About this Slovenian Loco
From Yugoslavian to a world traveler
I was born in 1972 in Republic of Slovenia that used to be a part of Yugoslavia at that time and became an independent country after a 10-days war in 1991. I grew up in a socialist environment of the most liberal, neutral and progress orientated country in Central Europe.
It wasn’t until the beginning of the 1990s, when the borders really opened for travelling; I was 19 years old by then, finishing college and decided for my first adventure around Europe.
I grew up in a medium class family, but we were relatively poor comparing to Western nations. Therefore, my ambitions to travel around Western Europe were not common at that time. I was also very unexperienced, since I hadn’t done much of travelling or hitchhiking before. I had been commuting for 10 kilometers to my college on a daily bases, my parents had taken me to Italian cloths market across the border in Italian Trieste and once we were skiing in Ukraine. Additionally, we spent every summer holidays on the beach at Veli Losinj in Croatia.
My first real backpacking experience, with schoolmate Andrey, was travelling around Western Europe. He wanted to see Eiffel Tower, I was eager on hitchhiking and meeting new people.
In the middle of the war for Slovenian independence, my dad drove us in an old Yugo car through barricades to Ljubljana, where we boarded a train to the Italian border and from there we started to hitchhike along the highway.
From shy beginnings to a world traveler
It’s been many years, airplanes, cities, lifts, people, places, countries and changes around the World since then.
I lived and worked in Ecuador, the United States, the United Kingdom and Panama. I have been to all the continents and visited 151 countries so far. I learned English, Spanish, Russian and French.
I have two wonderful kids and partner, homes in Slovenia and Panama. I worked for Slovenian and American multinational companies, evolving to an independent consultant with flexibility and financial freedom. But one interest has not changed: the passion that carried me out of my beloved Slovenia and gave an opportunity to become globalized: TRAVELLING.
After hitchhiking and traversing over Western Europe with InterRail, working and learning English in London, I became passionate about Mesoamerican cultures. I was profoundly impressed by Latin-American countries, their people and language, ensuring that I remained connected with this unique continent on a daily basic.
I didn’t have the dream of visiting every country of the World, but after crossing the continent from the USA to Argentina in 1996-97 (American Big Tour), I started to be attracted to Australia and Asia. Working hard to save money and travelling on an extremely low budget I spent 15 months on the road from Melbourne to Delhi in 1999-2000 (Asian Big Tour).
There were two reasons why I brought travelling to an end in 2000. I was completely broke and I stopped appreciating beauty around me.
I believe if you travel continuously too much time, you get used to what you see and experience around, and the level of appreciation is not that high any more.
At least that happens to me.
It is better for me to take a break, fill up batteries, become excited and then hit the road again.
My next big trip was Africa (African Big Tour), perhaps the toughest place on earth to travel on a budget: expensive (value for money on services), with complicated logistics and often inhuman conditions. Once you get in touch with Africa, you either love it or hate it. With years of travelling and experience I started to enjoy even in the most bizarre situations, when a basic meal, a decent bed or a secure seat in a run-down shared taxi made my day.
How many countries have you visited?
It was in Guinea in 2008, when an Aussi fellow traveler asked me:
“How many countries have you visited?”
I had no idea, I never counted them!
I was always looking forward and discovering new places, without particular plan to explore all of them. The only rule was to avoid going back to the same place for two reasons: if I liked it, there was a probability that the place might spoil or change for worst; if I didn’t like it, there was no reason to go back.
On a long term there were hardly any places or experiences that I wouldn’t appreciate.
Travelling now
Over the years, my approach to travel has evolved significantly. The late 1990s saw the rise of the internet, leading to a decline in my use of Lonely Planet books, which had previously been my main source of information. My first photos were taken with reflex camera on photographic films, my diaries and articles for newspapers were handwritten.
If time was not important at the beginning and travelling was my only activity until money lasted, later in life I started to work as a sales manager, but only to save enough money for the next trip. After my kids were born, there were other long-term commitment and priorities to combine with my passion. My travels converted to trips, but the essence of backpacking has never changed.
It has been over 30 years since I embarked on my first adventure.
The world has changed, some places that I visited in the past are probably very different today. There are some countries that I have visited on various occasions and I can confirm the change by myself, but to most areas I have not been back.
Over three decades of travelling, living, speaking, social interaction and exploration of so many different countries, places, languages, people, cultures and culinary delights have been a journey that I try to convey on this website.
It is an ongoing story as it continues to fuel my will for travel experiences and makes me put a backpack on my shoulders once more and step out to this beautiful World feeling The Journey is my home (Muriel Rukeyser).
And when it becomes tough, dangerous or really complicated (and it does sometimes) I am inspired by the following thought: Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn!
