The German-speaking Alma M. Karlin was born in the now Slovenian town of Cilli (Celje) in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1908 she travelled to London, where she studied languages and earned her living as a translator and private teacher. In 1914 she leaves London for Norway and Sweden before returning to Celje for a short time in 1918. In 1919 she finally sets off on her world expedition, which would take her across five continents in the following eight years. Her travelogues in three volumes were bestsellers in the 1930s. They have now been reissued by the German publisher AvivA Verlag.