Jelle

I’m Jelle, forty-seven, a dreamer, adventurer and longtime web developer. Much of my life unfolded behind a screen, immersed in frameworks, sprints and deadlines. That routine gave me stability, yet it gnawed at my health. What started as a passion gradually turned into delivering dull client projects. Outside the office walls, mountains, forests and unknown horizons beckoned. But the house still had to be paid off, the children needed food, so I kept going. I longed for more breathing space, for encounters that didn’t run through pixels, and for journeys that didn’t end inside apps. I longed for real stories shared around a campfire.

At the same time my profession changed at breakneck speed. Artificial intelligence took a seat at the table, suggesting code. Would I still have a steady income if ChatGPT and Grok delivered the same work cheaper and, above all, much faster? While I let those questions sink in, I also saw our financial system wobble and the debates about debt, central banks and new currencies grow louder. Why would I stay in the middle of such a transition with a hefty mortgage on my shoulders?

Three years ago the answer arrived through a second burnout that mercilessly brought me to a halt. My brain couldn’t take it anymore. It was sink or swim. I chose to swim. I sold my house and my sports car, bought a touring bus and, between migraine attacks, converted it into a tiny house on wheels.

I sense a collective hunger for a different rhythm: less living to work, more working to live. In conversations with friends I heard the same awakening to a new kind of awareness, where time for yourself and connection with others take priority again.

For me, the Bustronaut is an invitation to explore life and this Earth in every detail, together with anyone who wants to travel along. That’s why I keep learning, writing and sharing, so every journey becomes an invitation to wonder.