About

My name is Thomas.

I hail from the land of ice and snow, Minnesota. I have a fascination with people and how we interact in our lives.  I want to share paradigms from different cultures and help others to understand the differences and relate to the similarities.  So expect to find stories about people, adventures, food, and life from my set of shoes.

Past- The first travel experience I can recall is when my family took a trip to Disney world. The details are faint but I remember odd specifics; the feeling of the plane taking off, the blue skies and humid climate leaving the airport, playing with exotic animals in the petting zoo, the taste of giant turkey legs, the tower of terror, and finally meeting Micky Mouse.

The travel addiction intensified during high school when I won a snowboarding contest, I had an all expenses paid trip to Chamonix, France.  The trip opened my eyes and that travel bug burrowed itself in my brain.

2009: Living in Ingolstadt, Germany studying International Business. Enjoying extensive travels throughout Europe.

2011: Receive undergraduate in Entrepreneurship. Leave to teach English in Chungju, South Korea for one year.

2012: Travel, travel, travel.

2012: Founded an English Camp in the Philippines. Sold my share in December 2012

2013: Living in Beijing! Partner/Event director for Erie Entertainment. Curriculum developer/Teacher for DotKids Education.

Current- Beijing, China.

The future- Currently I’m open to all opportunities!  I’m always open to a positions with any firm working internationally.  Ideally, I would enjoy working in Development, Outdoor recreation, Marketing, or anything travel related.

Why do I travel?

-A difficult question. For me, life is about experience; new places, situations, sounds, and feelings that are different from the normal routine of life. These foreign moments where I am most vulnerable is exactly where I feel at home. I ach to see the world that is vastly different from my own. I want my boundaries to be pushed, my personal space invaded, and mind left wondering, “What the …. just happened?”.

Here are two ways I have personally described my travel lush…

It’s the addictive rush that begins with millions of little butterflies gathering in your brain.  They drift down through your airway knotting the throat until they finally reach the stomach. You get the feeling that all of their tiny velvet wings are tickling the inner walls of you belly and uncomfortable nerves consume you.  You feel nauseous and try to relax, breath, and set your mind at ease but each technique fails and somehow those little wings keep flapping. You’re am nervous but somehow feel alert, and every sense is heightened.  The adrenaline is pumping, and you’re consumed in the moment.

It’s for airplane rides. For buses and strangers, rucksacks and hoodies. For the hope in new. The joy in silence and the feeling of a new destination. The satisfaction in the final click of your rucksack. The buzz in your veins, the pulsing in your bones. For your momentary pause, the feeling of your head in the clouds.

Temporary it may be, it is your wanderlust fulfillment and like a distant lover, it will always call you back.

So enjoy my rambles here. I will not be discrete in my opinions and sometimes very blunt. My hope is that everything I share here can tell you who I am, how I live, opinions, beefs, and of course, stories of the places and people I encounter.  Perhaps in these, you will find  just a little satisfaction.

Never forget…

You are free the moment you wish to be.