Who I am

Hi, and welcome. My name is Ole Begemann, I am 27 years old, and I come from Germany. If you speak German, you can learn a bit more about me on personal website. If not, just ignore the links and keep reading.

From October 2005 to June 2006, I have been and will be travelling (mostly) alone through 7 countries in South America: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil (see my itinerary).

With this trip, I am realising a dream I have had for at least 4 to 5 years. Then, during a six-month stay in Hong Kong, I got infected with the travel virus. Journeys to Ecuador (1 month) and South-East Asia (2 months) followed, but never was the time right or my courage big enough to embark on a really long trip.

Last year, the time was ripe: not being entirely content with my job – I worked in Finance/Treasury for SAP, one of Germany’s largest companies (and probably one of the best to work for, too) -; not having traveled for some time; and having saved just enough for a backpacking trip, I quit the job, moved out of my apartment, and booked a flight to South America.

Why South America?

To me, it’s probably the most beautiful and spectacular continent in the world. It’s got endless trekking opportunities in the Andes, it’s got the jungle of the Amazon basin, tropical beaches on the Atlantic, and vast deserts on the Pacific coast. 8 months are probably a good time to take in a lot of South America’s highlights, to get to know the people’s culture and language – on the other hand, it’s not nearly enough to visit everything I would like to see. I would have liked to travel a little more, but then I cannot possibly miss this year’s big event at home: the soccer world cup in June determines the end of my trip.

Why this website?

Yes, it’s true. I am vain. I like to see my server statistics rising. To see that more and more people find the way to my site. To get feedback from complete strangers. Apart from that, there are a couple of other motivations.

First, it’s a good way to tell friends and family about my whereabouts. Second, I love photography, I love to show you my pictures, and I’d like to hear what you think about them – please make use of the comment function. Third, I like web programming and design, and I see this site as a good practice for what might become part of my next job – I developed this all by myself using a wonderful programming framework called Ruby on Rails. I hope you like it!

I wrote this page in February, 2006, and have not updated it since.