that time that we made a stop at Schönbrunn castle in Vienna. I was 21 years old and very new to (adventurous) travel. My road trip buddies introduced me to some (by now very basic) tech skills, suchContinue reading

Three Days in Kyiv, Ukraine – Celebrating my 22nd Birthday

After a nightly train ride from Lviv, I arrived in Kyiv (Київ) in the early morning. I looked up a hostel near the train station on Hostelworld aptly named ‘Kiev Central Station Hostel’. It was a short stroll indeed. I asked for a bed in a dorm, dropped my stuff, and connected with a few people. I asked the hostel staff for tips on how to get to Babyn Yar (Бабин яр) with public transport. Because the bus sounded too complicated, I opted for the metro. That walk took me past Kyiv’s Golden Gate (Золоті ворота) to go to the metro stationContinue reading

Istanbul City Trip 2013 with Mom (Turkey)

Here are some photos and treasured memories from my 5-day trip to Istanbul, Turkey, with my mother back in 2013. I didn’t have a blog back then, so you figure I added all this much later. Dates of the trip: 28th of March till 2nd of April, 2013. The camera I had during this Istanbul city trip was still my first compact camera, so excuse the quality of the pictures. I returned to Istanbul in 2014 solo and in 2021 together with Jonas. Contents1 Istanbul City Trip Background2 Day 1: Flight to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport3 Day 2: Sultanahmet Neighborhood3.1Continue reading

Cycling Trip from Aalborg to Skagen and Grenen – Semester Abroad in Aarhus

I wrote this story about a cycling trip from Aalborg to Skagen back in 2012. At that time, I lived in the Danish city of Aarhus for my semester abroad at Aarhus University. It first appeared on one of those travel blogging websites. Back in 2012, I still thought I’d grow up to become an accountant. A lot has changed in between. When I became serious about travel blogging, I moved this content from the travel blogging website to my own—almost eight years later. At the time of writing, I was 21 years old. I don’t agree much anymore withContinue reading