About me

My name is Albrecht, born in Château-d'Oex in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. After spending part of my childhood in French-speaking Switzerland, my family moved to German-speaking Switzerland - linguistically I was "repotted", a change that left its mark on me because I was suddenly considered a "foreigner". I lost my mother early on and my father kept us children together. Taking responsibility became a matter of course for me.

We didn't just travel around the world - we really experienced it.

Even as a boy, I was enthusiastic about geography books, movies about faraway countries and model airplanes. It was during this time that I met my friend Rolf. We discovered judo together and shared a fascination for Japan - later we also set off on our big trip together.

Geography and wanderlust have been with me since I was a child.
I made my first trip at the age of thirteen - by bike across Switzerland. A week on the road, with little money, but full of curiosity and adventure.

I had to learn to deal with change at an early age. I lost my mother at a young age and my father was widowed twice. For us children, this meant taking responsibility and finding our own way.
Maybe that's exactly what shaped me - and strengthened my desire to see the world.

Years later, the great journey began.

Expedition route 1973-1975

The journey began in Biel-Bienne, Switzerland, and led eastwards through Europe and the Soviet Union to Japan. From there it continued via Hong Kong and South East Asia - Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore - to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali.

The adventure continued through Australia, from Darwin via Alice Springs and Papunya to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

After crossing the Tasman Sea to New Zealand and the Pacific Ocean to Tahiti, the route reached the Panama Canal and South America. The final leg of the journey unfolded through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil before the long return to Geneva.

Job after school - Fr. 30 per month

When I was about 12 years old, I had a small job after school. Almost all of my classmates had something to do back then - delivering newspapers, running errands for older people, filling bottles at the drugstore or, like me, picking up fur coats from customers in the spring and bringing them back in the fall.

I sometimes had fur coats worth several thousand francs in the reusable boxes I used for this. At that time, there were still five fur stores in Biel (population approx. 50,000).

Back then, there were lots of nice stores - especially with beautiful shoes, dresses and so on.

I got 30 francs a month. I had to give my father 20 francs of that. Tips were rare or non-existent. There were a lot of wealthy people and small factories that were suppliers to the watch industry, but they still saved money.

I once got half an apple as a tip.

Here's a little anecdote: I was on my way to visit a woman who was the director of a large watch factory (which no longer exists). I rang the doorbell, a maid opened the door and I gave her the box, telling her that it was Mrs. ...'s fur coats. Suddenly the woman herself came to the door and said in her French accent: "Wait, I'll give you something."

I was quite astonished. She came back with a beautiful Golden Delicious apple and a knife, cut the apple in half, gave me one of them and said in anticipation of my "thank you": "This is for you."

I learned many such and similar things during this time as an errand boy. With the money, I was able to go to the cinema every other Sunday morning in winter and watch a movie about foreign countries. I was also able to build model airplanes with motors and fly them in tethered flight - even in the snow with skis that I had made myself.

Rolf and I found each other in the neighborhood

Around this time, I met my friend Rolf in the same neighborhood. We often traveled together and started practicing judo together. This is exactly what later awakened our fascination for Japan.