Around the World in 12 Years and 12 Square Meters: Memories and Insights

By Steffen P. Russak

A lot can happen in 12 square meters: you can fall in love, see the world, and go on the greatest adventures of your life. Although small in size, the Fuchur opened up the entire world to Steffen Russak and his beloved wife Marianne. Their adventures spanned multiple countries, languages, and cultures. All of this began with one small dream of t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors' Tranquility Press
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781957546452

Steffen P. Russak

Born in 1940, Steffen P. Russak grew up in Northeast Brazil before moving to Switzerland. There he met and married his wife, and the two had two children together. Before retiring, he worked as a successful mechanical engineer and was actively involved in many diverse and creative activities worldwide. After retirement, he moved to the United States and traveled with his wife until widowed in 2018. He enjoys literature, travel, photography, and formerly riding his motorcycle. This is his first published work.

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Copyright © 2022 by Steffen P. Russak.

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Steffen P. Russak /Author’s Tranquility Press

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Marietta, GA 30060

www.authorstranquilitypress.com

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Around the World In 12 Years and 12 square meters – Memories and Insights/ Steffen P. Russak

Hardback: 978-1-957546-43-8

Paperback: 978-1-957546-44-5

eBook: 978-1-957546-45-2

Dedication

In dedicating this book to Marianne’s and my parents, without whom nothing would have been possible, I know that I fulfill her heart’s deepest feelings as I fulfill my own.

Acknowledgments

My deeply felt thanks to my Family and Friends, for their encouragement and support during the accruement of this book. A very special mention deserves my daughter Debi and son-in-law Peter.

Also to David Zeolla, Brenda McDonald, Melissa Weisberg and all the dedicated Dorrance Team go my sincere appreciation for their commitment and for the valuable advice they gave me along the publishing process of the first edition.

I am much indebted as well to Ethan Blaire and the other members of the Authors Press Team for their sound counsel and dedication in connection with the second edition.

As for the present third edition, my gratitude goes to Mon Carter, Aldridge Medina, Jessica Perez and the whole Publishing Team of Author’s Tranquility Press for their excellent overall support in the promotion of my work.

Last but not least I wish to thank Jessie for the wonderful art with which she enriched my fables as well as for her honest and constructive criticism. She asked me to convey the following explanatory note:

Note from the artist of the fables’ illustrations.

These images are directly inspired by Steffen and Marianne’s fantastic art collection acquired through their travels. Also, my different choices of mediums/techniques, and style of representation were guided by the different cultures represented in each fable. Each set of images is meant to complement the storyline while also celebrating the diversity of the world we live in. Jessie Proksa

Reviewed by: Liz Konkel

Ever dreamed of traveling around the world in a motorhome? Embark on that adventure in this delightful memoir that takes you along for the ride. Steffen and Marianne always wanted to see the world, and upon retirement, they finally got to live their dream. In this tale of adventure, the Russak’s share their journey, detailing the world through their eyes and showcasing the wonder, adventure, and friendship they discovered among the various people and cultures they met. A sense of hopefulness encompasses this memoir from the beginning – where two children dreamed of travel – to the couple that found purpose as they traveled from place to place.

Steffen P. Russak strikes a nice balance in the story with their travels, stunning photographs, fond memories, and the feeling of wanderlust. The memoir begins by introducing Steffen and Marianne where their dreams first started – as a little girl in a corner of East Germany watching planes and a little boy in Brazil dreaming of the fascinating adventures he’d take all over the world. Introducing them in these moments, Russak allows you to meet them through their shared dream and sets the basis for this memoir which focuses on the joy they found in their travels. The memoir also serves as a sweet way to honor the memory of Marianne with lovely details that show you her heart and personality. The first part of the book explores how their motorhome became a reality and becomes more than just a dream.

Moments between them as a couple is subtly woven into the story such as how they balanced each other’s strengths with Marianne’s flair for interior architecture and his experience as the mechanical engineer. The technical process to get started such as visiting motorhome manufacturers and building what they dubbed Fuchur is seen in details that make Fuchur feel like a character. You get to know the motorhome as thoroughly as you get to see these places. Broken down into the stages taken to create it, the beginning section makes good use of the construction details which provide useful insight for those interested in the mechanics and logistics. Photographs depict these different stages of construction by giving a look directly into the process. By sharing the specifics, this memoir also serves as a nice starting point for those curious about how to create their own motorhome.

This memoir allows you to step inside their life and take part in their day-to-day routine from the mundane daily tasks to the people they met, to the amazing landscapes. At the core of the memoir is a poignant lesson in maintaining respect and honoring the places they visit and the local people. The attitude Marianne and Steffen took throughout their travels is noted for the research and respect they took as they explored new places. This attitude makes the memoir stand out among other travel stories as it has a realness to it that doesn’t shy from logistics but keeps the excitement and wonder about these explorations in the tone.

The memoir holds a nostalgia to it as Russak looks back at this time of his life with fondness. The photos capture the beauty of various places and the connection formed with people around the world, taking you to locations such as Deception Island, the Ksar Ouled Soltane, Malawi Lake, and Kruger National Park. A fable found at the end is paired with unique artwork and contains a message that fits the tone of the memoir. Around the World is a memoir that honors memory, wanderlust, adventure, and respect for all cultures through a real travel journey that seeks to inspire hope for the future.

Reviewed by: Lily Amanda

Each of us today is the product of all our past experiences. Family and friends leave an indelible impact on our lives, as do the many places we see and experience – Anita Desai.

Around the World in 12 Years and 12 Square Meters: Memories and Insights by Steffen P. Russak is an inspiring and breezy travel memoir that compiles stories and fond experiences by both Steffen and Marianne Russak, who set out on voyaging around the world after they retired. In a conventional campervan, the two travelled the world on epic trips in search of personal nourishment and enlightenment.

Vivacious and stirring, the text is divided into two parts, with every section running true with emotional clarity and propped up by the relaxing aura of the writer’s reporting. The first part discusses the travel preparations, the vision, and the purpose of the trip they undertook. The second part demonstrates the central enduring tenet of travel: examining different cultures, customs, people, places, and some key experiences that are worth mentioning. The author does not falter from digging into some of the struggles they encountered in their travels which included mechanical problems, accidents, and camping challenges.

The chapters are like a breath of fresh air, a welcome interlude from the usual gloom of the wearisome atmosphere of ordinary life that at times threatens to engulf us. As a tribute to his late wife, this travel memoir runs true and speaks more sharply than any adorned prose would. Their love for each other manifests plainly across the pages creating an empathetic and good-natured tone for readers.

Their travels, spanning various continents such as Africa, South America, and Australia are capped off by colorful photographs that appear throughout, with captions which clarify their place in the narrative. Around the World in 12 Years and 12 Square Meters: Memories and Insights is a well-layered and tightly braided portrait that apprises, fascinates, and inspires. It manages to adduce the urge to travel and satisfies the armchair travelers’ curiosity and appetite, resulting in a win-win by itself.

Steffen P. Russak’s ranging work deftly demonstrates despite the vast topographical and cultural distances that separate us, we’re all intertwined, and the practice of getting to know a place and its people is a small rarity to be savored. It is indeed a treasure not to be missed.

Introduction

During twelve years my beloved wife Marianne and I travelled the world in our white motorhome Fuchur. We enjoyed the freedom and the magnificent landscapes, marveled at Nature and its fantastic feats, at the impressive history of life on our planet and of our species in particular. But most of all we could appreciate the spontaneous kindness, friendliness, and hospitality of about 90% of the people we met, regardless of origin, race, faith, and station in life. Our gratitude for all good deeds bestowed on us around the globe is forever and I only regret that they were too many to be all individually mentioned in the following pages.

Marianne passed away on September 29, 2018, after a long and brave fight against cancer. Actually, we had been reluctant about writing a book concerning our years on the road, because many other globetrotters like us had already successfully published similar stories. Nevertheless, before her health got worse, we had started to figure out how we could go about such a task. Now, with Marianne gone, I did start to write, concentrating on the most remarkable of those glorious days, when we were together roaming the roads of the Earth in a free, globalized world. I thus felt myself once more near that wonderful woman, my great love and faithful companion of 55 years.

Further, evening after evening I see in the news how greed, nationalism, religious intolerance, racism, antisemitism, and the resulting terrorism, as well as political extremism, are conspiring to lead humanity away from a life worth living into an awful future without joy or worthy perspectives, in which globetrotters would have no place. I do hope that by telling about our experiences I am modestly helping to spread the vision of a future of freedom and happiness for our descendants.

But most of all, I do wish that you will enjoy this book and maybe someday hit the road as well… And if so, when you reach Down Under, don’t miss the Lonely Heart of Nature, visible in the turquoise waters of the Great Barrier Reef! The story of this picture I’ll tell later.

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART 1 The Beginnings

The Origins

A Dream Comes True

Life In Fuchur

PART 2 On the Road

Ushuaia

Ksar Ouled Soltane, July 3rd, 2001

Botshabelo

Off the beaten track in Tunisia (Recounted by Marianne)

The Fable of The Dromedary, the Palm Tree and the Snake

Malawi Lake

A little tree at Nambucca Heads

The Blooming Desert

A day to forget

The Fable of The Aras and the evil in their midst

Bulli Beach: Paradise Found, A Friend Lost

On the Trustworthiness of Information

Pachyderms

A Magic New Year’s Eve

The Fable of the Young Dolphin and his Friends

Afterword

PART 1

The Beginnings

The Origins

WHY? During the second half of the 1940s the world was starting to recover from the horrors of World War 2. In a beautiful corner of North Germany, a sweet little girl by the name of Marianne used to lie on her back, at the margins of the lovely small lake by her home and to look for the occasional airplane flying high up in the sky. She dreamed of one day sitting in such a plane to see the distant parts of the world that so aroused her curiosity.

At the same time, in the Northeast of Brazil a fanciful little boy of Swiss descent, called Steffen, sat in front of the vast Atlantic Ocean, in some tropical beach of his hometown, dreaming of hiring into one of the ships leaving the harbor, in pursuit of thousands of fascinating adventures all over the world. Later on, inspired by Jules Verne’s book Five Weeks in a Balloon and by the Zeppelin Airships, his dream changed to one day building an airship big enough to carry a small apartment and then comfortably exploring the whole world with it.

By one of those fantastic turns of destiny, in 1963, on August 1st, the Swiss National Holyday, Marianne and Steffen met at a ball in Zurich. From that day on, the young woman from the Northern Hemisphere and the young man from the Southern Hemisphere remained together, not to part again as long as they both lived. And together they continued to dream of seeing the world, of becoming citizens of the Earth. As time went by, Steffen’s dream airship landed and became a motorhome, which among others had the big advantage of allowing its passengers to keep near to landscapes, people and the rest of Creation…

WHEN? End of the 1990s it was common in the Swiss Industry for top managers to retire around the age of sixty. This practice allowed them to follow some dream while still in good health and gave ambitious younger persons the chance to climb the ladder. So, in 1996 I requested and obtained permission to retire on December 31, 2000. Marianne had already stopped working as an accountant some years before, in order to cure a very seldom disorder of the immune system, which she successfully did. Now she was voluntarily driving disabled people for the Red Cross and could thus leave whenever she wanted. Suddenly, our dream of travelling the world with all comfort in a well-chosen motorhome became feasible!

HOW? As soon as I received the confirmation of my early retirement date we moved into action, in order to be ready to start our new life as globetrotters