One single phone call led to a series of life changing steps for one local woman. She tells her tale in One Suitcase, 1000 Stories

Cyprus, for more than four decades, has been home to Elisabeth Villiger Toufexis. But long before settling on the island, she had embarked on a journey that would eventually take her to more than 100 countries.

Now, the Swiss-born author shares her experiences in the form of One Suitcase, 1000 Stories, a book based on lessons, encounters and adventures inspired by decades spent exploring the globe. For years, she was encouraged by her friends and family to record those experiences in writing; however, she always felt that it was something she would do “one day”.

But as the years passed, she realised she had collected not just memories, but also thousands of stories and valuable lessons from around the world. “I didn’t want those memories to remain only in my head,” she says. “This felt like the right time to share them and hopefully inspire others to say yes to adventure and to life itself”.

Villiger Toufexis’ love for travelling began long before her decision to write a book. At 16, she took her first flight, with her aunt, an experience she still remembers vividly.

“It opened a door to a much bigger world and ignited my curiosity,” she says. “At the time, I never imagined those journeys would become a book. I was simply living my adventures one day at a time. Looking back now, I realise I was unknowingly collecting chapters”.

That curiosity eventually led her to pursue work as a tour guide. At 19, when she could not apply to any of the Swiss tour companies since she was below the minimum age requirement, she placed a two line advertisement in a Swiss women’s magazine. The advertisement received just one response: a call from the owner of a travel agency in Rhodes. Soon, she found herself heading to the Greek island, beginning what would become a very different chapter of her life.

Elisabeth and her new book

“I had one phone call with the owner of the agency and travelled there without really knowing what I was getting myself into,” she says.

That simple decision, she says, changed the course of her life. At the time, she had little idea that a simple advertisement and a single phone call would lead to decades of travel, countless stories and eventually a book inspired by those experiences.

After decades of travelling, Villiger Toufexis says the greatest lessons she learnt had little to do with geography and everything to do with people. “Travel has taught me humility,” she says. “The more of the world I saw, the more I realised how small a role I play in it.”

Having encountered people from a wide variety of cultures during her travels, ...

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Your book is a bible! A punch to fuel energy, self confidence and encourage many leaps of faith!

Although it’s a travel story telling text, to me it is more than that: between the lines it’s a guide and self help to dare, to try, to expand, to uplift self esteem, to cultivate determination and to grab life like no tomorrow!
THANK YOU
Even more proud of you than never before! You honour this shitty country more than the natives ever will!