**Travelling and tech** to me are very similar: You get to meet people that go out of their way for you! I've had guys go miles in the wrong direction just to drop me off at my goal when hitchhiking. I've had a family invite me to stay with them for several weeks very shortly after we met for the first time. I've had strangers help me carry stuff, point me in the right direction, make a clown of themselves while explaining the route without a shared language. I've had someone in Romania get a flat tire while on the mission of finding beer for me - *which I never even asked for*. I've had a Dutch couple share a beer they carried for two days straight - we had just met on the Lofoten. I've had a farmer tow my campervan out of a river in Slovenia. He even provided us with a place to crash for the night and repair the van. It was amazing!
![That's a picture of my van. It doesn't have a name, but has been with me for almost ten years! (VW T3, built in 1989)](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZ5UC57PVSi6ZtpvgUECK58vgPoudYoZQuyiLKgpgzZLt/bulli.jpg) *That's a picture of my van. It doesn't have a name, but has been with me for almost ten years! (VW T3, built in 1989)*
And it's just as incredible with technology. Nothing comes for free. Yet I do use awesome **software and infrastructure** for free. Like Linux, Steemit, reddit, Nextcloud, Wikipedia, Mediawiki, Signal, Android, Wordpress, Libre Office, Latex, Electrum, Metamask, all kinds of stuff really. So, if it's not for free, where does it come from? **I think its a present.** A present from everyone that contributes to everyone that uses any of the software and services I mentioned and a myriad more. It's a present from lots and lots of people who put in time and effort - for me. **And for you.** And for everyone else. Most of them without expecting to get anything at all in return! (Yes, I'm well aware that most services I don't pay for online are me selling my digital soul to monetizers. But these examples aren't - or so I hope.) So, one story about awesome open source software. You'll see, I'm into storytelling. Several years ago, during this trip where my van got stuck in the river, I extensively used Osmand for navigation. My phone being google-free without playstore, I installed it from F-Droid, so I never paid for it. It helped me so much over the years and on that trip in particular, that on the way home I decided to make a donation. We're talking 2014 here. Back then, donations to Osmand were only possible by bitcoin. Having heard some about this weird new idea I spend 25€ on bitcoin and tipped the Osmand-team 20€. 5€ were left in my online wallet, I couldn't do anything with it, since I had no use case and it was less than the transaction threshold of this specific wallet back then. I just forgot about it. Fast forward to 2017: bitcoin is in the news, didn't I own some back then? I check. And see it's worth 180€ by now. Cool! Well, I lost it all trading within days 😱. But I learned a lot doing so 😊. And contributing to Osmand somehow made me 175€. Yeah!
![Screenshot of my first bitcoin-buy. Yes, that's 0,1BTC for 24€ :)](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQZnjpQPLKNvSsMS6HsBtAh6hXH8wCWAteLfPLuyKH6J4/first_buy_btc.png) *Screenshot of my first bitcoin-buy. Yes, that's 0,1BTC for 24€* 😄
That's why I love travelling and IT, and want to share that love with you. So you may expect instructional screenshots when I talk about tech-stuff and beautiful or hilarious pictures while I'm on the road. Which will be soon. I'm headed for Hawaii this year :D Oh, I forgot to state the obvious. I'm thirty-ish and an engineer working in science. Yeah again! Lets start with [Cryptocurrencies](https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@multimike/eos-ico-why-you-have-to-register-an-eos-keypair-and-how-to-do-so). I bought into the EOS-ICO and want to share two things I learned! I love to be here! Cheers Mike PS: You propably won't see too many pictures of me in person. I'm kind of ... *German* about that 😎