Splette's Travel Blog
  • Empire State Building, New York
  • Wall street skateboarder, New York
  • Yellow cab, New York
  • Chicago skyline
  • Dragonfly, New Orleans swamps
  • New Orleans swamps
  • Texas thunder storm
  • Me in the Grand Canyon
  • BART station San Francisco
  • San Francisco: Everything is relative
  • Semuc Champey, Guatemala
  • Guatemala jungle
  • Tikal, temple V, Guatemala
  • Chicken bus, Guatemala
  • Coffee fruits, Guatemala
  • Me on volcan Santiaguito, Guatemala
  • Philosophy

  • September18th

    Sensation Seeking

    Posted in: Adventure, Philosophy

    Sensation seeking anno 2001. I found this monitor lizard and let him bite in my hand in order to test the strength of his jaws

    Lizard-bite sensation, Australia 2001

    Some people say what I do is dangerous (hello mother). Is it really necessary to travel to countries like Honduras (highest murder rate in the world) or Colombia? In fact, why travel at all when home is a safe, convenient and rich country like Germany? I get this question a lot. There are many reasons for why I travel. It makes me very happy. But it’s also exciting. There is always something new to discover, new experiences to be made. I always saw myself as an explorer type of person.
    Recently, my clinical travel psychologist Dipl.-Psych. R. Voegler introduced me to the concept of ‘sensation seeking’. Apparently, people that fall into that category have a tendency to pursue sensory pleasure and excitement. It’s the trait of people who go after novelty, complexity, and intense sensations, who love experience for its own sake. Sensation seekers are easily bored without high levels of stimulation and therefore seek thrills.
    I instantly liked the concept. It’s certainly something I can identify myself with. Sometimes it’s nice to fit so well into a category that gives some explanation of why I do the things I do.
    What is your opinion about all this? Many of you, my faithful blog readers, know me well. Do you believe that I am seeking the thrill?

     

    Am I a sensation seeker?

    • Yep (80%, 8 Votes)
    • No, you are just weird (20%, 2 Votes)
    • Not sure (0%, 0 Votes)

    Total Voters: 10

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    And what about you? Are you a sensation seeker? Here is a test with 20 questions (of which I answered 16 with ‘yes’) that might give some indication.

  • July27th

    Not Lost but Found

    Posted in: Philosophy

    I’m happy because I have Christ in my heart.

    My new Jesus T-shirt

    This is the story of how I found Jesus …
    The other day I was complaining about all the things I have lost during the trip. This time I found something that I never lost. You know how you sometimes lose a sock when you do laundry? I did a whole bunch of laundry in Managua. Unlike Guatemala, I couldn’t easily find any laundry place here and had to ask around quite a bit. Eventually some woman living in the neighborhood agreed to wash my things. This wasn’t any official service, she did it privately for a few dollars. Also, no laundry machine, this was a hand job! Anyway, I picked up my nicely folded clothes the next day. A few days later, I was already in Granada, I realized that besides my washed clothes there was an extra T-shirt that doesn’t belong to me. And it has Jesus on it! Should I take that as a sign from God? For those non-Spanish speakers, the shirt reads: “I’m happy because I have Christ in my heart.“
    I love this shirt. I’m going to keep it and wear it with pride. And it goes well with my cap, too…

    Seriously, how many people can claim, they found Jesus in the laundry?

  • May26th

    Why do you travel?

    Posted in: Philosophy

    Sometimes, life gives you tough choices...I heard this question for the first time in Texas some weeks ago. And a couple of more times since then. I was astounded and speechless.The question was not ‘Why did you travel here?’, ‘Why do you do backpacking?’ or ‘How do you pay for the travels’. Neither was the guy who asked me that expecting to hear my philosophy of travel or life or anything like that. Nope, just ‘Why travel?’ This was such a no-brainer to me that I haven’t thought about it in awhile. But this conversation got me thinking again. When you have the choice between doing what you do all day (study, work, watch TV) at the same place with the same people or visiting exciting places you have never seen before, making new experiences, meeting new people, trying new food, having fun – which one would you chose? Again, the question was not about having the time or money to go traveling, the question was the why. If I have the choice between living ground hog day or the beach, I chose the latter any time.
    It turned out, that the guy has never left the U.S.A. and in fact visited only one other state besides Texas. If you have never experienced what it means to travel, then maybe you develop this mindset of ‘It’s okay here, why should I go somewhere else? I’d rather watch it on Discovery Channel…’ That kind of limited attitude saddens me.

    PS. Just to make sure I don’t come across all that arrogant: I am fully aware that not everyone in this world has the means and opportunity to travel as I do. (Though, most people I know would have if they chose to…)