finally... AMERICA!!!

Hey guys!

I just want to remind you that university is nearly finished and  that summer holidays are coming closer. :))) Well, I guess everybody needs to keep on studying though to keep track of their languages… Plus, of course, WORKING! My summer job starts on the 7^th of July.  I wanted to work as much as possible as I’d like to spend the last month of our holidays (September) traveling. 

And finally one of my dreams is coming true, because I will be in AMERICA from the 5^th of September until the 24^th :))) Can’t wait!! 

This last year I was learning so many things about the US without even being there once! I had to listen to other students talking about their adventures in America. Some of them had spent a couple of months there or even a whole year working as an au pair for example. The decision of going to America was very spontaneous. At first, I wanted to visit a friend of mine who will be in Africa for about three months to do some voluntary work. But the more I thought of going to Africa, the more I realized that there are other destinations and countries that are further up on my bucket list. It wasn’t an easy decision, as this friend, who is going to Africa, usually is the one I am always traveling with… my travelbuddy. But then I realized that it’s about me and what I want to do and I definitely want to see America first. It was not hard to find someone who also wants to visit the USA (because, seriously, AMERICA!?!). I end up going with a friend from Germany, who I have met during my travels in Australia. There are numerous cities I’d like to see in America, but for me, the most important ones are Miami and New York!! As my friend (her name is Melanie by the way) has never been to the US either, we easily agreed on our destinations. Not only will we see Miami and New York, but also the Bahamas!!! It’s gonna be an amazing trip! 

Eating insects? I did it!

Hey everybody, I am back with a new blog post! I know my last post is a little while ago, however, now I found a topic that I want to share with you guys. FOOD. I think this is a topic everyone feels invented to. I can’t think of any person I know who doesn’t love food?! Food is just one of the best things in life!

I always say that one should try out new things who one hasn’t tried before. But to be honest, I am a picky eater myself. I especially don’t like seafood. No mussels, no shrimps, no prawns, no calamari. It’s just something that really puts me off. I don’t want to see eyes looking at me while I am eating. What’s more, I don’t like the texture. Mussels are too “slimy” and calamari taste like rubber to me. Anyway, when I was in Thailand for nearly four weeks I tried “things” I never thought I ever would. On our first day a Thai woman was talking to us. She was selling scorpions – roasted scorpions on a skewer. My friend and I felt a bit adventurous on that day so we just bought one and tried it. Well, I have to admit it wasn’t even that bad. In fact it was a bit tasteless. I ate the head and the claws while my friend was eating the butt  :D A few days later we went to a food market in Bangkok where they sold tons of different food. We stopped to look at all the roasted insects when an old Thai woman bought a small bag full of grubs. I guess she saw our faces staring at the insects wondering if they would actually taste good, so she offered us a handful of them. Surprised by her generosity we suddenly knew we had to eat them. INSECTS. I would have never ever thought in my entire life that one day I will eat insects. Well, I did. And I liked it. They kind of tasted like peanuts. 

roasted scorpion

 

To sum up, sometimes you just have to try things before judging especially when you are visiting other countries. 

"Ick bin ein Börliner" - JFK

Time to travel again! 

This time I visited BERLIN. I always wanted to go there especially because so many friends of mine told me how they liked it. Furthermore I am very interested in the historical background of Berlin. One can say that Berlin was the centre where all the major events were happening. The famous Berlin Wall divided the city into two parts and therefore divided the whole country (Germany) into two parts, namely the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik - German Democratic Republic) and the BRD (Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Federal Republic of Germany). So the first sight my travelbuddy and I visited in Berlin was leftovers of the Berlin Wall. The largest part that is still in pretty good shape is called East Side Gallery and was very close to where we stayed. Several famous artists decorated it with amazing paintings as well as some great quotes.
We stayed in Berlin for 4 days and we were really lucky because we had wonderful weather. Surprisingly we could manage to see all the most important and most famous sights of Berlin on our first day. We visited the Brandenburger Tor, the Reichstag, the Fernsehturm (which is more than 200m high and from where you have a breathtaking view across the whole city) and some popular streets. On our second day we went to „Checkpoint Charly“ which is the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. There we checked out the museum where you can spend your whole day because there is just so much to see. What really impressed me where the stories about all the people who tried to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin. Some of them were really creative and built special planes and cars to get over to West Berlin. Others who actually lived in West Berlin just helped people from East Berlin to flee. They forged papers or hided persons in suitcases or in parts of the car where you would never imagine that it is even possible to breathe. The Berlin Wall separated the country for 28 years. It was constructed in 1961 and fell on the 9th of November 1989.
On our last day we went to a popular shopping street on the Kurfürstendamm. 

I had a great time in Germany and can’t wait to explore the next city!!

East Side Gallery

a trip to bella italia

 

This is definately my motto!!! :)

According to this sentence it was time to for me to travel again! :) This time I traveled to Italy in September 2013. My friend, Annina, and I were planning this trip right after returning home from Australia/Thailand. We couldn’t wait for our next trip to come :D For this reason we worked very hard the whole summer to earn some money which we wanted to spend right afterwards on another journey :) 

So the 31^st of August was our last working day. On the 2^nd of September our trip started. Our first destination was Rimini. We wanted to visit some friends down there as we have worked there in summer 2011. Two friends from Tyrol, who worked with us in Rimini in 2011, came with us. We spent 4 awesome days in Rimini and met all our former workmates. It was great fun! Nothing has changed. After 4 days Annina’s and my trip went on. Our next destination was Rome!! We bought a special ticket for the train where we had been able to travel on 8 different days, but on 1 travel day you are allowed to change the train as often as you want. It cost about 200€ and was valued for 1 month. We had to write down the date of each travel day.

Finally we arrived in Rome! :) I always wanted to see Rome that’s why I was really looking forward to this day. Rome really lived up to all my expectations. It is a wonderful city. As we only had 5 days in Rome we literally did hardcore-sightseeing! We got up very early in the morning and spent the whole day walking from one sight to the other. But it was really worth it. We got to see the famous Coliseum, the Spanish Steps as well as the Trevi Fountain and the Vatican.

The next city we visited was Florence. Florence is a beautiful city with lots of young people. We had a little bit of bad luck in Florence as it was raining on one day.
From Florence we took the train straight to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. And it was really a LEANING tower. As Pisa is a very little city and the only thing you can see there is the tower we just spent one day in this very touristy place. 

But the best place hasn’t come yet! It was our next destination. Cinque Terre! Apart from the beautiful 5 little villages which are built directly by the sea with its colorful houses we met amazing people in Cinque Terre. Most of them from countries far away like Australia, New Zealand and the US. There were about 25 people in one of the small little villages in Cinque Terre called Riomaggiore. I actually met more Australians on my trip through Italy than in Australia. Well, at least I met some Australians in the end ;)

After just 3 amazing days in Cinque Terre we took the next train to Milan, the city known for its fashion. SURPRISE SURPRISE, we went shopping there! 

Our final destination was Verona, the city of Romeo & Juliet. We saw the famous balcony as well as the bronze statue of Juliet. 

Nearly 3 weeks long was our great trip around Italy and we got to know many fantastic people from all over the world. 

Another great journey definately will come soon… :)

VERNAZZA, one of the 5 villages in Cinque Terre

LETS TRAVEL!

 

I really love travelling and exploring new countries! I think it's because my Aunt always told me about her adventures abroad when I was younger. By now she was in every continent and I would say in nearly every country in the world! That's my aim too!! :)
The travel bug first caught me when I had to do a practical training for school. It was in 2010 and I decided to spend 3 months in Lanzarote, Spain. Lanzarote is one of the Canary Islands. After the 3 months I couldn't wait to go abroad again. And I did. And I am not talking about a holiday abroad. I am talking about months abroad. You are not able to get to know a country by spending 2 weeks in an all-inclusive hotel. You need to visit different cities and meet local people.

One of the most impressive travel adventures I had was in Thailand. It is just so different to Europe and also to Australia! I went there in March 2013 after I had spent 6 months in Australia. A friend of mine who has been in Australia as well for more than 6 months travelled with me to Thailand. It actually was a very spontaneous decision. When we were in Cairns we went into a travel agency to get some information about Thailand. As soon as we left the agency our flight was booked. Two weeks later we found ourselves sitting in a plane from Brisbane to Bangkok. We haven’t really planned anything before we arrived in Bangkok so we just took the first cab and went to the most famous road in Bangkok, Khao San Road. There we went from hostel to hostel to find the cheapest one (because after 6 months in Australia we were kind of broke). On our first day in Thailand we rambled through Khao San Road and ate some of the famous Thai food which is very cheap if you buy it directly on the street! So the first important thing we learned was, that you don’t need to spend a lot more than 1€ to get a good meal! :D Our plan for the next 4 weeks was to spend as little money as possible but to see and experience as much incredible places and things as possible! According to our new plan we found ourselves in some kind of travel agency in Bangkok where we booked our next trips. As we found out later that was probably not the best decision, but we wanted to make the most out of our 4 weeks in Thailand. So after 2 days in Bangkok we have planned our next few weeks. Our first stop was to the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai. We had about 5 days there and went on a trekking tour. We spent 3 days in the “woods” of Thailand, sleeping in Thai villages and hiking..hiking..hiking. It was not really what we had expected but we had a lot of fun with our group. We were a really multicultural group with people from Sweden, England, Germany and Austria.
But the best thing on our whole Thailand trip was the day in the “elephant school” in Chiang Mai. We were allowed to ride elephants and learned some commands to lead them. In the end we took a bath with them in the river and showered them :D Unforgettable moments!
After Chiang Mai we went to Ayutthaya by night bus. What we learned about this night in the bus was that we definitely will put on warmer clothes the next time! It was freezing cold! When we arrived at 6 in the morning we were nearly dying! We spent about 2 days in Ayutthaya just to visit the famous ruins and temples. We hired a bike and rode from temple to temple with a temperature of about 45degrees!!! After a while I felt really sick because of the heat and so we had to stop.
We were really looking forward to our time on the beaches of Thailand :))
We visited Krabi, Kho Phi Phi (where Leonardo Di Caprio has shooted his film “The Beach”), Kho Samui, Kho Lanta and Kho Phangan.
We did a snorkeling/diving trip on Kho Lanta where I finally was able to get to see a turtle :)) (I went diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and couldn’t see one :( ).
On Kho Phangan we went to the famous Full Moon Party. There we put day-glo color all over our body. It was a really good night!

Those 4 weeks in Thailand were really amazing and Thailand is definitely one of the places to see before you die!
My next trip was just 5 months later :) I went to Italy, with the same friend, who has become my travelbuddy since we have been to Lanzarote together.
More to my Italy-trip in the next post..

Kho Phi Phi