Always open and cheerful, Verena, better known to some as @renas_reise, presents herself on her Instagram channel. She describes herself as a world explorer with a heart. She has already traveled to the USA, Montenegro, London, Dubai, Calabria and many other exciting places.
Emilia from TripLegend was lucky enough to sit down with her for a candid conversation that is well worth reading. Look forward to seven exciting questions about traveling with @renas_reise.
Would you like to give us some info about yourself? Our TripLegends would like to know a little about you.
My name is Rena or Verena and I am 28 years old. I am a tourism businesswoman and manage a travel agency in Lower Saxony. Since I deal with travel planning on a daily basis, it was obvious to get into the travel topic in connection with Instagram.
I 'whizzed' uncontrollably into my training as a tourism clerk. After I had completed my vocational baccalaureate in economics, I really wanted to pursue a career in business. The training position in the travel agency was a pure coincidence. This step had never been planned, let alone my dream.
I've had my Instagram account since 2013, but I never really had time to put much energy into the channel. Then last year, like so many others in my industry, Corona forced me into short-time work. So I just thought, well, you use that now to fill your free time with something creative. Creative has always been my thing and I can live that out through Instagram. At the end of the day, I do it all primarily for fun. I'm not a professional at it, but of course I'm really happy when people are active on my channel.
When did you start traveling the world and who do you like to take with you?
The first time I went traveling alone was during my training. I do fam trips for a living, which means I occasionally fly abroad to see hotels on site or take part in training courses. Most of the time I travel alone. So the inspiration for traveling clearly comes from my job. You could also say that I stumbled into this topic through my job.
We saw that you traveled to Montenegro. Would you like to tell our TripLegends a little bit about it?
I came back to Montenegro through my work. Through various cooperations with hotels etc. I was confronted with the country. So it just happened again to visit Montenegro and try it out as a travel destination. Montenegro is one of the last remaining insider tips in Europe and absolutely worth seeing! The vacation was a dream. One of my most beautiful moments I had on the way to the capital Podgorica. There you can find the Vodopad Nijagara, a kind of mini Niagara Falls. I was particularly fascinated by the drive, because you are suddenly off-road completely unexpectedly and come out again directly at the waterfall. There you can eat a snack and enjoy the view. For me, this is an incredibly beautiful memory that still makes me rave about Montenegro today. In general, you can say that Montenegro has an incredible amount to offer. This country is a combination of sea, mountains, lakes and national parks. But it also offers a lot of history and is both culturally and architecturally a colorful mix.
By far the most beautiful corner of Montenegro is Lake Skadar. I found it so stark there! I thought the whole time, I'm in Asia. A boat tour directly on site is recommended, I had done that and absolutely not expected that it will be so beautiful.
For those who have already got a taste for Montenegro, I have a #rena travel hack. I can recommend you to fly to Tivat and not to Dubrovnik. Because the border crossing from Dubrovnik is super exhausting, especially by bus. So for the journey always go via Tivat.
Do you have any special tips and tricks (#renas travel hacks) for our readers to travel sustainably and locally?
I can warmly recommend everyone to use public transport. It saves money, it's often faster, and it's more sustainable. I myself do it super often, especially for longer distances. It is worth it!
How do you make sure that when you travel you respect, appreciate and at the same time get to know better the culture of the country?
You should inform yourself about every country! What religion does the country have, what are the customs, how do I walk around there? You should always be careful to respect the cultures of the countries. For example, in Asian countries, you should make sure that you observe the greetings so as not to put your foot in your mouth. In my daily work I notice that many vacationers have wrong ideas and expectations of a destination. Especially in the Mediterranean region, everything is often much more relaxed, whereas we Germans like to be quite precise. That's also part of making sure that your expectations match the country you're traveling to in the end. Simply reading in and comparing it with your own expectations helps you to get the best out of your vacation.
A wide-ranging question, but certainly interesting to hear from someone as fun-loving and open-minded as you. What does ethics mean to you when traveling? What do you pay the most attention to and how do you define this for yourself?
I think traveling has a lot to do with personal responsibility. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they can reconcile traveling with themselves, also in relation to the issue of sustainability. What do I do in my everyday life to represent all this? Dealing with the country and its people is also very important, as already touched upon in the question before. You have to inform yourself and travel to the respective place with respect.
Do you have anything else on your mind that you would like to share with our TripLegends?
I think all those who follow your account are certainly travel fans and for me I can only say: Traveling is the most beautiful thing to spend money on. You get memories that no one can take away from you.
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