"One way ticket around the world, please!"

It had been going through my mind for a long time already: the urge to travel for a longer period of time. To get out of the daily routine. Behind my computer. Away from the Dutch Winter.

I can't say I have a boring office job. Since May 2014, I have been traveling the world as a digital nomad for National Geographic Traveler. It started with a road trip along World Heritage in Germany, my first assignment for National Geographic. I will never forget that I received a message from a former colleague. "You have a writing request in your email. Just one little detail: the trip must take place next week." I was in Portugal at the time and couldn’t possibly go on the trip due to other assignments. But, after much

deliberation, I realized that some chances you don’t get twice in life. I put everything aside and a week later I was in the car to Germany.

That turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. In the 3.5 years that followed, I traveled 25 times to create stories for the National Geographic Traveler website and magazine: from a road trip through the remote Icelandic highlands (see the latest Traveler magazine!) To a culinary journey through Vietnam.

Each trip was special in its own way, but I will never forget the 10-day ranger course in a small game reserve in South Africa. Every day we went on foot with three rangers into the

wilderness in search of rhinos and other animals. Spending the night on the dusty ground under the stars - without a tent for protection - and looking a wild black rhino straight in the eye are just some of the highlights.

Thanks to taking parts in trips like this ranger course and a recent expedition in Indonesia to protect the last Sumatran tigers, my interest in conservation, animal protection and sustainable tourism grew. I realized that as a travel journalist I wanted to delve more into these themes.

On a personal level, my life recently took a different turn. On September 11, 2017, my thirtieth birthday, Robin proposed to me. The idea of going on a world trip together had been around for years. I write, Robin taking photographs ... an ideal

combo. We never found the right time to leave, but after our engagement something changed. "I'm thirty, we're getting married, now or never!" I said to Robin with wide eyes. "What is a good time at all to go on a trip, quit your job, leave your home, friends and family for a long time? Whoever waits for the perfect moment, never leaves."

For example, on an ordinary Thursday evening we booked two single tickets for an indefinite world tour. A journey in which we take the time for destinations that we have dreamed of for years, make stories and look for more depth in sustainable initiatives and eco-projects that make the world a little better.

On December 18, 2017 we will be on a plane to Mauritius, where we will stay for a month to discover the adventurous side of the island in a sustainable way. Then we hop on to the volcanic neighboring island of Réunion, where we make, among other things, a multi-day hike through an unspoiled mountain landscape, past remote villages that are only accessible on foot or by helicopter. Then we fly to South Africa, where we will stay for at least a month. After that everything is

still open, but as we see it now we leave for New Zealand where we travel for six to eight weeks. Then we want to travel on to Indonesia via the Polynesian Islands, to visit an orangutan project in Borneo, among other things.

In June I will return to Europe for a digital nomad trip. The destination remains a surprise. We don’t know what will happen next. Maybe we'll keep on traveling, maybe we'll come home. Who's to say? For once, the control freak in me doesn't know the answer. And I must confess: it feels great.