When I moved to New York and left my hometown Berlin, I didn’t have any second thoughts. Sure, I was scared and afraid of being far away from my family (my OG day ones) and my close friends (my second family) and build a life in a brand new city. But I had no doubt - like zero, niente, nada - that this was necessary for my life at that time. It was like a force, heading me towards this change, with no questions asked. The move and my time in New York changed my life. I explored, found out a lot about myself, and met wonderful people.

Today, after almost 7 years in New York I decided to quit my day job and leave the City. Not forever, knowing that the City will always have my heart.

I always describe Berlin as my first love and New York as my second lover. The City of New York is my friend, a strict yet efficient teacher. But I knew, like back then when I left Berlin, that change was inevitable. It took me a while to come to this conclusion, but finally, this summer's developments within my family and milestones in my life made me confident enough to make the decision in leaving my safe and secure job/life here in New York.
Risk it all to do the things I always had in the back of my mind, to silence this little voice in my head that kept nagging "you can do more, there is more to see" and to avoid a massive disappointment in "the things that [I] didn't do than by the ones [I] did" in twenty years from now (Thank you, Mark Twain!).

What are the things I want to do, try and see? Do I have a plan? Am I excited, scared? What is my goal? 

The other day, while packing an overwhelming amount of stuff and clothes, I found some old diary entries. So many entries read  "I want to travel, I want to see the world, I want to take more photos". Like a mantra, these came up every now and then. 

Now, I decided to follow this urge.

For the first two months, I will travel to Turkey, my parents' home country, and spend some quality time with family and friends there. This warm-up phase is followed by travels in Southeast Asia and - if I am still financially able to do so - South America at the beginning of next year. Once I am knee-deep in my travels, I will keep you posted about how far I am able to go. I do not over-plan. I go as far as I want to go and in the direction of my current desire.

I am scared. So what else is new? I am doing something I never have done before and there is no continuous income to support my endeavors. I saved up a little bit and I will have to live on a budget. As you can probably sense I have a very rational thinking and stability-loving persona. This risky change will not be easy, but as Joe Vitale said “A goal should scare you a little, and excite you a lot.” And this one sure does.

I want to take photos of everything that I get to see, explore, work without the goal of a monetary paycheck and find out a little bit about myself. I keep every direction open and see how it will go. I know this trip will never be a failure because it was necessary. And the timing is perfect. I am young and uncommitted. 

The motto is: "Day one" instead of "one day".

Here I go!