Post university travelling: Antje Fiebig

Antje Fiebig finished a PhD in the area of plant and soil sciences in 2014 (see her alumni profile). Here Anni writes about her round-the-world trip that she did after her PhD and before her current job. Post-degree travel is popular, can enhance your CV, and can be a welcome change of scene (e.g. see here).

I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world. Mary Anne Radmacher

I am a German who has lived in Japan and England for quite a while. I’ve always been very interested in other languages and loved meeting people from different countries and cultural backgrounds. However, whenever I was abroad, it was for work or study – and even though I’ve enjoyed this to the fullest, I also once wanted to have the opportunity to just be a tourist.

I chose to travel around the world after completing my PhD and a temporary PostDoc position at LEC. I started my preparations with purchasing a “Round the World Air Ticket”, where you book all your flights at once (e.g. here). There are different companies which offer these and it’s very easy to do everything online. You just select the places you want to go to, choose the according flights and that’s pretty much it. The great thing is that you can change the dates of the flights for free (if you want to change the airport though – e.g. fly to Hong Kong instead of Tokyo – you have to play an additional fee). For me, this was perfect – I knew I had my flights, but was still flexible with the dates. I purchased this ticket ~3 months before I started my trip. Meanwhile, I also had to organize moving from England back to Germany, get a travel health insurance (which I never needed, but it was good to know that I had one!) and sort out visas.

I ended up travelling for 8 months, visiting countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. Even though I have been abroad before, this whole experience has changed the way I see the world in a scale I never expected. There are so many wonderful people out there who will help you even if they can’t speak a word of English. I was able to meet up with some of my friends, dress up as a Japanese Geisha with them and even got to experience my first ever American Thanksgiving. My favourite day was surfing on this tropical island in Japan called Okinawa: nothing beats hitting the waves in the sunshine (and knowing that you won’t freeze when you fall off your surfboard – which obviously happens quite often).

My main goal was not to see as many countries/cities as possible, but to relax and unwind. I usually stayed longer than the average traveller, to make sure I never had to rush to explore the place, eat all the delicious food and go on as many hikes as possible. To me, New Zealand with its volcanoes, glaciers, mangroves, beaches, mountains and hot springs was perfect for that. To me, it is also one of the most serene countries I have ever been to – not only because of the stunning landscape, but also because the New Zealanders (or Kiwis) are some of the friendliest people in this universe. My favourite hike was in Canada though, when my host (and now dear friend) took me to Lake Garibaldi – an alpine lake with turquoise water, surrounded by glaciers and beautiful flora.

Most people said I was “brave” for two reasons: travelling all by myself (I found it very liberating!) and not knowing what would happen when I came back because I didn’t have a job lined up. But again, this was actually a good feeling for me: I had time to reflect on my career so far and think about what I wanted to do next. I started applying for jobs ~2 months before the end of my trip. And I have never received a single negative comment about my “gap year”. Instead, people were always very curious and the main reply was “I wish I had done this when I had the chance to”. It was not easy finding a job – but this was mainly because I wasn’t immediately available. I got the offer for my current job one week after I had returned to Germany and am now working as a lab manager at the Horticultural Sciences Department of the Institute of Plant Sciences and Resource Conservation in Bonn (Germany), where I also supervise PhD and Master’s students.

I can only recommend to be “brave” enough to go and take a break from work and do whatever your heart’s desire is. Travelling broadened my horizon even further, helped me to unwind and also realize just what I had achieved in the past few years. I am now a much more relaxed, calmer and confident person – because I have fulfilled myself one of my biggest dreams. So go out and do the same!