ON A JOURNEY
Jacky ́s adventure trip: 606km on foot through Sweden
A journey into the distance to arrive at yourself, that is ON A JOURNEY. Away from the impressions on the outside and towards what is happening inside. Because the great challenge lies not in doing, but in coming into being.
With ON A JOURNEY, ZENSPOTTING accompanies inspiring personalities on their journey to themselves. And so Jacky from CHAMELEON TRIPS gets out of her comfort zone in August and goes on her personal adventure trip. In 33 days it goes 606km on foot through Sweden. Via social media, the podcast and the online magazine you can be there up close and live. Let yourself be inspired by ON A JOURNEY and great impressions on the journey.
Because Jacky is an inspiration for all those who are looking for themselves and new challenges. And so that you also get a little insight into Jacky’s life and the project ON A JOURNEY, she answered a few questions before starting her big adventure trip.
Jacky, just imagine…
I’m Jacky, an avid travel journalist and author of my blog
Chameleon Trips
. After my studies in Maastricht and Canada and several longer stays abroad in California, Vancouver Island and Bali, I decided in the summer of this year to finally turn my back on my home country Germany and emigrate – with a backpack full of visions and a heart full of trust.
I want to feel as alive as possible every day. Really wants to live and not just exist. This journey, which is called life, is about breaking out of my comfort zone every day and experiencing something new. Whether it’s a mountain I want to climb, a wave that calls me to surf or a sustainable project waiting to be implemented, I always follow the voice of my heart to reach my full potential (even if that can be really challenging at times).
“A JOURNEY TO MYSELF”
On my travel blog Chameleon Trips I share my personal adventures and travel stories as authentically and openly as possible. My intention is to touch people’s hearts and empower them through my own experiences to develop their full potential and realize their life’s dreams. Because there is so much to discover in this world. So why not just go and see where the journey goes?
When I’m not in the Crossfit Box or climbing gym, you are guaranteed to find me on a challenging mountain tour or a camping trip. Sport and nature are my absolute passion. I also love to develop myself personally and so breathwork, meditation and energy work are part of my everyday life.
Oh yes, before I forget: I love spontaneous road trips, sunrises and vegan banana bread. Preferably, of course, all three things together.
Sweden, because…
Since it is quite cumbersome in the current time to cross national borders and spend the night in a hut, this would not have really fulfilled the actual purpose of a long-distance hiking trail in my eyes.
And that’s when I came up with the idea of Sweden. A country that I have wanted to get to know better for years. I’ve always been fascinated by Swedish culture – the ease with which people seem to live their lives and the balance they find between work, leisure, city and nature. As a child I devoured the Bullerby films and Astrid Lindgren books.
Since Sweden is currently relatively open and you can also camp wild, I looked for hiking trails in Sweden and also asked my friends from Gothenburg… until I came across the Kungsleden . It was such an intuitive feeling of “that’s him, this feels coherent.”
I hiked the Camino dos Faros in northern Spain in September 2019 and found my passion for long-term hiking there. Since then, I always wanted to do another long-term hike, but always with the idea in mind to share my journey with a community and not just hike for myself. I blame the fact that this happened this summer with ZENSPOTTING on my art of visualizing and manifesting, haha.
How do you make this journey possible?
I quit my full-time job in Berlin in June of this year and emigrated to make my dream of boundless freedom possible. A dream of personal freedom, location-independent work and as a grand vision of financial freedom.
First of all, I started with a few financial reserves and small investments in cryptocurrencies. This step has allowed me to come into personal freedom.
A step into the unknown, a jump into the cold water…
But somehow, from one day to the next, completely new possibilities have suddenly opened up on the horizon, such as the wonderful cooperation with you, the ZENSPOTTING Team, which supports me on my hike in all areas and for which I am very grateful.
I am convinced that it does not always require such a big decision as I have made. To take a month off and do what your own heart whispers to you, there are always and everywhere possibilities. You can take an extended vacation, maybe work from home and on the road, or give yourself a month before you start your next job, for example.
A trip to yourself doesn’t always have to include a 4-star hotel and expensive activities. A longer hike or an adventure trip is not expensive and is full of new impressions and inspiration. Sometimes a week spent in another place is enough, or just drive off with car and tent and see where you like it.
What are your goals on the trip and what are you looking forward to the most?
To be completely honest, it will be a big challenge for me to do “nothing” and just “be”. Therefore, my goal is to give myself permission to just let the journey pass and observe where the journey leads and what all happens. Without having planned everything or thinking about the next adventure.
So it’s time to enjoy, let things come to me and get into the here and now. This also embodies the Swedish philosophy of life Lagom. It is about balanced living – finding a balance between effort and relaxation and facing life with more balance.
If I manage to share my experiences, thoughts and feelings authentically with you, the ZENSPOTTING community, I have achieved everything I set out to do. 🙂
What are you most afraid of?
Before the mosquito alarm, haha. Joking aside, I think it will be a huge challenge for me to calm down. Moving from doing to being is not exactly my great strength, as I love to be creative and productively implement things. This may certainly also be due to our strong societal and social pressure to be productive anytime and anywhere, and the fear of what happens when you break out of the hamster wheel and press the pause button.
Life as a process of change…
In the end, this is such a valuable experience to really get to myself and find out what my potential is. That leads to the next point. Currently, I have a clear vision of how I imagine my life, who I am and where I want to go. Somehow I have the feeling that this could possibly change on the hike and then I get shaken up a bit. Suddenly I realize that it is something completely different that my heart longs for and I am standing at a fork in the road again. must decide anew. Allow change. However, I would not necessarily approach this experience with fear or respect, but rather with anticipation.
After all, our whole life is a single process of change and often life has completely different plans for us than we can imagine ourselves.
Last but not least: I hope that it does not get too cold at night, as I am a real frostbite. I certainly won’t freeze to death, but I definitely have respect for the cold nights and being alone for a long time.
More about Jacky’s hiking route…
ON A JOURNEY with Jacky awaits you a sporty, sustainable and personal hiking adventure that extends over a total length of about 606 kilometers in the north of Sweden. On an alternative route of the most famous long-distance hiking trail Kungsleden (also called the Royal Route) and along the High Coast Trail, Jacky will walk between 20 and 30 kilometres a day for just over a month.
The first part of the hike is located in Lapland and stretches over a length of about 500 kilometers. The starting point of the hike is the village of Abisko, north of Kiruna. The hiking route leads through four national parks, past countless smaller lakes and mountain villages such as Ritsem, Kvikkjokk and Ammarnäs. The destination of the hike is the popular ski resort Hemavan.
For the second part of the nature adventure, about 123 kilometers are covered on the beautiful High Coast Trail. As one of Sweden’s twelve signature trails, the trail is located in the east of the country in the Swedish province of Västernorrland and leads through the coastal area of Höga Kusten, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000.
Most of the nights she will spend the night in a tent surrounded by nature and once a week she will spend the night in mountain stations, where she can charge her camera equipment and computer and take a shower. On the way, this is only possible in icy cold rivers. Temperatures are expected to be 10-15 degrees during the day and 0-5 degrees at night.
