All's well that ends well or lived to death instead of worked till we dropped dead:

After almost three decades as permanent globe­trotters (about 25 consecutive years, plus 4 ½ previous years), we went on our last journey ~Early 2024. This was the culmination of our heart's project, which was born in 1993 during our first trip around the world together, on an idyllic nudist site in New Zealand: to develop a financial cushion in the shortest possible time, in order to travel the world in our young years instead of working, and forgoing aging in return.

What we then, in our early-30s, still considered cheeky and a little courageous, soon turned out to be the best decision; it exceeded our wildest expectations by far. Our bold decision to change life to “short but intense” gave our already very privileged life even more pep and joie de vivre, as you can read in detail on this website.

After about 1½ years of solo backpacking, we met 1990 through an advertisement in Globetrotter magazine and fell in love. Only eight months later, we set off on our first trip around the world together. It lasted a good 2½, very enriching years. We soon realized that this was just the beginning. So, we came to realize that it would be better to live ourselves to death instead of working ourselves to death.

After a short work intermezzo, we were already able to chuck our jobs forever at the young age of 37 and 39 respectively. From our 33 years together, we hardly worked 6 years (actually, not even 5, as we allowed ourselves generous holidays every year).

For more than 28 years, we we’ve been able to travel the world, getting to know old and new cultures, unbelievably diverse land- and seascapes, refined culinary delights and idyllic naturist places - truly a lifelong dream lived out.

It was an extraordinarily enriching privilege to invest our entire savings (including pension plan), during our best decades, into timeless and priceless experiences, we would not have traded for any money in the world. It was a real treat to discover 6 continents, 77 countries, 35 Pacific islands, as well as parts of Greenland and some of the most impressive islands in the North Atlantic, with so much time.

After our almost lifelong globetrotter-lives, we, Brigitte (1962 - 2024) & Heinz (1959 - 2024), have now peacefully fallen asleep forever with a smile on our faces. We were more convinced than ever that it was the perfect decision for us to fully enjoy the decades before reaching retirement age, instead of working. For so much freedom and enjoyment, as well as the countless priceless and inspiring experiences, we were happy to forego the phase of senescence. The precious memories of our diverse travel life were the only luggage for our final journey. On the other hand, we were able to gratefully leave behind all the emerging complaints of old age, as well as a world, which is becoming more and more divided by ruthless populists and self-proclaimed patriots.

In comparison to what we have experienced, moving from this world to the afterlife before the age of 65, is a ridiculously small price that we were happy to pay. After almost 30 very rewarding years without working, we do not want to swap places with our contemporaries who are eagerly awaiting their retirement with a thousand ideas, only to find that their health will soon no longer be able to do everything their heads have imagined so beautifully. We, on the other hand, perceive it as liberating to give up the years with increasing age-related problems.

Our life’s motto, “rather short but intense”, is certainly not to everyone's taste. To us, however, the decision was spot on; we would do it again in a heartbeat. Fortune smiled upon us indeed!