It's all my grandfather's fault, really…

*My first driving lesson*

...he ran away to Italy when he was 15.

Somebody had to keep up the tradition, though I wasn't quite as young when I ran away to Canada. Actually, I was in the ripe age of 43. When I told my family I would leave, nobody was surprised, in fact, my mother's reaction was: "I thought you'd never leave." There.

Hi, my name is Fida and I am a traveler at heart. I was born and raised in Switzerland. I grew up on a farm, which meant we didn't have much time for 'real' vacations. Fortunately, my father was somewhat of an adventurer himself and packed us up and into the car for Sunday rides.

We spent many hours on the road, exploring hidden and remote places in Switzerland and the surrounding countries. I felt like an explorer, though the trips were short and hardly ever lasted more than a day. These little trips got my travel juices flowing and they have never stopped since.

*At the train Station Thusis (Switzerland), chatting with a fellow travelling woman, a bronze sculpture by Robert Indermaur*

The world at large was the steady companion of my childhood dreams - I escaped responsibilities by spending hours dreaming up far flung places and reading about them, tucked away safely from everything and everybody up on the roof of my childhood home with sweeping views to the surrounding mountains and the valley beneath.

Early in my life, I worked for the Swiss Railway, which gave me the opportunity to travel for next to nothing all around Western and Eastern Europe.

Later I worked as an advertising and marketing executive for a Tour Operator and the Inventor of "all-inclusive city weekend-escapes". Well, guess what - all of the free tickets got used asap.

In my mid 20's, I spent a year in Spain and then a few months in Venezuela. From there, I hopped over to a few of the Caribbean Islands and took a supply boat up the Orinoco.

Between jobs, I took off for months', and, after travelling around the United States, Turkey and North Africa, plunged into India, Nepal, Sikkim and then traveled all over South East Asia, as slow as possible with only Tiziano Terzani's Book: A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East as my guide.

Back "home" in Canada, I left my DNA from coast to coast.

Offbeat travel has always been a love of mine. Finding unusual locations, staying in quirky hotels, meeting people in strange and surreal places and dancing at a bizarre festival or sipping tea in a tree house - that is what travel is all about to me.

This website is about my love for the unusual, the quirky and the unique in our world. It's a work in progress. Please, do come back often to check out new content. In fact, if you'd like to share your own discoveries, I’d love to hear from you.

If you are a travel writer, you might be interested in writing for Unusual Travel Destinations. I’d be happy to hear from you too.

To keep in touch, you either can subscribe via RSS – on the left upper corner – or sign up for the e-zine Quirky News.

Either way, I do hope you come back for more.

Fun Travels, Fida

Follow Unusual Travel Destinations on Facebook

Return to Top
Return Home to Unusual Travel Destinations