In "Taking Off. My Adventures as a Pilot and Globe-Trotter," Ingrid Hopman looks back on her eventful life and recalls her childhood during the war without her own father and growing up with five siblings, her mother, and her stepfather during the hardship of the post-war years. As a curious young woman, she seized the profession of an anesthesiology nurse and later found joy in traveling, sailing, and sports, but above all in flying small aircraft around the world, fulfilling her thirst for experience. The book also reports on dark hours, anxious moments, and the painful loss of loved ones. A story about the unshakable love for life, boundless curiosity, and the value of friendship and family.