THE ADVENTURER
GABRIELE MAREWSKI
Adventure Traveler, Photographer, Apparel Designer & Farmer
I started by walking across countries and then took up long-distance biking. A couple of trips were an adventure sans bike or hike. Most trips are solo and since 2019 always in my comfortable, moisture wicking, fun-to-wear Story Skyrts.
My skirts developed from the photographs I take documenting my travels near and far. When someone remarks on my eye-catching clothing it becomes an opportunity to engage. A chance to share our stories.
I love the spontaneity and freedom of travel, especially when adventuring solo. I am always curious about who I’m going to meet, what I’m going to eat and where I’m going to sleep. I love the thrill of not knowing how the journey will unfold.
Travelling reminds me to be open, to notice and discover, to be humble and gracious, and to always be grateful for adventure.
CASTING THE SPELL
My sisters and I grew up with summer family camping trips at state parks. Our father built a box on top of our VW bus that folded out to a platform with a tent. This was where my sisters and I slept.
My mother always said “Travel while you can.” coupled with “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
When I became old enough to travel on my own, that’s what I did.
DISCOVERING THE WORLD
My first overseas trip was the summer of ninth grade - we went to a family reunion in Germany. I went back the following summer and stayed with relatives in Hamburg. On my last day there, I met and fell in love with Herman, who would be my first boyfriend.
I was determined to get back as soon as possible! Meanwhile, we wrote long letters. I dropped out of high school at 16 so I could get a job and buy an airplane ticket.
Unbelievably, my mother supported me. We visited a local private college and they agreed to accept me after I returned, as long as I took the GED.
LEARNING FROM LIFE
When I got to Germany, I stayed with my relatives for a short while before moving into a commune with Hermann. I had a great summer! So great, I threw the GED courses I was supposed to take into the trash.
I became a vegetarian. I was immersed in German culture. I was in love.
Along the way I had decided to live a creative life with gratitude, humility and grace in such a way that feeds my soul and supports the planet. When I got back to the U.S., I started college - no one ask me about a GED. I just went ahead and got my Associate of Arts degree and eventually a B.S. in Agronomy. I went to work, became a successful farmer, and at the age of 67 I earned a Masters of Arts in Leadership - all without a high school diploma.
CATCHING WANDERVIRUS
I may not have a high school diploma, but I do have the travel bug! I went back to Germany in 1976, and then to Spain, followed by Venezuela and Brazil. Each trip was solo. I just went. I had an interest… I read James Michener’s Iberia and decided to travel there. I heard the Horticultural Science Society was meeting in Brazil… so I went there and ended up meeting my future spouse.
My solo travel morphed into travelling with a spouse, and then into summer road trips across the US - camping and visiting National Parks with my son, Max, when he was 8 and 9. We then moved on to ‘home school field trips’ to Europe when he was in Middle School.
Eventually, I was introduced to long distance hiking by Fozzie, a volunteer who came to my farm to write a book about his walk on the Camino Trail across Spain. Fozzie let me read it as he wrote it.
A few years later, I met a woman who walked the Camino when she turned forty. I decided then that I was going to walk the Camino Trail. The next day a package arrived in the mail. It was a copy of Fozzie’s published book. It reinforced my decision to take a long distance walk that changed my life.
Once I walked the Camino, it became the only way I wanted to travel!
DEVELOPING MY STYLE
Being an introvert makes it easy for me to travel solo. I love picking a place and just going. Sometimes I make a reservation for a hostel the first night of a journey… but after that - I just like to wing it!
I know the route I’m generally taking and it’s fun to simply allow it all to unfold. I prefer camping, and depending on weather, will stay in hostels or local pensions.
The excitement of travel lies in not knowing where I’m going to sleep, what I’m going to eat or who I’m going to meet. That is the grand adventure!
Over the years, my travels have taken on the style of a picturesque novel. I am an outsider. The character who meets people along a journey and relays the experience.
Whenever someone says to me “You must visit X!” I always take the advice and go. It inevitably ends up being a travel highlight. That’s why it’s great to have complete flexibility and spontaneity of travelling solo! Freedom!!
LISTEN to my interview with Drew Hannush on the Travel Fuels Life podcast about solo adventure travel: CLICK HERE