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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Fabian Dittrich</title> <atom:link href="https://fabiandittrich.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://fabiandittrich.com/</link> <description>Adventurer, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Freediver</description> <lastBuildDate>Sat, 02 Mar 2024 01:42:44 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2</generator> <image> <url>https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cropped-fab-favicon-32x32.png</url> <title>Fabian Dittrich</title> <link>https://fabiandittrich.com/</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height></image> <item> <title>Song “Down in Montenegro”</title> <link>https://fabiandittrich.com/down-in-montenegro-song/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Fabian]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 12 Jun 2019 14:28:56 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Montenegro]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Music]]></category> <category><![CDATA[montenegro]]></category> <category><![CDATA[music]]></category> <category><![CDATA[songwriting]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://fabiandittrich.com/?p=16212</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Exactly today, one year ago, Vin, Dom and I started StartupDiaries.As with most things worth doing, it started with a crazy idea; running our company from a Land Rover was pretty ambitious.</p><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/down-in-montenegro-song/">Song “Down in Montenegro”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wpb-content-wrapper"><div class="vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid mkd-section mkd-content-aligment-left" style=""><div class="clearfix mkd-full-section-inner"><div class="wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12"><div class="vc_column-inner"><div class="wpb_wrapper"> <div class="wpb_text_column wpb_content_element " > <div class="wpb_wrapper"> <h2 class="bdy-ttle">I love Montenegro! Volim Crna Gora!</h2><p>Why Montenegro? I get this question frequently. If the above song and video does not convince you, here are two stories that happened to me within my first 24 hours in this amazing country.</p><p>Berlin was getting cold when I browsed AirBnB to find a place where I could get some writing done, somewhere more south, maybe Romania, maybe Greece. I opened Google Maps. What was that? A tiny country below Croatia. Montenegro. Wasn’t that where they shot parts of Casino Royale?<br />I pulled up the climate diagram. The October temperatures looked promising. It didn’t take long and I had found an idyllic looking Mountain house somewhere on some Mountain next to a city I had never heard of – Danilovgrad. Two weeks later I passed the border of Croatia and entered Montenegro, then my destiny was written. I spent about a decade of my life traveling or living abroad, but I had never seen anything as wild, vast and beautiful as this. And where were all the people? It seemed like a paradise on earth and I was the only one around to witness it.</p><p>The Airbnb host only gave me GPS coordinates, “the street is not on google maps”, he said. I drove up a dirt road. Suddenly the road was blocked, an electricity cable was hanging across the street, too low to pass with the land rover. What now? Before I could plan what to do a very old lady got out of a very very old stone house and lifted up the cable. Alright, looks like I need to pass through here to reach the idyllic mountain house. I kept on driving just to get trapped in the very old ladies backyard. An ambush! This road doesn’t go on. What was happening? Why would grandma lead me into her backyard. She appeared at the car window and gesticulated. I rolled down the window. I didn’t understand a word she said. “Jedna minuta! Jedna minuta!”. Ok, one minute then. The old lady reappeared holding a plastic bottle in her hand, pooring a transparent liquid into a shot glass. “Rakija! Rakija”. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I swallowed that stuff without thinking twice. Holy shit, that burned. And another one! Grandma took one too. I’m still trapped in the backyard. No way out. Suddenly I understood the situation. Grandma just wanted to invite me for a drink. “Thank you so much, this was tasty, and strong! I need to find the idyllic mountain house now but I’ll sure come back.”. She lead me out, raised the cable and I went back the way I came from. I met some pretty hospitable people around the world, but this was something else. Look! There’s someone, let’s give him Raki!</p><p>The next day after my first night in Montenegro, taking in the amazing scenery from the porch of the idyllic mountain house I wanted to make a camp fire and eat tin foil potatoes. I pulled out Google Maps, swiutched on Sattelite view and browsed for an abandoned field somewhere even deeper in the mountains, with no roads close, where only a 4×4 car could go. After driving for half an hour I reached the spot, it was nearly dark.. Damn! A dead end. Next to a house. Not a good place to light up a fire. I started turning the car. The land rover defender’s turning circle is comparable to an oil tanker, after five turns I am facing the direction I was coming from. Before I have the chance to put my feet on the gas a somewhat wild looking man in his late 50’s steps out of the ancient house. “Ehhh!”, he shouts and waves his hands in the air. What does he want? Is he friendly? He does not come closer, his hand movements suggests he wants me to step out of the car. I lower the window. He shouts something in Serbian, sorry, in Montenegrin. I don’t speak a word of Montenegrin. He smiles, opens the door and points into his house.<br />He seems friendly and my favourite operating system is trust by default. I step out of the car and get closer to him. We shake hands, for a long time. His face tells stories of hardship. He is incredible welcoming, looking at his wrinkled face is humbling somehow. The place is basically empty, just a wood stove irradiating warmth in all directions and one table, with one chair in the middle of the room, reminding me of an interrogation room. The stranger who led me into his house keeps talking in Montenegrin then points at himself and repeats the word “Petar”, “Petar”, “Petar”. He points at me and I respond. “Fabian”, “Fabian”. “My name is Fabian”. Petar shakes my hand again then pulls the chair back from the table and invites me to sit down. “Rakia, Rakia!”. Before I understood what was going Peter presented an old glass bottle which had “Yugoslavia” engraved on it, poured something out of it into a shot glass and banged the glass on the table in front of my nose. “Rakia, Rakia!”. He points at himself, then at a barrel indicating the Raki was homemade by himself. “Domace, Domace!”. After 3 or 4 more Raki I am slightly drunk. Petar pulls out a strange looking instrument with only one string and starts playing and singing. Amazing! And another Rakija. I say something like “Do you know a place for a camp fire where I can also sleep in the car?”. We speak not a single word in each others language. “Ah! Njemački. Njemački”. He grabs an old cell phone, one of those Nokias from the late 90’s and calls a number, when someone picks up he hands the telephone to me. A lady on the other side speaks German, I explain I want to make a camp fire and sleep in my car somewhere close too it. She says “Ok, give the phone back to Petar”. Aha, aha moze. Petar hands the phone back to me. “Petar will show you, follow him in your car. My new friends gets out of the house and starts running. I get into the car. “You can drive with me!”, I simulate a steering wheel with my hands. Ne, Ne! He runs away. I follow him. After 200 meters he stops. As if he’d knew I would come he points at a field with a bunch of firewood. Moze! We shake hands, he leaves. I make a camp fire, I eat tin foil potatoes, I sleep.</p><p>The next morning at 7am I go for a run. When passing Peters house he invites me in again. Rakija! We have two Rakija for breakfast. He shows me his honey bees, and his goats, then hands me a giant glass of money. What? Wow, is this for me? Da! Does he want to sell me honey? Why not? I pull out a 5€ bill. He looks at me irritated. Neeee! He doesn’t want my money. I felt I nearly insulted him with offering the euros. With two hands he hands me the honey glas.</p><p>Both of this stories happened in my first 24 hours in Montenegro, you can imagine how it’s like to live here. Montenegros nature and people have given me a lot. This song hopefully gives something back to Montenegro, I hope you enjoy it.</p><p>If you like to get in touch:</p><p>Fabian Dittrich (fabian@fabiandittrich.com)<br /><a href="https://instagram.com/thegobetween/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGoBetween/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a></p><p>Thanks to Kenny Stanger for playing guitar and writing the song with me.<br />Thanks to Nirto Karsten Fischer for the audio production.<br />Thanks to the two Couchsurfer who arrived morning and spontaneously participated in the video.</p><p>Oh, If you want to invite us to play “Down in Montenegro” at your next party or event, feel free to reach out!</p> </div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/down-in-montenegro-song/">Song “Down in Montenegro”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Shocking construction works on Lustiča to destroy 120 year old Austro-Hungarian fortifications in Montenegro</title> <link>https://fabiandittrich.com/shocking-construction-works-on-lustica-to-destroy-120-year-old-austro-hungrarian-fortifications-in-montenegro/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Fabian]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 05 May 2019 12:44:25 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Montenegro]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cultural heritage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lustica]]></category> <category><![CDATA[montenegro]]></category> <category><![CDATA[preserve]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://fabiandittrich.com/?p=16176</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>If you are looking for a job, or for a boy- or a girlfriend, or a sponsor for your next project, or to sell your product or your service, or for someone to do x with while you are travelling to y, then this article is for you. In fact, if you are looking for anything at all: keep reading. This post is about how to stop trying to find what you want, but instead have it find you.</p><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/shocking-construction-works-on-lustica-to-destroy-120-year-old-austro-hungrarian-fortifications-in-montenegro/">Shocking construction works on Lustiča to destroy 120 year old Austro-Hungarian fortifications in Montenegro</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wpb-content-wrapper"><div class="vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid mkd-section mkd-content-aligment-left" style=""><div class="clearfix mkd-full-section-inner"><div class="wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12"><div class="vc_column-inner"><div class="wpb_wrapper"> <div class="wpb_text_column wpb_content_element " > <div class="wpb_wrapper"> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Since 2015 I’ve been coming to Luštica, this beautiful wild and mostly untouched peninsula on the south of the Adriatic Sea in Montenegro. Located at the entrance of the Bay of Kotor, Luštica, throughout history, played an important role of protecting Kotor and other cities inside the bay from incoming naval traffic and therefore still hosts multiple abandoned and impressive military installations built by the Austro-Hungrarian empire in over a century ago, constructions that anywhere else in Europe would be declared as cultural heritage. </span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After spending a whole year in Luštica in 2018 I became an aficionado of it’s history, setting out every day to discover the ancient installations which date back as early as the 1890’s. Whenever I had friends visiting me from Berlin or other places I took them to visit the bunkers, tunnel systems and fortifications where everyone basically said the same thing: “This is so amazing! All of this would be a museum in Germany. But here it’s just abandoned.”.</span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite attempts to renovate, reconstruct, and repair partially destroyed forts after the Second World War, the present ruins testify otherwise. Most of them have been deserted for more than 60 years. During this period, barely any feet have walked their stairs, floors or their roofs.</span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A couple of days ago, in May 2019, when I came back to Luštica again, I was shocked.</span></p><div id="attachment_16186" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16186" class="size-large wp-image-16186" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_Tunnel-entrance-1024x682.jpg" alt="This tunnel used to be barely visible. End of April 2019 trees were cut and bushes were burned." width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_Tunnel-entrance-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_Tunnel-entrance-300x200.jpg 300w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_Tunnel-entrance-768x512.jpg 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_Tunnel-entrance.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-16186" class="wp-caption-text">This tunnel used to be barely visible. End of April 2019 trees were cut and bushes were burned.</p></div><br /><div id="attachment_16184" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16184" class="size-large wp-image-16184" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_2-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_2-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_2.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-16184" class="wp-caption-text">Where previously there were 120 year old trees and bushes, there is now nothing left.</p></div><br /><div id="attachment_16185" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16185" class="wp-image-16185 size-large" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_3-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_3-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_3-300x200.jpg 300w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wachhaus-Kaballa_3.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-16185" class="wp-caption-text">After chopping off the ancient trees and vegetation around the guard house, is destroying Wachhaus Kaballa the next step?</p></div><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After climbing up the steep path, I previously had to free with a machete, to the guard house Luštica, which a century ago protected the coastal battery Luštica from up above, I saw and heard what are the first steps of the destruction of an important part of cultural heritage and nature: Bulldozers and excavators building a new road down to Dobrec beach, ripping out all trees and agave gigantes which stand in their way.</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dobrec beach, until very recently, a place where you could only go by boat to have breakfast, lunch or dinner at a family run restaurant will never be the same again.</span></p><div id="attachment_16203" style="width: 550px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16203" class="wp-image-16203 size-full" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/dobrec_beach.jpg" alt="" width="540" height="248" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/dobrec_beach.jpg 540w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/dobrec_beach-300x138.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px" /><p id="caption-attachment-16203" class="wp-caption-text">The cute restaurant at Dobrec beach which could only be reached by boat is already gone. The road to Dobrec already cut into Luštica’s nature. Trucks with tar will follow.</p></div><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> “Why would they cut down all this nature? A road just to get to this one restaurant?”. It did not make sense. I ran down the hill passing the coastal battery Luštica and discovered that the new road starts dangerously near to this beautiful fort which remains lay there untouched for decades below vine tendrils. It was a Sunday, but the construction works were full on and I was able to walk on the new road for 800 meters. 800 meters of destroyed nature.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A car arrived, two men inside. I gave them a sign indicating I wanted to ask them a question. The car stopped next to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They rolled down the window. “Dobar dan, do you know what this road is for?”, I asked.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Yes, it’s the new road down to Dobrec beach”, the answered. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Are you the new owner then?”.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“No, I own the the excavators.”, the driver replied.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“And they are building this road just to get to this one restaurant?”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Yes. Have a nice day!”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That did not make sense and soon I was about to find out that the new road is just the beginning…</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I texted a friend who worked as a waiter at Dobrec beach for several seasons asking him if he knew anything about the recent developments. 5 minutes later the answer came in:</span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Yes. They changed the owner of dobrec. Now there are some politicans involved and some people…Sorry for that…”.</span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They are building a road just for that one restaurant?”, I asked. </span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Those people bought land around also, they will make some villas, hotels, bars…in the future. They will destroy even more a lot more…Sorry bro, I understand you! We are all pissed off!”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I cycled back to Krasici and passed by Fort Kaballa and noticed trucks loaded with stones standing around, the smell of tar in the air. When back home I went online and read what Sandra Kapetanovic, cultural heritage coordinator for the Kotor-based NGO Expeditio, said a while ago in an interview: “Untouched nature and rich cultural heritage are what makes Montenegro unique and attractive, not fancy hotels that could be anywhere on earth.”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Minutes later I was chatting with Expeditio on facebook.</span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We just found the plans for the construction work you described. We knew tourist facilities on Luštica were planned, but did not imagine that it will be such a huge complex, this is terrible! </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Also we were under the impression that an expert recognized that area as an important part of buffer zone of an UNESCO site. We are so frustrated how all those plans are being adopted, and this one is from 2009. We think that the works are for that complex. Attached goes the plans we found.”</span></p><div id="attachment_16182" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16182" class="wp-image-16182 size-large" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/lustica_shocking_development_plans-1024x529.png" alt="" width="1024" height="529" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/lustica_shocking_development_plans-1024x529.png 1024w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/lustica_shocking_development_plans-300x155.png 300w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/lustica_shocking_development_plans-768x397.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-16182" class="wp-caption-text">Development plans for the area between Rose and Dobrec.</p></div><p><a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/02-GENERALNI-KONCEPT-NAMENA-POV-1-2500-JUL09.pdf">02-GENERALNI-KONCEPT-NAMENA-POV-1-2500-JUL09</a> (Download)</p><p>I could not believe it. The yugoslav submarine tunnel, the hidden tunnel systems, the coastal battery of Luštica, my beloved guard house Luštica with it’s spectacular view over the bay, everything is planned to disappear and to be turned into ugly hotel elements?</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Minutes later I was chatting with Volker Pachauer, co-author of the “The Austro-Hungarian Fortresses of Montenegro” and forwarded him the plans. Volker had written his Phd thesis about the Austro-Hungarian fortresses, he probably would be even more shocked than myself…</span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This is terrible. I took a closer look at the plans. As I understand, the coastal battery Luštica will be destroyed. In its place, three hotel elements are being built!”.</span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And with this final message my day on Luštica ended, when the sun sank behind the hills on the Croatian side of the bay. Is this it then? 120 year old forts and nature which were untouched for a decade destroyed by giant machines in a a couple of days? Just so that some tourists could use the new hotel facilities for two months during season, leaving them empty during the rest of the year?</span></p><h2></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Is the area between Rose and Dobrec beach, including multiple fortifications, now doomed to suffer the same destiny as Mamula island?</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What can be done to stop this? “Probably not much”, most of the people I talked to said.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nevertheless, it was the below picture picture, showing the destruction of Fort Mamula, which made the Directorate for Inspection Affairs order to suspend works on the island of Lastavica in March 2019. Maybe together we can do something similar!</span></p><div id="attachment_16199" style="width: 566px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16199" class="wp-image-16199" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/mamula-1024x856.jpg" alt="" width="556" height="465" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/mamula-1024x856.jpg 1024w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/mamula-300x251.jpg 300w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/mamula-768x642.jpg 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/mamula.jpg 1170w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 556px) 100vw, 556px" /><p id="caption-attachment-16199" class="wp-caption-text">This picture played a role in temporarily stopping the construction work on Mamula island and causing an investigation.</p></div><p> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Feel free to share. And if you have any info/news/ideas how to stop this destruction, count on me.</span></p><p>Contact: Fabian Dittrich (fabian.dittrich@gmail.com)</p><p><a href="https://instagram.com/thegobetween/">Instagram</a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGoBetween/">Facebook</a></p> </div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/shocking-construction-works-on-lustica-to-destroy-120-year-old-austro-hungrarian-fortifications-in-montenegro/">Shocking construction works on Lustiča to destroy 120 year old Austro-Hungarian fortifications in Montenegro</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>HOW I LIVED LIKE A (GEEKY) ROCK STAR THANKS TO A 50$ INSTAGRAM AD</title> <link>https://fabiandittrich.com/how-i-lived-like-a-geeky-rock-star-thanks-to-a-50-instagram-ad/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Fabian]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 06 Aug 2018 16:46:29 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Instagram]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ads]]></category> <category><![CDATA[instagram]]></category> <category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[road trip]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://fabiandittrich.com/?p=15694</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>If you are looking for a job, or for a boy- or a girlfriend, or a sponsor for your next project, or to sell your product or your service, or for someone to do x with while you are travelling to y, then this article is for you. In fact, if you are looking for anything at all: keep reading. This post is about how to stop trying to find what you want, but instead have it find you.</p><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/how-i-lived-like-a-geeky-rock-star-thanks-to-a-50-instagram-ad/">HOW I LIVED LIKE A (GEEKY) ROCK STAR THANKS TO A 50$ INSTAGRAM AD</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wpb-content-wrapper"><div class="vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid mkd-section mkd-content-aligment-left" style=""><div class="clearfix mkd-full-section-inner"><div class="wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12"><div class="vc_column-inner"><div class="wpb_wrapper"> <div class="wpb_text_column wpb_content_element " > <div class="wpb_wrapper"> <h2>If you are looking for a job, or for a boy- or a girlfriend, or a sponsor for your next project, or to sell your product or your service, or for someone to form a band with, then this article is for you.<br />In fact, if you are looking for anything at all: keep reading. This post is about how to stop trying to find what you want, but instead have it find you.</h2><p>„The Rolling Stones are playing in Berlin on June 22, let’s go! I have two tickets!”<br />I had just finished Keith Richard’s autobiography “Life”, when Mayas message ticked in, and while reading Keith’s accounts of his rollercoaster life as perhaps one of the world’s greatest rock stars, a voice in my head kept saying “I have got to see them live before it’s too late”. Although Mick Jagger just became a father again for the 8th time, and while he still runs as many miles as he has children during each concert, who knows when one this rock’n roll granddaddy might bite the dust?</p><p>For the last 5 months I had been leading a chill lifestyle in my house on the coast of Montenegro, swimming in the sea or hiking and adventuring around the Kotor bay area. No clubbing, no drinking, turning in early each night and waking up naturally at the crack of dawn. Reading Maya’s message, I felt it was time for some rock’n roll and the Stones concert was a good excuse to go to Berlin for a week or two, see my friends and get some summer in the city.<br />I also wanted to bring some furniture and a guitar down with me to Montenegro, stuff I could not transport in an airplane. Finally, this was a great opportunity to visit the two neighboring countries Bosnia and Serbia, something I had been meaning to do for a while. All in all, it was time for a road trip!</p><p>Driving the 1650 kilometers in my vintage Land Rover Defender would mean three full days behind the wheel. It can get pretty exhausting after a while and no matter how many podcasts and audiobooks I listen to, to be honest it can also get quite boring and lonely. I wanted this road trip to have a bit more rock n’ roll.</p><p>The next morning at breakfast, I had an idea. What if I could give a talk in every major city along the way? That would give the trip a natural rhythm as well as a chance to experience the cities in Serbia and Bosnia in another way than simply passing through on the highway.</p><p>But, how would I find the gigs? The normal way would be to research if there’d be any tech or travel related events happening around the dates and contact the organisers. I also could contact owners of coworking and coliving spaces and ask if they wanted to host one of my talks. But all of this would take up a lot of time and require a lot of emailing and phone calls back and forth. At best.</p><p>The day before my departure, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed when it hit me: I’ll do a video explaining my idea and will promote it on instagram. I’ll turn it into an ad! This way, I will reach an audience of hundreds, maybe thousands and if they are interested, THEY will contact ME.</p><p>A couple of hours later, the 1 minute video was filmed, edited and uploaded to instagram, check it out:</p><div><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BjZXfQmH23W/?utm_source=ig_embed" data-instgrm-version="9" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"><div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"><div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div><p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BjZXfQmH23W/?utm_source=ig_embed" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Dobar dan! I am off to do a speaking road trip from Montenegro to Germany! Driving from Montenegro to Germany/Berlin, passing through Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. If you know anyone with a coworking space or an event in any of the above countries, please mention him/her in the comments. #croatia #bosnia #serbia #hungary #slovakia #czechrepublic #timferriss #digitalnomad #belgrade #sarajevo #budapest #leipzig #entrepreneurship #coworking #coworkingspace #roadtrip</a></p><p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thegobetween/?utm_source=ig_embed" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> TheGoBetween</a> (@thegobetween) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2018-05-30T09:25:08+00:00">May 30, 2018 at 2:25am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><p><script async defer src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p></div><p class="wp-caption-text">I promoted the video and turned it into an ad.</p><h2>The target group</h2><p>Yes, it’s scary how much facebook & co. knows about us and with every click on a like they do know more. According to big data analyst Kosinski, Facebook knows you better than your colleague with analysing just 10 random likes, better than your friend with 70 likes and better than your spouse with 300 likes.<br />For marketers though, the new age of micro-targeting is simply amazing. When you run an ad on facebook or instagram, or anywhere within the facebook network you can exactly determine who will see your add.<br />My talks are about the future of work, about work not being a place anymore and about my adventures of being the ceo of a nomadic company and how my colleagues and I ran the company from the land rover while crossing south america. I chose the target group based on those topics.</p><p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-15701" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/target_group-169x300.png" alt="Defining the target group" width="214" height="380" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/target_group-169x300.png 169w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/target_group-576x1024.png 576w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/target_group.png 750w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px" /> For my video I selected women and men between 18 and 37 who live in the places I’d visit on my road trip and who liked things on facebook like “tech news”, “entrepreneurship”, “tim ferriss”, “gary vaynerchuck” and “travel”.</p><p>I clicked on “promote” and then turned off my phone to go to sleep, unaware of the rollercoaster ride I had just started.</p><p>The next day I woke up and packed the car to start my trip to Bosnia. When I checked my Instagram, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The video already had 7000 views, my inbox was bursting with messages from people wanting to meet up for a beer or suggesting coworking spaces and events where I could do the talk. There were quite a few messages from attractive women saying things like “I don’t know about this talk business you have, but if you are passing through Belgrade, I’d love to invite you for a beer and show you around.”<br />Invite me for a beer? What was going on here?</p><p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-15706" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/insta_sarajevo_sunset-240x300.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="300" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/insta_sarajevo_sunset-240x300.jpg 240w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/insta_sarajevo_sunset-768x960.jpg 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/insta_sarajevo_sunset-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/insta_sarajevo_sunset.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" />In the evening of the first day of my road trip, just 24 hours after promoting the video the first talk was booked at the hub387 in Sarajevo Bosnia. I arrived at the spot, not sure who to talk to. A young girl came up to me, flashing a broad smile and greeted me in perfect English “Hey, glad you could make it! One second, we’ll get you the two beers you requested”. After the talk and after a bunch of questions from the audience, we all went to a pub for a few, beers and talked about having your own business and what it means to be an entrepreneur.</p><p>The next talk would take place in Belgrade two days later, plenty of time to discover Bosnia, I thought. I was wrong. Trying desperately to read every single direct message, I stumbled on this:</p><p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-15707 " src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/horse_riding_skitch-170x300.png" alt="" width="225" height="397" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/horse_riding_skitch-170x300.png 170w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/horse_riding_skitch-768x1353.png 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/horse_riding_skitch-581x1024.png 581w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/horse_riding_skitch.png 772w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></p><p>Riding horses in the fields of Serbia on the way to the next talk? That sounded pretty good. There was also another message from a lady who lived close to the horse farm saying “I’d love to come to your talk in Belgrade but have no way of getting there.” I wrote back “Hey, I can pick you up, we just have to spend a night at the horse farm first, are you into riding?”</p><p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-15699" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/riding-medium-saturation-3-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/riding-medium-saturation-3-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/riding-medium-saturation-3-300x225.jpg 300w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/riding-medium-saturation-3-768x576.jpg 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/riding-medium-saturation-3-800x600.jpg 800w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/riding-medium-saturation-3.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p><p>Over the next three days, I gave a talk in Belgrade, every evening. Exhausted on the third day by all the talking and post-beers all I wanted was to relax and so, I booked a spacious flat on Airbnb with a sauna and a jacuzzi. At this point, the video was up to 25.000 views, had about 100 comments and I had received around 300 private messages. “Let’s put this to the test”, I thought and posted an instagram story with a text overlay asking for what to do in Belgrade. Minutes later, an athlete whose daily exercise included 30-40 km runs, invited me to have breakfast and go swimming with her the next morning. Exhausted as was, I replied with a video of me in the jacuzzi and suggested that we could also swim here. Two hours later, we were hanging out in our swimwear and watching the latest season of “Silicon Valley”. In that moment, I felt a little bit like a rock star, though a nerdy one.<br />I gave another talk in Novi Sad the next day, then headed to a place called Mokrin House, a high-end co-living and co-working resort in the North of Serbia. Beside a pool, beautifully renovated vintage rooms, in- and outdoor fireplaces and a cinema, the place had a private chef service, allowing visiting entrepreneurs, digital nomads or regular company employees on a team incentive to focus on the task at hand and not worry about how to get the next meal. After the talk everyone hung out at the campfire, played guitar and sang songs until late in the night.</p><p>While heading to Hungary the next morning and checking the new messages I found this:</p><p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-15708" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dublin1_skitch-576x1024.png" alt="" width="370" height="658" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dublin1_skitch-576x1024.png 576w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dublin1_skitch-169x300.png 169w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dublin1_skitch.png 750w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-15709" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dublin2_skitch-576x1024.png" alt="" width="377" height="670" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dublin2_skitch-576x1024.png 576w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dublin2_skitch-169x300.png 169w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dublin2_skitch.png 750w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px" /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Futuristic closing speech for a software conference in Ireland? That sounded good. While waiting in a long line of cars at the border between Serbia and Hungary we had the call. The day after I was hired to do the closing speech. How crazy was that? Thanks to a 50$ ad I would now stand in front of 200 software executives talking about the future, and getting payed for it.</p><p>10 days after putting the ad online the video had about 40.000 views, I had received more than 400 messages, had gained 2000 new followers on instagram, had given eight talks, gone horseback riding, loungin around in jacuzzis, met hundreds of people, was interviewed by two tech magazines and one radio station and was hired to do a closing speech in Ireland.</p><p>What the lesson here? You might not be a speaker and you might not be into doing road trips in the Balkans, but what I just described could be applied to anything. New job, a musical gig, a design project or a date.<br />But instead of trying to find what you are looking for, why not try to let it find you! Creating content about your passions and dreams was never easier, whether on a personal blog, a post on medium.com, in a video, or – like in my case – posting an instagram ad. Once you put yourself out there, the right people will find you eventually. Only now, you don’t have to leave it to chance.</p><p>What are your experiences with instagram ads? Or if you have never done one (yet) what would it be about? Love to hear your comments!</p> </div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/how-i-lived-like-a-geeky-rock-star-thanks-to-a-50-instagram-ad/">HOW I LIVED LIKE A (GEEKY) ROCK STAR THANKS TO A 50$ INSTAGRAM AD</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Freediving – On the edge, so alive.</title> <link>https://fabiandittrich.com/freediving-on-the-edge-so-alive/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Fabian]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 13 Mar 2018 12:33:01 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Adventure]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <category><![CDATA[apnea]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cenote]]></category> <category><![CDATA[freediving]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mexico]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tulum]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://fabiandittrich.com/?p=14697</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Hey Pepe, what does "Next of kin" mean?<br />"That's the person we call in case you die man."<br />"Bring it on!".<br />I certainly love the adventure, I might be slightly addicted to challenges and "Bring it on!"</p><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/freediving-on-the-edge-so-alive/">Freediving – On the edge, so alive.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wpb-content-wrapper"><div class="vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid mkd-section mkd-content-aligment-left" style=""><div class="clearfix mkd-full-section-inner"><div class="wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12"><div class="vc_column-inner"><div class="wpb_wrapper"> <div class="wpb_text_column wpb_content_element " > <div class="wpb_wrapper"> <h2>“Hey Pepe, what does ‘Next of kin’ mean?”</h2><h2>“That’s the person we call in case you die man.”</h2><h2>“Bring it on!”</h2><p>I certainly love an adventure, might be slightly addicted to challenges and “Bring it on!” is usually my attitude when facing them. Whether<a href="http://www.fabandvivien.com/"> driving an old Mercedes from Germany to South Africa</a> or <a href="http://www.startupdiaries.org/"> managing my IT startup while crossing South America in an old Land Rover Defender</a>, I usually keep calm and not many things push me out of my comfort zone.</p><p>Little did I know, that while I was sitting there in the back of Pepe’s car, filling out the necessary paperwork to start my SSI Freediving Level 1 course, I would be only a few hours away from going through one of the scariest and most challenging experiences of my life. Even harder to imagine, that I would actually utter the words “Pepe, I don’t think I can go on with this”.</p><p>Marcela from Colombia sits next to me, Mari from Argentina in front, both of them seem to be passionate about freediving and have done it multiple times.</p><p>“So, Fabian, this is how it works: On the first day, we first go to a beautiful cenote and you only dive horizontially, just a couple of meters deep. Then on the second day, you do the more difficult part, going down to 10 or 13 meters. Really, there is nothing to worry about, Pepe has been doing this for years, there will be nothing you can’t handle even as a beginner”.</p><p>“Yeah sure, sounds good.” I managed a weak smile. Usually, when people tell you not to worry, it’s because they know you will. And later, I would.</p><p>“So, you studied the theory yesterday, do you have any questions? Feel free to ask me anything you want to know”.</p><p>“What I found fascinating is the whole thing about the impulse to breathe and the mammalian diving reflex. Can you wrap that up for me again?”</p><p>“Sure, here it is in a nutshell: The most important thing for you to understand is, when you’re in the water and you feel the need to breathe, it is <em>not</em> because you are running out of oxygen, it’s not cause you’re about to die, it’s because of the high concentration of carbon dioxide in your blood. That is what triggers the impulse to breathe. You can stay below the surface much longer than you think”.</p><p>“Kind of like tricking your reflexes you mean?”</p><p>“Yeah, and speaking about reflexes, this is where the Mammalian Dive Reflex comes into play. The Mammalian Dive reflex needs two things: Your facial area has to be wet, and your body needs the urge to breathe in. That’s why we train holding our breath while lying on the surface of the water with our head emerged, some people even train it sitting at a table and putting your face in a bowl, just remember <em>never</em> do it alone!”</p><div id="attachment_14712" style="width: 864px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-14712" class="wp-image-14712" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Laguna-Kaan-Luum-Quintana-Roo-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="854" height="481" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Laguna-Kaan-Luum-Quintana-Roo-300x169.jpg 300w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Laguna-Kaan-Luum-Quintana-Roo-768x432.jpg 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Laguna-Kaan-Luum-Quintana-Roo.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 854px) 100vw, 854px" /><p id="caption-attachment-14712" class="wp-caption-text">Kaan Luum, an 85 meter black hole in Mexico, Tulum.</p></div><p>Moments later, I’m in the wetsuit, the ridiculously long plastic things on my feet extending my legs to super efficient fins. In front of Casa Cenote is the clearest water I have ever seen, a sort open air tunnel system about four to six meters deep. The first time I submerge I am struck by the incredible beauty. Giant fish swimming very close to me, I feel I could grab them. So much to explore, this time horizontally, much easier, and so much to see now. Never seen mangroves from underwater. “Watch out for the crocodile”, Pepe goes. “Yeah right”. A couple of seconds later we hang out on the same stone as the crocodile and take pictures. You don’t have to go deep as a free-diver. You learn, better said, practice how to stay longer underwater, you can swim through beautiful underwater tunnel systems with awe-inducing marine life passing by.</p><div id="attachment_14721" style="width: 336px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-14721" class="wp-image-14721" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CameraBag___Photo_-_croc_jpg.png" alt="" width="326" height="333" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CameraBag___Photo_-_croc_jpg.png 1002w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CameraBag___Photo_-_croc_jpg-294x300.png 294w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CameraBag___Photo_-_croc_jpg-768x783.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 326px) 100vw, 326px" /><p id="caption-attachment-14721" class="wp-caption-text">Peaceful croc enjoying the casa cenote</p></div><p>The next day, I find myself sitting on a boardwalk, back in the wetsuit and dipping my feet in the water, creating small waves with the giant fins. A huge circular water area stretches out in front of me, with a smaller, circular shaped black hole in its middle.</p><p>“The black hole right there is 85 meters deep, thats why the sign says you shouldn’t swim across that line. People drown here. If you dive down, the deeper you get, the less buoyant you become, and at some point you just sink faster and faster, and most people don’t have the strength to swim up again.”</p><p>“Alright everyone, we will swim to the middle of the black hole, we put the buoy there, you go down first Marcela, then you, then Fabian”.</p><p>“How deep do I need to go?”</p><p>“To get the license you have to go to 10 meters and back, a couple of times, also completing some exercises, like rescuing me when I black out and taking your mask off underwater.”</p><p>I am beginning to get nervous. I remember the deepest I had dived without an oxygen tank was 4.5 meters. And now I was going down to 10? Well, if that’s what the course says, it should be ok. I cling to the buoy while Pepe does a breathing exercise which I am supposed to mimic. Breathing in 4 seconds, breathing out 8 seconds.</p><p>“Whenever you are ready, you take a full deep breathe and we go down. There’s a line going down from the buoy. When you go down, keep that line in front of your face. I will be on the other side so we are facing each other, looking into each other’s eyes. I am there with you. Whenever I make a noise like <em>uh uh uh</em>, it means you are at 10 meters, then you turn around and go up, but not too fast. And don’t forget to do the equalisation of your ear drums all the way while you go down”.</p><p>Up until this moment, I am not really scared. It is, after all, an officially certified course. 4 seconds in, 8 seconds out. 4 seconds in, 8 seconds out. One last deep breath. And I go down. Pinching my nostrils closed with two fingers of my right hand while trying to breathe out air through my nose in order to equalise the increasing pressure. I am diving down for some time when I think “How much further? How much further?”. I see Pepe going down right in front of me, the thin line between us. I know he is in control and I can trust him. It’s completely dark. All I see is the line and Pep’s eyes inside his mask. And then the contractions start. My stomach contracts, I feel an overpowering urge to breathe in, this is crazy, I am going to die. <em>Uh uh uh</em>. I hear Pepe signalizing we reached the mark, in panic I turn around and head up as fast as I can. <em>Uh, uh, uh</em>. Pepe again. He makes signs I should slow down. I can’t. Need To Reach Surface. Now. I look up, all I see is darkness. Then there’s light, I will survive. I break the surface and fill my lungs with sweet, fresh air. I am alive.</p><p>“Are you ok? Always make the ok sign when you get to the surface and say I am ok”, Pepe reminds me.</p><p>“Oh my fucking God, dude, yeah I’m ok, but I nearly died down there! How can this be the first thing people do? I felt I had to breathe in, I had contractions in my stomach, I nearly breathed in water.”.</p><p>“But you didn’t”. Pepe is completely calm, looks me in my eyes, he has a calming gaze, that of someone who knows what he is talking about. I relax. “You will not breathe in water, ever. When a human is close to drowning, the <em>Instinctive drowning response</em> kicks in. Your tongue automatically goes back and shuts the entrance to your lungs. You were very far away from breathing in or drowning, believe me, you just <em>thought</em> you will breathe in, you could have gone deeper without drowning.</p><p>“Well, I definitely do not want to go deeper”.</p><p>“Can we go to 23 meters this time”, Marcela asks.</p><p>“We’ll go to 20 for now”, Pepe responds.</p><p>I can’t believe what I am hearing. Is she really begging him to go to 23 meters when I nearly died going to 10?</p><p>They go down and come up again about a minute later.</p><p>Pepe points to Mari. “Now you, then Fabian and me go again”.</p><p>I am full of fear trying to use the minimum amount of energy possible, slightly moving my fins back and forth while maintaining an upright position in the water. The breathing helps. 4 in, 8 out, 4 in 8 out.</p><p>“Ok, you ready?” Pepe definitely is. I take a big breath and go down, just to cancel the whole thing after 1 meter and go up again. “What happened?”</p><p>“I don’t know man, I feel I didn’t take enough air. I can’t shake the feeling that I will need to breathe in on the way down”.</p><p>“OK, take your time, just take your time, breathe as long as you want, I am there with you, nothing can happen, I will be watching you the whole way down and back up again”. “Well, maybe you will panic and need to go up?” Even as I say it, I can hear how silly it sounds. Pepe laughs. “Trust me, I won’t”. Only later I would understand why Pepe would never panic.</p><p>4 in, 8 out. Total concentration. Nothing exists anymore. There is no world out there any longer. There is no childhood, no me, or being 36 years old, or being Fabian, CEO of an IT company – none of that matters. There is just the buoy, and Pepe’s eyes behind his mask, and the breathing, 4 in, 8 out. There is just this one moment. A deep breath in, and down I go. Pepe is front of me, and the moment at the buoy is also gone, and whatever will be there in 1 second is also not there, there is just the now, the total now as I have never felt it before…in my life, period. This time I am a little more calm, but when the hell do I reach the 10 meter, I can’t wait for to hear the reassuring sounds.</p><div id="attachment_14711" style="width: 405px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-14711" class="wp-image-14711" src="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-13-at-16.36.31-300x200.png" alt="" width="395" height="263" srcset="https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-13-at-16.36.31-300x200.png 300w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-13-at-16.36.31-768x512.png 768w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-13-at-16.36.31-1024x682.png 1024w, https://fabiandittrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-13-at-16.36.31.png 1240w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px" /><p id="caption-attachment-14711" class="wp-caption-text">Trespassing forbidden. Persons caught swimming in this area will be reported to the municipality.</p></div><p><em>Uh, uh, uh!</em> Pepe’s signal, finally. 10 meters, that is it! I turn around. I have the line in front of me, Pepe’s eyes right there, this time, I consciously try not to go to fast. Everything is dark, then more light. I hit the surface. I signal OK. I take one deep breath and hold it. That’s what you are supposed to do. When you hit the surface, you take one deep breathe, hold it 4 seconds, then another one, hold it 4 second, then breathe normally.</p><p>“This was much better, next time try to use only your legs to go down and up, leave your arms close to your body. We will do this one more time, then we start the exercises, you need to take of your mask and come up blind and you need to rescue me”.</p><p>I am at the buoy again. “Ok, we will go down to 10 meters. Then I will black out, I will float in the water, not moving. And you save me. You swim next to me, put one hand behind my hand, with your other hand you close my mouth and my nose, then you swim up”. “Man, how the hell will I do that. Whenever I am at 10 all I can think of is swimming up. There is no way I am gonna swim across to you, let alone pull you out of the water”. 4 in, 8 out, 4 in 8 out. Fear, this feeling I am not very familiar with, now creeps up my spine. I go down. When I hear the <em>uh uh uh</em>, all I want to do is to go back up. But Pepe simulates a black out. I look at him in panic. I can’t do this. I can’t stay longer here, I need to go up. I swim up in panic, way to fast.</p><p>“Man, I can’t, I can’t do this, all I want at 10 meters is go up, in panic.”.<br />“No worries, breathe slowly.”<br />“Do I have to do this to get the certificate?”, I ask Pepe when he is back from Marcelas turn.<br />“Yes, officially you need to save me and also take of your mask during another dive”.<br />“I really don’t know if I can do this”.</p><p>3 minutes later. My turn again. “You have enough oxygen, you can do it. It’s the CO2 that is telling your body you will soon need to breathe again, but that is not true”. I go down again, Pepe fakes a blackout, I swim over, grab him, close his nose and mouth and bring him up.<br />“Are you ok? Signal ok”. “I am ok!”. Euphoria. This was, by far, the hardest thing I had to do in the last couple of years, and I did it! An incredible feeling overcomes my whole body. The girls go down one last time and we all swim back to the boardwalk to take a break and do a breathing exercise.<br />On the first attempt, I am able to hold my breath for 1:35 minutes, 1:55 during the second try. This is incredible. The human body, the mammalian diving reflex, how you can trick your reflexes and push yourself to new limits.</p><p>“So what’s the deepest you ever went, Pepe?”.<br />“90 meters free immersion, that means you pull yourself up on a rope. I am trying to be the best in Latin America, going to 70 meters without fins”.<br />“What?”<br />“He is second best in Mexico”, responds Marcela.<br />I am speechless. I get it now. Pepe does competitions on this.<br />“Did you ever blackout?”<br />“13 times”.</p><p>The girls and I exchange looks while a strange silence overcomes the boardwalk.</p><p>Pepe clarifies: “I did some 6000 dives, only blacked out during competitions and never under water, almost everyone who blacks out does it after coming back to the surface. There are multiple safety divers observing you underwater. If anything happens they are there to save your ass in one second. Several people are ready at the surface too, including a doctor. If you black out it’s just a couple of seconds and you are back. I never had to be reanimated or anything, never saw anything in a competition who needed artificial respiration, you’re just gone for some seconds at the surface. If you follow the rules, freediving is perfectly safe”.</p><p>An hour ago I would have thought he’s nuts. But now, having been down there, I get them, better said, I feel them, I am one of them.</p><p>Down there, in the deep blue dark, there is nothing else and when you overcome your fear and surrender, time slows down, only the now exists, and the deeper you go the more the I is being lost. When I came up to the surface after saving Pepe from his simulated black out, I felt I had disappeared. Gone somewhere else. And when I came back I was different, it was healing.</p><p>Something had changed forever. Maybe the feeling that from now on the trials and tribulations above the surface will just be a little bit easier. That nothing could harm me up here. And even now when talking about this with friends, or with strangers who I have just met, I have to fight back my tears, or just let them roll. It is good to be vulnerable. And being down there, did it exactly that to me, it made me vulnerable, from 0 to 100, in 13 meters and 47 seconds. It almost seems like, the more vulnerable we are, the more alive we feel. And who knows, maybe pushing life to the edge here and there is actually not a bad idea, just a little. Some dance until sunrise, some climb rocks, some dive deep. As someone I once met on a roof top in Morocco once put it: “I love sitting on this edge, you can always fall down, but your sight and heart reaches so much further”.</p><p>4 in, 8 out, 4 in, 8 out, I didn’t stop breathing this way for the rest of the day and sometimes I still do it. And I long for going down there again. Just a little bit deeper, pushing myself a few more meters more down, into the calming, soothing darkness where time stands still.</p><p>I’ll be back there soon. Close to the edge, so alive.</p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/blackfinfreediving/">Black Fin Freediving<br /></a></p> </div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/freediving-on-the-edge-so-alive/">Freediving – On the edge, so alive.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>The nomadic experience and the intuitive flow of life – Been there, done that, what’s next</title> <link>https://fabiandittrich.com/the-nomadic-experience-and-the-intuitive-flow-of-life-been-there-done-that-whats-next/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Fabian]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 15 Dec 2017 12:51:58 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Adventure]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lifestyle]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://infoseek.us.cloudlogin.co/fabian/?p=14472</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>About a month ago I was scheduled to deliver a speech at the DNX Bangkok, I found myself nervously walking up and down my flat in Copacabana, ready to cancel the speaking engagement. Here’s why, and how I ended up (thankfully) doing the talk, and discovering something very important in the process.</p><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/the-nomadic-experience-and-the-intuitive-flow-of-life-been-there-done-that-whats-next/">The nomadic experience and the intuitive flow of life – Been there, done that, what’s next</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wpb-content-wrapper"><div class="vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid mkd-section mkd-content-aligment-left" style=""><div class="clearfix mkd-full-section-inner"><div class="wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12"><div class="vc_column-inner"><div class="wpb_wrapper"> <div class="wpb_text_column wpb_content_element " > <div class="wpb_wrapper"> <h2 class="bdy-ttle">About a month ago I was scheduled to deliver a speech at the <a href="http://www.dnxglobal.com/">DNX Bangkok</a>, I found myself nervously walking up and down my flat in Copacabana, ready to cancel the speaking engagement.</h2><p> </p><p>I was torturing my mind on how to end the talk. What was my conclusion? What was my message if I myself was not sure about what to make of my life experiences? Also I had no idea what I would do next in my life. Could I give a talk without knowing the next thing I’d be doing?</p><p>I even discussed cancelling the talk with Marcus, the DNX organizer, who convinced me to stick with it.</p><p>But then something happened when I started remembering my traveling experiences in detail and developing the talk.</p><p>I had met so many people, ranging from refugees, to kings, businessmen, pirates, smugglers and tuareg musicians. All of them had shared their stories with me, giving me the opportunity to see the world from their unique perspectives.</p><p>The cultural knowledge I acquired, the connections I made, the inspiration I found out there and the opportunity I was given to discover my creativity, limits and passions while on the road. I realized how amazingly priceless those experiences are. I might lose a phone or any material possession but my memories will always stay with me for the rest of my life and that is truly amazing.</p><p>The most important insight however, was triggered by remembering Africa and the conversations I had with Monir. I became aware of how far I drifted from the person I used to be while travelling through Africa .</p><p>Who I really am is someone that feels most alive when feeling connected to the world, when taking it all in, feeling it’s pain and joy. Looking at life from all angles: from the Monirs, the smugglers, the pirates, prostitutes, kings and CEOs.</p><p>Not just work, and calls, and tasks, and productivity hacks and CEO’s and clients.<br />In the last three years I followed success and money and climbed higher on the proverbial ladder.</p><p>I forgot WHY I once wanted to become location independent and be my own boss: To live a free life, to dance and sing and celebrate, to continue experiencing the world in all it’s facets and to use my experiences to create something with the goal of removing boundaries and fears in peoples’ head’s.</p><p>And THAT is the reason why I was cynical at times, and stressed about what’s next, because I followed success and money, but success and money makes you happy only to a point.</p><p>I read that many times before, and rationally I understood it. But now I experienced it myself: It is true! More money than you need, does not make you more happy. What makes me happy<a style="color: #024569;" href="http://www.fabandvivien.com/tangier-the-gate-to-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> is filming a short documentary about Monir</a>, and getting mail from a Spaniard living in south Spain saying that watching it changed their perspective on Moroccans immigrants in Spain.</p><p>Now I celebrate realizing that I could lose everything, I could lose my company and all my material possessions, and it wouldn’t be such a big deal. I’d still have my experiences. I’d still have the trust and confidence that I’ll be safe, and the skills I acquired while travelling.</p><p>As Joseph Campbell once said:</p><p>“If you follow your bliss, you will always have your bliss, money or not. If you follow money, you may lose it, and you will have nothing.”</p><p>Check out my talk of how I’ve gotten to this place, where I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I’ve become ok with it.</p> </div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/the-nomadic-experience-and-the-intuitive-flow-of-life-been-there-done-that-whats-next/">The nomadic experience and the intuitive flow of life – Been there, done that, what’s next</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Keynote at DNX Berlin: Writing the life story you want to read</title> <link>https://fabiandittrich.com/keynote-at-dnx-berlin-writing-the-life-story-you-want-to-read/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Fabian]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 15 Dec 2017 12:50:29 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Adventure]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lifestyle]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://infoseek.us.cloudlogin.co/fabian/?p=14470</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Exactly today, one year ago, Vin, Dom and I started StartupDiaries.As with most things worth doing, it started with a crazy idea; running our company from a Land Rover was pretty ambitious.</p><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/keynote-at-dnx-berlin-writing-the-life-story-you-want-to-read/">Keynote at DNX Berlin: Writing the life story you want to read</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wpb-content-wrapper"><div class="vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid mkd-section mkd-content-aligment-left" style=""><div class="clearfix mkd-full-section-inner"><div class="wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12"><div class="vc_column-inner"><div class="wpb_wrapper"> <div class="wpb_text_column wpb_content_element " > <div class="wpb_wrapper"> <h2 class="bdy-ttle">Exactly today, one year ago, Vin, Dom and I started <a href="http://www.startupdiaries.org/">StartupDiaries</a>.</h2><p>As with most things worth doing, it started with a crazy idea; <a style="color: #024569;" href="http://www.helpando.it/">running our company</a> from a Land Rover was pretty ambitious. Through a deep belief in the idea, and taking the necessary incremental steps, one at a time, we made the whole adventure a reality.<br />Before we could blink an eye, we were sitting in the Land Rover somewhere in a desert in Peru, doing a call with a client in the US and it felt like the most normal thing.</p><p>Exactly a year ago, I had no idea what was going to happen, with no particular goals we were looking to achieve. I knew that if I’d do something like Startup Diaries, it would be quite the adventure, with many unpredictable consequences coming out of it.</p><p>And thats exactly what happened: dozens of new connections, speaking at <a style="color: #024569;" href="https://fabiandittrich.com/as-seen-in/">TED in Bogota</a>, TOA in Berlin, interviews on Deutsche Welle, <a href="http://www.startupdiaries.org/press/">and more</a>. One place it led me down, was to the stage at <a style="color: #024569;" href="http://www.dnxglobal.com/">DNX</a>, in Berlin, and resulted in a talk that I enjoyed delivering as much as any I’ve done to date – maybe because it was in my native language (but don’t worry there are subtitles). I hope it will resonate with you.</p> </div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p>The post <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com/keynote-at-dnx-berlin-writing-the-life-story-you-want-to-read/">Keynote at DNX Berlin: Writing the life story you want to read</a> appeared first on <a href="https://fabiandittrich.com">Fabian Dittrich</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel></rss> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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