February.

Oman: The year started off with a visit to a country new to us. We only had 8 full days in Oman, yet we managed quite well: We spent a few days in Muscat and then we were off on a 4×4 road trip through Jebel Akhdar. Our travel here made such an impression that we’ll return again in February 2015.

Sabres in Muscat, Oman.

Australia: Australia is my second home. I don’t know how many times I’ve been Down Under, but two hands are definitely not enough to count. Part of our family lives in the most amazing city Sydney, which makes things a lot easier. It’s been almost 5 years since my last visit, so it was long overdue. Plus it was my starting point for my two months time-out.

Sydney, Wellington and Vienna – my three favourite cities (to live in), with Sydney on top.

March.

United Arab Emirates: Due to a personal matter, I had to interrupt my time-out for a few days and fly back home. After only 48 hours in Vienna, my journey started again with a 3 day stop-over in Dubai.

The Dubai Marina is is an artificial canal city, built along a stretch of the Persian Gulf shoreline.

New Zealand: A visit to New Zealand has been a dream of mine since I listened to my uncle’s stories. He travelled through NZ for more than 4 months many years ago. And ever since I saw the first part of the LOTR trilogy, it was clear that I had to see this beautiful country for myself. It only took 12 years for me to finally do so. And it was the most amazing one-month road trip I could ever imagine…

Every single stop on my New Zealand road trip was a highlight, yet Milford Track – with a cruise at Milford Sound at the end – was an adventure I will never forget.

May.

Italy: Trapani in Sicily is an important fishing port and the main gateway to the nearby Aegadian Islands. And it was our travel destination last May.

Much of Trapani’s economy still depends on the sea. Fishing and canning are the main local industries.

June.

Italy: Austria lies in the Central Europe, which is very convenient – especially if you’re a travel addict and have 4 days to spare. South Tyrol (the area around Antholzer Lake to be exact) was on our agenda for a long weekend. This meant that we’d go on a road trip through the Austrian Alps, which was something we’ve wanted to do for a long time as well.

The landscape around Austria’s highest mountain – the Grossglockner – even blew us Austrians away…

July.

Bangladesh: Bangladesh is definitely one of the most intriguing places one could ever visit. And also one of the most adventurous! It was our second trip within three years and we can honestly say that Bangladesh has become one of our favourite travel destinations, with Dhaka as an exciting city as a gateway.

Our human hands are unique. Only we can grasp, hold, move, and manipulate objects with them. Hands are essential for any kind of work. Here you can see the hands of a blind woman begging in the streets of Dhaka. It almost feels like she knows how much money has just been given her…

Thailand: Bangkok was just a stop-over point, but if it’s on the list, then we spend at least a couple of days here. Thailand’s capital city is one of our favourite for exploring markets … and as you know, markets are our favourite shooting place, therefore it was a real paradise.

Khlong Toei Market is Bangkok’s biggest fresh market and you will find almost anything you need here.

August.

China: Good old China is a must at least once every year. Visiting the Honghe Hani rice terraces in Yunnan and the Guoliang Tunnel Road in Henan were two travel highlights of the year.

A local Chinese smoking a pipe in the old town of Xinjie, Henan Province.

The Netherlands: Travelling to Amsterdam for the Canal Pride was something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And therefore, it was yet another first in 2014. The spirit and energy you could feel in the city – not only during Pride week – is something I’ll think about for many years to come.

The Prinsengracht in Amsterdam is one of the most well-known Gracht’s and the heart of the Canal Pride Parade.

October.

Hong Kong: Futuristic architecture, a breathtaking skyline, amazing cuisine combined with traditional Chinese culture is what describes Hong Kong best. To name just a few of the things we did here: By accident stepping into the centre of the Umbrella Movement, drinking a few cocktails at one of Hong Kong’s most well-known rooftop bars, exploring the several wet markets around the city and finding the balance between tradition and modernity. Loved it!

Hong Kong is a colourful city full of culture, tradition and trendiness.

China: Three days in Guangzhou are definitely not enough, since we’re talking about the third largest city in China, yet time was limited and therefore we made the most out of it.

Chinese men playing a game of Mahjong in the streets of Guangzhou.

December.

France: It was yet again a long weekend that brought us to Paris at the beginning of December. One might think that 36 hours is not a long time, but if you’re on a mission and know where to go, you’ll see more than you thought you could.

Paris is a city for every season. Here with its landmark the Eiffel Tower.

I was born on April 27th, 1986. My parents were travel enthusiasts and one would think that a baby would settle them down a little. Well, not the kind of parents I have. And thank God for that, because my journey began straight out of the maternity ward…

Africa – How It All Started.

My parents were fixing up their Unimog to convert it into a mini-apartment for one of their long-term African adventure – this time with me in tow. The truck would become our home for the next year (or so), so things needed to be in place for the journey to start. I quickly adjusted to the fact that my sandpit would become the Sahara desert, that my toys came out of the toolbox and that I would take my first steps between jerry cans, spare parts and sand sheets.

So we set off to Africa on a truly remarkable journey, and I was right in the middle all the time – not only because my place was mainly in the baby capsule in the middle front seat but also because I opened a lot of doors with my baby smile; even the grimmest custom officers, check-point soldiers or police chiefs couldn’t resist me :D It was always “baby first“.

I never got sick and mum had 800 nappies packed in the trunk. Actually, we had all the fun in the sun, 24 hours together with both parents – a rare privilege for a child.

By the age of one, I had 15 countries under my wings.

Those were the good times…

Back To Civilisation – but not for long.

Back in civilisation, the longing for travelling prevailed and it didn’t take long until we flew to Malaysia. This was the time when walkmans just conquered the market – omg how cool was that?! Now, even the longest, roughest bus rides through Sarawak didn’t bother me at all. It was “Bibi Blocksberg” or “Fünf Freunde” all day long. Mum also bought my first bike there – not only to speed things up (after all I was only four years old) but also to make me happy because I hated walking for hours. I was certainly the first Western kid cycling through Kota Kinabalu. We had a couple of rules like “Always stop in front of a street” or “Don’t run anyone over (not even a chicken)” and this worked really well for both of us.

Mum Knowns Best.

Yup, mum’s definitely do know best. She knew how to handle every situation, or how to keep me busy…

Giddyup Down Under.

We continued to Australia. And since Down Under is cattle country, I was on a horse by the age of five. It was mum’s idea to become a Jillaroo, so living on a farm in N.S.W. was not a problem any more. We adjusted well and blended in like all the others.

Busy Bangkok.

Bangkok train station was hot, humid and busy and we had to get tickets. While mum disappeared through the crowds, I stayed put with (or better on) our luggage. She told me that I had to ‘protect’ the bags and made a game out of it so that I would really watch out. In case someone wanted to grab them – or me – I should just start screaming. I looked pretty grim and nobody tried to steal anything after all.

Bangkok held another incident for us. I once got lost in the toy section of a shopping centre. I didn’t notice it at all, but in the meantime my mother frantically alerted the entire staff and they announced through speakers that a little blond girl was missing. After one hour they found me; I was happily playing in a changing room & mum almost had a heart attack.

At a market in Bangkok.

Sri Lanka.

We climbed Adam’s Peak and stayed at Brown’s Beach Hotel in Yala for a while. All the local kids listened to my command :D Sand, waves and sun – perfect!

Back in the days, a “white” kid was still a real attraction…

Indonesia, my second home.

School stopped travelling for a while, but mum decided it was time to learn some proper English. So she simply took me our of elementary school and decided to hit the road again. Down Under is was once more. Getting there took quite a few of months, because Indonesia was en route. All my friends where going to school back home, and I was studying on a remote island; cycling for PE lesson, Maths in the hammock and German under the stars – not too bad if you ask me :) And of course, the island kids where curiously watching as always. Oh and I’ll tell you, mum was definitely a tough teacher!

Beside the day to day school work, I learned how to fish and how to survive in a remote place, without modern gadgets of any kind. While my friends at home teased their pets, I targeted the Komodo Dragons with a slingshot … yeah, those where the good times for sure!

In Togean Islands, I had my first diving experience when dad went down to 20m depth with me in tow (just one octopus and one bottle of oxygen). Fun for me, but mum on the surface simply freaked out and tried to harpoon dad after getting me out of the water. Imagine all the Indonesian gloating over our family dispute :)

When leaving Togean Islands, we hired one seaworthy looking vessel. What we didn’t know was, that it was the captain’s first journey to the mainland, so he missed our destination by far, and we steamed along the coast to find a landing point. Right before sunset we arrived in a small fishing village, in a beautiful bay with stilt houses. When we came closer, many little canoes started paddling toward us and we got stuck between sea and shore. Everybody was screaming and welcoming us. We felt like Lady Di on Australia tour…crazy I tell you! They told us no tourists ever had been to this village before. This warm welcome preceded a week’s stay at the mayor’s house. Luckily he had just acquired a new TV with satellite connection, so I got in charge of the remote control immediately, plus the best and only chair on the veranda. Me in the chair and all the villagers on the floor around me, sitting in front of the TV watching “Cartoon Network” was a pretty funny sight for my parents. Honestly, this was actually my most memorable travel experience until today. Ever since that trip, we came back to Indo at least once a year and today I call it my second home.

On a ferry to some remote island…

In Timor with a lot of school kids.

Having fun with kids in Sulawesi…

The travelling never stopped and today, I feel very grateful for having seen so many different places of our beautiful planet.

What about you? How did you catch the travel bug?

This time, our destination is Southeast Asia; Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia to be exact. 4 weeks on the road. From temple running in Angkor, to shopping sprees in Kuala Lumpur, from a 10-hour-volcano-jungle-trek near Bukittingi to a quite beach holiday on the Mentawai Islands – we’ve got it all planned. We’re leaving today, so our bags are packed and now it’s all down to business!

And here are our travel essentials for a 4-week trip through Southeast Asia.

Back in the Old Days.

So, this first trip through lots of African countries happened without a single guide book, and my friends and I managed to find restaurants, petrol stations, hotels and directions all by ourselves. We even didn’t miss the villages on our way through the Sahara desert. And you have to keep in mind: Those days, modern electronics, like GPS, were also not invented; we simply relied on a compass and the only available map we had, the “Michelin Map” (nowadays still good for travelling through Africa).

Soon after we finished our trip, the travel guide book hype started … with Lonely Planet on the forefront. On one of our next trips, the LP book “Africa on a shoestring” was in our possession. It was all a lot easier now. Sure, we would have found restaurants and hotels, but why bother with the extra time when you had a reliable guide book at hand?

So on it went for a couple of trips and we (and many others) totally confided in these bibles. Until we met a person somewhere on the road without such books. “No, I don’t need any travel guide book” he said. At first we thought that he might have been travelling on such a low budget, that he couldn’t even buy a guide book, but he had absolutely no intentions looking at our copy…

Lost Edge.

After years of travelling by car/truck, we planned a trip by plane – of course with a guide book in tow. On the plane, it was useful as reading material and with the description of the place we were flying to, we already knew everything beforehand. But this was wrong… The desired hotel turned out to be a very noisy place with the nearby mosque as a wake up call at 3 am. Didn’t the author of the book stay there? Was he deaf? This should have been mentioned, or the hotel should have been skipped at all… But never mind. We checked out the next morning and found another place to stay at – better, nicer and quiet, and not even mentioned in the book!

And this is the thing with these guide books nowadays. Things change so fast; places close down, new ones open and therefore, keeping a guide book up to date can be very tricky. Especially when the author, who should update a new edition, is a bit of a bored fella, who’s rather up for drinking holes then checking on the changes. The guide book won’t be accurate any more, and with every new edition it will only get worse…

When we decided to drop (most) guide books.

The encounter that really made us realize that (most) guide books couldn’t be ‘trusted’ any more, was during a trip to North-East India. When travelling East beyond Kolkata, it seemed that the Lonely Planet India guide book hasn’t been updated since the colonial era. Except the maps with the cities and villages marked, almost nothing was up to date. We really had the impression that the authors didn’t visit the area at all since the first edition. The LP India guide book is pretty heavy, and as there was no valuable information in it, we disposed it at a train station on the way to Darjeeling.

And then we were ‘on our own’, without a guide book, and had to find a place for the night. Miraculously, after driving around for a bit with a tuk tuk driver, he brought us to a very nice hotel which had just opened a year ago. And even without 20 outdated restaurant suggestions, we didn’t starve because we found some really great local street vendors who sold nice and decent food. And we didn’t miss the bus station for our next destination either… Finding it the day before our intended departure, we bought the tickets, asked for the departure time and were on our way the next morning.

The point of this post is simple: if you’re a smart person, you better gather some general information via the internet before you start your trip or in the local community at sight. Ask around, get in touch with the people around you, buy a local newspaper and look for other travellers. Rather than sticking your face in an outdated guidebook, communicate.

When reading the local newspaper in India last year, I came across this article below. After this, I thought to myself that I’ll send Lonely Planet an e-mail asking them, why their guide books have become more and more inaccurate. Until today, I never even got a reply. Mistakes can happen and times are getting tougher and tougher – also in the guide book business -, but when one is altered by loyal readers, a statement shouldn’t be too hard…

Lonely Planet gives Assam a ‘makeover’ – Just a ‘minor’ mistake…

Of course, there are exceptions, because there are well researched guide books out there. It’s not all about quantity but much rather quality. Rather than having a bunch of unreliable guide books from every country on the planet, stick to a few accurate ones and start expanding slowly… but that’s just my opinion.

What about you? Any bad/good experiences when it comes to travel guide books?

One of the first Pan Am planes. © Pan Am Historical Foundation.

A Pan Am Yankee Clipper. © Pan Am Historical Foundation.

For years Pan Am has dominated the flight business – until it died about 20 years ago (this had a lot to do with the crash/bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland. The airlines was found negligent and their security measures where lacking. People simply lost confidence and stopped flying with the airline – it all went downhill from there on). The carrier started operating in 1927 with a flight from Key West to Havana. By 1930, Pan Am offered flights to many international destination. It didn’t take long for the airline to become the market leader in flight aviation and innovations (such as the jet aircraft an jumbo jets).

Pan Am’s Boeing 747 fleet. © Pan Am Historical Foundation.

Pure luxury.

The carrier launched first class travelling and offered their passengers in-flight movies to pass the time. In its best day’s in the 70’s, Pan Am transmitted the glamor of the beautiful & rich. Fashion was created just for flight purposes. Luxurious interior design, huge seats, sumptuous food, charming service and spacious smoking saloons; all of this was supposed to make flying an adventure – which of course only very few people could afford.

Pure luxury inside the Pan Am planes. © Pan Am Historical Foundation.

You flew with Pan Am airlines. © Pan Am Historical Foundation.

Desired job: Flight attendant.

Pan Am was the first flight carrier where stewards served food to passengers. In 1930, the first female flight attendant was recruited and it only took a couple of years until the job was entirely occupied by female flight attendants. The run on open posts was enormous. The jobs gave women the (rare) opportunity to have a career, even though the requirements for the desired position really made every man fantasize … Being a Pan Am flight attendant was tough; apart from the training, ones figure was very cruicial. The age limit was at 32 and being pregnant was a total no-go. Oh and if you wanted to get married … well you better waited until you passed your 33rd birthday.

Sexy Pan Am stewardesses in Saigon (1960). © Pan Am Historical Foundation.

Only the Logo remained.

The famous blue Pan Am logo was designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1955 and is the most famous logo of any aircraft until today. What can I say? I totally love the retro look. Not only from the logo but also Pan Am’s ads. Have a look at these old posters:

Pan Am at your service.

To be on top of things.

Heavy or bulky tools should always be at the bottom. The bottom (with for example a classic hard protective case) is the place which lies the lowest as soon as you slide the trolley. Stuff your cosmetic bag next to the shoes. Don’t forget to close all your lotions, shampoos etc. with a tight screw-cap. The first aid kit (size varies on the area you’re going to visit) can either be put in that suitcase-are as well. Air holes can be stuffed with underwear or sock and this stabilizes the bulky things.

Layer look.

What’s most likely to leave at home? Another one of these questions…Unfortunately this is one, many don’t really ask themselves when getting ready for a great trip. The suitcase is full and everything is just dandy. But as soon as you pack your case to go back home, you realize there is absolutely no space for souvenirs. So, take only what you need. I mean how many shirts can you really need?! I am a woman and my closet is more that full but over the years I realized that less is more. There is no need to bring things like a hair-dryer, a roller brush or (just in case) an atlas so you don’t get lost. Ok, so back to the layers in your suitcase. The first layer should consist of resilient cloths like t-shirts, shorts and jumpers. If you roll them up, they’re less likely to wrinkle up. Towels are great as in-between layers…pff enough of this! I can’t take it any more. I can’t believe I’m writing about layers and suitcases. I want to worry about all the poisonous snakes or hungry tigers I’m going to hopefully see during my trip not this suitcase-crap ;) If you decide to spend your vacation time in Club Med or a five star hotel in Phuket, don’t hesitate to use the advice above; but if you’re up for adventure trips, go with the flow. Sooner or later you’ll realize what’s important and what not…

Personal end note/tip: Beware of the cat.

Believe me, there is nothing more frustrating than opening your suitcase after 48-hours of travelling (which included 3 different airports, three lousy flight-meals, a stiff neck from those incredibly comfortable & spacious plane-seats and one heck of a crazy taxi driver who though he’s the new Michael Schumacher) and smelling that one-of-a-kind cat piss-Eau de Toilette. Nothing I would want to experience again…