Kim
I was born and raised in Switzerland, but already had my first flight to Bali with just 4 months old.
Since my mother is from the Philippines, we spent a lot of time there, before going to school here in Switzerland.
My Parents traveled a lot with me until I stopped joining them around the age of 16. Too bad I can barely remember where I have already been all my life and now it's time do it again. My passion for traveling is probably due to my Parents.
Since my Dad cycled the world two times, I’ve got a good and experienced mentor for my travels. He always has all his journeys well documented and for each country I want to go he already has maps, tips and guides ready for me.
After having done the mandatory military duty in Switzerland, I was so ready to leave the country. It would be my first time alone, so I decided the Philippines would be the perfect choice, since I already know it a little, have family and friends there and everybody speaks English. I went 3 months which went by too quickly but I realized something. Backpacking is nice but you miss so much from the country hopping on jeepneys & busses for six hours a day. During the rides I saw so many opportunities I wanted to stop and get out, but simply couldn't because I was on a bus.
Soon after returning from the Philippines I met my Girlfriend Anna, who wasn't into traveling at all, in fact she has never left Europe before. So after a few trips Anna slowly understands why I like to travel so much. After that, I said it's time for the Philippines and soon after we flew there for 3, 5 weeks. She met my family, experienced local living and made many new friends we still keep in touch. I always told her that I needed to do at least one year of traveling before even considering settling down, and now she wants to come with me.
The idea of traveling overland from Switzerland to the Philippines slowly came after reading books of travelers and watching hundreds of hours of YouTube travel content. People like Itchy Boots, Nicklas Aittamaa, Alex Chacon, Pedro Mota, Spaghetti Road, The Road Chose Me and of course the legend himself: c90 Adventures really inspired us to do the same.
And that's how The Road East was born
Anna
So, I guess it's time for me now to make an introduction. I'm not so good at talking about myself, but let's give it a try. My name is Anna. I was born and raised in a small town in the Netherlands. Me and my parents always went one time a year on a big holiday, mostly to Greece, Portugal or Turkey.
Already from a younger age my dream was to live in Switzerland. The sister of my mother also lives in Switzerland, that's where I got my inspiration from. Every time we visited her, it felt like coming home. It's such a beautiful country, I just had to go there. So that's what I did.
I didn't know what I wanted to do, study or work? That's when I decided to work one year as an au pair in Switzerland. Finally my dream came true. During that year I met Kim and made new friends. Already after 2 months I knew I did not want to go back to the Netherlands.
From the start Kim talks about traveling the world. That is his one dream. I was never really interested in traveling overseas. I'm fine here and I don't want to leave anytime soon. But after watching all those YouTube videos, I'm getting a little curious. Are all those countries really that beautiful and amazing?
Kim takes me everywhere with him, every weekend is a little adventure. Even though I'm more like a stay at home person, I really like these little holidays during the weekend. We also went to South-Tyrol, Egypt and even the Philippines. In the Philippines I learned to love traveling. This was really something new for me. It's indeed beautiful and amazing. When we came back home, I missed the Philippines every day. I never had this feeling before.
From that point we started dreaming and planning our overland route.
