About this Slovenian Loco
From Yugoslavian to a world traveler
My name is Rok Robic, and I travel the world as a backpacker.
I was born in the Republic of Slovenia that then part of Yugoslavia. I grew up in a socialist system within the most liberal, neutral, and progressive republic 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, though we were poor compared to Western nations. My ambitions to travel around Western Europe were not common at that time.
I was also very inexperienced, since I had barely traveled or hitchhiked before. I commuted 10 kilometers to college every day. My parents had taken me to Italian cloths market across the border in Italian Trieste and once we were skiing in Ukraine. Every summer, we spent our holidays on the beach in Veli Losinj, 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 166 countries so far. I learned English, Spanish, Russian and French.
I have two wonderful kids and a great 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.
I never dreamed of visiting every country in the world. But after crossing the Americas from the USA to Argentina in 1996-97 (American Big Tour), I grew curious about Australia and Asia. I worked hard to save money and traveled on a very low budget. This allowed me to spend 15 months on the road from Melbourne to Delhi in 1999-2000 (Asian Big Tour).
Recharging before the African Big Tour
I stopped traveling in 2000 for two simple reasons. I had no money left, and I no longer appreciated the beauty around me.
When you travel for too long, everything becomes normal. You get used to what you see, and the level of appreciation is not that high any more.
At least, that’s what 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. It was expensive for the quality of services you received, with complicated logistics and often inhuman conditions.
Once you get in touch with Africa, you either love it or hate it. After many years of travelling, I learned to enjoy even the most bizarre situations. Sometimes I feel happy just to find a basic meal, a decent bed or a safe seat in an old bush taxi.
How many countries have you visited?
It happened 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 a particular plan to explore all of them. My only rule was not to return to the same place for two reasons. If I liked it, there was a chance it might change for the worse, and 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.
The journey changes
Over the years, my approach to travel has evolved significantly. In the late 1990s, the internet started to grow quickly. I began to rely less on Lonely Planet books, which had been my main source of travel information before. My first photos were taken with reflex camera on photographic films, my diaries and articles for newspapers were handwritten.
If time did not matter at the beginning and travelling was my only activity while my money lasted, things changed later. I started working 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.
Over 30 years of travel
It has been over 30 years since I embarked on my first adventure.
The world has changed. Many places that I visited in the past are probably very different today. There are several countries I have visited several times, and I can confirm the changes with my own eyes. But most places I have never returned to.
Over three decades, I have spent my life travelling, communicating, meeting people and exploring many places, languages, cultures and culinary delights. This long journey is something I try to share on this website.
Travelling is an ongoing story and it continues to strengthen my desire for new travel experiences. It makes me put a backpack on my shoulders again and step out into this beautiful world, feeling
The Journey is my home (Muriel Rukeyser).
And when it becomes tough, dangerous or very complicated, I remind myself of the following thought:
Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn!
