My First Solo Trip Was the True Catalyst

I graduated from University in 2016 and immediately started working in corporate London. It took a grand total of three months before I was frustrated and burnt out. That turned out to be a recurring theme, but I’ll get to that later. 

What you do need to know is that this led to me booking my first solo trip. The destination? Copenhagen. Some people’s life-changing experience is a three-month backpacking trip around Southeast Asia; mine was an EasyJet flight with limited legroom. 

Visiting the Danish capital for the first time opened my eyes to a whole new way of living. I instantly fell in love with the city, and my obsession with Northern Europe in particular began. I thought I was unique and hip at that time… but nowadays, everyone knows about Copenhagen. 🤣

On my first day commuting home after that trip, I had a big feeling of “there has to be more to life than this”. To be honest, I was pretty certain at that point that I wanted to move to Copenhagen one day. Beyond that, I also wanted to travel and frankly didn’t think about much else.

Exploring Europe and Beyond

Over the next few years, I did what any arrogant guy in his early twenties would do. I pretty much ignored everyone’s advice about “saving for retirement” and went full-send with my travels. All of my annual leave and money would be spent traveling around Europe and sometimes beyond. Oddly enough, this ended up being a great investment. 

Obviously, my early travels set the foundations for this blog (and business, eventually, even though I had no idea I would become a travel blogger someday). But beyond that, I learned so much about myself and the world in general. You really do build character when you get lost on your own in Lisbon at 3am while on a pub crawl, get denied entry to every club, and have to figure out your own way home. The same goes for when you miss the last train home in Vienna and get into beef with another tourist. 

I traveled mainly around Northern Europe and Northwestern Europe, including repeated trips to Copenhagen and Stockholm. Partly for convenience, but also because I just really enjoyed it. However, I also visited several other European countries, including Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, and Poland. Europe is still my favorite continent, and I love living here.

My annual trips to the US continued, and I also became more curious about other parts of the world. Overall, I’ve been lucky enough to visit 30 countries—including some ultimate bucket list destinations, such as Japan. But to be honest, I’m more interested in visiting places I actually want to rather than ticking every country off the list just for the sake of it.

Overcoming Personal Struggles and Moving Abroad

I partly traveled as a youngster because I wanted to see the world. But to be honest, I’d be lying if I said that was the sole reason. More of it was about escaping from a life that I hated.

I use the word “hated” with the utmost sincerity. I actually enjoyed my first full-time job, but when I left to work for another company in Central London, I dreaded my morning commute and had a pit in my stomach when I thought about Monday morning. Eventually, in late 2018, I reached a “stick or twist” moment where I said “enough is enough”. 

On one particular trip to Iceland, I remember seeing a statue in Reykjavík of a suited person with a block replacing his head. Never before has a piece of art spoken to me on a personal level, because that is precisely how I felt. I did not like the trajectory I was on, and I felt stuck. 

During that autumn and winter, it got to the point where my body physically did everything to avoid getting out of bed for work. I’m actually grateful, though, because I needed life to be so miserable to the point where I had no option but to change. Seven months later, in July 2019, I quit my job. While scared, I felt beyond relieved. 

Almost immediately, I moved to Stockholm. At the same time, I also began freelance writing for English-language clients. This move didn’t go to plan, but I at least got to explore the Swedish capital deeply and get a taste of living in Scandinavia. One year later, I moved to Copenhagen; I’ve been here ever since and love living here. The city itself is amazing, but I also enjoy having a base to explore Northern Europe in detail and traveling to different places around the world from a convenient location. 

Starting This Blog

After a few years of freelance writing, I decided that I wanted to have my own creative outlet. I started lots of random projects, including a couple of podcasts and YouTube channels. These were all extrinsically motivated, though; I was only thinking about the possibility of making money, so I quit. 

I said to myself: “If that ‘travel blog’ idea comes into your head again, you’re doing it—no questions asked”. The idea came into my head again, and I started this blog in 2023. I had started several blogs in the past, but always gave up; this time, I wanted to see how far I could take it. Long story short, I took it quite far 🙂. 

My blog has now grown into a leading travel resource used by millions of people each year. In July 2025 (six years to the day after quitting my 9-5 job, ironically), I went full-time on this website. 

Working on this blog is exactly what I’d be doing with my time if I were already retired, and it still feels surreal to say that I do this for a living. I love putting together detailed travel guides to help others, and photography is a huge passion of mine, too. 

Getting messages from others saying that I’ve helped them plan a memorable trip is super fulfilling, and I feel good that what I put out there is valuable to others. I now focus my energy not just on Northern Europe, but also other parts of the world. I feel like I have a lot to say that can help people, and as a result, my focus is more “exploring the world from my base in Northern Europe”. 

I don’t care so much about ticking every country off the list, but I do want to visit places that interest me. By doing this, I feel like I can then create better guides for you.