Childhood

I was born in 1984 and grew up in a small village called Prutz in Western Tyrol, Austria. With the support of my parents I early discovered that Prutz was an ideal base for all kinds of sports. I started swimming at the age of two and learned how to ski just a few months later. My parents also taught me to appreciate the possibility of travelling, visit new countries and explore different cultures. At the age of twelve my family took me on my first big camping trip to the US, starting from San Francisco going by bus up to Vancouver. At the age of fifteen I did my first trips without my parents to Italy and Germany while I was finishing my secondary education. At the age of 18 I travelled to New York and Colorado with my sister to explore the US even more in depth with an SUV (having acquired my driving license just two weeks before that trip).

Traveling

I then decided to start my studies in Management and Applied Information Technologies at the Management Center, University of Innsbruck. The proximity to nature, friends and family determined my decision. Before going on some bigger trips, I started to discover Italy more in depth and also explored my first few countries of Eastern Europe. In preparation of my studies abroad I spent five weeks in Malaga, Spain, to improve my Spanish skills. In 2007 my biggest adventure so far began and I travelled to Argentina with a stop-over in Atlanta. I fell in love with Argentina and the Latin American culture immediately and did a total of 16.500 km by bus, car, hitch-hiking, etc. in order to explore Argentina (from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego to La Quiaca, Jujuy), Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. After returning from my travelling and studies abroad, I started an internship with a London-based company providing an e-learning solution for intercultural training and spent two months there. Coming back for Christmas that year, I decided to spend a couple of months in Reims, France, which gave me another opportunity to explore more of France and the Benelux countries. After a time of three months in France I returned to Austria to finish my university career. I didn't waste any time and booked tickets to Thailand for just two days after my graduation party took place. First I started exploring the northern parts of Thailand and Laos before moving to Cambodia for five months. I got the chance to follow my dream to volunteer as an English teacher at a local school. Trips to rural Cambodia, Brunei and Malaysia as well as Vietnam were inevitable. In 2009, after returning from Cambodia, I finally managed to visit all the neighbouring countries of Austria, nine in total, at the age of 25. ... I still travel, and it is 2014 now, but there is an endless list of adventures that are better to be told along with a coffee or tea.

Education

After I had passed my school leaving examination, I went on to do my civil service at the Red Cross as a paramedic for a year and continued volunteering at the Red Cross Hall in Tirol for a couple of years afterwards. In 2004 I started my university career at the Management Center Innsbruck in Management and IT and finished in 2008 with a Master's degree. I speak German as my mother tongue and I am also fluent in English and Spanish. Though I enjoy speaking French, there is still way to improve. While working in Cambodia, I studied Khmer and managed to acquire the basic skills of speaking and writing in Khmer. I enjoyed doing several jobs at a time while I was studying, including the work as a snowboard and tennis instructor, head of staff in a little bistro during the ice hockey world championship 2005 and emergency driver. After finishing my university career, I continued to work for the same London-based company which gave me the possibility to work flexibly all over the world. For a time of two years I worked for an international NGO - SOS Children's Villages - until I decided to become self employed in 2012, the time when I started my own company.