Good Morning Vietnam!!!!

So, after I started my Blog writing about Travelling in General and about Sydney in my second Post, It was hard to decide for which topic I should go next. I think I could keep going to write about Australia for the next hundreds blogs without getting tired of it But maybe you would get tired of it after a while, and also there are also so many other interesting places and countries which are amazingly beautiful and deserve a Report about them. And so I decided on a country which also left a very positive Impression on me. Vietnam.

Before Vietnam my only time in Asia was a short Stop Over in Bangkok on my way to Australia, we spend about 24 hours there and it surely was enough to get a first glimpse of the Asian Culture and Mentality. I loved seeing the beautiful Temples and Palaces which are spread out all over Bangkok and it was amazing to visit the fleeting Markets and watch the people go about their businesses. It really made an wonderful first glimpse.

 But it surely was not enough to get a decent impression, it was just too short and with the Jet Lag I had it felt sort of unreal. Especially when you see an Elephant walking on one of the Main Streets during Rush hour.
. So since I got into the Plane towards Sydney I knew that I would be coming back to Asia one day.
It took me some years since I was able to fulfill this dream, as I was lacking the money to go on a long trip again. But in 2009 I finally managed to go back. I booked a three weeks guided tour in a group together with a friend which started in Vietnam and would lead us via Cambodia to Thailand.

And my feeling was, that with these  three countries mixed together it should be able to get a real impression of Asia. And I was not disappointed with it. And today I want to start to write about the first of these Countries.

To be honest before I got there, my knowledge about Vietnam was very limited. Of course i do know about the terrible War and the separation they were suffering under. But besides that I knew very little as I have to confess. And so before I left home I started to read a bit more about the Country and its history. And it is really sad when you hear about all the conflicts that happened here. Vietnam used to be under foreign influences and powers for a long time of their History. The Chinese left their marks as did the French with their Colonial Time and the Americans with their time during the War. And you can feel all these influences now when you are visiting this Country. I sometimes had the impression that the Vietnamese are struggling with  that cultural Heritage. You feel that they are very proud of their Country and of their own History and show this when they can,, They have beautiful music, they have a wonderful style of traditional clothing and the Temples are as amazing as in Thailand but still all these foreign influences are also a part of that Heritage.Its in the Culture, the food and in the Architecture, And sometimes there seems to be sort of a struggling which part of the heritage is stronger and bigger. I had this feeling when I was in Ho-Chi-Minh-City which is better known as Saigon, even though it lost this name in 1976.
You can see and feel all these foreign and Vietnamese influences altogether in this place. There are French styled Mansions besides typical Pagodas and not far from there you can see the typical Westernised Fast Food Restaurant in its typical form. And that is not to mention all the huge Skyscrapers you can now find there. It all makes up an very interesting mix.

I remember being very excited in the weeks before our trip. We have sorted all the paperwork out, getting our visas for Vietnam and Cambodia, getting all the necessary vaccinations and our Malaria Medication and the trip was getting closer from day to day. And I was wondering what to expect from this Journey and from Vietnam in Particular. To me Vietnam was a country I didn't knew so well backthen. Of course the pictures I have seen of it were amazing. Halong Bay for example looks stunning, and till  this day I am very sad that our tour didn't passed it. And there is of course the food you know from several visits to Vietnamese Restaurants at home, and there is of course the History and culture I have read about. But I couldn't somehow fit it all together. It looked like a very exotic and strange place to me. And it was exciting to know that i would be going there.

But to get there you need some time. Our flight was via Doha and it took us about 16 hours to get there. A really long time, especially when you had to work on the day you were leaving and your flight is in the evening and dont have the ability to sleep in a plane. So for me it was a long time but eventually we descended towards Ho-Chi-Minh City and the excitement was getting stronger and stronger. When we arrived there it was already early evening and everything was illuminated which made the city look really impressing.

But the first impression I had after we had left the Airport was Chaos and Mayhem.

And with Chaos I mean the thing they call normal traffic in Ho-Chi-Minh-City. Believe me, after that the Roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe looks like a calm play street.
 The preferred type of transportation there is a Motor Scooter, almost everyone seems to use it there. I guess one reason is that they are more affordable as a car. But it is very interesting when you are in a car which tries to find its way through the streets and you have around a Billion Motor Scooters before, behind and beside you. Of course this number is just a conservative Estimate. It was amazing. I have never seen so many Motor Scooters in one place. They were everywhere, and their concept of Street rules was slightly different to ours. There were at times like ten Scooters in one lane, not just only beside each other but totally mixed up, I wonder how they avoided any accidents. And it is amazing how many people you can get on one small scooter. There were whole families, including Grand Parents, Kids and Pets on one Scooter. Other ones were carrying cartloads you normally would find on a huge truck. And they transported everything, from food, over crates filled with chicken to their whole house equipment.
It felt like a different world indeed. I think it took us about an hour to get out of this mess.

 And our journey was not over yet. As we still had a few days until our tour would start we decided to start our Vacation in a resort about a 100 Km outside of the City in a small place called Ho Tram which laid at the shores of the South Chinese Sea.
I think our drive there took us about two Hours and when I was feeling very tired and exhausted when I arrived in Vietnam I was now quite awake, which wasn't due to the growing excitement in me, but had more to do with the driving style of our driver. I still feel puzzled how we managed to survive this. He was changing lanes without giving notice to other cars, drove with fast speed and was catching up to cars in front of us so close that we could have touched the glass pane of the cars rear in front of us.
And how do you pass two cars which are driving side by side in front of you on a two lane Road? Of course you are passing them right in the middle. It was nerve wrecking to say the least. But somehow we arrived in the Resort.
And as we were to thrilled to go to bed right away we took some beer from the Mini Bar and tried to calm down before we walked around the Resort in the Dark to get a first feeling of it. In front of our room was a large pond on which you were able to see  the Silhouette of a small boat, And we heard the chirr of thousands of crickets and the buzzing of at least the same number of Mosquitoes. In the end we walked down to the beach and sat down there for a while and only listened to the sounds of the turf which were really calming after that car trip.
But after a good nights sleep everything was fine again and we awoke on a very sunny and warm morning. And this is a nice thing when you got away from Germany on a cold and wet Day in February.
The first thing to do that Morning was a visit to the bathroom, which wasn't actually a room at all, but were part of the backyard. It was partly roofed, but the shower was right in the backyard. And I really loved it. Having a shower in the outside was really amazing. I really loved the concept.

Now with the sunshine and  the blue sky above us we were able to get a real good view on our surroundings. The Beach Resort was really beautiful. It was not  too big, but i wouldnt call it small neither. But it was not Mass tourism yet. They had a lot of Trees and Flowers planted all along the Resort which gave it a nice view, and there were resting places scattered all over the place. Some were build in a Pagoda like style. It really looked inviting. And it really was, we had some wonderful days there which felt really relaxing. The beach right behind the Resort also was really nice and inviting. It never was crowded and I like sitting there with some Music on my Mp3-Player and watching the small fishing ships on the water.

We also tried to discover the surrounding area of the Resort and rented some bicycles for the day and went out for a longer ride. And it was wonderful. The area was really green and lush. We passed some forests, some small lakes and heaps of Rice paddies. It was so beautiful and so differently from the nature you can find in Europe. And I was amazed by the Friendliness of the people. Almost everyone we met greeted us. They waved at us, wished us a good day and some even a Happy New year. As we found out lately the new Year in Vietnam had just started back then. And coming from Germany you are just not used to being people so friendly. And I couldnt help but feeling very humble then.
These people were really poor when you compare it to the Western Standard and I am sure they don't have an easy life but even when it might sound strange. They seemed to be more content then we are feeling most of the time. And they like to share what they have, even when it is not much happily with you. I think we could learn a lot from that.

I think this Bike trip is still one of my favourite memories from that journey. It felt so nice and peaceful. Although the peace can be deceiving. You still have to be careful when you are walking around. There are still a lot of mines lying around so you really have to be careful where you are treading. But other wise the area there was really nice. But unfortunately by now this will have changed. As we drove along a road close to the sea we saw a lot of Construction Sites for huge Hotel Complexes including some giant Casino. So I guess the Mass  tourism is finally getting into Vietnam. Which is a shame as the place was so wonderful. But I guess it is both a curse and a blessing. The people will find more work there and this might change the possibilities for the people living there. But it is a shame that the place will lose its originally looking.

Well all good things come to an end and we were back on our way to Ho-Chi-Minh-City, luckily with a different driver this time, to meet up with our group. We had a small first city excursion with our guide before we called it a night. And this time the City made a better impression. I think once you are used to the Chaos in the street it is not too bad at all.
The next day was filled with a lot of Sightseeing in the City. And what an amazing city it is. I was surprised how much there is to see. We first went to Cholon a really lively and vibrant part of the town with some amazing Pagodas and Temples and some really nice markets. I found the Temples very inviting and beautiful. Some had some amazing carvings and decorations and the smell of incense sticks was all around you. It was a place where you really felt that you were in the middle of Asia.
A strong contrast is the huge Notre Dame Cathedral in the middle of the city which was build during the 1870s is a really impressing structure with a very strong European look. As is the Central Post office. An building that reminds you of an old train station and is surprisingly vast inside.

Also the Reunion Palace is a very impressive structure. And after that day in the city I really feel in love with the city. When you get used to the chaos it is really a nice place.

The Afternoon we spend with visiting parts of the Ho-Chi-Minh Tunnels which is the Tunnel network the Vietcong was using during the war to hide from the Americans which are still partly  intact and once stretched from Saigon up to the Cambodian Border. Nowadays you can visit this place and get a feeling of how it must have felt back then. And it really is an intense experience to clamber around in the small chambers there. You really shouldn't be claustrophobic when you decide to go in there.
Beside the tunnels you can also see the nasty traps the Vietcong build back then. Really horrifying. But I guess that is war. And if you still dont have enough of that Martial experience you can also fire a Kalashnikov in a shooting range there. And the whole is proudly operated by the Government. Which left you with a strange feeling as this place had a weird vibe. But it was interesting nevertheless.

One of the traps of the Vietcongs

The day ended on a very nice restaurant on a ship in the Harbour area where we had a traditional Vietnamese dinner with some traditional Music. I really liked it. The food in general is very good and tasty in Vietnam. It is not as spicy as in Thailand for example and they are using some ingredients like water spinach you normally dont eat that often.

On the next morning we left this huge city with its 7 Million inhabitants and went towards the Mekong Delta. The Mekong River is one of the mightiest rivers in the World and is maybe the Lifeline of that part of Asia. At some places it looks really small and not broader then the Rhine for example. But at other places it can get amazingly wide, I read that it is around 2 KM at some places. It is an incredible sight.
But once you are there you realize the importance of this River. There are a lot of Farm and Rice Paddies alongside it. And the Ships on the Mekong are transporting all the important goods the people are needing in this area. Even now in the area of Trucks and Planes.
And it was amazing to see how busy  the people can get in the ports. And how many ships you can get up on one river.
But it is also a place where you realize how poor the people are who are living there. On the Outside Vietnam looks like a modern country, especially when you first visit Saigon, but the countryside is still a bit behind. And it was awful and terrible to see how some people had to live there.

And again I was surprised on how green and lush the area looked. Again we had a lot of Forests around us and also some Mangrove swamps. There was a small island in the middle of the Mekong which we visited were we went on Canoes through these Swamps. Also a nice experience. And it was wonderful to watch the changing scenery while cruising on this huge River.

We spent our last night in Vietnam in Chau Doc a nice city in the Delta which is sort of an tranport point to Cambodia, as one way to get to Cambodia is by boat via the Mekong. Which is what we did on the next morning as we took a speed boat to Phnom Penh. But the last evening was reserved for a wonderful Dinner in a really fancy Hotel. But the most beautiful moment was the Sunrise on the next morning. Sort of Magical.

And it was a good time to think about the last few days. I have only been in this Country for a couple of days but that was enough to fall in love with it. I just have positive memories of my time  there. The landscapes were amazing, the people were more then friendly and welcoming and the culture is really impressing and interesting when you open up to it. And of course the food is an delight there.

I still have it on my Bucket list to get back there as I still want to see the rest of the country. I wished that I had more time there back then as I was totally surprised by the beauty of this country. Of course it is different to Europe and you might not get the comfort you are used to getting here, even though we couldn't complain. But for me travelling isnt about comfort. It is about making new experiences and getting new impressions. And I brought back a lot of them from that trip. I think it really made me more humble and grateful for what I have and left me with a lot of respect for the country and its people.
If you have the chance go there. You wont regret it.

Welcome to Australia

As I started my Blog with a text about why I am enjoying travelling so much, and what it means to me, I now want to dive right into it and share with you some of the experiences I have made on my journeys and want to tell you about some of the places I have visited. And maybe make you want to go there in the end as well. :)

And it was not that hard to find the topic for my first real travel post here. I knew that it only could be about Australia. When you have read my first Blog or know me personally you know what Australia means to me, so it only could be about it. The only question was which City or Region I could choose. I thought writing about my general experiences in Oz, but I want to keep that for later. And instead I thought I could start with the first city I have visited in Australia. Which might be the city most people will arrive in when they are travelling Down Under. Sydney.

You don't need much words to describe Sydney. Wonderful, beautiful and breathtaking these are some of the words which might come to your mind when you first visit this place. It was definitely how I felt about it. But I guess I was also kind of under an spell when I arrived there.

When I first came to Sydney and Australia it was with the Working Holiday Visa Program, which allows you to stay there for one year and also do some work during that time, even when it is with restrictions. So when I arrived there it was the start of an enormous adventure. Something I couldn't really grasp back then. I made the decision to go there for one year and didn't even thought about the impact it would have on me. So in the end I sat in the Plane towards Australia and thought "What the hell am I doing here?". Suddenly I wasn't so sure about everything. If it really was such an good idea. How could I think about leaving home for a year without knowing what would lie ahead of me?

But these sombre thoughts disappeared very quickly when I arrived in Sydney. The city and its people made such a huge impression on me that I couldn't help feeling happy and content, a feeling that stayed with me until my last day in Australia. From this moment on I was really looking forward to my adventure again.

Actually this feeling already started on the plane. We arrived in Sydney at around 6 o'clock in the morning. So as the plane started its descend towards the Bay in which Sydney is so beautiful located, the sun started to came up across Australia. And as it was a very friendly and sunny morning without many clouds, the first impression I got from Australia were the peaceful and beautiful surroundings of this Metropolis which lay beneath us and were illuminated by the upcoming Sun. It felt magical back then.

After we had all the immigration processes behind us, our group was ushered into the Bus that took us into the City Centre. As the Airport is not that far from the City Centre, I think it was only about 15 KM, it was a short ride, but it was enough to get an first impression of our surroundings. And it was nothing I had expected.
I am not sure what i was expecting. I think when you arrive in Australia you expect to see Kangaroos hopping alongside your plane on the runway. But of course it was nothing like this. The first thought I had was that I also could be in America. Everything looked so modern and Americanized. Big SUV's on the Streets, Huge Billboards,  Skyscrapers in the distances, and a lot of buildings with huge Glass fronts. Luckily this impression changed later when I saw more of the city. But this was the first impression. And i think I was a bit disappointed. My expectations were a bit different. I have been very often to the USA and wanted to see something different now.

And the next disappointment came very soon afterwards. Our accommodation for the next days... It was in an old Hostel which now today thankfully didn't exit any more. When I arrived there I knew that I would have to spend most of the next year in Hostels like this, but only then I realized what this could mean.
The Hostel was a mess. It was old, it looked worn-out both on the outside and the inside. There were holes in the Concrete and the wood panelling everywhere. The colours of the tapestry were long gone. It was dirty beyond worth and besides being crammed with 7 other people in one tiny room, we also had a lot of small and big lodgers as well. I never ever in my life saw so many huge Cockroaches in one place.
The first time I tried to take a shower in the small bathroom we had, I opened the shower curtain to step into the shower when I saw a cockroach looking up at me from the middle of the shower cubicle.
Another time when we came into our room during the night, we switched on the light and you saw small shadows everywhere in the room disappearing into the shadows. Two of them, two cockroaches choose my backpack as their Hiding place. I think I never emptied my backpack that quick ever again...
So the first impression was a Nightmare. When all Hostels would be this way then it could be a real long year and a long Nightmare. But luckily it didn't came to this.

After we had stomached the first shock of seeing the Hostel (back then we didn't even saw the rooms, but that was already enough) we decided to take a stroll and get a first glimpse of the city. And this was the right decision. Because seeing Sydney was a real compensation for that first shock.

Our Hostel was on Pitt Street right in the Centre of the City, very close to the Central Station., so we just had to follow our Nose to get to the interesting parts of the City Centre. And even on the first few Metres we saw so many of the different cultural and architectonic  influences which are making out the charm of that city. You see very old Buildings like the Town Hall which dates back to 1874, which is ancient for Australian Standards besides state-of-the-art office buildings. You see small Asian grocery stores besides huge Department Stores. You see the typical store fronts you seem to find in every city of the World nowadays beside small charming shops. And in between you have the mingling of a hundred Nationalities which are making this whole city so charming and interesting.

I think even after the first Kilometre or so our senses were already overloaded with all these new impressions we got. It was really mind-boggling. We all were exhausted from the long flight we had and nearly haven't slept for two days in a row, so it was maybe too much new informations and impressions at one time. But I remember being so fascinated by all of it. It all looked so familiar and strange at the same time.
And it just got better and better. As we mostly went right ahead most of the time, besides taking a street to the left or the right. We ended up in front of the Harbour Bridge after a while. And seeing this iconic Landmark for the first time is really impressing. The Arches which are leading up very high into the sky, and of course the view across the Bay itself is really impressing.
 Normally you only see it on Pictures or on TV. But now standing in front of it was an amazing moment. I think this was the moment when I really realized where I am. I was really in Australia. On the other side of the world. It was an amazing feeling. Very hard to describe. But it felt so good and special back then. Like as if I had finally arrived somewhere. I felt sort of free and relieved. It was amazing.


And as we turned our sights from the left side where the Harbour Bridge was to the right side we saw the next famous landmark of the city. The Opera House. And like the Harbour Bridge it is an amazing sight. It looks so surreal with its sail like roof structure and its flamboyant white facade.
And it just gets more impressing the closer you are getting. We walked along The Rocks and Circular Quay, passing some of the very big cruise ships which anchored there, towards the Opera Building. And the closer you got the more details you could see. The glass windows beneath the sails. It was amazing.
But that was also the point where it got to much and we ended our first exploration of the city. We really felt overwhelmed by everything. So we went back to the Hostel very exhausted but also happy and satisfied with that first glimpse.

And this was only the first day and I knew that I would have a couple of more to explore Sydney, but at least I thought so, but then I made some spontaneous travel plans and left Sydney earlier then expected but I came back to Sydney at the end of my year and had some more days to explore it. And a few years later I visited Australia again and again had a chance to see parts of the city.

But even though, I still missed out some of the sights there are to see. I have to confess that I never made it to Bondi Beach which is think one of the places you should have seen. But somehow I never went there. I went to Manly Beach though, which was such a beautiful place. Especially the area around it. There are some wonderful Hiking trails through the Bushland from where you have some amazing views onto the Beach and the Ocean.

And what I also missed out and still am regretting till this day. I have not been to the Blue Mountains. There was also something that kept me from going.  The first time there were some huge Bush fires in that area. The next time it was too rainy and then again they had some Bush Fires there. But the next time I will be going, coming  what may.

But even with missing out these places. There was still so much to see and to do in Sydney. There are so many interesting and nice places you can see. A lot of interesting Museums and  Art Galleries. What I can really recommend is the amazing The Rocks Discovery Museum. It was established in an old Warehouse from the 1850s where you can learn a lot about the Beginnings of Sydney, about the Aboriginal People living in this area and about the first settlers. It is really an amazing beautiful place to visit.

.But what I mostly liked about Sydney were  the Parks. When the streets of Sydney are getting to hectic it is nice to find a small getaway. And the parks are just perfect for that. Hyde Park is really nice but the most impressing one is the Royal Botanical Garden right down at the Waterfront. It is created in the style of the Botanical Gardens in England, I guess mostly to remind the British who were now living at the end of the world of their Motherland.
But the Plants and trees there are more from the South Pacific Area. So it is an interesting mixture, old British architecture and garden planning is meeting tropical plants.
But it is such a nice place to be. I loved to sit down on one of the meadows with a nice view on the Opera and the Bay. Listening to some music and watching the Flying Foxes flying around the trees above you. Very relaxing. And the whole park is so vast that it is almost impossible to see everything in it. But I really recommend you to spend some time there. After the hectic of the Centre it is really nice there.

Another place I really liked was the Sydney Observatorry. It lies on a hill looking down on the Rocks and the Harbour Bridge and you have a wonderful view on the surroundings around you. And even with all the big roads around you there, the place is surprisingly calm and quiet. A good spot to stop when you come back from the Harbour Area.

Another nice place to hang out is Darling Harbour I think. It is a small waterfront side a bit down from the Circular Quay area with a lot of possibilities to spend your time. You find the amazingly good Sydney Aquarium there, which is really worth a visit. Seeing a Dudong there was amazing, Though I am still mad at the Platypus for hiding so well that I never caught a glimpse of it. Besides the Aquarium there are some really good shops, nice Bars and Restaurants and some good Ice Parlours there.
It was a nice place to spend some time there. Very often they seem  to have some festivities going on there, so it might be worth to check out that place. There is also a really nice Chinese Garden there.

I think it is impossible to describe all the sights you can see in Sydney, and I have to admit I spent most of my time in Sydney outside and was not visiting as many Museums and Art Galleries as I normally did in such cities. So I cant give so many recommendations as I would like to. The Taronga Park Zoo must be really nice, especially with its views across the Bay towards the Harbour Bridge and the Opera.

But what I really can recommend is to just stroll around the streets of Sydney. It really is an amazing place and you will see something interesting at almost every corner. At least when you are in the centre where is also the historic core of the original Settlement. It is an really interesting Mix between Historic and Modern sights mixed up with some really nice parks and beautiful landmarks.
Walking along the bay in the Harbour is amazing. I think it is one of the most beautiful natural Harbours you will find in the world.

What you also shouldnt miss out is to take the Ferry from Circular Quay to Manly. First of all as Manly is such a nice spot, but also the ride with the Ferry is wonderful. The views are spectacular.

Also the Night Life in the City is amazing, there are so many Pubs, Bars, Restaurants and Clubs to choose from it is amazing. Even though as a Backpacker it was always very expensive to go clubbing and drinking in the City. But Kings Cross is a nice option. It got some nice pubs and bars which are not too expensive. other Areas like Darling Harbour are a bit more expensive.

And what you shouldnt miss out when you have the chance is to spend New Years Eve there. It was the most amazing New Years Eve I ever had. Even though it started in a different way as expected. At that time I was staying in Newcastle a few hours outside of Sydney and took the train inside the city on the Morning to meet up with a friend there. But somehow we misunderstood each other, I told her to meet up at 11:30 before Noon in the Harbour and she thought I meant in the Evening. Well so I was on my own then. I managed to get into the Circular Quay area around Noon without problems, even though even at this time it was already really, really crowded. And even managed to get one of the places right at the waterfront with a clear view towards the Bridge where the Main fireworks would take place. It was a place I really had to defend over the whole day. :) But I became friends with some of the people around me and we reserved each other places during the day. And some of them even managed to get some Alcohol inside this area. :)
And even though it was a long day, it was also really nice. I met some nice people. It was a friendly and cheery atmosphere. And it goes without saying as the Fireworks started in the evening it was amazing. I never saw something like it before and afterwards. The Harbour Bridge is such an amazing backdrop for such a Firework.
And of course for an European it was also nice to spend a New Years Eve in the warmth outside wearing only shorts and a T-Shirt. :)
And I even managed to get in touch with my friend, I had to get her cell phone number via some other friends and managed to reach her after the Fireworks stopped and it was possible to call someone again as the phone connections were all jammed. And we then met up in Hyde Park were some bands were still playing and we had a nice Evening/Night there before we ended the Night with watching the Sunset from the Plaza before the Opera House. A really nice Experience.

Overall I can only recommend a visit to that City. And I am very sure that I will be going there again in the future. So far Sydney always only was the starting or end point of my journeys. And I think it deserves to reserve some more time for it.
Also the last time I was there I arrived in not such a good condition. I eat something bad on the plane and felt so sick afterwards. I think I've spent most of the time of the flight from Hong Kong to Sydney in the bathroom. I was half dead when I arrived at my Hostel, thankfully a much better one then on the first visit and barely made it into bad.
But after getting up in the next morning and get to the Royal Botanical Gardens with its view on the Bay I already felt more alive again. :)

About Travelling

A friend of mine recently wrote me that I should think about starting a blog about travelling. As it combines two of the things I enjoy doing the most. Travelling and writing. And I thought why not. I could give it a try, :)
I really enjoy telling and talking about my journeys and doing it in a written form is not the worst thing. As it also gives me the chance of reserving these precious memories for the next years.

But now as I am about to start I find it is not that easy to find the best start. About which topic, about which country I have visited or about which of my journeys should I write first? That is a tough call to make as there are so many places which are very dear and close to me. Like Australia or Argentina in which I both spent a lot of time and had so many nice experiences.
 But I maybe I should start with something else. Why do I enjoy travelling so much and what is so special about it? Why do I always tend to take big endeavours on me to go on an exhausting trip for a couple of weeks when I could spend the time at home while enjoying time with my friends, reading some good books, drinking some nice cocktails, going to the Movies or whatever else there is to do at when you are having some days off.

Why do I feel this urge inside to explore these foreign and exotic places. What is the reason of it?

 Maybe that is a good point to start a Blog about Travelling.

For me the fascination with travelling began when I was still a child. I always dreamed about visiting foreign and far away places. The whole world seemed so amazing and fascinating. There were so many places which looked inviting and tempting. And the world was so big. Places like Australia or the USA looked out of reach. They were so far away. Too far away for me back then.

Because as a child you don't have the freedom to travel around as I do have it now. But I was lucky, my Mother also loved travelling and so she took me to several places when I was young. But of course this all was still in Germany and Europe back then.

We had some Relatives in the Moselle Area which we visited very regular and of course the Landscape there with all the Vineyards and Mountains which are meandering around the shores of the Moselle, is very inviting and beautiful.
We also went to Bavaria very often, maybe the most beautiful and charming part of Germany. Seeing the Alps for the first time surely left an big impression on me. It was an first glimpse of what the world outside might be. Majestic, vast, beautiful and inviting. And of course the lush forests and picturesque lakes in Bavaria also did their work to awake the wanderlust in me.

But we also visited places outside of Germany. We went to Portugal, Morocco and Spain for example. I was still to young at the time of the travels to remember  them now, but I think a bit of them still lingers in me. I like to think that these first impressions of a foreign landscapes and cultures lead to my travel desires later on.
When I was old enough to make the first journeys on my own I really loved to took that chances. Of course I wanted to go overseas at once. But this failed because of an veto of my Mum. :) So my first journeys without the family or outside of an group was with a friend when I was around 17 and we went to Kitzbühl in Austria. A wonderful and lovely small town in the heart of the Austrian Alps. And it was amazing. I was so fascinated by the nature and the surroundings there.

I loved to hike around the forests and the Mountains there and it was lovely to sit down at the shores of a nice lake and just to enjoy the Moment there. It was my first real glimpse of an freedom I rarely am able to find at home.

When I am abroad I always feel a sort of inner peace and freedom I just can feel at home. Maybe here at home there is always something which keeps me busy or something that I am worried about. And I seem to lose these burdens when I am on the road. And that is something I am really, really enjoying.

I really feel lighter and happier when I am in a foreign place. It is something I cant really explain. It is just an feeling. But I  guess the people who have travelled as extensively as I did might understand this feeling.

So after this first taste of Freedom I started travelling on my own more regularly. I went to Tunesia with a friend and also to Mallorca with a group of Friends. Where I got my first glimpse and taste of the mass tourism and package vacation. Which I still don't really like till this day. Of course I did it over  the years and I booked a package, but that was only at times when I had the need to really get some rest and it was just easier then to book it that way. But I rather like to plan everything myself when I can. It is fun to check out the different places you could stay in, check out bus or train connections to places you want to go to. That is what I like about a Vacation.
Instead of arriving at a place where everything is already set for you.

And of course in a place like Mallorca it is terrible, depending where you are going there is no individuality left at all. All the Restaurants, Bars and Discos are well equipped and adjusted for the needs of the tourists. You get the same food and drinks as at home. You listen to the same shitty music as at home and maybe even only have  to speak in your native tongue when you are coming from a land like Germany, with thousands and thousands of Tourists visiting those places every year.

And these are just not  the things I am looking for, I already figured that out back then. I wanted something else. I didnt wanted to have an adopted version of my Homeland in a different place. I wanted to discover the real pulse and culture of the places I was visiting. But back then I still didnt had the necessary funds to do that as I was still in school.

But when I finished school I finally could fulfil my first travel dream. I went to America for the first time. I cant explain why, but since I was a child I always had the desire to visit the USA. Somehow back then it was the Land of my dreams. I saw the Pictures of New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles on the TV or in Magazine and was really fascinated by it. These cities looked so amazingly different from the modest place that I am living in. They seemed to be more lively and more tempting then every other cities I have known back then.
And it wasn't only the cities. It was the incredible Nature as well. Seeing pictures of the Yellowstone National Park or the Grand Canyon was like looking at an different world.

And also the American Lifestyle seemed very tempting to me back then. That has changed over the years when you realize that things are not really better there, but from a distance it looks amazing, especially when you are a young person.

So, with 20 I finally was about to set off to cross the Atlantic Ocean and I was so eager to do it. I had booked a four week Home stay with a Host Family in Roseville in California as I wanted to improve my back then meagre English Skills and also thought this way I might get a better insight of the American way of life. And in Hindsight I have to say I was very, very lucky with the Host Family I had. They were really nice and sweet people who did their best to make my stay there enjoyable.

And I still can remember how I felt when I was at the airport and set off on my journey. It was my first really long flight and I was a bit scared then. My first flight was from Düsseldorf to London. I remember that we flew into London when it really cloudy and foggy. The Clouds literally touched the ground. We dived out of the clouds and immediately touched on on the ground.
After a short break I was on my way to San Francisco. And what a feeling to get into that huge 747. That was a whole new world for me. It was so great, seeing the interior of that huge Plane, the feeling of how you get pressed back into your seat when the plane starts speeding down the runway and how small the world looks from up the sky then.
And what I also remember, I was reading a Heavy Metal Magazine with a photo of Metallica on the Cover and one of the Flight attendant told me that Lars Ulrich was on the plane. But of course he was sitting in the First Class, so I didn't met him. That would have been cool as well. :) 

And then suddenly we were there. Our plane was starting to descend down to the Airport in San Francisco which directly lied in the Bay. The Runway appeared out of the water as it seems. It was amazing. And finally I was in the land of my dreams. 

And I hardly can describe the feeling I had back then. I was happy, I was feeling free, I felt alive. It was amazing. And this is something I still have today when I get out of a plane. It doesn't matter where I am. I am always feeling energized and full of live. And I think this feeling is one of the reasons why I am still travelling so much today. I really love that feeling and want to feel it all over again and again. 

After another short flight from S.F. to Sacramento in a really, really small plane but from which the view of the world below us was amazing, I arrived at my Destination and was welcomed by my host family for the next few weeks. 
And there I discovered another thing I really enjoy about being en route. It is so nice to meet people from other countries and learn about their culture and their way of live. I had it with my family in America which not only showed me so much of the place they were living in  but also included me in their family, and I had it later when I was travelling alone in Australia and Argentina and met so many nice and friendly persons from all around the world. 
And I think there is no better way of learning about Countries and cultures then to surround you with people from these cultures and exchange your experiences. You learn so much about yourself and about other people that it is amazing. And this are experiences I really don't want to miss. 

And for me it makes up part of the magic that surrounds travelling. You open up to other people and they open up towards you. No prejudices and no discrimination. That is the way it should be I think. 

And that first trip to the USA was an eye opener to me, after that I really got addicted to travelling over seas. Over the next few years I returned to the USA several times. I visited New York, Boston, Los Angeles, I got to the Yellowstone National Park, I hopped into Canada and visited the amazing and unbelievingly beautiful western part of that Country and also stayed with my Host Family again. It was like a new way of living for me. I worked the whole year to be able to get away for a few weeks a year. And I couldn't get enough of it. 
This culminated in maybe the Highlight of my life. After I finished my apprenticeship I had to make a decision of what I wanted to do. The company I was working in back then couldn't offer me a permanent position and I had to decide of what I wanted to do with my life. Then I heard about the option of going to Australia for a year with a Working Holiday Visa.

 Which was a Program which allowed you to stay in Australia for up to a year and also be able to work there with some restrictions. And as Australia was also high up on my list of places I want to visit I really liked the idea. And after going to an informative event of one of the organisations which helped you to prepare all the paper works for this adventure I made my decision. I was going Down Under. And up to this day over 14 years I never regretted my decision for a single day. 

I am sure I will write a very long Blog about my time there (well, maybe more then one...), but at this time I just have to point out how much this time there impressed me and how much it influenced me in my later life. It really was the trip of a life time. 
It was the thing I was looking for my whole life. I was free to roam around for a whole year. I had a whole continent in front of me which needed to be discovered. I was diving into a new and foreign culture and there were thousands and thousands of like-minded travellers who felt the same as I did.


And I still can remember the feeling I had during my time there. It was like the feeling I had when I first came to the USA, but a lot more intense. Unfortunately I never again had it in this intensity, but I still hold the memory of it very dear to me. 
I felt sort of relieved and released from everything. No pressure, no daily grind, no attachments. It was amazing. I think I really blossomed up during that time. I was always more of a shy person. but somehow in Oz I never had problems making any friends. It was fantastic. And if it is even possible it even made my desire of seeing the world even more intense. 

And these experience in Australia, America and later Asia and Argentina really left an big impression on me and also helped me to understand the world and its people a bit better as before. 

There is still so much to discover and to see that I am still not satisfied with spending my vacation on my balcony with a book in my hands. I want to dive into foreign cultures, walk through Rain Forests, exploring old ruins at historic sites or just sit down at the shores of a foreign ocean. I still have the drive and urge to get out. There is so much of Asia that I want to explore. Central America and of course so much places in Europe as well. So I hope I will be able to go on with my travellings for a while as I still have the fear of missing out. 

I hope I was able to describe to you why I love travelling so much and what it means to me. And of course if you liked this text I would like you to leave a message as it would be nice to meet some like-minded persons here and of course I hope that you might enjoy my next Blogs as well.