As
per the rules of being nominated, I answered Sarah’s ten questions about
travel, created a new list of ten questions and nominated ten female bloggers.
Go and visit their blogs and please say hi.
Go and visit their blogs and please say hi.
This is what Sarah was interested in:
1. How old were you when you got
your first passport and where did you go?
I might
have had a passport from a very young age. My first ever trip (without my
parents) was to Malta.
2. What is one item you’ve
discovered that has changed travel for the better?
My iPhone
made life so much more exciting and smaller (in a positive way).
3. What is the first thing you do
when you get to your travel destination?
As soon
as I arrive (no matter where it is) I go for a walk.
4. Of all the places you’ve
visited, which one has changed the way you think about life?
This is
so very hard to answer. I would say it is a mix of all the places I visited,
and I hope the places I have yet to visit are going to challenge me to think
even more about the world.
The one place
that certainly changed me is Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria in
Australia (my second home). It has got its problems (as every place) but living
there truly changed me. I went from “no eye contact” on the train or wherever,
to chatting with literally every stranger who can’t climb a tree fast enough.
We should all talk more with each other.
5. Do you keep track of your travel expenses? If so, how?
I keep
track of my expenses no matter whether at home or travelling, I travel so often
and it all goes together. I make sure never to run into debt, which is all.
6. Do you travel with guidebooks?
If so, which ones?
I love to
read these blue guide books with white letters (sure you know them too, Lonely Planet, heard of them?) but
what I really love to do is to read fiction about the place I am travelling
too.
For example before I travelled to Botswana I read the whole The No. 1
Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, and when I visit now I take the newest of
the series with me. Recently I went to Madrid and I re-read For whom the Bell Tolls, E. Hemingway. And in California I read Canary Row, John
Steinbeck. In Barcelona I would read the Shadow of the Wind, Carlos
Ruiz Zafón etc. etc. etc. You might want to find out which books I read about South Africa? I go there a lot, look at this list: 48 books to read before you visit South Africa.
7. What is your preferred method
of travel? Plane, train, bus, car?
It
depends, most often there is a plane involved to get somewhere, and then I
would jump into a car to go on a road trip.
8. What electronic devices do you
travel with?
iPhone.
9. Have you ever hitchhiked? If
so, how did it work out?
I
hitchhiked only once (upon a time) in Greece. I walked along a dusty road. It
was August, the temperature accordingly intense, as in so hot that you see a Fata
Morgana at every turn, and the only sound you seem to hear is the screeching of
crickets. Against the advice of my parents I decided to stop a stranger’s car. I
mean, my parents surely had no idea about trotting along a dusty road without
having money for a rental car (or so I thought).
A few
moments after I climbed into the battered car, the driver, an elderly chap in a
light blue shirt and grey trousers, facial skin aged by sun, beautifully framed
by a dapper silver caesar haircut, asked me “Tourist? Tourist?” and I looked at
him, in delight, smiling brightly “Yes”.
He smiled
back and made a gesture like cutting his throat and said “Tourist. Tourist.”
I became very
uncomfortable and was planning to jump out of the car, while the driver kept on
doing this throat cutting thing. I asked him to stop at the roadside and got
out of his car.
That same night
I read in the papers that a tourist had been killed on a beach, someone cut her
throat. The poor driver, I reckon he just wanted to let me know to be careful
since another girl had been killed a few days ago.
You know
this is one of these stories I don't get tired to tell.
10. Where are you traveling to
next? Why?
Next
I will go to Denmark, then Morocco, then France and after that to the Alps in
Germany but not sure yet what is going to happen when October comes. I love
that I can keep my life as a travel blogger interesting.
My questions are:
1. What is your
favourite vegetarian dish?
2. What type of museum
do you like to visit?
3. We hear all the time
that we have to live our dreams. Are you doing it?
4. What is the funniest
thing you ever experienced?
5. What is your most
treasured travel souvenir?
6. Mountains or ocean?
7. Who should play you
in the film of your life?
8. If your life were a
book, what would the title be?
9. Did you ever dance
under a starry night sky?
10. Your perfect vacation
involves …
My nominees are
Layne Mosler Taxi Gourmet
Nicole Vegan Nom Noms
Julie Drive on the left
Cheryl
Cheryl Howard
Paula Soothed in the City
Francesca The working moms travels
Victoria The British Berliner
Frances Then let's begin
Ilana Ilana On The Road
Marta In A Faraway Land
Can’t
wait to hear from you and thank you so much in advance.
From
Berlin with love