This is where it all started. When I first left my hospital job I knew I could get around and survive financially for a couple of weeks but would sooner or later run out of savings. I definitely needed a part-time job if I wanted to do fun things. Plus i always used to travel a lot and I missed moving around. I would need money for tickets, while still being flexible in my planning. Travelling was good to meet new people and get a new perspective on basically anything and everything. I really needed that after years of rotation.

I thought about saying goodbye to medicine for good and work in a bar to socialize more after those long, long lonely hospital nights. I even thought about building furniture or selling selfmade art works at the local flee market. But soon I noticed I would miss being a doctor. I would miss applying what I know, I would miss medicine and I wanted to learn something new. When I was sitting in my kitchen one night my mom came to my mind. She visited me about two years ago to go to further education in travel and tropical medicine. Before she left she handed me a flyer by the Professor lecturing the course, saying that he was always looking for doctors to work in one of his travel clinics. I remembered sticking it to my fridge. It was still there. Why not try and ask?!

I sent him an email and it worked. Shortly after I found myself attending this very interesting and useful seminar. He was a good lecturer and I loved the subject, of course it was handy for self treatment too if I wanted to go to tropical destinations. I had been to Africa for a project before but it was good to repeat and deepen my knowledge. I slowly started to fall in love with medicine again after never wanting to go back ever in my life. I started working shortly after and since then work flexible shifts every other week in the afternoon. They pay me per hour and I write an invoice at the end of the month, so I am a real FREElance doc now. And I am happy. It is a lot of fun and very refreshing.

To start with, the office is very bright and colourful and so is the staff. The orange walls are covered with beautiful photos from all around the world. It already makes my day when I look from my desk onto the marvelous landscapes of the himalayas, into the shining eyes of an indian girl or at colourful beaded jewellery of a masai fighter.

Furthermore the people who attend the clinic are usually not ill. They come for advice for exciting plans or something nice to look out for. I see all kinds of people, the young backpackers heading to Thailand, the couple planning honeymoon on Maldives, the elderly visiting grand children in Australia, the journalist heading to Bangladesh, expats travelling to singapore or the nature geek climbing the mount Everest.

We give them advice on specific diseases relevant for their destination. We give them the vaccinations and a recipe when needed and teach them about the great and much wider benefit of Mosquito repellants and not to forget sunscreen. Furthermore we give advice on travel insurance policies, long distance flights and special requirements in case of altitude, diving or preexisting conditions. All things people question about travelling and also anything important they might forget, to make their trip a safe and sound experience.

All of the patients are seeking professional advice for something they look forward too but what they also might be worried about to some extent. Things I can connect with as I experienced it myself many times. Some also have very interesting plans. Usually there are 30-45 minutes rostered for consultations so for the first time in my doctor life I experience the pleasure of taking time to talk to my patient and listening to their stories. I learn from them and they inspire me.

Besides I learn a lot through steady updates from the owner, who is an expert in worldwide medicine. My mind travels the world every day. If it is evolving around ebola or zika, new vaccines or incidence of parasitic disease. This joins medicine with culture, behaviour and even urban planning. Think about how the number of toilets in a socially underprivileged areas affects the development of endemic diseases or how a virus spreads along the newly built road. In my mind I travel every day.

So if you seek the thrill and excitement of an E.R., you won’t find it here so soon. But you can find it indirectly by imagination.