Name Timothy Truman (pen name) Born July 4 Lives in Berlin Description Traveler. Writing, rhyming, taking pictures.

Away and anywhere: Being born and raised in Berlin just before the wall fell I missed out on those spectacular opportunities like squatting rotten old apartments in the old city's more neglected districts (like Prenzl'berg and Friedrichshain), but I soon figured out that you could still have quite a blast being a 17-year old hanging out at Mauerpark or getting lost along the arty hallways of Tacheles. So I did, even though my older sister kept on talking about the golden times one could impossibly imagine if you haven't just had the chance to witness them in person. Whatever, though - one generation's luck is the other's opportunity, too. And nobody ever claimed, the universe owes you anything (and those who did, didn't get it.)

When I was about 16 I started writing short stories imagining just that - how exciting it would be to share a flat with your best buddies, waking up one morning, completely having lost track and stumbling across some rather enchanting looking brunette girl next to a tarnished window in the morning sun. Oh, Berlin, you ever-inspiring beauty, you fucked-up soul-eater, you fortress of frenzy, I love you so.

Also at around 16 I discovered the art of traveling for myself and I never really lost my passion, it rather keeps on growing - and so is my curiousity. My friends and I started riding trains to cities all over the country (thanks to a rather cheap and handy weekend group ticket): Nürnberg, München, Kassel, Leipzig, Dresden, Hamburg, Köln. When Germany wasn't enough anymore we went to the coast of Denmark and Poland. I had my first flight only when I was 18 (to London) and then quickly caught up. Before that, though, I discovered hitchhiking for myself and first started when I was 17. My best friend and I were heading to the sea - and we failed gloriously. However, no matter, we spent an amazing night in some creepy forest half-way to the coast, but clearly prepared ourselves for something grander.

In 2006 another friend and I were hitchhiking to Stuttgart in an incredible 6 hours (with 3 cars), slept in some park and flew to Lisboa, Portugal, the following morning only to hitchhike back to Berlin within some 11 days; that was my first time seeing a real ocean. Later that year I was flying to Bangkok (with the guy before), on to Sydney, Australia. We bought a 1983 Ford Falcon station wagon in Melbourne (one of this planet's most beautiful cities) and started riding around the continent. I clearly didn't plan to fall in love while traveling, but everything always turns out - well, differently! The magic of being away and anywhere, young and free and innocent. The girl I met there was basically the one I was always writing about in teenage stories of naked madness - pondering about in lost and lonely dreams. After one year we returned to Europe (not without seeing the amazing country of Indonesia), that girl and I got together and I started studying (I couldn't really decide on what, because all I really wanted to do is travel, write, live and... be able to play John Frusciante songs on the guitar).

In 2008 the girl I met in Australia (who has recently moved to Berlin) and I were flying to Athens, had the time of our lives on the island of Ios and hitchhiked back home via the Western Balkans. A year later I was moving to Northern Finland for some months; after I came back we split up and I was the most miserable piece of human shit there ever was for some time to come. 2010 turned out to be the most terrible year so far (and it still is - that is probably a good sign), but I traveled even more: With several friends I went to see Istanbul, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia - later that year the same old friend from the 2006 hitching trip and I were flying to Valencia in order to start a 5 week trip surrounding the peninsula and returning home via France and Switzerland, hitching 66 cars in total (and actually smashing two with one sudden, not very well-planned movement). Any lovesickness has been forgotten after that; life is simply too funkin' amazing (for long-lasting agony). Twists all around, at every corner - one just needs to remind oneself of that.

I became vegetarian in October 2009 after long talks with a long-time vegan friend of my girlfriend's plus watching a bunch of highly exciting Peter Singer videos on youtube. I'm trying to live as vegan as possible when in Berlin and am less consequent while on the road. This way I really don't miss out on anything.

In 2011 I accompanied the girlfriend of one of my oldest friends to Guatemala where we lived and worked together on a finca - while she was interviewing local farmers to get her PhD thesis rolling I was helping out with cleaning macadamias and meanwhile improving my Spanish. After four weeks I had enough and started traveling around Central America, (apart from Guatemala itself) covering Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El Salvador before returning to Berlin and having the craziest time the fall that followed.

In 2012 I wrote my Bachelor thesis about vegetarianism and animal ethics, focusing on Peter Singer. During the summer months I hitchhiked around Southern Germany and then on to one of Europe's most magnificent places: La Bretagne in Northern France. I couchsurfed in a magical little village called Plouër-sur-Rance, traveled around from coast to coast, village to village, beach to beach. If it wouldn't be for the cash I could have stayed there for weeks; just roaming around, writing and breathing the freshest sea air.

2013 saw us backpacking around South-East Asia - finally being back to Bangkok after some seven years. My most intimate travel chap and I did the classic Banana Pancake Trail and explored Cambodia, Laos, Northern, then Southern Thailand, all the way to George Town in Pulau Penang. Berlin meanwhile witnessed one of the toughest and longest winters for years - when we returned in middle of April there was still snow lying on the streets.

2014 started with a one-week roadtrip in freezing (but absolutely stunning) Scotland, before summer kicked in and we started what might become a wonderful tradition: renting cars in a little group of 8 and starting out to discover Europe's North. We drove to Malmö, Skåne, on Day I, then made our way up along the coast, passing by the island of Öland, surrounding the Vättern and camping out all night, always in the wild, playing games, warming up at camp fires.

In 2015, after a magical ten-day roadtrip around Ireland I finished writing my MA thesis on Islam in Europe, a topic I needed to deal with inevitably ever since I started to dive into the huge and complex field of religion, likely one of the world's greatest obstacles to overcome. It's not so much religion itself, however, but the human urge to simplify things, to look out for easy answers and solutions, to rather trust and rely upon ancient traditions than adopt critical thinking, expand your horizon, allow cultural evolution which occasionally means to get rid of dusted believe systems. Doesn't look like human civilization is ready for that yet, though. A highly educated, but small and not very powerful elite certainly is, but that won't bring much change, I fear. After the thesis was done and delivered we were down to just another two-week summer trip (this time having four cars and even 13 people) South: We passed through Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia and the Croatian peninsula of Istria before heading up North again via Italy's Lago di Garda.

Finally, another friend and I were heading off to explore the Indian subcontinent. We started in Mumbai, then made our way down to Goa, Hampi, Mysore and finally Kerala before splitting up again - he flew home to Berlin and I decided to use the money I have left and see India's East coast before flying down to Kuala Lumpur, exploring Malaysia's West coast, followed by Sumatra's North and the two remaining Malaysian states in Northern Borneo.

In January 2016 I officially ended my Master studies and am now readier than ever to focus on a professional life as a creative, an author, an audacious mind always open for new challenges. Thanks for staying tuned and reading all of that travel show-off stuff. This is the result of kindly neglecting certain other most significant phases, deeds and periods in life and simply focusing on unknown pleasures.