05. United States

On October 5, we got to the good old United States. As we both know already the East Coast including The City, we decided that it would be best just to visit our friends, to prepare a little bit our trip to Latin America, to enjoy American lifestyle and of course to relax.

However the relaxing part was, especially before getting to Florida, more difficult than expected. While most people in our age in Germany are either far away from getting married and thinking about children or just starting to do so (some might even quit their jobs and travel around the world, can you believe it?), our friends in the U.S. have been a lot more "active". May I present the next generation of Americans:

Boston - Tatjana and Jeff's Johanna

Hartford - Irena and Michael's Maria and Antonio

Baltimore - Kaiti and Cal's Grayson Wolfgang

At this point I just have to say thank you to all of you guys. Not only that you have wonderful kids, you are also ALL working full time and even found the time to host us in your homes and to make us feel at home!

And as mentioned above, we had saved the relaxing part for Florida. We stayed with Vince and June, very good friends of our family, in Jacksonville. We went to the beach, we had great dinner with family and friends and prepared and bought some last things before taking off to Costa Rica! Thank you so much, Vince and June!!

Overall, I had once again a great time in the U.S. There might be some things that disturb me here and there, but there is A LOT more I really like about it! I'll be back! :)

Keep on following me on my Google Map!

04. Iceland

Before starting our journey I had checked the bus schedule for Iceland to find out whether it was possible to get around with public transportation. I found out pretty fast that it was not - September 15 is the end of the summer and therefore the beginning of the winter! So we got a rental car at a price that really hurt, but after all it was definitely worth it.

Despite the "Icelandic winter" we were really lucky with the weather and got to see many different landscapes. Geysirs, sheep, whale watching, sheep, glaciers and its icebergs, sheep, beaches with black volcano sand, sheep, gigantic waterfalls, sheep, great hot springs, and of course sheep - Iceland is definitely not short of attractions... and sheep!

Guess how Iceland got its name?!

 

As seen on any Iceland brochure - Blue Lagune

And well, we meet a lot of very nice Icelandic people, but if you are a supporter of Greenpeace, you might reconsider visiting this wonderful country. They do not only offer whale watching...

03. Ferry to Iceland via Faroe Islands

The ferry Norröna was a car ferry, so there were not only travelers on the ferry, but also many people who just wanted to get home. The ferry we took was the last in 2010, so whoever brought his car to Iceland on this ferry would have to leave it there for the winter. As we did not have any experience with any large ships or ferries, it was all very exiting to us, and we considered it more being a cruise (in the stormy and cold Northern Sea).

Due to our bad time management prior getting on the ferry, we still had a fair amount of alcohol, but did not have the time to buy any food. Nevertheless, we found ways to get affordable food ("Don't take that, take the potato salad - it has more calories and will last longer!") and sure had enough alcohol left to keep us entertained during the 3-day-"cruise". When not playing cards and drinking beer, we enjoyed the stormy weather (-> picture) and went sight seeing during our stopover in Thorshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands with its 17,000 people.

After all, none of us got see sick and we saw some breathtaking landscapes when getting to and leaving the Faroe Islands and arriving in Seydisfjordur in Iceland. Oh, and the ferry costs 90 Euro one-way, so you better have a look at the ferry schedule next summer and experience Faroe and Iceland!!

02. Denmark - Copenhagen and Esbjerg

After an interesting journey from Karlsruhe to Copenhagen - they take the ICE train and put it on a ferry to make a shortcut - we arrived in sunny Copenhagen where we stayed at my friend's (thank you, Karen) place.

Copenhagen is a really beautiful city, the beer prices were however a little high. We spent there a couple of days sightseeing, taking advantage of the free bikes you can get there (well, let's say free bike - if you are lucky enough to find one, it is very likely that it is broken, but I still liked the idea), enjoying the yummy Smörebröd and going out at night. We also went to Christiania, a part of Copenhagen, in which the Danish laws do not apply. Well, at least in the opinion of some of the people living there I assume. Fact is that buying, selling and consuming weed is tolerated which is quite surprising for a fairly conservative country like Denmark.

Free bikes in Copenhagen - yeah!

One of the highlights was the visit of a high class football game: Avedöre IF, a 4th division football team, played against FC Midtjylland from the 1st division. A surprise was in the air, but after all the 1st division team beat the underdogs in the "stadium" of Avedöre 3-2.

Avedöre playing in the black and white jerseys, but you probably know that, don't you?

On Saturday, Sep 25, we took the train to Esbjerg and walked for about 3 hours (1h into the wrong direction) to make it to our ferry Norröna that should take us to Iceland.

01. Around the world - From dream to reality

My sister Franziska and I had talked about a trip around the world for quite a while, but it had always been more of a dream than a real plan. But as 2010 was finally there, it was obvious that it is a now or never decision. I liked my life in Trier, but I also knew that over the long run my job wouldn't satisfy me. I needed a change in my life. And my sister's contract at her magazine was about to expire in the summer of 2010, so here we go - the time frame was clear. Leaving in the late summer of 2010 or putting the dream back into the box of dreams and probably leave it there...

We went for it. My parents just loved the idea of us quitting our jobs, giving up our apartments and moving all the furniture back into their place. It wasn't easy, but they finally gave up as they realized we would do it anyway. It was just the better option to support us than to let us go without their support. I really appreciate that and am very grateful for my family's and of course all our friend's support.

In this blog I will give a short summary over the different stops of our journey. This blog is first of all for all people who would like to know what we are experiencing and of course also a little bit for myself.

There are two more links you might want to have a look at:

Google Map of our trip

Pictures on Picasa Web

Our start in Karlsruhe on Sep 21