Wednesday, April 16. 2008
future travels...
Tuesday, August 14. 2007
the ultimate wrap-up
well, it's been over a week now for me to get back to normal life... and i'm still not really there
the last 9 months have had a tremendous impact on my life, myself and my expectations for the future. and i don't think i can ever really close this chapter in my life; i'll probably stay a traveler for as long as i live - maybe not staying for 2 days in each city, but constantly on the move nevertheless.
i've seen amazing things, met great people, done unexpected things and sucked in a world i've only known from text books, tv & magazines (ill-informed that is). real world economics is different from what people teach you in switzerland and you only ever experience how clueless you are when you actually go out and see for yourself. i haven't seen much yet but i've learned more than i've ever learned during my formal education.
being back in switzerland and seeing how content people are with their standard of life is hard. coming from places in asia with so much energy, dynamic and drive it's hard to accept the fact that all we worry about is keeping foreigners out of the country and loud airplanes away from over our houses.
still, i'll probably stay in switzerland again for a while. i want to work together with those entrepreneurial minds all over the world and being based here might not be that bad an idea. but i still have not decided and it's out of scope of this travelblog anyway.
writing the blog was a very important and helpful part of my trip. i could organize my thoughts, inform people who cared and i'm in the wonderful position now to look back on a huge amount of information to support my memory.
taking the dslr was worthwhile but i don't think i'll do it on my next trip. the quality of top end p&s cams is good enough for my traveling needs - i've overdone the whole ultrawideangle thing anyway
speaking of the pictures: i might compile a best of picture book with annotated notes. probably won't get it published other than online, but it's a good motivation to go through my 10k pics again. most of them are on flickr anyway.
i wonder if some of the travel blog entries / pictures will backfire later. i've always been speaking my mind freely, for instance on chinese culture. there are a lot of uncommented pics on flickr that can give a wrong idea as well (the ladies! ). but let's see.
buying the laptop en route was an ambiguous decision - i still haven't made up my mind if the benefits outweighed the costs.
the most important lesson i've learned is that traveling is easy! it's no problem to get around this world, there is always a way. the more fucked up your situation, the better / unexpected is the solution. very often kindness of strangers is involved.
but - a big but - i'm far from saying that people everywhere are great... they are not. there is an universal ratio of nice, stupid & asshole people in this world - wherever you go it's about the same. it's just that some cultures hide it better than others. and everyone is motivated by relative social status (with money as a means to the end) no matter if they live in new york or laos.
and to quote mr friedman, the world really is flat - the latest wave of globalization has only just begun. i'm excited.
all flickr picture sets
the last 9 months have had a tremendous impact on my life, myself and my expectations for the future. and i don't think i can ever really close this chapter in my life; i'll probably stay a traveler for as long as i live - maybe not staying for 2 days in each city, but constantly on the move nevertheless.
i've seen amazing things, met great people, done unexpected things and sucked in a world i've only known from text books, tv & magazines (ill-informed that is). real world economics is different from what people teach you in switzerland and you only ever experience how clueless you are when you actually go out and see for yourself. i haven't seen much yet but i've learned more than i've ever learned during my formal education.
being back in switzerland and seeing how content people are with their standard of life is hard. coming from places in asia with so much energy, dynamic and drive it's hard to accept the fact that all we worry about is keeping foreigners out of the country and loud airplanes away from over our houses.
still, i'll probably stay in switzerland again for a while. i want to work together with those entrepreneurial minds all over the world and being based here might not be that bad an idea. but i still have not decided and it's out of scope of this travelblog anyway.
writing the blog was a very important and helpful part of my trip. i could organize my thoughts, inform people who cared and i'm in the wonderful position now to look back on a huge amount of information to support my memory.
taking the dslr was worthwhile but i don't think i'll do it on my next trip. the quality of top end p&s cams is good enough for my traveling needs - i've overdone the whole ultrawideangle thing anyway
speaking of the pictures: i might compile a best of picture book with annotated notes. probably won't get it published other than online, but it's a good motivation to go through my 10k pics again. most of them are on flickr anyway.
i wonder if some of the travel blog entries / pictures will backfire later. i've always been speaking my mind freely, for instance on chinese culture. there are a lot of uncommented pics on flickr that can give a wrong idea as well (the ladies!
). but let's see.buying the laptop en route was an ambiguous decision - i still haven't made up my mind if the benefits outweighed the costs.
the most important lesson i've learned is that traveling is easy! it's no problem to get around this world, there is always a way. the more fucked up your situation, the better / unexpected is the solution. very often kindness of strangers is involved.
but - a big but - i'm far from saying that people everywhere are great... they are not. there is an universal ratio of nice, stupid & asshole people in this world - wherever you go it's about the same. it's just that some cultures hide it better than others. and everyone is motivated by relative social status (with money as a means to the end) no matter if they live in new york or laos.
and to quote mr friedman, the world really is flat - the latest wave of globalization has only just begun. i'm excited.
all flickr picture sets
interesting numbers and financials
before i get to the financials, a quick look at some general stats...
number of times i've been:
robbed: 0
mugged: 0
pickpocketed: 0
injured: 0
strangled: 0
beaten up: 0
kidnapped: 0
killed: 0 (thank god for that one!)
screamed at: ca. 2'323'532 times... mostly in mandarin
number of times i:
was denied a room w/ reservation: 1
made out with a ladyboy: 0 (i always checked, at least for pre op!)
was too drunk to find my way home: 0
was overcharged: uncountable...
said 'fuck off': uncountable...
did not curse for having a backpack instead of a rollie: 2
missed a long distance bus / train / plane: 0
lost my bag: 1 (well, american airlines did...)
got my bag back: 1
forgot something in a room: 0
couchsurfed: 4
had sex: just kidding
had my credit card blocked: 2
claimed insurance: 2
wrote 'traveler' as occupation: every time
used fake names to register: not quite that often
had a fever: 3
number of:
pictures taken: about 10'000
places visited: about 200
countries visited: 25
passport pages filled: 16
km traveled: about 95'000
foreign currencies in my pockets: 8
so and now the financials... it's really hard to tell as i gave up on accounting on a daily basis pretty early hehe
total trip cost including rtw ticket, flights, the group tour in south america, insurance and my flashpacker travelling style but excluding laptop and other big 'special' expenses for 9 months was:
USD 19'500
or around USD 73 per day, all inclusive.
damn i splurged
without the rtw ticket my per day travel spending was USD 54 (or USD 14'500 in total)
cant be bothered to break it down per continent or without the group tour which would probably cut a handful of USD off the daily average. also the real number is probably lower as there are some other costs in there i couldn't be bothered to exclude.
number of times i've been:
robbed: 0
mugged: 0
pickpocketed: 0
injured: 0
strangled: 0
beaten up: 0
kidnapped: 0
killed: 0 (thank god for that one!)
screamed at: ca. 2'323'532 times... mostly in mandarin
number of times i:
was denied a room w/ reservation: 1
made out with a ladyboy: 0 (i always checked, at least for pre op!)
was too drunk to find my way home: 0
was overcharged: uncountable...
said 'fuck off': uncountable...
did not curse for having a backpack instead of a rollie: 2
missed a long distance bus / train / plane: 0
lost my bag: 1 (well, american airlines did...)
got my bag back: 1
forgot something in a room: 0
couchsurfed: 4
had sex: just kidding
had my credit card blocked: 2
claimed insurance: 2
wrote 'traveler' as occupation: every time
used fake names to register: not quite that often
had a fever: 3
number of:
pictures taken: about 10'000
places visited: about 200
countries visited: 25
passport pages filled: 16
km traveled: about 95'000
foreign currencies in my pockets: 8
so and now the financials... it's really hard to tell as i gave up on accounting on a daily basis pretty early hehe
total trip cost including rtw ticket, flights, the group tour in south america, insurance and my flashpacker travelling style but excluding laptop and other big 'special' expenses for 9 months was:
USD 19'500
or around USD 73 per day, all inclusive.
damn i splurged
without the rtw ticket my per day travel spending was USD 54 (or USD 14'500 in total)
cant be bothered to break it down per continent or without the group tour which would probably cut a handful of USD off the daily average. also the real number is probably lower as there are some other costs in there i couldn't be bothered to exclude.
tops & flops
Monday, August 6. 2007
business class, baby!
i don't know if it was luck, a thank you for flying 60000 miles with them on one ticket or my flirting skills with the check-in personnel, but i managed to secure a business class upgrade for my last flight on this trip! and it was a blast of course
we were 4 swiss being upgraded and all being sat in the same seat row, enjoying glasses of wine, beer, an excellent meal and other goodies. unfortunately flying business on european flights is not that much better than economy, i would have preferred being upgraded on singapore - london but well, you should be happy with what you get and i was - what a finish!
so i am back in switzerland... and i'm kinda depressed... i'm still not ready to write my trip summary, finish up my pictures and engage in daily life boredom again. hope i'm able to make that transition during the next few days while i'm trying to digest all i've experienced and get my phoenix-like rise from the ashes going... but we'll see about that.
more coming soon, this ain't over till it's over!
we were 4 swiss being upgraded and all being sat in the same seat row, enjoying glasses of wine, beer, an excellent meal and other goodies. unfortunately flying business on european flights is not that much better than economy, i would have preferred being upgraded on singapore - london
but well, you should be happy with what you get and i was - what a finish!so i am back in switzerland... and i'm kinda depressed... i'm still not ready to write my trip summary, finish up my pictures and engage in daily life boredom again. hope i'm able to make that transition during the next few days while i'm trying to digest all i've experienced and get my phoenix-like rise from the ashes going... but we'll see about that.
more coming soon, this ain't over till it's over!
finland - is that swedish i hear?
for my final stop on this trip i chose again to couch surf and luckily two nice students offered to have me sleep on the comfy air mattress for the 2 nights.
funny thing is the swedish minority in finland - didn't even know before that swedish is the second official language in finland and since my hosts were finnish swedes (or swedish finns?) i got a lot of swedish again. which doesn't sound half as funny as those long finnish words.
students have a hard life in finland: nice modern student flats next to the nice modern uni buildings... a few hundred government euros each month as a thank you for studying, etc etc... at least the beer is expensive, serves them right!
helsinki is quite underwhelming compared to the impressive stockholm old town - it looks somewhere between a cold war movie set and your next door swiss city.
nevertheless, i had a great time: we visited the local tourist (trap) island which was quite pleasant and cheap to get to. nightlife looks quite impressive as well: tons of bars & clubs, each with long queues. if only it would be affordable to drink something
flickr set: helsinki
funny thing is the swedish minority in finland - didn't even know before that swedish is the second official language in finland and since my hosts were finnish swedes (or swedish finns?) i got a lot of swedish again. which doesn't sound half as funny as those long finnish words.
students have a hard life in finland: nice modern student flats next to the nice modern uni buildings... a few hundred government euros each month as a thank you for studying, etc etc... at least the beer is expensive, serves them right!
helsinki is quite underwhelming compared to the impressive stockholm old town - it looks somewhere between a cold war movie set and your next door swiss city.
nevertheless, i had a great time: we visited the local tourist (trap) island which was quite pleasant and cheap to get to. nightlife looks quite impressive as well: tons of bars & clubs, each with long queues. if only it would be affordable to drink something
flickr set: helsinki
stockholm - the hunt is on
together with an american, a mexican and later an australian from the hostel we formed the ad hoc dream team to conquer the local blonde elite. i mean come on, there must be something for every possible taste in that.
well, there wasn't.
we failed miserably to attract any interest whatsoever... went to this trendy after work place near slussen station which is supposed to be a rock club (urghl!) but played some retro 80 like pop stuff (aahh!)... got some credits later for playing the knife, which are swedish if i remember correctly anyway
ah well, almost got drunk with the one beer i could afford
but anyway, stockholm is a beautiful place with beautiful people. strolling through the old town, walking around some small islands, having an ice cream watching the boats. pretty nice. could easily spend more time here. not live there though, uberleft governments creep me out
flickr set: stockholm
well, there wasn't.
we failed miserably to attract any interest whatsoever...
went to this trendy after work place near slussen station which is supposed to be a rock club (urghl!) but played some retro 80 like pop stuff (aahh!)... got some credits later for playing the knife, which are swedish if i remember correctly anywayah well, almost got drunk with the one beer i could afford
but anyway, stockholm is a beautiful place with beautiful people. strolling through the old town, walking around some small islands, having an ice cream watching the boats. pretty nice. could easily spend more time here. not live there though, uberleft governments creep me out
flickr set: stockholm
Wednesday, August 1. 2007
i see blonde
holy macaroni
took the night bus yesterday from trafalgar square to swiss cottage, where im staying (good match, hm?)
relaxed my eyes and when i opened them again i was still on the bus in some neighbourhood that looked strange to me. checked with the driver to find out that swiss cottage was some 20 minutes ago... it's not like i have a flight to catch the next day... so quickly hopped out as the bus in the other direction was coming in "about 10 minutes", of course actually 35.
it was freezing cold and i was only wearing my from vietnamese children hands sewn shirt. did i mention already how bloody cold it is in england? i'm asianized good dammit, dont put me out in the cold freezing. closer to hypothermia than ever
made it back at 5, fell asleep in the warm bed, only to wake up at 7 for some reason (which was actually good as my nintendo ds - my alarm clock - was out of batteries).
i'm still ridiculously drunk, cold and feel barely alive... ahhh it's good to be back in london!
saw people yesterday that i missed and some that didn't want to be mentioned on this blog (you know who you are!!!)
will hop to stockholm today... hope to catch some sleep on the plane... i mean stockholm!!! my mind is fantasizing for days about the 20 tall blonde gorgeous scandinavian hotties giving me a warm welcome at the airport.
relaxed my eyes and when i opened them again i was still on the bus in some neighbourhood that looked strange to me. checked with the driver to find out that swiss cottage was some 20 minutes ago... it's not like i have a flight to catch the next day... so quickly hopped out as the bus in the other direction was coming in "about 10 minutes", of course actually 35.
it was freezing cold and i was only wearing my from vietnamese children hands sewn shirt. did i mention already how bloody cold it is in england? i'm asianized good dammit, dont put me out in the cold freezing. closer to hypothermia than ever
made it back at 5, fell asleep in the warm bed, only to wake up at 7 for some reason (which was actually good as my nintendo ds - my alarm clock - was out of batteries).
i'm still ridiculously drunk, cold and feel barely alive... ahhh it's good to be back in london!
saw people yesterday that i missed and some that didn't want to be mentioned on this blog (you know who you are!!!)
will hop to stockholm today... hope to catch some sleep on the plane... i mean stockholm!!! my mind is fantasizing for days about the 20 tall blonde gorgeous scandinavian hotties giving me a warm welcome at the airport.
Tuesday, July 31. 2007
groovy baby!
well, what can i say.. i'm back in london! my last 'home' before traveling which kind of closes the circle, if it wasnt for the stockholm/helsinki stops yet to come.
i was happy to leave london 9 months ago and i'm by no means a sentimental person - but i was touched when i was walking around green park where i've worked, pimlico where i've lived and buger king @ victoria where i ate
and this is london we are speaking about, the city of disgusting weather, food & girls hehe... but still, it's got a place in my heart!
met some people from last year and will continue today.
ate at my favorite restaurant; no, not in london... not in the uk... not in europe... the best bloody restaurant in the whole world!
food for thought @ covent garden
i love this place so much... food, prices, staff, concept, marketing, even the shared seating i love (as a not very social person that is!)
feeling much better now, 'closing the circle' was good & important. enough strength to conquer the world now
i was happy to leave london 9 months ago and i'm by no means a sentimental person - but i was touched when i was walking around green park where i've worked, pimlico where i've lived and buger king @ victoria where i ate
and this is london we are speaking about, the city of disgusting weather, food & girls hehe... but still, it's got a place in my heart!
met some people from last year and will continue today.
ate at my favorite restaurant; no, not in london... not in the uk... not in europe... the best bloody restaurant in the whole world!
food for thought @ covent garden
i love this place so much... food, prices, staff, concept, marketing, even the shared seating i love (as a not very social person that is!)
feeling much better now, 'closing the circle' was good & important. enough strength to conquer the world now
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