2018 — an even more awesome year
Hey there. I already did an article about my year 2017 last year.
In December 2017 I decided that I will look for new jobs. That’s why I had to reduce my overtime (which was massive). That meant I’ll have around 8–10 weeks of holiday in the first half of 2018. This time I spend travelling.
Some statistics (I really love these)
In 2018 I…
… slept 176 nights in another location than my home.
… stayed in 56 different hotels or apartments.
… did 60 smaller and bigger journies.
… took 9 flights.
… have been to 17 different countries.
… visited 54 large cities (12 of them were capitals).
January
Beautiful Swiss Mountains
My year started with an awesome dinner at the peak of a mountain, just stunning. We took the cable car up to the Weisshorn in Arosa. There’s a really nice restaurant at the top (2500m above ground level) with a 360° view to a lot of Swiss mountains. While the daylight ended and the glowing sun went down, we enjoyed a nice dinner. After that, we took our sledges and rode down to the famous town of Arosa. A really nice start into the year 2018 which I won't forget.
UAE/Oman
The first journey of the year was my first trip outside of Europe. So using my passport for the first time. The co-founder of my old company was working in Dubai for half a year. So I promised him that I’ll come to visit. So I did for around 10 days. We lived in the Sofitel hotel in downtown Dubai. Which meant one of the top places you can think of in the city centre. Right next to the biggest tower in the world (Burj Khalifa) and a large shopping mall. And yep, a normal room is not enough. It surely has to be the presidential suite. So I moved in there and enjoyed all the advantages including the club membership with amazing service in the lounge downstairs. There I enjoyed breakfast and dinner.
Because it was right after the new year, they had some shows planned at the biggest building in the world. Normally they have do have a firework show at new years eve. This year they decided to make a laser show and turn the tower into a huge display. Like nothing in Dubai just can be normal this was an amazing show.
I now had a couple of days travel around the city and explore. Visit thinks like: Burj Khalifa, Dubai and Emirates Mall, the Old Town, Dubai Downtown, Dubai Marina, City Walk or The Palm Jumeirah. So much to see in this crazy city. On one day my colleague joined me and on the other, I did it on my own.
After exploring this crazy city with its skyscrapers I went south to Abu Dhabi. There I met a girl which I learned to know on my trip last year to Norway. We visited some more place in the city like the biggest mosque, the palace and the newly opened Louvre. All the things I would recommend to also do.
I also wanted to visit another nearby country. And this country was Oman. From Dubai, there’s a direct bus service which crosses the border overnight and arrives within 8 hours in the capital Muscat. Crossing the land border by the ways is a lot of hassle. You have to pay a small fee for the crossing. So everyone on board has to get an entry ticket, step back into the bus and after maybe 1 kilometre we had to stop again to get the visa on arrival in my case as Swiss (but a lot need to apply for a visa in advance). Then our luggage was also checked. And by checked I mean down to every single item in my backpack. I arrived at 4 in the morning a little outside of Muscat. The first thing I did was to rest a little. So I found a lorry car park and climbed on the back of a truck and slept for a couple of hours. After that, I went to explore the city on foot.
Later in the morning, I met my Couchsurfer host in a shisha bar right at the beach. There we spend most of the afternoon. In the evening a friend of him joined us and we did a city tour by car (Mustang). We visited the Royal Opera House Muscat (the biggest in the middle east) and also the Al Alam Palace.
After staying a couple of days inside the capital I decided to rent a car on my last day and drive a little bit south to see the landscape a little more. Oman has a lot of very nice landscape to visit. Desert, mountains, wadis and beach. But going into the desert or mountain by myself is very risky and with just a normal car not doable. So I took a ride alongside the coast.
Istanbul
My flight back home had a one-day layover in Istanbul. I like that type of journey because I can visit one more city on my travel. To sum up my Couchsurfing success story I also did that in Istanbul. I was able to stay at a very friendly Turkish guy (Omer) which joined me on a tour through the city and told me stuff about the history.
February: Applying for new jobs
I started travelling on a regular basis because I didn’t felt that energized at work anymore. I thought I needed a break. Another option was that I needed a different job, another atmosphere, new place. Just a shift in my life. So I started to search for a new job. No regional restriction, nothing. Just looking for my personal best options. This also meant that I didn't stop at the country borders.
Getting a job as a software engineer is not the hardest stuff. But getting the right fit is way harder. That’s why I started working with head hunters. I applied for jobs in Switzerland, Germany, the US and Czech. The head hunters I worked with got me into some job interviews which I would be able to get into it just by myself. It was a very interesting journey. Bigger companies do their own technical tests. Which was quite interesting for me to see where I’m standing, what my strengths are and where I need to improve myself. While I was called for interviews into those companies I was able to get an idea of how they work, what their culture is and get a feeling about the working atmosphere. This will help me in getting the right decisions in the end, hopefully.
March: Freelancing as Cameraman
Since January 2017, I’m doing freelance work as a cameraman. But in March we had some bigger and interesting events. Which meant those productions absorbed some time and I wasn’t able to travel because I need to be home.
My side job as a cameraman never felt like a real job. I really loved my work and was energized doing it.
March: France, Belgium, Holland & Slovenia
I bought my second Interrail ticket in March. Not like last year on my trip to Norway, I had a companion. Putri Indasari followed me on my trip. She wrote a detailed article about the trip (with some stunning photography by me ;-)).
Interrail
We started the trip by crossing Switzerland to Geneva. After that into France. The first city was Lyon. We didn't visit Lyon, just stayed there for one night to grab the TGV (high-speed train) to Paris. In Paris, we stayed for one night. So we had some time to explore the city centre. The capital of France was not new to us both, so we moved quite fast to the next capital — Brussels.
Belgium's capital has a lot to offer. Different places to eat and some tourists attractions. It’s not the most beautiful city in Europe but pretty decent. The 4th country on our tour was the Nederlands. First, we went to Rotterdam, Amsterdam and then Almere. In Amsterdam, I’ve been already 3 times within 1 year. So we just went to the famous I Amsterdam sign, which I’ve never visited. In Almere, in the east of Amsterdam, we finally spend some relaxed days and after that Rotterdam was on the list.
WordCamp Rotterdam
In November last year, I attended WordCamp Utrecht. I found the Durch community a really friendly, happy and active one. I meet and got into conversations with a lot of local people there. So I decided to also visit WordCamp Rotterdam (also because I know an organisation and told him that I’ll be attending). My travel buddy also got a ticket for the conference. As a student in health service, it was maybe not the best conference to attend. But also she found some talks to attend and got into some discussions with unknown people. I had a blast attending some technical interesting talks. I also tried to join some Dutch ones, which was easier to follow for me than expected.
Weekend in Lubljana
I had two days left from my Interrail trip in the north-west of Europe. Luckily eastern was on the last valid weekend. So I took the long weekend as an advantage and travelled in the east. The capital of Slovenia was the destination. I stayed there for 2 full days and explored the city and met some awesome local people there. That’s one of the times I really enjoy to be a part of the Couchsurfing community.
April: Traveling UK & visiting Vienna
Couchsurfing in Edinburgh
I had some appointments in London in April, so I thought about visiting also something in the north of the UK. Manchester or Liverpool for example. In the end, I found a good flight to Edinburgh (Schottland). I’ve been there once and really loved the city, so I was excited to be back. Once more, I used Couchsurfing and found a really nice host which let me sleep at his place. He was a Chinese guy selling flowers in Europe. He’s like a hostel for Couchsurfers. There are always 2–3 more people around and he’s cooking for all of us.
The weather was not the best, so I worked a lot inside the apartment. On the last day, some Greek guys arrived which I joined for a walk in the city and up to Artur Hill, which best place to view the city from above.
After Edinburgh, I took the train and travelled down to York. A small town a co-worker of mine lived there for a couple of years. So I had to check it out. Later the day I also went to Manchester for a quick look and then back to Sheffield, a student city. Where I met a Couchsurfer which studies there and I met in Edinburgh.
Visiting BBC headquarter
Finally, I arrived in England's capital. There I have my appointments. First of all, visiting BBC headquarter in London. I’m really stocked to do it. It’s not a regular tourist tour. I was invited by the chief UX Designer personally because of an article I’ve written. So he showed me around their office and he organised internal presentations for the best 10 UX design graduates at the university and me. So I got to enjoy some more in-depth views about what they’re working on at the BBC.
WordCamp London
The biggest country-wide WordCamp within Europe is WordCamp London with around 500 participants. So I wanted to join that one and I was glad I did. So many great speakers there and a lot of people I know from the community. Beside the WordCamp, I also toured the city multiple times.
Tessin
I had a weekend off, so I decided to travel south, into a holiday region on the southern border of Switzerland and enjoy the warm weather. At the near mountains, they have a lot of paths to hike. So I went up and enjoyed the day near a stream with a stunning view.
Vienna
Finishing my Interrail pass I went to Vienna for a weekend to visit a friend of mine and celebrate her birthday. On the first day, we explored the city. Then we went to the birthday party where she invited around 20 people to hang out in a bar. We had some great discussions so there the night went.
May: ON AIR & Caravan trip & Hungary, Czech & TNW Amsterdam
Live cutter and new Blackmagic camera
In May there’s always a lot going on at the video company I’m working for. There’s a local exhibition where they organized concerts every evening. We’re always there with a small setup to produce the images for the big screen. It’s a lot of fun to do so, but quite stressful.
On the other day, there was an election on Sunday. In the canton of Glarus, they sometimes do a very traditional one. So we produced that one live for the local TV station. On the production, I was able to handle the new Blackmagic 4K cameras for the first time. Just stunning images there and really nice to handle. So did also the Regisseur thought about the images and were really happy.
Camping Trip to Füssen
There were some public holidays in May and we decided to grab our caravan and go to Austria 🇦🇹. Joel Ambass and Putri Indasari joined me. We spend some time on a campsite right next to a small lake.
We also visited the highline179, the castle Neuschwanstein and the town “Füssen” which was located very close on the other side of the border in Germany.
Interrail with Joel
On tour with Joel again. This time not by car but by train. We did an Interrail trip across Europe. Starting in Budapest, continuing in the Czech Republic (Brno and Prague) where we made a stop at large the tech-company STRV. Went for an office tour and had a drink at the bar in the rooftop.
After that went back to Austria and took a night train in direction Amsterdam. There we had tickets for a tech event — The Next Web Conference. At this festival for nerds, we met some nice people from all over Europe. It was a blast.
June: WordCamp Europe & Hamburg
WordCamp Europe in Belgrade
It’s June and June means mostly the biggest WordPress conference in Europe is taking place. This time the WordCamp Europe was held in Belgrade. So my work colleague and I took the aeroplane and headed into Serbia. 2 days of great talks, 2000+ WordPress developer and marketer. The after-party was great and the event was organised very well overall.
Weekend trip to Hamburg
Finally, I managed to be able to spend a couple of days with my girlfriend at the time together. We decided to explore a German city we’ve never been to so far. So we headed to Hamburg by train for an extended weekend trip.
July: Civil service, hiking to a mountain lake
Civil service in Brigels
Like every year I’m serving for the nation as part of the civil service program and help a farmer for a month. The work includes making hay, cutting wood and landscaping. Preparing food for the cow in winter and also prepare the wood so it can be fired to keep the family warm in winter.
Best of Grisons
A friend joined us (me and Joel) for a weekend in the region we live in. So we wanted to show him around our beautiful landscape. We decided to grab the tend and the sleeping bag and headed up the hill to a lake in the mountain where we spend the night. The next day we toured the region (Engadina) a little and stopped at some places to enjoy or eat.
August: Move to Bern and start a new job
Family activity — Timber
Once in a while, the family meets at our holiday home to cut woods and prepare wood for the winter. The house is located in a remote place (Brün) up in the mountain with a beautiful view. I was used to it from the civil service so I joined and also enjoyed the time with my uncles up there.
Moving out of my parents' house and start a new job
I’m 23 and it’s time to leave “Hotel Mama”. As I was eager to find a new challenging job in Spring 2018, I found a new job in Bern. This also included moving to a new place (because Bern lies 2.5h by train from my place away). Moving to Bern means my first own apartment and all the tasks, obligations and freedom are a reality now. I enjoyed it.
Start hosting Couchsurfer
Having a 2.5 room apartment for my own means that I have plenty of space. While I was using Couchsurfing once in a while during my travels I thought why not host people also in my space. So I did and met some nice people.
My first Couchsurfer was Mark from the Netherlands, followed by Isidora and Laxmi from Canada. Later also Nikole and Andy from New Zealand and Papatsara from Thailand visited the capital of Switzerland and me in my apartment. With all of them, I enjoyed the time talking and exploring.
September: South of France with Camper, Mountain Bike World Championship, WordCamp Lausanne
Camper with Andrew (Marseille, La Tour Fondue)
A former co-worker asked me to join him on a trip to the south of France with his self-made camper van. I said yes and gladly joined him for a couple of days. First, we stayed close to the Swiss border (Nancy) before moving to the south. My colleague is a passionate windsurfer, so we stayed at a camping site close to a place with very good wind conditions (La Tour Fondue). On days without much wind, we went to visit the city of Hyères and on my last day to Marseille. There we drive into the narrow old town with our camper by accident and had a hard time finding out of this labyrinth.
ON AIR — Mountain Bike & Downhill
In September there took the cross-country and downhill world championship place in Lenzerheide. Switzerland is a bicycle country and no wonder that there were a lot of people at the event. I was there for the company I’m freelancing. 5 hard, but very interesting and challenging days. The atmosphere was just awesome and the weather super nice.
WordCamp Lausanne
In 5th WordCamp in Switzerland took place in the French part of Switzerland. 2 friends of mine also joined me there with the camper. Instead of renting an Airbnb we stayed in the camper over the night. I had the most comfortable place to sleep because the camper has just space for 2 people. So I needed to sleep below the bed on the place where normally the luggage is placed.
Other than that we met a lot of people from the Swiss WordPress community to talk at the WordCamp. I had some nice discussions there and attended some inspiring talks. This time it was the first time that I was there just to visit and don’t had to film or organize.
October: Mazda Roadtrip
A friend of mine won a car from Mazda for two days and invited me to join. In the end, we were a car full of people (4) which wanted to case the famous Grand Tour of Switzerland, a predefined road trip route through Switzerland with spots to stop and explore. Putri Indasari wrote a detailed article about the trip.
We first drove via some alpine passes to Altdorf. There are some historical places related to the legendary Wilhelm Tell (it’s a folk hero of Switzerland, similar to Robin Hood). From there we proceeded our trip straight to Biel, where we booked an amazing Airbnb. In Biel, we spend some time at the lake and enjoyed a huge pizza in a pizzeria (L’Osteria).
On the next day, we went a little bit more north to La-Chaux-de-Fons and visited the town for a little. After that, we went to a very nice small lake (Etang de la Gruère) in the canton of Jura. We had a walk around the lake and enjoyed the weather and nature there. The last stop of the trip was Basel, were also visited the city and the river Rhein.
This sums up our two-day road trip. So many new places and new experiences in just this short amount of time. We made the best out of it.
November: Spain & Portugal, TV Remote (RTR)
Remote Work
This journey was a special one. For the first time, I tried working remote. I wanted to test how good and productive I can work? What the challenges are? If my boss sees a difference when I’m away or in the office? In the end, everyone was quite happy. My productivity didn’t suffer, communication worked and I was able to explore Europe and be happy. I figured out a lot about how to work and travel the best. But there’s always room for optimization.
Just before I started my trip a subdivision (the Rhaeto-Romani part) of the Swiss National television came to my office and followed me for one day and made a reportage about me and working remotely. In the evening we also went to a Meetup where they were able to find some more people to interview how are working remote.
Spain/Portugal
I started my trip in the blue. I had an Interrail pass and knew that I’m going in direction south. My first stop was in the south of France (Avignon). There I spend one night and continued to the coast. Because I made a wrong booking I needed to find another place. So I ended up in the beautiful town of Séte. There I also found a very nice hostel which I can recommend to everyone (Georges Hostel). In the end, I stayed a couple of days more because I was able to work productively and enjoyed the place. It was the low season and the hostel was about to close. So I was almost the only guest there.
The next stop was Barcelona. The complete difference there — no low season. A lot of tourists in the city and the hostel was almost full. But I didn’t mind. This way I was able to explore the city with other people from the hostel.
In Barcelona, I hopped on a highspeed train and drove all the way through Spain to Seville. Superfast, I was impressed. The ride took less than 4 hours for 960-kilometres (Barcelona — Madrid — Seville). Before boarding going through security and entering the train. Very nice and simple. Like in an aeroplane. If you count the time you need to spend to go to the airport, arrive earlier before the flight, etc. then flying isn’t faster for this exact journey— impressive.
Arriving in Serville I met new people in the hostel which whom I explored the city and also continued my travel to the south of Portugal (Faro). Faro is really empty at that time so I continued my journey after one day to Lisbon by train. There I wanted to stay a little and focus on my work.
Working in the morning, exploring the city in the afternoon and meeting locals in the evening. That’s what I did in Lisbon.
After researching the best way to travel back home to Switzerland I ended up booking a flight and not taking the train back home as it would have taken me 45 hours. I found a cheap flight in Porto, so I made my way more into the north and also visited that beautiful city. Sadly the weather was not that nice. The good part was that I tried out Uber Food for the first time because I didn’t were in the mood to go out. But nevertheless, I also enjoyed the last place of my journey.
December: Poland & Czech, Spengler Cup
Poland & Czech
As there are not enough cold temperatures in Switzerland I decided to go even more north. My plan was to end up in Prague for the Floorball World Championship. So I got me the 5th Interrail ticket this year alone. I went all the way through Austria and Czech to arrive 1'095 kilometre and 17 hours later in Krakow (Poland). There I visited the city quickly and moved on into the capital — Warsaw. I was positively surprised by the city. A cheap and beautiful spot to work and life in my opinion. My first couple of days I stayed in a small apartment in the city centre to work focused. Afterwards, I moved for just one night into the old town and spend some time with Couchsurfer and enjoyed my last day in Poland.
After a short night, I needed to grab my train to Prague very early in the morning. My direct ride took me 8.5 hours. Sometimes I love rides like that, especially when the train is not crowded. This ride was one of those super focused and productive journeys. While others kill their time on the train by playing with their phones or sleeping, I take advantage of the time. As the internet was absolutely fine on the full ride I was able to work the most part of the ride and finished almost all of my work. This allowed me to enjoy one of my favourite city even more by not having to work too much. On the same day as I arrived in Prague, I went to the O2 Arena to watch the game between Switzerland and Norway. This year the Floorball World Championship took place in Prague. I spontaneously came up with the idea to go there and watch some games since some former teammates are playing for the Swiss National Team and one travelled there to report for the local newspaper in Switzerland. On the next day, I explored some places in Prague and met a friend of mine which stayed in Prague for the World Championship.
After Prague, I went to Stuttgart to meet my girlfriend. On the way there I stopped in Munich and visited the Xmas market there. In the evening I arrived in Stuttgart and we went out to party a little with friends of her.
Spengler Cup
Every year again. One of my favourite jobs. The Spengler Cup is a very famous ice hockey tournament in Switzerland. It already took place more than 90 times in Davos. There are teams coming from Russia, Czech, Germany and Switzerland. Besides the team from the host city “HC Davos” there’s another team always returning. It’s Team Canada and those games are always super interesting to watch. But I’m not there to watch the games. I’m there to broadcast this sport event with my team and give the audience of the stadion some insights behind the scenes.
To be continued in 2019. I don’t plan to slow down. See you next year in the next chapter. Enjoy this year and move forward.
—
Marc Wieland
WordPress. Front-End Development. UX. Cinematography. Landscape Photography. Time-Lapse Video.
