World Trip: Namibia

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The bus pulled into Windhoek, and I checked to see if any couchsurfers had agreed to host me. No luck. So I just went to a hostel that I had previously looked up.

I walked around a bit and took some pictures before joining forces with a local from Windhoek, and we went out partying a couple of nights, which left me rather exhausted.

German street signs. “Happy street”

Windhoek has a kind of European feel to it (more so than the other cities I had visited so far), and there were actually some things to see in the city. Continue reading →

World Trip: Zambia

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As the train chugged along through Zambia, 2 of the peace corps volunteers got out in eastern Zambia since that was where they were stationed. The rest of us went all the way to Kapiri Mposhi, which is about 4 hours north of Lusaka. Due to the delays, the train finally arrived at about 5 in the morning on the 4th day.

The 2 remaining peace corps members hitchhiked up north, and the Greek and I decided to hitchhike to Lusaka. After only about 20 minutes, someone leaving from the gas station we were standing next to offered us a ride. He managed to get traffic 3 tickets by the time we got into town.

The fields of corn we passed reminded me all too much of Iowa

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World Trip: Tanzania

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I got to Arusha, Tanzania and, through communicating with someone else’s phone since my sim card no longer worked in the new country, a taxi picked me up from the bus station and took me to my couchsurfer’s place. I was confused because I was not aware that my host would not actually be there as he had to go pick some people up whose car broke down. I arrived at the place, and some guy at the shop around the corner had the keys to my host’s place (I know, weird). He let me in, told me I was welcome, and then left. I was just kind of standing in the apartment, not really sure what was going on, and since my sim card wasn’t working, I couldn’t properly investigate. I just kind of sat around for a while until my host did finally get there a couple of hours later. After that, he helped me look into safari options, since he himself was a tour operator and also knew other people. Continue reading →

So Begins my World Trip

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The entire 5+ years I have been living in Germany, I have been living within my means and saving money. After half a decade, I figured it was time to travel. For a long time.

I was taking some online classes last year, which I finished. The landlord for our place is selling the apartment, and it wasn’t clear how things would be in the future. Additionally, I was royally annoyed with the foreigners’ office since I had 4, FOUR!, different visas last year alone because they kept messing things up.

It was time for something else.

It is time for a world trip. Continue reading →

My Backpacking “To Pack” List

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After many years of traveling, I have honed down what I need to take with me. I try to travel as Spartan as possible, so there may be things missing that you would want, but this could serve as a good start.

Before going on any trip, I always glance over my list to make sure there is nothing I am missing. The one time I didn’t consult my list, I ended up forgetting my passport and had to pay 164 euros for a hasty taxi ride. I don’t always need everything, as most weekend trips to visit a friend don’t necessitate a sleeping bag and tent, but I find it’s better to scour through this and eliminate things I don’t need than trying to go from memory and forget something crucial. Continue reading →

Hungary

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Budapest. The city that was 2 different cities: Buda on the west side and Pest on the east side. (There was actually also Óbuda, which was also on the west side, but everyone forgets about that one.) Eventually, the 2/3 cities banded together and made Budapest, the largest and capital city of Hungary.

I decided to finally visit an old friend from when I did my semester abroad in Pforzheim. I didn’t have much time, so I just went for a weekend.

I left work on Friday evening and went to the airport. I arrived a little later in the evenings, and my friend picked me up and we went to his house.

I was pretty tired, so the two of us and my friend’s girlfriend just went out for drinks at a bar nearby. I reviewed one of the beers, which I’ll post about next time.

The beers hit harder than we all anticipated, and we stumbled back to his place later in the night.

The next morning, with groggy thoughts, we woke up and the two of us went out to view Budapest for the day. Continue reading →

Back to London

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Last year, I went to London, where I met up with my family and toured through the UK with a friend. London was so big, though, and the few days there just weren’t enough. In order to see some things we didn’t have time for, I went back for a long weekend earlier this year.

I first flew to London Stansted. It was a late flight, and the plane was delayed, causing me to arrive late in the night. By the time I got through security, the last train for the evening was already gone. I had to take the bus to the city center, but it was still a ways from my hostel. I didn’t feel like braving the underground, so I actually downloaded the Uber app and got a ride to the hostel. It wasn’t necessarily cheap, although not too expensive either, and it worked out pretty well.

It was well after midnight by the time I got into my room, so I just went to bed.

The next morning, I started walking around the town. The first notable place I went to was Hyde Park and just hung out for a bit and read.

The Albert Memorial

Just some neat architecture

I then ended up at the Science Museum, where I spent the majority of the rest of the day. They had an entire spaceship area!

Continue reading →

Prague 2.0

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Along with the many places my friends I went to was Prague. A few of us had already been there, but we hadn’t gone together, so we decided to make a weekend out of it.

Alas, the Friday came, and we flew there. One of our group didn’t actually live in Cologne anymore, so he met us there. The first night was pretty low-key as we were tired. We just went out for dinner and then had some beers at the hostel.

The next morning, we proceeded walking around the city. One of the first things we ran into was one of my favorite things in the city: an escalator!

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