Stephan Graunke decided to travel Europe. He left everything behind for a grand adventure! Everything except his two best friends Altair and Ksora!
Stephan has been travelling Europe with Altair and Ksora for just over a year now. The trip was started after Stephan felt disappointed about a set back in his career. He decided to pack up his life and go overseas to travel. However he had two very big responsibilities, his dogs Altair and Ksora.
Altair and Ksora were adopted from the Karoo by Stephan, he couldn’t stand the idea of leaving them behind so he could go have an adventure. He spent countless hours preparing paperwork and many trips to Germiston to make arrangements to take them with instead of leaving them behind in South Africa.
Once everything was arranged Stephan and his dogs set off for Germany with only 100 Euro’s to their names. They have had the best adventure along the way and have faced a few speed bumps. The biggest being finding pet friendly accommodation. Over time though, they have met people who have helped.
A generous person offered Stephan a van at a very cheap rate which he was able to fix up, meaning they always had a roof over their heads. He also encountered true Italian hospitality when a family took them in and he paid them in English lessons.
So it has officially been 1 year that my dogs and I have been travelling. Well I can tell you that it definitely didn’t go the way we planned but it has been perfect, we have had the most amazing times, met the most amazing people and seen the most amazing places.
I am thankful for the people who have helped us with our travel and with our necessities. We are not done yet. Unfortunately travelling will still be done on an extremely low budget, but will be following the road that the wind guides us along.
I stand here 12 months from the person I was, I can’t believe that that was me. Who I have become and what I have had to do has left me in a state of disbelief. From here we go forward.
Stephan has a blog and Facebook page where he shares pictures and stories from his trip. We hope that they have the best trip. They prove that you don’t need to give up an animal to have an adventure and that you can always make a plan!
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