When I was young and read adventure stories like Treasure Island or later books of world travelers like Jupiter’s Travel by Ted Simon, they created the desire in me to also travel the world. Pirate adventures were hard to get by those days, but traveling around the world by motorcycle seemed realistic.

I then managed to get a job in agricultural research, that allowed me to travel extensively and get the travel paid. It was a different kind of travel, not touristic, but I experienced first hand the lives of my national project partners in those countries. Through the job, I was able to visit many countries, in particular in Asia. Holiday travel was mostly focussing on Europe, the US, Australia, New Zealand and countries that provide great sailing grounds. All together by 2022 I had visited 58 countries, about one third of the UN countries.