A sugar sweet passion

Most people know by now that I like to travel, everywhere and anytime. I like to tell a story or two and dive into daydreams when possible. Besides all that I had for the last 6 odd years a passion for baking. It all started when I moved to the UK and had nothing better to do than baking cakes. I guess that was in a way my therapy to settle into the UK and accustom myself with the new environment. It enabled me to get distracted, reflect, calm myself down and think of other things besides any trouble, but it also makes me happy to get people to smile over such a simple gesture.

Baking is one thing that is fairly difficult to do while being on the road and certainly one thing I miss doing when being abroad for a while. I have never developed a great technique or a personal signature; I am just trying out new recipes whenever I come across them.

A German in America Chapter Three

It was time again for another business trip over to Atlanta. This time I wasn’t overly excited to arrive in the States since I knew I would be at a place again I had been before and because I doubted I could motivate myself to get up and get out in a city in which it is difficult to get around and beyond without a car. I still had some plans prepared but nothing too exciting. I got more pumped by the thought that I would make a stop in New York on the way back and stay for a couple of days to take in this amazing city I have heard of so much about, but never been to.

To take the action already out of this entry, the trip to New York never happened because of Snow Storm Nemo, a blizzard that apparently was quite heavy and caused thousands of flight cancellations and delays. Instead I rebooked my flight to go out from Atlanta back to London. I was indeed disappointed, but nothing I could have done about. And for sure next time I will try it again and get out and about when I get the chance.

Mission Impossible in Iceland

Another weekend away from London and some more adventures on the agenda. I travelled this time with some lovely friends that I met through work. It had been a while that I travelled with some people. At some point I was a bit anxious and nervous as I wasn’t sure how everything would go and if there would be any trouble along the way. Soon I realised that all of them are well travelled and that I didn’t need to worry. I think I calmed down just before we actually took off.

A Spanish, French, Mexican and German boarded a plane….this is how a joke would start, luckily the weekend ahead was filled with laughter and not only a joke.

Travel Music

Every time I am planning a trip I am not only thinking about what to pack, my itinerary but also what music I will be listening to, what song will make certain situation a memory.

As some of you know I have now lost an iPod (just shuffles no worries) for the second time and relied on my netbook to listen to music while traveling, this of course is not possible when walking around. A friend of mine told me, just listen to the music of the city/forest/place and take it in. I do that as well, but there are just certain moments I want to listen to that one particular song, want to sit high up on a moment and feel like I need classical music to let my thoughts flow; so having music with me while traveling is an absolute must and necessity to me. I need to switch off the outside sound and make my own.

The other day I was searching various blogs and website to what other people listening to while traveling and found the selection pretty weird. Most songs of course had something to do with traveling, but were absolutely not my taste nor would I want to listen to them while sitting on a train or walking around.

 

Traveling alone

A lot of people tell me I am brave because I travel alone to different countries. Am I the only one that doesn't think so? I don’t think it is brave, I think these days it is normal as a lot of people travel alone and explore the country on their own. Of course there are countries I wouldn’t want travel alone to. It would be naive to think the world is one happy place. But I don’t think there is anything wrong with traveling alone in well developed countries or countries that are known to be safe.

Others tell me that they couldn’t travel alone because they would feel lonely and they need company and share the experience. I partly agree, that it is certainly not easy to travel long term on your own, but for a couple of weeks it is refreshing and can be a challenge to yourself. You will open your mind and you are required to talk to people if you need help, you have no one around you that you could rely on, you will get to know your own strength and your limits.

Japan and Japanese Culture - The conclusion

Happy New Year everyone. I hope everyone had a great start into the year and will continue to be great (and if not, I hope it gets better).

I returned now from my holidays back to good ol' London. Back to work and nearly back to normality. Looks like a good time to write about my final thoughts and observations about Japan.

Overall I enjoyed Japan a lot and hope to be back one day to see more of this beautiful country. It might be small compared to others like Australia, but rich on diversity and beautiful scenery.

Doing research on a country brings certain expectations and hopes to maybe experience certain things (even though some are related to certain seasons like the cherry blossoms). I was even afraid to a certain degree which is usual when traveling to an unknown country, but none of my fears were actually confirmed or came true. An example would be the Tokyo Transport System, I really didn't understand how someone would not be able to understand the system, but then again I live in London where there are similarities (e. g. Oyster Card) so I knew already how it works. I would understand if someone barely travels and never experienced a similar system to be scared.

What I have learned and experienced in Japan

Mount Fuji all around me

The time has come that I reached the end of my trip. The train ride with three changes was very enjoyable and for the first time during my trip I have used the trains without a seat reservation from the beginning till the end. It was easy as I just jumped on the train and searched for a free seat in the unreserved seat parts. Once the ticket control came I showed my pass and said the destination and off they went.

Most of the time I was afraid that the unreserved seat areas would have been too crowded and with the seat reservation I usually secured myself a window seat, however it was actually the case that it was empty. Might have been just the route I took, I guess it would be busier on trains during the main season and from and to well-known areas.

Wanderlust in Nagoya – Magome – Tsumago

Why I had decided to go to those places in the first place I don’t know, but it seemed like a good idea. Nagoya was on the way to my next stop Tsumago anyway and didn’t seem to be a waste of time to check it out as well.

 

After a short train trip from Osaka I arrived in the main city of Mid-Japan and tried to orientate myself and find the way to my accommodation. This time I booked a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese Guesthouse including a hot bath (since I didn’t go to any real Onsen in Japan). It was a bit out of the way, but with help from a friendly Japanese woman I found it. She even wanted to go back to her office and check it online, I thanked her and declined, my map was more than sufficient. The Kyoya Ryokan is really nice and the staffs friendly; they even speak basic English.

The Ryokan was so far the most luxury I allowed myself on this trip. And this was only because they offered doorms for a cheap price. When I arrived I was alone in the room and made the happy dance.

Beautiful times in Osaka

After a second coffee it was time to meet my next host. I was hoping for another great experience and my hopes were certainly fulfilled, even exceeding expectations.

Toshi picked me up from the station and made immediately a friendly impression. He brought me to his house, the cutest house I have ever seen. He is living there with his family and at first I met his mother, who was so fantastic and trying hard to understand me. Toshi helped us to translate and I felt very welcome.

I dropped off my belongings and together we went for some dinner. This time I had the famous Okonomiyaki and it was delicious and I couldn’t get enough of it. I certainly will learn how to make them! We then headed home and we got some traditional dessert, pressed sticky rice with red beans. Until it was bed time we tried to teach each other Japanese/English/German and enjoyed a great mishmash conversation.

Kyoto – Temple, Temple and Manga

After a few hours of yet another train ride I arrived at the Kyoto station and headed to towards the local station where I would meet my next host.

As most of you know I only had great experience of people I met from Couchsurfing so far, so the time came that for the first time I felt really, and I mean really uncomfortable around my host. I don’t want to go too much into detail, because overall it wasn’t really that bad, but it certainly made my stay less enjoyable in Kyoto.

 

He lives around 35 minutes from the Kyoto station (Otsu) and is living with his parents. Those things usually I wouldn’t mind, they are part of couchsurfing, but he himself just didn’t have any manners, didn’t know a thing about how to behave and was rude to his parents. He didn’t understand that I don’t like constant handshakes and hugs and at one point his behaviour disgusted me. I certainly made clear that I want distance. I met other people and we didn’t bond, but that was mostly on activities event, not when I stayed with them.

After I have been showed the room I will sleep in I got bed ready.