{"id":1908,"date":"2010-07-26T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2010-07-26T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theprofessionalhobo.com\/?p=1908"},"modified":"2024-06-19T07:40:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T11:40:47","slug":"a-week-in-germany-and-my-style-of-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theprofessionalhobo.com\/a-week-in-germany-and-my-style-of-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"A Week in Germany, and My Style of Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recently spent almost a week in southern Germany. I didn\u2019t see any major towns, nor did I attend many tourist attractions. And although I imagine I\u2019ll return to Germany someday, I won\u2019t on this particular trip<\/a>. And I\u2019m not sorry about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post was originally published in 2010. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content.\u00a0<\/em>

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One of the underlying messages in the documentary A Map For Saturday<\/a> that spoke to me was that travel gets old pretty quickly<\/strong>. At least \u2013 certain styles of travel get old quickly. If you bounce from one major city\/attraction to the next, staying in hostels and following the backpacker circuits consistently, one amazing awe-inspiring sight tends to melt into the next, and you can actually become almost apathetic about the attractions that once appeared wondrous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having been on the road well over three years, I don\u2019t think I would have lasted anywhere near this long if I were on this \u201cactively traveling\u201d circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, I\u2019ve volunteered<\/a> in trade for my accommodation<\/a> in at least five<\/a> different<\/a> places<\/a> around the world for upwards of a month at a time. In between volunteer gigs, I\u2019ve usually enjoyed some home-grown hospitality by staying with friends. Friends I\u2019ve met in all sorts of ways, mostly in the course of my volunteering and traveling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: How to Get Free Accommodation Around the World<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, so enamoured am I with these two modes of travel, that many of my chosen destinations (such as Germany) have been predicated on the prevalence of home-stay or volunteer opportunities<\/strong>, rather than the destination itself being of primary appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, my dream of travel was borne of a desire to break bread with families around the world; to live, work, shop, and just be <\/em>with people around the world, learning, laughing, and loving life together<\/strong>. It\u2019s not about how many museums I visit, how many planes I board, or how many stamps I have in my passport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t profess my style of travel to be superior (or inferior) to any other styles. (That\u2019s why I started the popular week-in-the-life series<\/a>; to celebrate the different ways people choose to spend their long-term or full-time travel days).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have the luxury of being able to travel full-time – along with the often mis-understood requirement to be somewhat consistently on my computer an average of two to four hours per day (to earn an income, research\/book travel arrangements, and keep in touch with friends\/family). It\u2019s a fact of my location independent life<\/a>, and one that isn\u2019t easily accommodated if I have an active travel itinerary to keep up with.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So all this is to say that in my time in Germany, I didn\u2019t get the cross-section of the country that would be typical in the most traditional travel sense. But I did get to enjoy the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n