I’ve been to London a couple of times already, nevertheless I see myself as the typical tourist; I’m still shocked with supermarket prices, I still find driving in a red double-decker bus totally cool, I have no idea how to re-load my Oyster card and I still find the underground system complete frightening…

Still, London is one of the greatest mega cities with an amazingly diverse culture scene. Including the outer suburbs, it’s one of the largest capitals in the world, therefore visiting for a weekend can give you a real headache, when thinking of all the things you’d like to do. Well, you just gotta lower your sights; relax and slow down a little. You need to realise that you won’t be able to see it all.

I’d like to give you a couple of tips (from tourist to tourist) for a great London experience:

Drop the tube and just walk: As I said, I think the underground in London is frightening. Sure, it’s also one of the most extensive and frequent underground systems in the world, but you’ll experience so much more just by strolling around. Of course it always depend where you are and were you want to go, but as a tourist, you’ll (mostly) stick around the main attractions anyway.

Stay off the main roads: As it is in every city, the main roads are always packed with people and traffic. This can be nerve racking, so stroll around the side streets and I guarantee that you’ll come across some great little shops, cafés, buildings, parks and so on. One of the best things about London are all the different neighbourhoods and how quickly you can move between areas of very different types.

Don’t stress: As said before, you won’t be able to see every bit of London. Rather than rushing from one sight tot he next, take your time to enjoy London’s neighbourhoods, because there’s nothing worse than being stressed on vacation.

Be a tourist: Don’t be embarrassed if you want to go to “touristy” things … that’s totally cool. During my first visit to London, I actually felt more touristy than ever before (partly because I’ve also never seen to many tourist on one spot in any other city before) and I didn’t like it at all. But during my second and third visit, I realised that it’s fine and even Londoners like doing touristy things from time to time.

Check out Where to Stay in London: The Ultimate Sightseeing Guide to complete your London experience.

1.) Tell us a little bit about yourself and how your passion for travelling started.

I’m a 24 year old Dutchman, stuck between the United Kingdom, Netherlands & China. I only really started travelling when I left high school at 18. Backpacked through China for a year, worked in China for a year, and took up my university studies in the UK, before setting off to do my own things (i.e. travel & be funemployed). Have been a professional expat for 6 years now, and have not managed to quit.

2.) When did you decide to hit the road? Was it hard to take that step? What preparations and arrangements did you have to make during the planning period?

I started with a ‘simple’ backpacking trip on my own. I booked a flight, packed my bags, said my goodbyes, and was on my way. Somehow it really wasn’t that tough.
 And if my 18 year old self could travel through Asia alone, any wisdom gained along the way must surely rub off on future trips. I feel preparation and planning can easily ruin a great adventure. They also sell toothbrushes overseas.

3.) Where & how do you celebrate Christmas?

With my family in the Netherlands, or with my girlfriend in the UK. But always with people I love.

4.) How do you stay in touch with family and friends? Do you write postcards?

I haven’t the discipline and decency to send nearly enough postcards. I’ve always found travelling a very personal experience, and normally go off the radar for weeks on end, whilst on the road. In fact, I’d say I’m pretty bad at staying in touch. But email, twitter, facebook & Skype are normally the first beacons of communication I use when I resurface.

5.) Are you planning on traveling for the rest of your life or would you like to settle down sometime (by settling down we mean finding a place to come home to)?

I would like to settle down, but not for another few years/decades. I now consider London to be my home base, until moving on to the next city. My travels normally consist of slightly longer periods in the same place, and that suits me, for now.

6.) If you could choose one city/country for living, which one would it be? Please give us a little explanation (weather, people, etc.).

I’d have to go with Shanghai. Despite the smog and general unhealthiness of the city, it exudes an air of excitement and opportunity I have yet to find anywhere else. And the food is exquisite. As are the people.

7.) Where are you right now and how did you get there?

In London. I landed here after my degree in Political Economy at Birmingham, mostly because the people closest to me moved here. And my (British) girlfriend is here for her university degree. 
I’m running a startup in London, but there’s a good prospect I may move again next year. Figuring out where the people you love prefer spending their time has become a litmus test for where to go next.

8.) Travelling is expensive … so how do you get from A to B?

Budget airlines, crash on couches, and combine work with pleasure. And if all else fails, just hitchhike or borrow a bicycle (although for a Dutchman, I’m exceptionally bad at the latter).

9.) Do you use a travel guide (Lonely Planet, etc.)? If so, please tell us which one … if not, why?

I used to, far more than I do today. I’ve found social media to be a superior source for travel tips. However, Rough Guides and Lonely Planets are still solid authorities on how to make the most out of your time travelling. 
Then again, just setting off, without a plan, has proven to be the most fun and rewarding, time and time again.

10.) What does a perfect day on your trip look like? What season is it? Are you inside or outdoors? Are you in a city or in the middle of nowhere?

I’d be in Asia, out of the city, with great company, food, drink and sights. It would probably be spring, as it would be too hot otherwise, and I would most definitely spend the day outside. Whether I’d be at the beach, or in the desert, as long as I’m surrounded by nice people and good food, I’m sure I’ll be fine. :)
Perhaps hit up Dunhuang for some stunning desert views, sled down some sand dunes, stroll along the Crescent Lake and cool down in the Mogao Caves.

11.) Name three spots from your last adventure, which you’d probably not find in a guidebook but you could recommend to travellers. Tell us what’s special about them.

London (I tried to stick to 3 spots, but got carried away…):

1) East London:  You can still get proper jellied eels here, as well as exceptionally friendly (and hard to understand) locals. A few areas in East London have been somewhat gentrified, but several (Hoxton, Bethnal Green) still retains much of their original charm and character.
Take the Dockland Light Railway (DLR) towards the Thames Barrier Park & London City Airport to get a glimpse of Canary Wharf and the Docklands. Cheap ride with stunning views along the Thames.

2) Markets: Borough, Columbia Road, Brockley, Billingsgate, Brick Lane, Broadway, Covent Garden, Spitalfields – just to name a few. All offer different views of the unique combinations and contradictions that define London. Pick up some excellent Monmouth coffee on Borough Market, a rabbit for a roast in Brockley, fresh cut flowers on Columbia Road, vintage Beatles t-shirt on Brick Lane, or some oysters at Broadway.

3) Regent’s Canal: the cafes and restaurants along this canal are some of the best in the East End. With canoeists paddling by, enjoy a coffee and the best view of the East London hipsters whizzing by on their bikes.

4) St James’s Park: despite this spot being in every guide book, it remains an all-time favourite. Have a picnic in the park on Sunday, spot the rarest birds taking a dip, and feed the squirrels of course. Definitely a classic guide book choice, and for a very good reason. Buckingham Palace and Westminster are just around the corner.

5) Late night openings at London museums/galleries: some of London’s most famous sights remain open till late. There really is nothing quite like snooping around the Natural History Museum after-hours. Most venues have talks, live music, drinks/snacks, and remain free..

Walk everywhere. The Underground is a great experience, but you risk missing out on the amazing sights and atmosphere you’d experience walking down London’s streets. Pick up an A-Z Map and you’ll be well on your way.

12.) Where & how do you write your blog articles? Do you start with a rough draft or get right to it?

With work being a tad busy, I have to write blog posts on the go (on my phone mostly). I tend to tweet a lot more than I blog, as it provides me with more interaction and more free time. I have started drafting blog posts and tweets recently, which has resulted in better work and more refined thoughts. It’s hard to do that though, especially with very current topics…

13.) What’s your favorite local dish? Where does it come from? Can you cook it & what are the main ingredients?

It’s very hard to beat a full English breakfast. Definitely not the healthiest option, but the undisputedly best way to start a Saturday/Sunday. I prefer my eggs poached, bacon crispy, and hash browns, mushrooms and baked beans on the side. Sausages and black pudding are not indispensable for me, but are great additions. As are grilled tomatoes or bubble and squeak.
This is such a classic hearty meal, that it’s become the daily staple of many hardworking/boozy Londoners. I’m not very good at cooking it, but the main ingredients are widely available.

14.) How much does 1 liter (or one gallon) of milk and petrol cost today?

Approximately £0.80 ($1.25/€1) for 1L of milk & £1.30 per litre of petrol

15.) On which device to you answer this questionnaire and what shoes are you wearing (if possible please add a picture )?

My 2008 white MacBook, barefoot! I’m currently working from home
(in my living room or on our tiny balcony), on a laptop that has served me well for over 4 years. Bought in Hong Kong and still runs like a charm. I’m normally barefoot around the house, and with the London summer starting just in time for the Olympics, I can wear my flip-flops more often as well.

16.) Last but not least: What does “home” mean to you?

The more I travel, and the more time I spend abroad and away from my family, the less I know where,when or how to expect to come ‘home’. I’ve noticed I’m starting to feel ‘at home’ in places that seem entirely unrelated to where I’m from, who I think I am, or what I think is important in my life. Increasingly, I find myself ‘at home’ out of my house, with people I didn’t know a few years ago, and in a language I didn’t grow up in.
Home is not a place, it’s a state of mind.

Want to be a part of this series?

If you want to be a part of our series, just go to the “Home Sweet Home” article and download the appropriate questionnaire. We’d really like to read your stories :)

Participants so far:

#1: Ulli Maier
#2: Nisa Maier
#3: Shvyia Nath
#4: Rika Huang
#5: Yvonne Zagermann
#6: Dario Endara
#7: Frankie Thompson
#8: Roy van den Bos
#9: Monica Stott
#10: Doris Neubauer
#11: Amanda Slavinsky
#12: Edna
#13: Casper Oppenhuis de Jong
#14: Ashley Abroad
#15: Inma Gregorio

The glass and steel structure of the Shard is 310 meters high with 95 floors. At night, a laser show will be projected from the building (I guess they copied Hong Kong’s Symphony of Lights), connecting it with other major landmarks of London.

The inauguration yesterday marked the completion of the exterior while work on the inside is expected to continue into 2013. Then it will be another great tourist attraction … but honestly, would you pay 25 Pounds for a lift up to the top? For Londoners this prize may not shock you but I think it’s a bloody rip off! Same with the Eye. But if you want to see London from above, face the fact that you’ll have to dig deep into your pocket.

But not everyone if fond of the buildings futuristic silhouette … Some even say that „the Shard has slashed the face of London“. What do you think?

The Shard is also referred to as the Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge and formerly London Bridge Tower. It’s an 87-storey skyscraper in London that forms part of the London Bridge Quarter development.

The Shard’s construction began in March 2009; it was topped out on 30 March 2012 and inaugurated on 5 July 2012. Practical completion was achieved in November 2012.

From June 2 to June 5, the Queen celebrated 60 years as Monarch. We’ve all heard of it, we’ve all seen the pictures. I’m sure that almost no one was able to tune out of last weekends Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the river Thames. In case – for whatever reason – you’ve been able to stay away from the celebration, here’s a cool 90 seconds-video by Ben Begley.

The bus also brings you to Paddington Station in London.

After settling in a bit, we started exploring the area. The area in the evening is completely quiet – no tourists at all, which is nice for a change since London is packed with visitors. We found an open Tesco supermarket, and decided to get something there. We simply didn’t want to spend time in restaurants since we only had 36 hours…

Strolling around the streets of London at night.

In the morning it was “hop, hop – out of bed”; a quick instant coffee and off we were. After walking a bit, we passed some people sleeping in card boards in quiet corners and realized that this is the true reality, even in a big first world country. Not everybody is a lucky one nowadays to have a roof over their head.

The Portobello Market (which as mentioned was just around the corner from our hotel) just started getting busier; merchants slowly arrived and  only  jet-lagged visitors were already there. Coffeehouses were open already and after walking up and down a little, we sat down for a breakfast in a very nice café with a Jamaican lady(boy) who served us.

One of many little shop at Portobello market, London.

Portobello Market really has something for everybody. We fell in love with an unusual table but with the limited baggage of 15 kg it was not meant to be :( The vibes were absolutely great but since we only had a limited time in the city, we continued by taxi to another spot, which is well-known yet mostly only visited by hardcore Beatles fans: Abbey Road footpath. The footpath on the cover of an Beatles album from 1969. If you happen to live in this area (and maybe even have to pass Abbey Road quite often), one needs to be very very patient … there’s always someone who wants to cross the footpath of Abbey Road and get a picture taken. Of course, we had to do the same :)

After done with this, we took the underground from St.John’s Wood to London Bridge and strolled along the River Thames towards Tower Bridge. We passed the HMS Belfast – a warship from WW2 – which is a museum nowadays, but is closed due to renovation. Anyway, as you probably know, Tower Bridge is one of the landmarks of London. In the vicinity of Tower Bridge are some of the most famous modern buildings in Europe. For example, architects Norman Fosters’ award wining construction, the 30 St. Mary Axe (also known as the “Egg” or “Gherkin”).

30 St. Mary Axe in London.

Tower Bridge in London.

We walked up to Liverpool Street station and continued further to Brick Lane with its multicultural cafes, restaurants, little shops and thrift stores. We came across some sort of huge warehouse, where food-stalls from around the world had their delicacies to offer; we decided to have some Ethiopian dish for late lunch. One  plate for 4 Pounds & it tasted absolutely delightful … even in London you do find some great food for little money.

A colorful ABC wall in London.

It was about 4pm when we decided that it was time for another bus trip to have a bit of a break without a great interruption. So we took the bus to London Bridge. From there we walked up to Tate Gallery, which is a pleasant stroll along the river where we passed the Replica ship of Sir Francis Drake. We crossed Millennium Bridge from Tate Gallery towards St. Paul’s Cathedral and walked upriver until Westminster Bridge. We left our the London Eye since the tickets were ridiculously expensive. By that time, we were already so exhausted, that we took a bus to High Street Kensington and walked through Kensington Garden towards our hotel … London’s parks are so beautiful and quiet, you almost feel like in the countryside. With a couple of snacks in our bags, we crashed into our room and stayed there until the next day.

London eye ferris wheel.

Early the next morning, we were already on our way back to the airport. In 36 hours we (clearly) didn’t get the change to see all of London’s sights. We left out Buckingham Palace, missed Westminster Abbey and didn’t see Downing Street … but all in all, it was an amazing trip and not seeing everything is good anyway because then we’ll simply have to come back again :)

1.) Tell us a little bit about yourself and how your passion for travelling started.

I’m a 24 year old British gal, currently living in London and working for gap year site, Gap Daemon. I’m also studying to become a journalist.

My love for travelling started when I was really young. Even as a little kid I would scour travel magazines and drool over all the gorgeous photos. My mum also worked abroad a lot and I loved going to the airport to pick her up – I loved the buzz and excitement from people jetting off to exciting places.

2.) Where is home?

Although I live in London, home will always be in North Wales where I grew up with my parents.

3.) How did you get there? Have you lived there all your life, moved there because of College or just fell in love with the city/town on one of your trips?

We moved there from Manchester when I was six. My parents have a beautiful house in the countryside and I love going back there whenever I get the chance. Living in London really makes me appreciate being in the countryside, having a nice big garden and being surrounded by fields and streams, rivers and forests.

4.) What does your living situation look like? Give us a brief description (city or countryside, apartment or house, messy or neat-freak, roomies, pets, plants etc.)

I live with 5 other girls in Wimbledon. I love Wimbledon because it’s so close to central London but it has a village feel with nice bars, cafes, restaurants and the huge Wimbledon Common where I like to for long walks. Our house is quite big with a nice big garden and it’s lovely at the minute because we have daffodils and snowdrops sprouting up.

I’m not the tidiest person in the world but fortunately my housemates are so during the week it is nice and tidy. The weekend is a completely different matter when we have friends to stay and do lots of cooking.

5.) What’s your favorite spot in your apartment or house & why?

Definitely the kitchen. I’m pretty bad a cooking but I love giving it a go and this is the room where we all congregate, have a glass of wine and chat about our day. It’s always really warm in the kitchen too so it’s a nice place to be on a cold winters day.

6.) Do you prefer books or movies (plus what’s your favorite one)?

Definitely books because you can add a little bit of your own personality to the story. I have loads of favourite books but some of my faves are Shadow of the Wind, Great Expectations, The Time Travellers Wife and The Beach by Alex Garland which first inspired me to travel when I was about 11.

7.) Where & how do you write your blog articles? Do you start with a rough draft or get right to it?

I usually get an idea at the most inconvenient time, like just before I fall asleep, but I have to get up and write it down in rough or I can’t get to sleep. I prefer to write things the old fashioned way with a notepad and pen – I find everything flows a bit better this way. I’m also getting better at writing stuff on the train. I spent over an hour every day on the tube so I try to make the most out of that time and get some writing done.

8.) What does a perfect day in your hometown look like? What season is it? Are you inside or outdoors? Do you hang out with friends or family?

I actually love every season. Spring is beautiful when the blossom comes out and there are little lambs hopping around all the fields. I love the summer when it’s warm and sunny and the fields are filled with corn as high as your head and I have BBQ’s with my friends next to the river.

The autumn is the best season for going for long walks in the forest when every tree is a different colour and then I love to get wrapped up warm in the winter and sit by the fire.

I like to be outside as often as I can and I split my time between friends and family.

9.) Name three spots in your hometown, which you’d probably not find in a guidebook but you could recommend to travellers. Tell us what’s special about them.

1.) Amber Lounge: This is a bar in Chester and is one of my favourite. It’s in one of Chester’s oldest buildings so there’s lots of little cave like rooms and bigger spaces where DJs play.

2.) Telford’s Warehouse : A bar/restaurant/club next to the canal in Chester and is great for food, drinks or a full on party.

3.) The Crocky Trail: This is meant to be a kid’s day out but it’s so much fun I still go with my friends now. It’s one of the only places that hasn’t been hit by health and safety rules and it’s a ridiculously muddy, swampy path that leads through the forest. There are ropes and swings and obstacle courses but the main attraction is a 30ft mud slide. It’s a great day out but expect to go home with a bruise or two!

10.) What’s your favorite local dish (if you have one in your country/town, please tell us which one)? Can you cook it & what are the main ingredients?

I think hotpot is a good old fashioned northern dish and my housemates and I used to cook this all the time when we were in uni and running low on money. We’d basically get all the leftovers from the fridge, stick a tin of corned beef in it, a few cubes of vegetable stock then boil it up in a pot and a few hours later you’ve got a hotpot!

11.) How much does 1 liter (or one gallon) of milk and petrol cost today?

I have no idea. Too much. I’m not much good at stuff like that. I know it costs me £45 to fill my car and about £30 for a weekly shop but I barely ever look at the individual prices of things. This is probably where I should mention that I’m rubbish at budget backpacking!

12.) Where are you right now, on which device to you answer this questionnaire and what shoes are you wearing (if possible please add a picture)?

I’m on the train right now on my way home from work at Gap Daemon. I’m typing on my iPad and I’m wearing a snuggly pair of Ugg boots. They’re new so they’re still all soft and fluffy – perfect for keeping my toes warm during the horrible British winter.

13.) Last but not least: What does “home” mean to you?

Home is the place I go to when I need to relax. It’s where my mum and dad are always waiting with open arms. Where the fridge is filled with all my favourite food (and wine). Where there’s a cozy blanket on the sofa that I can curl up under for as long as I want. It’s where my dog is always waiting for me, ready to greet me like I’m the most important person in the world.

Home for me is a place filled with happy memories of growing up climbing trees, riding bikes, camping in the garden, making dens under the dining room table, having sleepovers with my friends and drunkenly sneaking into the house in the early hours of the morning.

Want to be a part of this series?

If you want to be a part of our series, just go to the “Home Sweet Home” article and download the appropriate questionnaire. We’d really like to read your stories :)

Participants so far:

#1: Ulli Maier
#2: Nisa Maier
#3: Shvyia Nath
#4: Rika Huang
#5: Yvonne Zagermann
#6: Dario Endara
#7: Frankie Thompson
#8: Roy van den Bos
#9: Monica Stott
#10: Doris Neubauer
#11: Amanda Slavinsky
#12: Edna
#13: Casper Oppenhuis de Jong
#14: Ashley Abroad
#15: Inma Gregorio

1.) Tell us a little bit about yourself and how your passion for travelling started.

I’ve never not loved to travel. It’s always been a question of when and where, not if. My first trip overseas was as a chubby one year-old baby to Bordeaux in France where friends of my parents were staying. (I’m the dark haired baby and the blonde baby girl next to me is now one of my best friends and was the flat mate I left behind when I left London.)

 2.) When did you decide to hit the road? Was it hard to take that step? What preparations and arrangements did you have to make during the planning period?

My boyfriend, who I call NewMan, and I made the decision to leave our lovely London lives to go travelling long-term in the summer of 2011, though we’d been discussing it for many months before. It was much harder to make the decision to go than anything else because we had great lives in London and it’s where my family and friends live. Yet once the decision was made, preparing to leave was comparatively easy. It was simply a matter of maximizing the time we had by planning our journey, packing up what we needed and selling or donating what we didn’t. The hardest part was saying goodbye to our friends and families and I found leaving my flat and suburb of West London, Shepherd’s Bush (which I used to blog about) very hard.

3.) Where & how do you celebrate Christmas?

One of the reasons we went travelling was because NewMan is from Australia. So spending Christmas with his Mum and brother was long overdue and was the focal point of our trip, especially for me as I’ve never met his mother before! So for Christmas Day we were on the North Coast of New South Wales in Australia in the sunshine. We swam and played in his Mum’s pool, had not one but two BBQs and played Trivial Pursuit as we drank ice cold beer. It was a great Christmas and I think I passed in her eyes!

4.) How do you stay in touch with family and friends? Do you write postcards?

Skype truly does make 10,000s of miles disappear and I speak to my nearest and dearest at home online fairly regularly. There is also of course Facebook, Twitter and emails. But yes I do write postcards. I love writing postcards and have been told many, many times on this trip how lovingly they have been received so I will always continue to do so.

5.) Are you planning on travelling for the rest of your life or would you like to settle down sometime (by settling down we mean finding a place to come home to)?

At the moment we have an end date for our current trip (March) and after a brief period of time at my parents’ place reminding them why they shouldn’t miss us so much, we will head off again on an as yet undecided journey with no end date. But, yes, one day I do think I would like to settle down somewhere, the problem is I don’t yet know where; I’m still searching…

6.) If you could choose one city/country for living, which one would it be? Please give us a little explanation (weather, people, etc.).

With reference to my last answer the problem isn’t so much that I’ haven’t found what I’m looking for, it’s more the case that I can’t narrow it down. And if I’m honest I enjoy the search too much. So to answer your question I couldn’t choose just one country but I will give you one of the many countries I could easily live in, which I probably don’t need to explain; Italy. Despite their sky high bureaucratic hurdles and funny old ways of doing things Italians will always get the following right by me; food, wine, fashion, family, cars and gelato. It’s a truly beautiful country.

7.) Where are you right now and how did you get there?

I’m currently in Melbourne, Australia. This is the last stop in our month and a half long tour of my boyfriend’s home country. It’s been an adventure in all the best ways – personally, emotionally, geographically and physically. We flew in from South East Asia, where we were for two months travelling around and falling in love with Thailand.

8.) Travelling is expensive … so how do you get from A to B?

One of the key elements in our decision to go travelling long term was that we could support ourselves on the move. NewMan’s job has always allowed this (he is a web developer, and a jolly good one at that and also runs his own online business), but my career was initially less flexible. So I saved as much as I could and I prepared as much as I could for changing my career so that freelancing and remote working was possible and though we’re not rolling in money we have been able to support ourselves by working while travelling and I hope this can continue for as long as we choose it.

9.) Do you use a travel guide (Lonely Planet, etc.)? If so, please tell us which one … if not, why?

Though I’ll read them if I stumble across one, I have never bought a Lonely Planet guide. I rely primarily on word of mouth, blogs, forums and Twitter for travel advice. For me it is therefore important to ensure my blog provides valuable and honest information about what to do in places but to not bombard people with specific “How to Guides”. The best travel advice should be informative but open-ended. You should always make up your own mind when it comes to travel; it’s your journey.

10.) What does a perfect day on your trip look like? What season is it? Are you inside or outdoors? Are you in a city or in the middle of nowhere?

The sun is shining and the sky is blue. As I step outside of the old town house I am staying in I fill my lungs with air that is fresh yet full with the smell of just cooked bread. I walk down a narrow, winding old alleyway, which opens up to a view of the water. I consider taking a swim, I consider continuing my walk, I consider buying some of that fresh bread but instead I stop and treasure that very moment and the freedom I feel.

The rest of the day will be spent under the sun or in the water debating equally easy decisions and photographing the world around me.

11.) Name three spots from your last adventure, which you’d probably not find in a guidebook but you could recommend to travellers. Tell us what’s special about them.

Our last adventure has been an extended month long road trip down the east coast of Australia from Brisbane to Melbourne, stopping in Sydney for two weeks along the way. I have tried to do as much as possible in each place we stopped at and the following have stood out as places or things I enjoyed that I heard about from word of mouth or discovered for myself:

1.) Walking on the waves at Coffs Harbour.
In NewMan’s mother’s home town as we walked along the jetty and beach we could see some that some of the concrete blocks of the man made sea break in the distance were painted in bright primary colours and so we went to investigate. Little did we know that this walk along the break meant dodging the crashing waves which creep over the side and soak you as you go. It was the best unexpected fun!

2.) Hyde Park Barracks Museum in Sydney.
The history of the convicts’ arrivals in Sydney and across Australia is a fascinating one and this museum housed in a purpose built barracks for convicts artfully and tenderly captures the history and personal stories.

3.) Eden.
Eight hours south of Sydney is a small town called Eden, which was the home of whaling in Australia for 100 years until 1930s. The Eden Killer Whale Museum and a handful of beautiful old buildings dotted around the town tell a unique story, all overlooking Twofold Bay, a beautiful natural harbour.

12.) Where & how do you write your blog articles? Do you start with a rough draft or get right to it?

I write wherever and whenever I can; on my phone, on a scrap of paper, on my laptop, in the notebook that never leaves my side. I’ve written blog posts on the beach, in airports and on planes, but though I make notes at the time I don’t always write up my experiences immediately. When I’m exploring a new town or sight I try not to think too much about what or how I’m going to blog about the place, but rather experience it in the moment and absorb it all and then later, sometimes as much as a month later I’ll write about what I saw and felt. Sometimes this will stay as a draft until I feel it’s the right time to publish it, but other times I just go ahead and publish immediately because I feel the story needs to be told right away.

13.) What’s your favorite local dish? Where does it come from? Can you cook it & what are the main ingredients?

In Australia I have to say that they live up to their reputation as the home of a great brunch. Up and down the east coast I’ve not been disappointed at all by delicious eggs, crispy corn cakes and fresh, fruity Bircher museli. As to whether I can cook it all or not, well possibly not like they do I’m having fun learning some tips by taste.

14.) How much does 1 liter (or one gallon) of milk and petrol cost today?

I can tell you that in Australia a litre of milk costs around $2.00 Australian Dollars, which shocked me, but I have no idea what the price of a litre of petrol is this is always priced in gallons (which is roughly around $1.40).

15.) On which device to you answer this questionnaire and what shoes are you wearing (if possible please add a picture)?

I am writing this on my beloved Macbook, barefoot.

16.) Last but not least: What does “home” mean to you?

This last trip has taught me more than any other that “home” is a feeling more than a place. It is wherever you feel content and at ease with yourself and the immediate world around you. Of course, it also has a lot to do with the company you keep and in many ways a person can give you much more of a sense of home than a place or building can.

In terms of a physical place that I call home, it is and always will be London.

Want to be a part of this series?

If you want to be a part of our series, just go to the “Home Sweet Home” article and download the appropriate questionnaire. We’d really like to read your stories :)

Participants so far:

#1: Ulli Maier
#2: Nisa Maier
#3: Shvyia Nath
#4: Rika Huang
#5: Yvonne Zagermann
#6: Dario Endara
#7: Frankie Thompson
#8: Roy van den Bos
#9: Monica Stott
#10: Doris Neubauer
#11: Amanda Slavinsky
#12: Edna
#13: Casper Oppenhuis de Jong
#14: Ashley Abroad
#15: Inma Gregorio