About us – Kurt & Kati

Writing an “About Us” page feels harder to me than writing about almost anything else.

What are you supposed to say?

“We’re Kurt and Kati, and we’ve been together for more than 25 years.”

It’s true.

But somehow… it also sounds a little boring.

So maybe I’ll simply tell you where you’ve landed instead.

This is Rollator Travels With Us.

And, like pretty much everything else in our lives, it’s just a little bit crazy.

We met more than 25 years ago. To this day, I’m convinced that fate must have been terribly bored that day. Why else would it bring together a Swiss man and a German woman fifteen years younger than him, living more than 250 miles (400 km) apart in two different countries?

Somehow, it worked.

Or maybe it worked because of that.

Since then, we’ve been walking through life together.

Sometimes sensible.

Sometimes completely crazy.

But most of the time, somewhere in between.

Looking back now, we realize we’ve made many of the biggest decisions in our lives surprisingly quickly.

Not carelessly.

But often because we had exactly the same thought—at exactly the same time.

While other people might spend weeks making lists of pros and cons, we usually look at each other and think:

“Why not?”

The real questions usually come afterward.

Not:

“Should we do this?”

But:

“How can we make it work?”

Maybe that’s the secret to our relationship.

I’m the curious one.

I love discovering new places and figuring out how things work.

Kurt is the calm one.

He loves nature, technology, and just about everything that comes with life on the road.

I’m the one who asks questions—far too many questions—and I usually dive far too deep into the details far too early.

Kurt looks for solutions.

As far as he’s concerned, almost every problem has a solution… if you’re willing to look for it long enough.

Plan A

Our lives were already mapped out.

The classic plan.

I’d take care of the kids and the household while Kurt went to work.

The children would grow up and build lives of their own.

I’d return to work and focus on my career again.

Kurt would retire and take over part of the household.

With a fifteen-year age difference, it would have worked perfectly.

But as John Lennon famously sang:

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

While we were making plans…

my body simply said,

“Nope.”

Instead, life handed us a diagnosis.

Multiple Sclerosis.

We’ve been living with it for several years now.

And I deliberately say we.

Because even though MS lives in my body, it affects both of our lives.

It changes decisions.

It changes the way we travel.

It changes perfectly ordinary days.

But there’s one thing it has never taken away:

Our love of being on the road.

We’ve always loved to travel.

Today, we simply travel differently.

More thoughtfully.

More slowly.

At a pace that respects what my body can do.

But with exactly the same excitement about discovering something new.

Plan B

As our children slowly grew up and started leaving home, we always knew we’d eventually sell our house.

That had been the plan for years.

And the closer our youngest child came to leaving the nest, the more real that plan became.

But then what?

Move into a smaller apartment.

And then?

Wait?

Wait… for what?

After more than five decades of working—at what I would honestly call about 120%—Kurt would probably have found another job “just to keep busy.” That’s simply who he is. Sitting still has never really been his thing.

As for me?

I had no idea.

Stay home?

Watch life go by?

And one day we probably would have asked ourselves:

“Is this really all there is?”

Then, during a short trip to Slovenia, one simple thought appeared out of nowhere.

“What if we sell the house as planned, buy a motorhome, and travel the world?”

To this day, we can’t remember who said it first.

It doesn’t matter.

Because we both thought exactly the same thing.

“Why not?”

The idea was born.

The questions came afterward.

Can we really do this with MS?

What about my medication?

A travel trailer?

A motorhome?

Or something completely different?

Can I even ride in a motorhome with my sensitivity to vibration?

How would I get into bed?

Where could I retreat when fatigue or pain completely takes over?

How would any of this actually work?

Question after question.

Fortunately, we still have two and a half years—and plenty of motivation—to find the answers.

And we will.

One solution at a time.

Because we’re determined to make this dream a reality.

Not long after that, the idea for Rollator Travels With Us was born.

Not because we wanted to start another travel blog.

But because we were looking for a way to take our family and friends along on our journey.

Because I—because we—need a creative way to process everything we experience together.

Because I love creating.

And because, somewhere along the way, we realized that maybe our story could encourage other people facing challenges of their own.

Maybe we could show that mobility aids are called aids for a reason:

They’re there to help us live as independently as possible, even when life comes with limitations.

That’s what this website is all about.

We write about beautiful places.

Wonderful journeys.

Wrong turns.

New ideas.

Setbacks.

Solutions.

My body.

Kurt’s retirement.

And about two people trying to turn a dream into reality—one step at a time.

Honestly.

Without pretending everything is perfect.

Because we believe the best stories don’t begin when everything is already figured out.

They begin when someone finds the courage to choose a different path.

On our journey, the rollator comes with us.

Not because it makes our world smaller.

But because, even with a rollator, the world still has so much waiting for us.

We’re glad you’re here.

We’d love for you to join us on the journey.