About me

G'Day mate,

A little bit of information about myself:

My name is Stefanie Victor, born in 1985 and raised in the Saarland, Germany but my family originates from Sri Lanka. After my A-Levels I worked in Italy for three months to be able to rent a flat in Stuttgart, Germany to study Industrial Engineering there, specialising in economic Facilities Management.
After that I went to Manchester, UK for 18 months to work as the Personal Assistant to the Head of Real Estate, Engineering and Energy Management.
I went back to Stuttgart for one year, specialising in Energy Management. Then I changed the job and moved over to Bremen in the North of Germany as Staff Function of Site Operations for nearly three years.
Well, in November 2013 I left my work, moved back to Stuttgart and in December 2013 at the age of 27 I started my travel in Australia!

Want to know more about me? Read on...

At 1.63m I am one of the smallest family members. And I have a pretty HUGE family! Yes, even my younger brother and my mother are taller than me.
My hobbies are reading (novels in German and English), traveling, playing chess, I used to go jogging and played Volleyball as well. I need LOTS of sleep to be a happy bunny, so getting up early is not really my cup of tea. But if I have to I will be on time.
Need an organised person who loves to prepare and plan a trip in much detail? That's me! I love taking pictures, trying new food and drinks and of course seeing new places.

I am mainly writing this blog to keep my family and friends informed that I am still alive and have not been bitten or eaten by a spider, snake, shark, crocodile or stinger, have not been a victim of a bushfire, a flooding or a thunderstorm and that I am not yet completely broke. :-) This blog will also be a good diary for myself later on when I look back at this time like it happened with my blog about my time in the UK.

Want to get some more deep insight into my motivation of traveling in Australia? Read on further...

When you look through my blog it seems like a massive holiday, right? But to be honest: this is much more than that but in a different way than for most backpackers (mostly aged under 25 years I would say).

I am NOT here to improve my english ( I have been 18 months in the UK and worked in international teams for 5 years).
I am NOT here to proof that I can travel all alone (3 months in Italy, 18 months in the UK).
I am NOT here on my first ever overseas travel (Sri Lanka, Singapur, Canada).
I am NOT here because I couldn't find a job after my studies (got my UK job before I handed in my diploma thesis).
I am NOT here because I hated my last job (I quit a pretty damn good job to come here).
I am NOT here because so many of my friends have done it and I wanted to do it too (actually I only found out that so many of my friends have already been to Australia when I announced my already booked plans).
I am NOT just here on a holiday.

NO! This is a BIG HUGE DREAM of myself since about 2003!

It started with "Yeah, I want to see Sydney, the Uluru and wild kangaroos", went over to "Oh man! That is a MASSIVE country with lots of beaches and other nice stuff", after years of research in magazines and the internet got to "This is such a weird and fascinating country. I have to go there SOMEDAY" and became finally "If I don't go and see and do all that stuff that has been piling up in my bucket list I will FOREVER AND EVER regret it."

The final BIG BANG came when my line manager in Bremen told the department that one of the retired team leader has been diagnosed with blood drains in his brain and lung cancer JUST THE DAY before he was on his way to his two-year-world-travel. He and his wife sold literally everything to put it into a well-equipped little jeep for this journey (and the jeep was already on a ship on its way to America you see). Of course with this diagnosis and the treatment that had to follow they had to cancel EVERYTHING. Now he spents lots of time in hospitals, at home and sometimes on "old-people-cruises", if you know what I mean.

I am not waiting until my retirement (should I make it to it that is) to fulfill my dream should I then still be physically and financially able to do it. Also, there are heaps of lists about what people who are dead-ill have regrets about in life and the most common is to not live their dreams. But what I wish for myself should I grow old is to be able to say "I don't regret anything. I have seen and done it all."

I don't think I will absolutely make it all before I die. But I will always look back at this time in Australia and I am sure I will not regret having decided to do it. Even though I had to leave behind my family, my boyfriend and friends. Even though I had to be an Au Pair to not cancel my travels too early. Even though I had to quit my great job in Bremen to do this and even though not everybody was happy about this long trip of mine mostly on my own.

Well, that's me in a nutshell :-) Hope you like my pictures and little stories about this BIG BIG country and maybe this inspires you to live your dream as well!!!
Yours dream-fulfilling Stefanie