Episode #145: Dorothea Hochleitner
Solo Bicycle Traveler
IG @doro.on.the.go
Guest Bio
Dorothea Hochleitner is a solo bicycle traveler from Austria who left a 12-year career as a police officer to embrace a life of adventure on the open road. Her journey began with a 15-month backpacking trip through Southeast Asia and India, but in 2024, she transitioned to long-distance cycling—setting out from Austria with the goal of reaching India once again. Her solo ride took her through 11 countries before she flew to New Delhi due to safety concerns, and from there she pushed north into the Himalayas, where high altitudes and harsh weather tested her endurance and spirit. Along the way, Dorothea found not only stunning landscapes but also deep human connection, often welcomed by locals who treated her like family.
Through her story, Dorothea aims to empower women to listen to their intuition, carve out their own path, and embrace the unknown in pursuit of a life that feels authentic and free.
Show Summary
In this episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast, host Jason Elkins speaks with Dorothea about her inspiring decision to leave behind a stable career in law enforcement and follow a calling to see the world. She shares the evolution of her journey—from her early days as a solo backpacker to her transformation into a long-distance cyclist covering thousands of kilometers across continents.
Dorothea reflects on the emotional and mental challenges of solo travel, the spiritual practices that have grounded her, and the freedom that comes from making life choices based on instinct rather than expectations. She also opens up about the social pressures of travel culture, the healing power of presence, and her mission to encourage others—especially women—to live courageously and create lives that reflect their deepest values.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Dorothea left her job as a police officer to pursue a more adventurous life on the road.
- ✓ She began by backpacking across Asia before transitioning to bicycle travel in 2024.
- ✓ Her first solo trip to Panama in 2022 sparked her desire to explore the world more deeply.
- ✓ Traveling solo has offered powerful opportunities for introspection and transformation.
- ✓ She believes strongly in following intuition when making life-changing decisions.
- ✓ Travel is not a cure-all—but it can be a catalyst for self-understanding.
- ✓ Dorothea values everyday moments over “bucket list” accomplishments.
- ✓ She is mindful of the unrealistic expectations sometimes created by social media.
- ✓ Yoga & meditation have played a vital role in helping her stay centered and self-aware.
- ✓ She hopes to inspire others to create meaningful, unconventional lives of their own.
Learn more about Dorothea and follow her on Instagram @doro.on.the.go.
Here’s the discount code we mentioned on the show. Enjoy!
Send Dorothea a Message
Send a short message through this guest feature page. Your email address will be included so they can reply directly.
No need to mention this page. They’ll see your note came through their Big World Made Small guest feature.
Message Sent
Your message has been sent.
Big World Made Small guest features are invitation-only and selected based on story, experience, and fit with the show. Guest support helps make the episode possible, but it does not determine who is featured. This helps keep the show free of third-party ads and interruptions while keeping the focus on real, story-driven conversations.
Guest access: enter your password to unlock your resources.
Incorrect password.
Guest & Partner Resources (Private)
Thank you Dorothea, for being a Podcast Guest (Promotion Partner) with us.
We’d love to have you join us at the next level and get even more out of your appearance on the Big World Made Small Podcast.
Below you will find access to tools to help you promote your episode and get the most from your partnership benefits. This section is only visible when you use the link we sent, or by entering the password BWMS8873. Do not share the email we sent, or the password, unless you want the person to access the following resources.
Follow, Rate, or Provide a Testimonial
Please use this tracking link to share with your audience:
https://bigworldmadesmall.com/guest/dorothea-hochleitner/?ref=guest8873
Cover Art
This is available to all podcast guests.
Download the file to use on your website or social media posts.
Buzzsprout Audio Player
This is available to all podcast guests.
This is the best option for website embeds, especially prior to the release date. Guests can listen to your episode on your website. This player keeps listeners on your site, which is why I use it.
Use this code to embed your Buzzsprout Player directly on your website:
<div id="buzzsprout-player-18148064"></div><script src="https://www.buzzsprout.com/2216718/episodes/18148064-adventure-travel-with-dorothea-hochleitner-ig-doro-on-the-go.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-18148064&player=small" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>Full-Length YouTube Video Player
This is available to Base Camp, Expedition, and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
45 Minute One-on-One Website Review
This is available to Base Camp, Expedition, and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Big World Made Small Podcast Pitch Portal©
This is available to Expedition & Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
All Video & Audio Files with Rights to Repurpose
This is available to Expedition and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
45 Minute Content Strategy Session
This is available to Expedition and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Custom Branded Video Clips (12 clips)
This is available to Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
2 x 45 Minute Digital Marketing Strategy Sessions
This is available to Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Review & Suggest Topic Tags
Review Episode Topics
These topic suggestions help keep this episode profile accurate and easier to find. Your suggestions will be reviewed before any changes are made.
Podcast Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated on recording, and has not been edited by a human. It may contain lots of mistakes, crazy words, and stuff that makes no sense. The host and the guest are not responsible for the accuracy of the transcript.
Jason Elkins (00:01.405)
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the adventure traveler. Excited to have each and every one of you back today and super excited to have my guest here today. My guest is somebody that I met a couple of years ago, actually before I started the podcast. I was in Bali and I met my guest there. She was just starting her big voyage. So this conversation has been long overdue. Look forward to catching up. We’ve got Dorothea Hochleitner
Dorothea did I say it pretty close to right? Dorothea, so happy to have you here, so excited to see you again. I want to jump in and kind of in your own words, just the kind of recap, what are you doing? You’re doing something pretty cool and I’d love to hear it in your words. I’ve heard it before. I was there kind of when it got started. So in your words, what are you doing with your life the last couple of years?
Dorothea (00:34.25)
Yes, yes, sounds good to me. Thank you.
Dorothea (01:01.422)
Good question. When I was 29, after working almost 12 years as a police officer in Vienna, I finally was brave enough to take the leap and to quit my job to do something else than just work, work, work. So since then, since April, 2023, I travel with the money I saved from working.
The first 15 months I was backpacking through Southeast Asia and India where we two met just at the beginning of my travels. And then I returned back home for two months to reconnect with family and friends, but it didn’t last long until the travel bug was there again. But this time I didn’t want to carry the heavy backpack.
Jason Elkins (01:46.837)
You
Dorothea (01:54.528)
So I decided to opt for the bicycle and so I started my bicycle trip last September.
Jason Elkins (02:01.924)
It’s pretty cool and you’ve, I remember when I met you, we had a conversation about how you kind of wanted to get into maybe creating some videos and doing some stuff kind of on Instagram. I remember you being a little bit reluctant to do that. I remember having a conversation, you said you wanted to maybe do your first video was like how to pack for world travel. So you were going to do a video, like a packing video to show how do people pack their bags.
And ever since then, I’ve been watching you all over Instagram, doing crazy wild things, really putting yourself out there. So for our listeners, it’s if they go on Instagram, it’s Doron on the go. And I’m saying that so they can hear it, pronounce it right, and then go find you on Instagram. So Doron on the go. And when we met, I’m pretty sure you told me, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure you said I’m taking one year. I’m going to take a year. Maybe it wasn’t a year.
Dorothea (02:43.276)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (02:59.253)
But then I kind of got the idea that you were going to go back and kind of re-assimilate into normal life and, and, and do something a little different and two, well, is it two years? It’s almost two and a half years later. We’re sitting here having this conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty, pretty exciting. Let’s, I want to dig in a little bit into what happened before this that maybe kind of led to, to what you’re doing now. I suspect you’ve had some time to.
Dorothea (03:11.822)
Two and a half years, yes. Yeah, two and a half years.
Jason Elkins (03:29.365)
to think about this as a solo traveler, oftentimes we have time to think about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. So if it’s okay with you, I’d like to dig into the childhood a little bit and, and figure out like what was going on when you were growing up, were there other people around you doing stuff like this? What was your family life like?
Dorothea (03:41.582)
Okay.
Dorothea (03:50.862)
No, actually my first passport I got when I was 15 to join a school trip to another country. So before that I never traveled, also with my family. I never traveled really to other countries. So for me this was this big blank space and I just discovered the world by myself starting at the age of 29 then.
Jason Elkins (04:19.339)
Okay, so when you got the passport at 15, you said this was for a school trip. I’m curious, sometimes school trips just present themselves and you’re like, yeah, I guess I’m going, everybody else is going. Other times we have to work kind of hard to find the opportunity, create the opportunity. So for you, is this something that you got excited about? Yeah, I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go. Or was it just like, yeah, everybody else is going. I’m just, what did that look like for you?
Dorothea (04:24.396)
Yeah.
Dorothea (04:46.604)
think the school trip didn’t spark the travel, how you say, didn’t spark my curiosity for travel. It was a nice experience, but to Poland, just a neighbor country. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you’re looking…
Jason Elkins (04:58.906)
Where did you go?
Jason Elkins (05:02.795)
Okay, all right, so not too terribly far away. Were there any moments? Well, I was gonna ask you if there were any moments before that, that you remembered thinking I want to travel someday or I mean, what did you want to do when you were four, you said that trip didn’t spark anything. So I guess I could say what did you want to do when you were 15?
Dorothea (05:32.142)
I think I didn’t have any plans to travel. I had plans to study and maybe become a doctor and then work, but traveling was not in my focus. If you want to talk about this one experience that started all the traveling, can share that with you.
Jason Elkins (05:45.695)
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. What got it started for you?
Dorothea (05:56.748)
Yeah, so when I was 28, no wait, let’s start this different. After COVID times, my job already was…
not feeling so right for me anymore. was very, yeah, it was many hours that I worked and I just had the feeling to go to job and go home just for sleeping and then go back to the job. So at one point I felt so miserable that I told my boss, I think about quitting. I want to do something else. And he said, no.
Maybe we can figure out something else. And so I made a few phone calls and managed to get into another department. So I talked with my direct boss and said, okay, if I switch departments anyways, maybe you can give me a three weeks holiday. So for the first time in 12 years, I had three weeks.
Jason Elkins (07:04.747)
Maybe you can give me a three weeks holiday. So for the first time in my life, I had three weeks holiday. And then I was sitting there thinking.
Dorothea (07:14.23)
holiday and then I was sitting there thinking okay I three weeks now what to do so I booked a flight to Panama like I’ve never been in America before or somewhere outside of Europe and then I went for a trip by myself just with hand luggage to Panama for three weeks and
Jason Elkins (07:35.125)
Why why pant why Panama? I’m just curious why because it’s I don’t know if it’s random but it seems a little random to choose Panama
Dorothea (07:42.122)
It was very random because there is the whole world and I’ve never been anywhere. So you have to start somewhere, no? And one of my coworkers was in Panama with his wife before and he said, it was so fantastic. And I said, okay, I want to learn how to surf. I’ve never been in the ocean before. So let’s see. And Panama has an ocean and you can surf there.
Jason Elkins (07:49.71)
huh, yeah.
Dorothea (08:09.23)
So I booked a flight to Panama. It was very exciting. And then I saw something completely different. I heard all the tropical birds for the first time. I remember witnessing the waves from the ocean for the first time. And it was just so mind blowing. my God, there’s so much more than just working, working, working all the time.
Jason Elkins (08:20.971)
you
Dorothea (08:33.078)
And I think since then I couldn’t stop thinking about, okay, maybe there is more out there to explore. And then it…
Jason Elkins (08:40.363)
I have a few questions about that adventure. First of all, how much time did it take? You mentioned that, okay, the boss said you can have three week vacation, first vacation in 12 years. How long did it take you from the moment they approved it and you knew you had the vacation coming until you booked the ticket to Panama? How much time did you spend thinking about where am gonna go and am I really gonna do it? Or was this super fast decision or did it take some time?
Dorothea (08:44.856)
Thank
Dorothea (09:09.422)
I think it was three, four days. It was over Christmas, I remember. So yeah, it was all very short notice because they approved, okay, you can go on vacation. And then I had three or four weeks left until the start of my holiday. So I had to be fast, yeah, high-paced.
Jason Elkins (09:28.139)
All right. Very cool. Was there anybody else in your life, family, friends, or anybody that you were having this conversation with? they think, well, cause here’s what I guess where I’m going with this is if you really hadn’t left Europe, you really hadn’t traveled much. And then as a single woman, maybe you tell your family, friends, I’m going off to Panama by myself because I want to learn how to go surfing. I’m just curious what kind of reaction you got from people or did you even tell anybody?
Dorothea (09:55.054)
Thank
Yeah, sure. Like my mother is always very chill about all my life decisions. She’s very confident in that I know what to do. Or at least she doesn’t show that she’s concerned. She’s like, yeah, if you decide you can do it. So she always have the confidence and faith in me, which is of course a big support.
And yeah, the coworker I mentioned who said Panama is nice. Of course he was excited for me to go and shared some tips on where to do what. And about other people, I can’t remember. It’s three years ago now and there happened so much in between. So yeah, it’s crazy. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (10:41.839)
A lot of things have happened since then. yeah. Do you remember like when you arrived in because what I you say was when I arrived in Panama, I heard the birds had the ocean had all these things. And it sounds like you came to the conclusion that there’s so much more to life than, you know, just kind of doing the grind, I guess. How long how long into this?
Dorothea (11:04.014)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (11:08.843)
Did you decide during this trip that you were going to do a major life change? Was it like already kind of a done deal or how did you get from, or what was the three weeks like as you were getting closer and closer to returning home? Was the dread starting to build or what did, what was that like for you?
Dorothea (11:14.103)
No.
Dorothea (11:24.704)
No, no, this took a very long time. Like this travels was in January 2022. And I resigned from my job only one year later. So this was just a spark, but I was always very happy to have a plan to have a stable job that I know what to do until I retire. This was so important for me.
Jason Elkins (11:33.163)
Okay.
Dorothea (11:49.824)
So that it took lots of time to admit, okay, maybe this is not what I want to do until the end of my life. And that I not only admit this to myself, but also then find the courage to actually do steps towards how to, I don’t know, put my stable life into a box and pause it. Like I had to give away my flat, I quit my job.
Jason Elkins (11:58.155)
I want to leave this to myself, but also to them, trying to encourage to actually do that towards how to, I don’t know, put my stable life into a more important working life.
Dorothea (12:16.234)
I sold lots of my belongings, now everything that is left is in my childhood room with my mother. So there were many steps to do before I actually started traveling more than one year later.
Jason Elkins (12:30.603)
But when did you, when did you make the decision that you were going to do it? Cause I understand, hear you saying I had to do a lot of things to make it happen, but was there a moment maybe on the trip in Panama or shortly after where you’re like, okay, I know what I need to do. I just have to work through it both emotionally and logistically.
Dorothea (12:35.533)
Mmm.
Dorothea (12:53.45)
Yeah, this I remember very precise. Like I was at the family gathering with all my cousins. I have lots of cousins and I haven’t seen them in quite some time. So everyone asks you, how are you doing? What are you doing? So I repeated to each and one of them like, yeah, I just changed departments.
But still this doesn’t feel right to me. I would like to have just one year for myself to take a break from my job. So I said this 20 times this day. And when I came home, I sat down in a chair and I felt like the tension inside me and I was like shaking almost and thought.
Jason Elkins (13:32.212)
You
sat down in the chair and felt that tension inside me. I was shaking over. I thought, okay, I will sit down now. I will feel that. I will not take my phone and I will be stressed. I will sit down. I’m really feeling this. And then I felt, okay, if I’m really going
Dorothea (13:43.05)
Okay, I will sit down now. I will feel that I will not take my phone and doom scroll. I will just sit down and really feel this. And then I thought, okay, if I really want to take one year for myself, why I don’t just do it, you know, like, why what’s holding me back?
And then this was the moment I decided, okay, I will quit my job. will take a break and I will take time for myself. And immediately I felt so much lighter, like all this weight came off. And so even after a few days, this didn’t change. And I knew, okay, it’s going to be right if the feeling still is good. And then slowly, slowly, I am someone who likes to prepare and plan a lot. this was August, 2022.
Jason Elkins (14:13.643)
I’ve had so much light, like all this weight came off. so, even after a days, it’s still in then, okay, it’s gonna be alright. The feeling is still in shape. And then, still is really, I am somehow realized to put it in and turn it out. So, this was August 22, and then in February, been a while.
Dorothea (14:34.766)
And then in 2023 in spring, I started my journey.
Jason Elkins (14:40.437)
Okay, so there’s a few interesting things there. Kind of what I heard you say was I went to this get together and I just started telling people that I want this time off. want this. And after you repeated it a bunch of times, I’m curious if you’re able to recall like when you started that day or the day before, were you really dwelling on it? Or it just, cause sometimes what we want just kind of comes out. We don’t even like
It’s it’s in the subconscious, but it’s it’s just there. We ignore it. We doom scroll. We we do whatever we need to do to avoid our discomfort. And kind of what I heard you say was like, I just opened my mouth and the words just came out and they just kept coming out. And then I’m wondering at the end of the day, did you feel like, my gosh, I just told 20 people that I’m going to do this. Did it feel did it feel like pressure that now I need to do something?
Dorothea (15:38.506)
No, no, Like I had the feeling for, as I told you, even before the Panama Drip, I had the feeling that I wanted some time off and a break for myself for a long time already. But verbalizing it, I think 20 times this day, just really made me question, okay, if I really want it, why I don’t just do it.
Jason Elkins (15:40.617)
Okay.
Jason Elkins (15:55.443)
Yeah.
Dorothea (16:05.251)
So when I sat down after this family gathering in the evening, then I finally took myself serious enough to say, okay, why don’t I just do it? If I wanted, why I don’t do it?
Jason Elkins (16:17.163)
love that. And you know, it’s interesting because I heard you say a few times, you know, I like to work things out. I like to kind of plan ahead and move slowly, even kind of heard you say, you know, it took me a while. But I think a lot of our listeners, myself included, it’s like, yeah, you didn’t actually take that long. There’s an awful lot of people that talk about doing something like what you’ve done.
that take years to do it. They might start talking about it or thinking about it when they’re in their 30s. And then when they’re in their 50s, they’re like, you know, I really want to do this. Well, maybe when the kids go to school. OK. And then it turns into, OK, maybe when the kids graduate college. And then it turns into maybe after we do the kitchen renovation or whatever. And actually, your turnaround time was pretty short, I think, compared to a lot of people.
Dorothea (16:50.392)
Mm.
Dorothea (17:10.435)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (17:16.541)
So kudos kudos to you.
Dorothea (17:19.488)
I think it depends on how miserable you feel in your life. This depends… How to say? This makes the speed of your decision.
Jason Elkins (17:22.702)
This depends on the distance.
Jason Elkins (17:32.427)
If the pain is bad enough, then you’re probably going to take some sort of action. do you, now I’m sure, cause I know with me, mean, you and I, I’d been traveling a little bit, maybe a year or so before I met you a year or a year and a half, something like that. And I had a kind of a similar story. I was pretty unhappy where I was and I sold all my stuff, gave everything away. Um, bought a one way ticket and started my journey.
Dorothea (17:35.17)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (18:01.771)
and there’s things that came up that were kind of surprises, you know, I kind of thought, when I start doing this, everything’s going to get easier. And, and.
Yada, yada, yada. And then there’s a few things that kind of caught me by surprise. I’m curious, is there anything in particular that caught you by surprise or if you were speaking with a friend or family member that’s thinking about doing the same thing, are there any cautionary notes you would give them to discourage them from doing it or things that you feel like they should at least take into account that you maybe didn’t?
Dorothea (18:37.326)
Let me think a moment about this question.
Just if you go to another country, you can still feel miserable. Like it’s not the solution to all of your problems. But to me, it actually was very life changing. Like for me, I didn’t struggle so much with myself. was really the too many hours I worked and that I felt even like physical health issues from the shift work from all the hours. So when I stopped this,
and had a more regular sleeping schedule and was more relaxed, not under so much tension all the time. I felt how so many problems disappeared. So for me, I think there were not so many major drawbacks. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (19:35.051)
Okay. I’m curious because I think some people, not speaking for everybody, I’m not definitely not speaking for you when you were working those kind of long hours and those shifts, but sometimes we naturally seek things to kind of distract us, preoccupy us. You mentioned doom scrolling as one that some people do. I definitely do sometimes. And another one that’s pretty common actually is work. People will get
so absorbed in their work that the rest of the things that they maybe should be dealing with or just, just things within them kind of get repressed because it’s all they’re thinking about is I got to get up, go to work, do the grind, come home, go to sleep. So when we change those things and we remove that distraction, it can kind of open up the world to, now I either use travel.
Dorothea (20:17.282)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (20:32.975)
avoid those things because there’s obviously a lot of people to do that. Or I get an opportunity, I love that you said sit in it, like sit in my discomfort and figure out well what does this all mean. I’m not really sure where I’m going with this other than when your work schedule freed up and all of a you didn’t have that quote unquote stress, do you feel like you were able to kind of focus more on who you are as a person and
Dorothea (20:46.786)
Mm.
Jason Elkins (21:02.227)
work on yourself or did that come up for you? I’m not saying it needed to. was just curious if it came up for you because it definitely came up for me.
Dorothea (21:10.518)
Yeah, yeah, I remember quite well, like you say, before the work and the job keeps you occupied. And then I remember I started in Indonesia, in Bali and then in Lombok with some surf camps. So you’re also occupied, you have a schedule. And after this surf camp, I remember everyone in the hostel was going to surf again, like the next day.
And I was sitting there thinking, do I actually want to go surfing today or is this just what everyone expects from you? Okay, you’re here in this beautiful location. Of course you have to go surfing. And I remembered just staying in the hostel and enjoying the garden this day and thinking about this. Okay, is this just another…
Jason Elkins (21:48.459)
Dorothea (22:07.082)
Another thing to fulfill, another like, okay, now I’m a traveler, now I’m a surfer, I need to go surfing every day.
Jason Elkins (22:10.965)
Kind of a distraction, right?
Dorothea (22:17.14)
who am I and what I actually want to do and do I crave maybe rest more. So for me this was very interesting because in the beginning it was very hard for me to feel what do I want, what do I need and this intuition and like gut feeling just developed over the time while traveling and now it’s very strong. If nowadays someone asked me you want to go there, you want to do this, what do you want to do?
Jason Elkins (22:39.349)
Mm-hmm.
Dorothea (22:47.044)
I am very fast with my decisions because I just feel in my gut. this is also a big advantage of travelling solo. You have to make decisions every day. What you’re going to eat, where you’re going to stay, where to take a break. So you become naturally good at this.
Jason Elkins (22:53.967)
I love
Jason Elkins (22:57.675)
you
Jason Elkins (23:06.955)
that’s, it’s very interesting that you mentioned it that way, because I can, I can relate to that. There’s definitely, you know, when you’re quote unquote, back home, doing, you know, and you’ve got a normal job, employer, family, stuff like that. It’s very, very easy to fall into the I’m doing this because I’m expected to do this. It’s an identity thing, right? We tend to our, our brain is pretty good at trying to align.
what we’re doing with our identity. And if our identity is I’m a daughter, I might behave one way. If my identity is I’m a cop, I might behave one way or, or whatever it is. And then when you get all excited, I don’t, again, I’m not speaking of you, but when I got all excited about, I’m going to go be a nomad, I’m going to be a digital nomad. That identity actually became quite important.
And I remember, well, this is what digital nomads do. So therefore this is what I should be doing. Kind of like what you said, you know, you’re at a surf camp at a hostel around a bunch of surfers. I should be doing this. And it took me quite a while to realize actually as a nomad, as somebody that’s traveling solo, I kind of actually get to make my own decisions. And that’s a lot of pressure. That’s, that can be a lot of pressure because now it’s like,
Dorothea (24:26.252)
You can do everything you want, yeah?
Jason Elkins (24:32.103)
Okay, do I want to go work, you know, just simple, simple ones like, am I going to go work at the Starbucks today? Or am I going to go to the mall? Am I going to go to a coworking place or am I just going to screw off all day and go do something else? And almost every day is kind of like, okay, I get to make decisions. There’s nobody here watching over my shoulder. As long as I’m keeping my clients happy, you know, then I can, I have a lot of freedom.
But then there are those moments, there’s those days where you’re like, you know, I’m not really sure what to do today. And why is that? And you start analyzing things and I don’t know where to go with that other than it’s, it’s an interesting thing that comes up when you’re traveling. Do you remember the first time you felt homesick or have you, did you ever feel homesick? Maybe, maybe it hasn’t come up for you. It’s come up for me.
Dorothea (25:23.694)
I definitely felt homesick when I was sick abroad like when I travel diarrhea which I almost faced in every country like
Jason Elkins (25:31.305)
You
Dorothea (25:38.848)
Then you are laying there in bed almost dead and think, I want to be at home and like, I want to eat my familiar food and my comfort food. So this also led to my first travel break where I returned home after 15 months of backpacking. I then went home for the summer for two months because I was laying in India.
like with really bad belly issues and I was just dreaming about sausage and like all the good food from home not spicy and then I booked the flight and two weeks later I was at home
Jason Elkins (26:11.699)
You
Jason Elkins (26:19.925)
But that’s kind cool too, because you’ve got that ability of spontaneity of like, know, if you took, here’s the thing.
Dorothea (26:25.006)
It was not so easy actually because my ego told me, but you are a traveler. But then I was like, it’s my travels, it’s my life. I can do whatever I want. So if I want to take a break from traveling, who is there to charge? you’re not traveling in a row for such a long time. And yeah, it just really helped.
Jason Elkins (26:31.339)
yeah, there’s that.
Jason Elkins (26:49.877)
I think that’s a really, really good point that a lot of, a lot of people that kind of sell all their stuff, move out of their place, they tell their friends and family, I’m going to go travel the world. And like, and, and if they say, well, when are you coming back? If you are, if you say, I’m never coming back, or if you say, I’m going to go at least a year, I’m going to go five years, whatever you kind of pigeon yourself.
Dorothea (27:01.389)
Mm.
Jason Elkins (27:19.135)
pigeon, you can pigeonhole yourself into that to like what you say is like now the identity becomes no, I’m a traveler. And if I, here’s, guess where I’m going with this is if my identity is I’m a world traveler, I’m comfortable being anywhere by myself. I don’t need the creature comforts a home. I don’t need my parents. I don’t need my friends. I, I’m going to go do this. Then when you start to feel homesick and you miss those things,
Sometimes you’ll push through it. You’re like, no, I don’t want to admit that I miss people. I don’t want to admit that I kind of want to go home. So sometimes we just push through it and just keep going because I don’t know. Do you think it’s like, like maybe like I think you said is if I go home, then I got to question myself. If I come home because I want to come home, then I questioned my identity. Was that what you had?
Dorothea (28:17.228)
No, I think it’s very important to…
not stick to any labels or ideas that you have of yourself but to just follow your gut feeling otherwise you feel miserable. It’s the same when people tell you you have to go there it’s so good there it’s my favorite country but if you don’t feel it and you follow their advice you will feel miserable there. had this also once and you know you have to just make decisions that align with your
Jason Elkins (28:22.08)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (28:28.896)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (28:47.947)
yeah.
Dorothea (28:48.51)
and your gut feeling. It was the same during my bicycle trip. I said I want to cycle to India. So this puts a lot of pressure on because there is not only the easy and beautiful countries but also after Georgia you either have to cross Russia or Iran. And when I came to Georgia I didn’t feel comfortable crossing either of these countries.
So then I decided again to take a flight and if I take a flight I can also fly home first and then fly to India. And of course you can say I failed cycling to India but I don’t feel like failing it’s my journey and I made it.
like according to my feeling and it turned out so beautiful and I’m so happy that now I flew to India and made a loop through the Himalayas. This is so much more, this turned out so much more beautiful than cycling through all the desert that comes after Russia. Like yeah, I would have arrived here in winter then, would not have been able to cycle through the mountains. So I made a decision and it turned out beautiful.
Jason Elkins (30:02.891)
I think that’s great. And that is the plan is don’t try really hard not to Set a goal or to label I think you use word label or to identify like okay This is who I am. This is what I’m doing because here’s the thing. It’s if you say I’m gonna Ride my bicycle from Austria to India Was that the plan? Did you start in Austria? Yep
Dorothea (30:14.797)
Mm-hmm.
Dorothea (30:27.83)
Yes, yes, yes.
Jason Elkins (30:28.917)
So if you’re like, if you say, I’m going to ride from Austria to India, and it’s going to take me a year and a half to your however long, whatever that looks like, I don’t know. But it’s really not that much different than getting stuck in a job because somebody can, you know, because somebody’s because somebody can say, well, my identity is my job. I am I’m going to be a VP or a CEO of a company.
Dorothea (30:42.094)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (30:54.621)
and that becomes their identity. they start, or whatever label they start at, and they just keep focused on becoming a CEO. So they stay in a job that maybe they hate, it’s miserable, impacts their relationships because they’re so focused on that label that they want to get to that once they become CEO, I don’t know, are they any happier or not?
Dorothea (31:19.726)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (31:20.511)
where if you can let go of that expectation of, what other people expect of me and just say, you know what? I’m, this is not fulfilling me. This is not helping me get where I want to be as a person and just make choices on your own. Right.
Dorothea (31:35.608)
Yeah, I think rather finding labels that include something outside, like I’m a traveler, I’m a CEO. I rather try to stick to labels like, okay, I want to be compassionate. I want to be free. I want to be wild.
Jason Elkins (31:53.322)
Mm-hmm.
Dorothea (31:55.406)
With this label you can still take a flight or you can cycle or you can carve your journey however you want to, you
Jason Elkins (32:05.693)
It can be a challenge in typical society, I guess, to do that because I suspect you’ve run into it. I’ve definitely run into, you know, where are you from? Why are you here? Where’s your family? You’re here by yourself. And just most of the people I run into just have a really hard time kind of, they want to almost label you. Are you here for business?
Dorothea (32:10.862)
you
Jason Elkins (32:33.603)
Or if you’re here for pleasure, why are you here for pleasure? It creates a lot of questions for people that don’t do it. You’ve experienced that, you? Every day. Yeah.
Dorothea (32:42.218)
every day. Like here in India everyone is very casual. Are you married? I get asked five times a day. Are you alone? Like even the question about religion, it’s very casual here. People are very upfront with everything. They want to know everything. I got used to it and I have no problem.
Jason Elkins (33:00.971)
I’ve heard that, yeah.
Dorothea (33:09.56)
just being my weird self as I am and sometimes also irritate people with it. But I also found that I can inspire some people by it. For example, cycling through the Himalayan mountains from Chandigarh near Delhi to Leh, I joined a 10-day meditation course.
And there on the last day when the silence is over you start speaking with other people. And so I came there with my bicycle and then other women saw my bicycle and they were like what you’re here with your bicycle?
And some of them were so inspired and they said, can I try your bicycle? And then they were driving around the area and were smiling at me and saying, wow, now that I see you on the bicycle, I also want to do this. And I’m inspired. didn’t know it’s possible, but I want to also travel by myself. So I think you can irritate some people, but you can also inspire some people. And this is what I aim for. I want to especially inspire other women.
to see. You can take space, you can be on yourself, you don’t have to depend on your family or a man. You can enjoy your life. And of course it has its limitations. I am in a very privileged country. I grew up, I have a passport that allows me to travel and I’m…
aware of this that okay I go now to Himalayan mountains and meet locals they don’t have the same opportunities but still they can get some inspiration and apply to their life I hope.
Jason Elkins (34:52.136)
You know, that’s a good point you bring up and I kind of, I think I missed it when we were discussing how you got started, why you got started with your travels. We didn’t really discuss that other than your trip to Panama that helped kind of get the juices flowing. Do you remember any particular influencers or people you were following or?
or friends that you had that inspired you in that way? Did you have that before you started traveling? Because now you’re doing it for other people, so I’m curious if you had that.
Dorothea (35:24.15)
Mmm, I-
I guess Instagram showing me all this solo travel content and like beautiful pieces of the world helps. I can’t really recall…
creator in particular for bikepacking, for continuing my journey on bicycle. There is one German guy who just also quit his life at home and started traveling and was cycling around the world for three years. The great Hans.
and he made quite cool content and this inspired me a bit for bikepacking then so I want to give credits to him as well but yeah no for the initial travels I can’t recall
Jason Elkins (36:18.527)
Okay. Cause it’s, I, I, I think, I mean, I definitely think you’re inspiring people. I see your Instagram and I see some of the comments and some of the posts and, it’s, I mean, honestly, you inspire me cause I met you. You just really started this and,
Every time I see one of your posts, you’re hanging out of a train over bridge somewhere, or you’re doing something, something that’s just really, really cool. And, um, uh, I did, I don’t know why I wanted to ask you this and maybe backtracking a little bit, but have you, have you found yourself in places like, man, I really want to go here. And then you get there and you realize, and it takes you a while to realize, Oh, okay.
I really wanted to be here. sold it. I got so excited about it in my head that when I got there, it didn’t really live up to the expectations. And you kind of felt yourself sticking around a little longer than you would just because you talked it up so much in your head. If it, do know what I mean by that, with that question?
Dorothea (37:28.11)
Normally I don’t do too much research about the place so I don’t have so much expectations. But as I mentioned before, I once followed the advice that everyone gave me when I was in Malaysia. Everyone said, you also have to go to Borneo, to the Malaysian part, cheap flights and it’s so beautiful.
Jason Elkins (37:35.637)
That’s cool. That’s a good idea.
Dorothea (37:52.418)
But as I said, I didn’t really feel the calling myself, but I followed this advice. Never ever since then, I did it once again to follow advice that I don’t feel. Because when I arrived there, of course, underwater, it was very beautiful for diving, but the land and all the people, they were so poor and it was so heartbreaking to see that I cried because I felt so sorry for the small children begging for the rescue.
of your breakfast and everything. So yeah this time I didn’t really enjoy it and then I tried to leave. But what was your question again? Sorry.
Jason Elkins (38:38.547)
No, no, I, I hear what you’re saying. It was just about like, you know, sometimes you get an idea in your head. You want to go somewhere or maybe somebody else plants that idea in your head. a good example, like that’s a great example. It’s like, you need to go here. It’s great. Whatever. And then you go there and you’re like, I’m not really sure what it is that, I mean, every place is great in its own way, but here’s the thing is we all have, we’re all our individual selves.
Dorothea (38:45.55)
Mm.
Dorothea (38:51.436)
Mm-hmm.
Dorothea (38:59.648)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (39:08.191)
And I can, you might tell me, Jason, you need to go so on to such and such a place. And I go there and I’m like, okay, it’s, it’s interesting it, but it’s not my place. And example for me is I’m very emotionally attached to Latin America. Every time I go somewhere else, I have a nice time. I see some interesting things, but I just feel different, right? It’s just, I’ve
Dorothea (39:18.029)
Yeah.
Dorothea (39:32.781)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (39:33.237)
feel really good when I’m in Latin America. When I’m not in Latin America, I tend to miss Latin America. I don’t know why that is. I yeah, there’s some level of attachment. I just, I feel like I’m at home there and I don’t want to be in my my birth home type of place. Not that don’t want to be there. But so I don’t but I’ve I guess what I where I was going was I’ve went to a few places where I overstayed my welcome. I just stayed longer.
Dorothea (39:41.41)
You are attached.
Jason Elkins (40:03.231)
Cause I like, I made such an effort to get here. need to stay for a while. And, you know, and that, that can be a, but I love what you’re saying. Like you don’t do a whole lot of research so you don’t have super high expectations, which is probably a lot better way to approach things. think.
Dorothea (40:07.95)
Mmm.
Dorothea (40:21.09)
I don’t know you, I don’t think you have to keep your expectations super low just not to get disappointed. This is not what I’m trying to say. Yeah, but for example, many people also unask within DMs on Instagram say, you’re here, you have to do this, this, this, you need to see this, this, this bucket list. And I…
Jason Elkins (40:42.091)
Bye.
Dorothea (40:45.342)
If I respond to that, say I don’t feel like I have to tick off all the bucket list moments. I’ve, for example, in Southeast Asia, there’s 100 millions of temples you can visit. And sure, they are all beautiful. But at one point, you’re just, you know, full in seeing all the temples. So I really, how to say.
Jason Elkins (41:05.535)
Yeah.
Dorothea (41:13.974)
In the beginning I had great FOMO like I come to this city, I have to do this, this, But then nowadays I enjoy, okay, I’m now in Delhi. I don’t have to visit Taj Mahal or…
something else if I don’t want to you know I I’m very okay with doing what I feel to and if it means I sit in a local tea stall and just watch the people on the street rather than going to any monument or temple then I’m fine with that so this
Jason Elkins (41:46.643)
Do you think do you think that part of that is because you’ve been traveling so long you’ve seen so many places because if you only have a three week presumably some of the people that are reaching out to you on Instagram saying you got to check this this and this that’s it’s because maybe they don’t travel so much and they have a vacation so when they went there on vacation they hit the the the quote-unquote highlights which define that however you want
Dorothea (41:52.802)
Yes.
Dorothea (42:05.176)
Yeah.
Dorothea (42:11.009)
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Elkins (42:15.603)
So after you’ve been traveling for years, I’m the same way. I’m like, I’m pretty happy. I’m in Bangkok right now. there’s some pretty cool places. What’s that?
Dorothea (42:20.566)
Yeah.
Dorothea (42:24.493)
I’m soon gonna be there. I have to do a visa run after three months in India, so I have to leave and I choose Thailand.
Jason Elkins (42:29.493)
Cool, well, maybe.
Jason Elkins (42:37.105)
yeah. Okay. Well, we need to discuss that and maybe I’ll still be here. We can go have a coffee together. But but I guess that’s my point is like there’s an I know there’s a lot of cool places, cool temples, all these things to go see. But they don’t feel that important to me. You know, I’m staying in a residential neighborhood where there’s no tourists. There’s no menus in English. It’s like, and I love it. I’m perfectly happy. I don’t need to be in a place where
Dorothea (42:57.187)
Yeah.
Dorothea (43:00.502)
I feel you.
Jason Elkins (43:03.999)
They’ve got the, the touristy restaurants and all that stuff. But I think it’s because I’ve been traveling so long. but it also comes to Instagram. This, and this is a conversation I’ve had quite a bit with a lot of tour operators that deal with tourists that are on vacation. Is that almost that need that some people have for those Instagram moments, which is kind of what we’re talking about is that that Taj Mahal visit that Eiffel tower visit the
Dorothea (43:10.338)
Definitely, definitely.
Dorothea (43:29.506)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (43:34.323)
I gotta have a pic, if I’m going to Paris, I have to have a picture of myself with the Eiffel Tower or, you know, or go to places like Venice or Shantarini where I gotta get the pictures for my Instagram. And you’re doing Instagram.
Dorothea (43:41.122)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (43:54.355)
So I don’t know. I’m sure you’ve been to a lot of spots that are very famous Instagram spots. And I’m sure you’ve been to a lot of spots that very few people see on Instagram. So what are your kind of just general takeaways as far as like when you do go to an Instagram spot, you ever like, what do you want to share with people that maybe haven’t seen, haven’t had that experience? Do you have general kind of feelings about that?
Dorothea (44:21.708)
I remember when we two met in Bali, we visited one of those famous Instagram spots, one of these waterfalls in Bali. And there were even the local guys taking professional videos with your phone so that you can post on Instagram. And I found it so hilarious back then. Of course, I posted the video because it looked nice. But even if you visit places that has not…
Jason Elkins (44:30.239)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (44:45.355)
Mm-hmm.
Dorothea (44:50.414)
that have not an Instagram picture spot. I think this is way more interesting because there are so many pictures of, I don’t know, Eiffel Tower or like the few things. But if you just film or take pictures of daily life now in India here, when I just film a bit of the street, I think people are also very interested in this. Of course, I always try to…
be respectful and not film people’s faces like one meter distance. But yeah, I find you can find good content everywhere. You don’t have to travel extra to this picture spot and there. But it’s also a way of carving your journey. You can ask chat GPT for all the pictures spots in the city and then just make a tour around. And it also works if you’re happy with that.
Jason Elkins (45:48.415)
Now, what’s the longest you’ve waited in line to take a selfie?
Dorothea (45:55.488)
I waited in a line. I’m not sure.
Jason Elkins (45:59.332)
So like if you go to a, an example is I want to go take a picture of myself standing in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. And I don’t know, I’ve never been there, but I’ve been to some well-known spots where there’s kind of a line. You got to wait around for a while before it’s your turn. And then you go up there, take your selfie or maybe someone behind you takes your picture of you. I’m just curious.
Dorothea (46:13.186)
Yeah.
Dorothea (46:19.246)
Mm.
I think.
I think not during these travels now, but when you go to a mountain in Austria and you want a picture on top of the mountain with the cross, then sometimes you have to wait for one or two groups before you and then you take your picture. But I never went to any monument or something and then waited in the line. I rather would take the picture in the line with all the people behind me at the monument and show in the story like, okay, this is how it really is in this.
place.
Jason Elkins (46:55.708)
That’s a good point because that’s that I guess is the thing when you wait in a long line to take a picture when nobody’s behind you. It makes it look like, I’m here all by myself. I’ve got this whole place to myself. But that doesn’t really capture the experience. think, you know, yeah, I’m with you on that. I think I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I think people listening to this.
Dorothea (47:15.341)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (47:22.767)
probably curious because you said I took the money I saved up when I quit my job took the money I saved up and maybe you saved up a crapload and you’re still going I don’t know but oftentimes people want to ask the the people that are traveling like how do you do this are you working do you know they’re looking for clues because maybe they want to do it and you’re in the business of inspiring people so what would you tell them
Dorothea (47:53.484)
No, I’m not working or making any money since two and a half years now. But I live on a tight budget that I’m still comfortable, but I don’t have much comforts, I’d say. Just if I feel like I, of course, go for it.
I’m in the very fortunate position that I had a job that didn’t only cover my daily needs but which allowed me to save.
When I started traveling and for example now in India if I tell someone yeah I worked 12 years and now I travel since two years and just live from my savings I feel bad because I know even if people work their ass off here for many hours per day they will never be able to save that much money that they can travel for such a long time. So again a big privilege.
Jason Elkins (48:44.779)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (48:53.107)
That’s the flip side of working your butt off, doing the grind, focusing only on work for quite a while. It can be miserable and obviously can come along with some benefits as well. But I’m curious, so you’ve been traveling, you’ve run into some other people that are working remotely. If you…
Dorothea (49:00.056)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (49:17.163)
Do you have any advice for somebody that’s like, yeah, I didn’t save up that much money. I want to go travel. Have you come across opportunities or thoughts or ideas for how people could, should, would either save money or make money as they’re traveling?
Dorothea (49:23.576)
Mm-hmm.
Dorothea (49:29.678)
Last winter I was for example three months in Greece taking a break from cycling because it was too cold for me to cycle through the winter. So I looked for a place to work and travel. I found on both packers. You can find places for example farms or hostels where you can stay and eat for free and you work every day a few hours in exchange. So these
opportunities I found really good. I tried this once but I heard from many other travelers that it’s a great opportunity as well because it also could… World Packers but it’s like similar to Workaway or Halpex. I also have a discount code for World Packers if someone is interested. I sent it. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (50:08.095)
What’s that website? What’s the website called? I didn’t quite hear it. Okay.
Jason Elkins (50:22.449)
Okay. Send send me send me the discount afterwards and I’ll put that right into the show notes for anybody that wants to check that out. But yeah.
Dorothea (50:27.722)
Yeah, amazing, amazing. So yeah, this is you you subscribe to this website for one year, then you have access to all the people who needs help. For example, you
clean in a hostel or you organize the parties in the hostel and then you can sleep in the hostel and eat for free. I chose an urban farm in Megalopoli in the Peloponnese and stayed there for three months eating the best Greek food and having sunshine throughout the winter and I did a lot of gardening and cooking and caring for animals and it was a good time so I really connected.
with this group of people.
Jason Elkins (51:17.387)
And it sounds like in a situation like that, you’re not really spending any money, you know.
Dorothea (51:22.934)
No, you spend money if you go outside to town in the evening for… don’t know.
Drinking or if you want to buy something but other than that costs are covered So if someone is on a tight budget and has longer time period for free I can recommend to work in exchange So every day you do some hours of working but you still have time to explore the area To do trips on the weekend on your days off. So I think this is a good opportunity
Jason Elkins (51:57.055)
Do you, do you have any advice around the Instagram stuff? cause you’ve, you know, you’ve put, there’s two things I want to ask you. One is about that is, you know, any advice for Instagramers?
Dorothea (52:12.898)
I think I could need some advice. mean, my main problem is that I don’t have a clear goal. It’s not like, I want to become an Instagram influencer. I want to earn money. just share.
Jason Elkins (52:15.339)
You
Dorothea (52:24.618)
out of passion and when I want to share. It’s not that I post every day two reels, sometimes I post every day something and sometimes not, like however I feel like. So I’m not working towards a big great goal because it would be a lot of work every day. And I rather want to experience and enjoy my travels as well and just do it on a side hustle.
Jason Elkins (52:26.624)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (52:48.934)
And I think, I don’t know this, but I think a lot of the folks that get caught up in that, you know, I want to be an Instagram influencer. Number one, can be a ton of work before it has any payoff. But then also you’re kind of beholden to, you start making decisions about your travels or about what you’re going to do to try and feed the algorithm. So you, you know, if you wake up in the morning, am I going to go do…
Dorothea (53:02.196)
It’s a lot of work, yes.
Dorothea (53:13.792)
Exactly.
Jason Elkins (53:18.517)
going to go for a walk in the, place, or am I going to go do that? It’s you making, you start making the choice as well. Which one’s going to resonate better on Instagram? Which one’s going to get more likes and this and that and this and that. So then you’re not really doing anything different than just a job. Or you’re just trying to, you know, keep your clients happy or keep your, your, your boss happy. So I love that.
Dorothea (53:43.404)
Yeah, if I would have thought about this, could not have cycled through Zanska Valley in Ladakh because I had no phone connection for multiple days. Or I could not join a one-month yoga course in February next year where I will give away my phone and just have my phone on Sundays for a few hours where I will for sure not open Instagram. So I will take a break for months. And if you are…
Jason Elkins (53:54.251)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (54:05.45)
Mm-hmm.
Dorothea (54:11.83)
a serious influencer, I think you would not join a one-month yoga course where you don’t have access to your phone. But for me it’s more important the journey than the documentation and Instagram.
Jason Elkins (54:17.323)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jason Elkins (54:27.051)
I want to bring that up because I do want our listeners. I, I, I, what I see, you know, I mean, I know you, so I’m personally, I love it when I see your posts, but yeah, they’re definitely not like the typical Instagram or influencer posts, but anybody that’s listened to this, I would encourage them to go over and kind of follow your journey because it’s, it’s super authentic. And I see you in places doing things that, you know, you just don’t kind of, I don’t expect sometimes. let’s, if you don’t, I’m curious, cause you would.
Dorothea (54:46.776)
Thank you.
Jason Elkins (54:56.949)
When we spoke about coming on and having this conversation, you told me you were going to this retreat and I’m, I don’t want to mispronounce is it Va-pa-sna retreat? What’s it called?
Dorothea (55:08.344)
Vipassana meditation course. Vipassana.
Jason Elkins (55:10.943)
Vipassana meditation course. I remember actually the very first time I heard about that was in Bali. When I met you, I had another friend that was going through it and I learned a little bit about it from her. Not while she was there because that’s what we’re going to discuss, but I did learn a little bit and I’d never really heard of it. Didn’t know anything about it. So do you mind kind of sharing with audience kind of what that is?
Dorothea (55:14.284)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (55:39.288)
and why somebody would want to do it and just your personal thoughts.
Dorothea (55:42.872)
Good question.
So your start, there’s a lot of meditation centers all over the world, but especially in India there’s many to choose from.
So I chose the one in Ley on 3,500 meters surrounded by mountains. Very beautiful location. And you go there, you give away your phone, all your technical gear, your journal, your pen, any outside food. So you check in there just with your clothes and nothing else. And then for 10 days, you are in complete silence without talking, without sign language, without eye contact.
with the other participants. You still meditate in the room sitting next to each other for 12 hours per day but you’re not communicating. And of course you get fed well, like you have breakfast after meditating in the morning from starting from 4.30 in the morning and yeah you go to bed at nine.
It’s a meditation technique which lets you focus on your breath for the first three days. So you just observe your breath. And on the fourth day you start with the Vipassana technique where you just always observe your sensations in the body without judging them, without saying, it’s ticklish.
Dorothea (57:24.716)
left ear or there’s some pain in my right knee you just observe it you say there’s some I don’t know tension in my knee or whatever but you don’t judge anyhow and this should help you with being more balanced and yeah better
person in life, like not getting angry about stuff or also not having too many attachments and feeling miserable when you don’t have your cravings fulfilled. So yeah, I’m the wrong person. I’m the wrong person to really sum it up as I just started on this journey myself. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (58:00.629)
Sounds, sounds wonderful.
No, no, I appreciate that. Let me, let me ask you this, because I understand you’re not allowed to speak. The participants are not allowed to speak or communicate or make eye contact. What about the facilitators? Cause I’m having a hard time imagining how they’re going to lead you through these exercises. The, the, the people that work there walk you through it, talk you through it. Or what is that like?
Dorothea (58:23.95)
Mm.
Dorothea (58:29.932)
Yeah, so on the first day they explain everything thoroughly to you and then you have a teacher that leads like every day when the new technique is discussed like he or she brings up and one hour in the evening you have the video instructions from
the teacher himself. So he explains, okay, this is happening blah, blah, blah, because of that and that. And if you have any queries regarding to the technique, there is two time slots a day where you can ask the teacher. And of course, if you need medicine or special food, you can ask someone from there about it, but it’s about not communicating unnecessary stuff during these 10 days.
Jason Elkins (59:23.561)
You know, I heard, I’ve heard about this a few times, but there was some sort of a study where they put people in a room and no phone, no nothing, just a room. And the only thing in the room was a button. And they, it was like for 30 minutes or something crazy. said, look, you can’t do anything while you’re in here. except if you want, you can push the button. And if you push the button, that’s going to give you an electrical shock. And like the majority of.
I don’t know if it’s 30 minutes, maybe I’m exaggerating. don’t know if I’m wrong or whatever, but like a majority of the people would rather push the button and give themselves a painful electrical shock than sit there and just think or to just sit there and not have any sort of distractions or dopamine or anything like that. Had you heard of that? Or is this the first time you’re hearing about that? Okay.
Dorothea (01:00:19.894)
No, I haven’t heard of that, but during the Vipassana meditation, you sit long hours, like a lot of hours per day, and you have so much distraction just by your thoughts. So I would have not needed the button to give me pain because I had enough physical pain just from sitting with crossed legs. So…
So, so the idea with that, I think that study was people didn’t want to have their thoughts. They didn’t want to, it was like, it was literally just a distract me. So I don’t think type of thing. Whereas this retreat that you’re describing is like your
Dorothea (01:02:37.168)
Hi.
Dorothea (01:02:41.841)
Mm.
Dorothea (01:02:58.308)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:03:02.417)
actively making the decision to go in there and deal with your thoughts and deal with the things that go through your head. I don’t know if deals the right word, but it was this the first time you’ve done it.
Dorothea (01:03:16.101)
Yes, but it felt like my one month cycling through the Himalayan mountains by myself prepared me quite well because I had many hours every day on my bike by myself just focusing on how to breathe over this mountain pass and just being with my thoughts. I barely listened to any music. think maybe two or three days I put down a motivational song when I was very tired.
Jason Elkins (01:03:25.227)
Mmm.
Dorothea (01:03:43.579)
But other than that, was really just me and my thoughts and of course some interactions with locals sometimes. But yeah, it felt like I already did the repassion up before going there.
Jason Elkins (01:03:54.283)
Would you been there, done that? Is it something you would recommend or suggest to anybody or do you think it’s more of a, yeah, it’s not for everybody. Like anybody listening to this, is there anything you can say that’s going to help them either? Oh, this is something I should look into or no, absolutely. That’s not for me.
Dorothea (01:04:18.019)
as we discussed before with recommendations. think the passion can be beneficial to anybody, to everybody, but you have to be open, have to be curious for it and if it doesn’t resonate with you, then you will not have so much takeaway if you are curious and want to go and try it.
Jason Elkins (01:04:21.599)
Hahaha!
Jason Elkins (01:04:31.346)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:04:38.987)
Can you walk out after two or three days or do they lock in?
Dorothea (01:04:44.241)
You can leave but then you can’t come back during these 10 days. Normally people leave if they have any… So you really sign in the beginning that you are putting yourself in there for 10 days. We had no dropout of the 30 people that I was with and normally you should really stay and not…
Jason Elkins (01:04:51.519)
Yeah, I’m sure. But you can say, okay, three days and you can say.
Dorothea (01:05:12.313)
Of course, if something really happens that you need to leave, you can leave.
Jason Elkins (01:05:20.019)
I appreciate you sharing that because that’s something that I didn’t really know much about until you commit to it. We discussed a bunch of different things. Probably could keep going to discuss a bunch more. But I’m curious, what did I forget to ask you? What do you wish that I’d asked you? Or what do you want to share with our listeners before we wrap up?
Dorothea (01:05:24.069)
You commit to 10 days, yeah.
Dorothea (01:05:44.611)
I think for me the most important thing is that it’s really your life. You can do what you want. I understand people have responsibilities. They have a house. They have children. They have family members who depend on them.
but still you can create your life. heard of so many coworkers when I quit, my God, I wish I could do the same. And of course, some of them had responsibilities, some of them hadn’t, and still they wish for something, but they don’t take a step towards it. yeah.
If I can just encourage one other person to walk one step closer towards their goal, this would mean a lot to me.
Jason Elkins (01:06:36.459)
Very cool. Very, cool. Dorothea, I appreciate you so much for joining me on here and sharing some of your story. And I trust that some people listening to this will be inspired and do just that and take some action. Take one small step towards making this big world feel smaller.
You know, it’s what I would say is based on the name of the show here. But anyway, thank you so much. I wish you continued, continued, uh, marvelous adventures and hopefully look forward to seeing you here in, uh, in Thailand pretty soon.
Dorothea (01:06:55.055)
Yeah.
Dorothea (01:07:09.197)
Yeah, maybe, yeah, would be so nice.
Jason Elkins (01:07:12.605)
All right, well you enjoy the rest of your journeys and I’ll talk to real soon. All right, bye bye.
Dorothea (01:07:16.869)
Thank you, you too, bye bye!
Follow 205+ Leaders and the Stories That Shape the Adventure Travel World on the Big World Made Small Podcast
Access the stories here, or on your favorite platform; wherever you prefer.
Get Expert Interviews Delivered Directly to Your Inbox
Join the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast community and we’ll send you new podcast episodes weekly, and make sure you hear about exclusive and relevant opportunities that you won’t find elsewhere.