Meet the Nomads – Charles Rahm of Don’t Worry Just Travel

Charles Rahm left his banking career last June 2010 to pursue his traveling passion. He documents his travels in his blog and as well as a lot of helpful tips that could definitely help independent travelers like you and me.

What I love about his blog are the articles about off the beaten path destinations. I love knowing about new places to go to and learning how to travel independently on those places.

Learn more about Charles and follow his adventure at Don’t Worry Just Travel.

But before you click away, check out my short interview with Charles.

How did you discover your passion for travelling?

It was always inside me, that I want to see as much of the world as possible. And somehow I realized more and more, that I couldn’t achieve it by having a job with four to six weeks of holidays per year. So I started to travel more and more until in 2010 with a one year Asia trip it became my life. The passion grew along this process.

What’s the most horrible experience that you’ve had on the road?

I once had a severe food poisoning, that I caught somewhere in Cambodia. The following month I spent in Vietnam and five days of that month I had to stay in the hotel room unable to do much. The rest of the time I sometimes felt exhausted, but pushed myself along, because I wanted to see something nevertheless. It took me five months to fully recover from it.

What’s the best travel experience that you’ve ever had?

In Kompong Cham in Cambodia I made some pictures of the sunset over the Mekong river. Then some curious kids came along and I showed them my camera, made some pictures and showed it to them. They enjoyed it and laughed. That was really nice. For me glimpses into daily activities of the locals are the more precious travel moments than – for example – climbing the top of mount Everest.

What’s the biggest realization that you’ve got out of travelling?

As a long term traveler you start realizing, how much people stop themselves from doing things, because they’re scared and afraid to do new things. If you travel, you dive into other societies and realize that they have different approaches to many things. That leads you to realize that nothing is certain. Everything can be handled in many ways. And once you realize, that the things you learned at your home are not necessarily the truth but just a point of view, you then start to question many things. That is the moment, when you – in my opinion – truly become a real traveler and a free and open minded person.

What keeps you going? What keeps you motivated?

All my life I loved to discover new things and to learn. If you travel, you learn and discover every day. That keeps me going. I’m easily bored, so I have to always go out and see new things. Sometimes I don’t like to write new articles for my blog, so then I have to push myself every now and then. But if I have a look at it and see how much information is already on there, that always gives me a big “motivation kick”!

This is a silly and hypothetical one. If you would be given a chance to travel with a popular person or a celebrity, who would it be and why?

I’m not into celebrities so much anymore, because to me they are all just normal people with some more money and fame. But somehow I always think of actors, when someone says celebrity. It could be enlightening to travel with an excellent actor. I especially like the ones, that have been heavily criticized as being “sunny boys” and bad actors, but that actually proved their critics wrong – at least in my opinion. If I pick a Hollywood star – so that all readers here know the names – I would either pick Leonardo di Caprio or Brad Pitt as a travel companion, as I’m sure I could learn from them and could offer them some of my experiences in exchange as well.

Where’s your favorite place in this planet and why?

I loved Halong Bay in North Vietnam. Being on the top of the boat during the night and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere was really great. I somehow felt so alive in these moments.

What’s your best tip for newbie traveler?

Don’t organize too much. Just start. If everything is organised you will be too long at places you don’t like and miss things at places you like. The only things, that you really need is a valid passport, paper and plastic money and tourist visas for the countries you want to visit. Everything else you could buy on the way. Plus it is normal to be a little anxious on your first longer trip or when you travel alone. Just check in to the busiest traveler hostels and you will find new friends immediately.

What’s the funniest and silliest thing you’ve ever done while travelling?

Funniest: I recently participated in the Thai Songkran “water splashing” festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand. There you encounter funny situations every 30 minutes. According to my girlfriend the boys were really fond of making sure, that I got splashed well. I looked like a gangster with my scarf and the sunglasses. I guess they liked it.
Silliest: Drinking snake blood in Taipei, Taiwan. It tasted disgusting. And I needed a lot of encouragement from my friends, that were with me, until I really did it.

How do you keep yourself safe on your travels?

I take no special precautions, just my common sense. I realized, that talking about safety is quite an American thing and I’m from Europe. So I don’t bother too much about it. Until I met some US travelers some years ago I did not even know, that you can take antibacterial gel with you on your travels to make sure those evil germs don’t make you sick. I still don’t use it and am still not sick very often.

What do you think about yourself?

I think of myself as an open minded, thoughtful and friendly person. Of course I can also have my moods sometimes. I’m neither a party guy nor an entertainer. I’m the right guy for long and thoughtful discussions. 🙂

My favorite travel style is social travel: Sometimes in a new city I just start walking to see what happens or I walk in between the attractions even if they are five of more kilometers apart. It’s the “in between things” that can sometimes be the best.

“DontWorryJustTravel.com is a blog about travel worldwide. The information is kept as short as possible and includes precise descriptions of how to find the attractions as well. With the simplicity it also tries to encourage new travellers to just start their adventures by proofing that not too much preparation is needed to start a trip. It delivers a lot of informations on South East Asia, South America and about, how to get tourist visas for the top travel destinations.” – Charles Rahm of Don’t Worry Just Travel

Editor’s Note: All photos are provided by Charles.

Next: Tammy Lowe of Tammy and Chris on the Move Previously: Michael and Nicole of Suitcase Stories For more interviews with travel bloggers, check out the archives of Meet the Nomads.