I had the privilege to speak to a man on the phone, that decided to quit his job, even refuse a promotion and begin a journey to places he never before visited and meet people he never met before.
His name is Ümit Yücel.
Born and raised in Gelsenkirchen, Ümit always dreamed of seeing as many countries as possible.
In 2014, while living in Dublin, he became good friends with his housemate Khaled, and after both discovered their mutual love and joy for travelling, decided to travel North and South America.
In the span of five and a half months they were able to visit Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and many more countries. They concluded their journey in France and celebrated its successful ending on December 31st, 2016.
As their adventure ended both went their separate ways. Ümit returned to Germany where he stayed for the next three months, enjoying his family, as he had spent the last three years apart from them.
He did not have everything figured out but when a new job opportunity presented itself, he took it. He moved to Amsterdam and began a new chapter in his life.
For the next year and a half, he worked and just lived his life. But as time passed by, he realized this was not the life he envisioned for himself.
Being inspired by the story of a young shepherd who leaves everything behind to follow a night vision he had over a hidden treasure buried underneath Pyramids. The young shepherd finds the treasure by the end of the story but learns the most valuable life lesson.
Dreams can only be achieved once you go after them…
With this positive attitude in mind Ümit reached out to his friend Khaled and both began to plan their “World Trip”. Their plan was to start off in Africa and from there travel to Europe and take the Trans-Siberian railway through Russia and fly out to South Korea and China.
Being mindful of the costs involved they chose to use the accommodations offered on couch surfing. Knowing that this would be a quicker way to meet locals and learn about their culture.
And so, after quitting his job, leaving his apartment and storing his belongings at his parents’ house, Ümit flew in October 2018 from Düsseldorf to Barcelona and from there to Algeria.
The day I spoke to him he shared, that he suffered food poisoning after eating a new dish. But he recovered. Khaled and he had reached Zambia and were getting ready for the next stage in their journey. Taking the train from Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
After reaching Tanzania, Ümit let me know that their train was derailed and what should have taken them three days and two nights took them five days.
Their journey did not end there. Like the young shepherd in the story, Ümit was able to reach the pyramids.
By Adina Sarah Abraham
Written March 5th 2019
Adina Sarah Abraham 