Moving abroad is a big thing. I don`t mean short-term moves as in student exchanges for a year, job contracts for 2 years on the other side of the world and similar. Those can be quite awesome actually. You have just enough time to emerge yourself into new cultures, embrace the unknown, soak up everything and return home with unforgettable experiences. No, no, here I´m talking about moving abroad – forever. I´ve written these lines based on my own experiences while living in Germany for over 9 years now. Therefore it is very personal and we cannot generalize it, but I´m sure many of others living abroad feel similar sometimes.
Tips & ideas for (family) TENT CAMPING | everything you need to know about camping with a tent
Holidays ín the great outdoors are a good counterweight to our everyday busy city life. Also for us. On camping holidays and trips we spend the whole day outside on fresh air, surrounded by nature offering us endless possibilities for different activities. The usage of electronic devices drops to an absolute minimum, you and your kids make a bunch of new friends, you grow closer as a family and learn to enjoy the little, non-material things. This post is for everyone who is going camping for the first time, as well as for experienced campers – maybe you get new ideas. I´ve written about the following topics: how to choose and buy the right tent, camping equipment (sleeping, cooking, free time, personal hygiene & wardrobe and other useful things), camping with kids, wild camping, choosing your destination, packing, choosing the best place to set up your tent, safety & dangers and what to do when you return home.
holidays WITHOUT KIDS vs. holidays WITH KIDS | what changes when you start travelling as a family
I´ve published this post a while ago, when Lu was still much younger and have updated it now that we have more travel experiences. At the moment we have a good balance of travelling just us two and travelling with Lu as a family, so the difference is even more present sometimes. But he´s also 8 years old now and a very big boy already so we have no problems what so ever. Honestly we also never had many to start with. I´ve written this post with the intention to make you laugh so please don´t take it too personally. But, there is surely some truth in in it as well and some of you might relate to some situations described below. I suggest you read first the “without the kids” side and then click on the right side for the “with the kids” version.
SLOVENE COAST | what to see & do in and around Slovenian coastal towns between Ankaran and Sečovlje
Slovene coast is, besides my home town Ljubljana and the mountainous area in Kranjska Gora & around, one of my favourite parts of Slovenia. I´ve spend lots of time here during my University times and got to know the coastal places pretty well back then. Surely, things have changed in the last decade, but it is still my happy place and we visit it every time we drive back home from Germany. My absolute favourite spots are Piran and Sečovlje salt pans, but I assure you, there are many more wonderful corners to explore and enjoy – despite the fact the total lenght of the coast is only a bit over 40 kilometres. And no, I did not miss a zero there. There are also lots of beautiful villages and landscapes in the interior of Slovene Istria, but they deserve a separate post (coming up soon). Here I´m presenting the coastal places between Ankaran peninsula (close to the Italian border) and Sečovlje saltpans (close to the border with Croatia).
10th month on the road
I can hardly believe it, but I guess we are really stepping into May tomorrow. Weirdly, my days have been longer than long this month but then again, at the same time, April just rushed by. According to our initial plans, we should have been somewhere in the Balkans right now, on our way to Greece or maybe even Turkey. We had planned 2 months time for this, we should have been back to Germany around the beginning of June. Instead, we are of course still in Germany. Mostly at home, sticking to the rules. But to be honest there are more and more moments where it´s all getting a bit too much. Definitely lots of mood swings and ups and downs in our house haha. Anyhow, we´re lucky we are allowed to go out, we are also allowed to drive to other places but not to the coast or other tourist spots. Just because it´s a little bit funny, here´s a line I wrote on Jan 27th: “So far 2020 has been good to us. Still under the influence of the not so positive 2019 events, but there is no other way than forward now and we have to keep moving on and don´t look back.” Hah! No comment.
To be honest, I don´t know exactly what we did this month. The dates and days are all a bit blurred up. Basically not much has changed since the end of March though – schools are closed, we´re still not working, we´re getting fatter every day and we possibly drink too much wine on some days. In the mean time, the nature is wide awake, colouring our neighbourhood into yellow-pinky-green shades, which is quite nice actually. Between all the cooking, eating and blog writing, we´ve surely gone out a little bit too. To our town centre, to the park, to the fields around. Realising it is not all that horrible here, but as I always say – pictures are one thing and living here is another thing. It´s a nice collage thought, isn´t it?

I am more than happy to have this blog, I have to mention it here. I´ve been writing like crazy these past weeks and to be honest it feels very good to do so. I guess it is because this is pretty much as good as it gets in terms of doing something intellectual and feeling useful at the moment. I think I´m also starting to miss a real job routine, since we are not travelling. I never had this feeling the past months, but now that we´re stuck at home it really sucks to do “nothing”. Anyhow, I am very happy so many of you are reading this blog, it gives me the much needed motivation to go on. I have posted 8 NEW POSTS THIS MONTH, 6 of them in English and Slovenian and 2 only on Slovenian as they were collaboration posts. So let´s see which ones I´m talking about, maybe you have missed one or two.
I´m very happy for these 2 special posts which were made with a huge help of sother Slovenian travellers. One is about TRAVELLING IN THE TIMES OF QUARANTINE and the other one about BEST DESTINATIONS FOR WILD CAMPING. As I said, they are only in Slovenian, btu you can still brows the pictures for some inspiration by clicking on the pictures below.
.And because we are constanly thinking about food right now and also cooking lots, I made a great food post and called it A CULINARY JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD. Because we love ti eat also on our travels I´ve gathered my favourite dishes from different corners of our globe. By the way, are you already following on Instagram? Lately we´re posting lots of food related things too, since we can´t travel. You can follow @placesandnotes and check out the “cooking” highlight. Click on the picture to read this post.
After 9 years of living in Germany I´ve finally posted a post about BEST HIDDEN GEMS 6 SECRET SPOTS IN GERMANY, including over 15 lesser-known places in the country which will surely impress you. It ´s a good read if you haven´t read it yet. Since I feel my time here is Germany is (hopefully) soon running out, I´ve decided to post a bit more about my current homeland, while I´m still here. In this sense, I wrote about the HARZ NATIONAL PARK which is very close to where we live here in Germany. Read both posts by clicking on the pictures.
.And for a good dose of TRAVEL INSPIRATION I wrote a cheerful post about THE BEST SPOTS TO SEE BEAUTIFUL SUNRISES IN THE WORLD. From USA to Australia and much in between. Check it out by clicking on the picture below.
And since nobody still can´t say for sure where and when we will be able to travel in the summer months (I´m relly hoping far away will be an option, but you know, have to have a plan B these days), I´ve put together 2 POSTS ABOUT NEARBY DESTINATIONS. Now, this was meant more for my Slovenian readers obviously, but possibly the rest of Europe can visit these parts soon again too. One is about KRANJSKA GORA & AROUND, a great mountain area in the Julian Alps, and the other one about WHY WE LOVE CROATIA AND WAHT YOU CAN SEE AND DO THERE. Read them by clicking on the pictures.
.I prefer not to think about the fact it has actually been the 10th month since I left my job already. I rather keep my fingers crossed we will still get the chance to do some of the things we had plans for this year. Hopefulyl already in the summer.
KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia | best hikes, outdoor activities, natural & cultural sights and more
Kranjska Gora. A famous Slovenian family ski resort and a popular place for day trips and weekend getaways, surrounded by Julian alps and Karavanke mountain range. The place where my parents met. The place where I learned to ski. The place where we bought a family holiday apartment many years ago. The place where I spent all the winter holidays and a big part of the summer ones. The place where, as a student, I studied for my exams on a blanket by the once more peaceful Jasna lake. The place where Lu, my first born, spent most of his kindergarten and school holidays while we were still living in Germany. And the place that has been our home since November 2021, when we moved to Slovenia with Mila. We love it here, in our Kranjska Gora. It gets crowded on weekends, but during the week and early in the mornings we have some places all to ourselves. In this extensive article, I share with you over 20 ideas for a weekend or day trip, interesting locations, hikes, activities and our favorite corners in Kranjska Gora and the surrounding area.
WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN HARZ NATIONAL PARK & AROUND, Germany | hiking, skiing, sightseeing and more
Harz National Park is a wonderful nature reserve stretching over 2 German federal states, Lower Saxony (where we live) and Saxony-Anhalt. Over 90% of this area is covered with lush forests, including bogs, creeks, lakes, rivers, ice age granite rocks. The park is also part of the Natura 2000 network and is well known as the perfect place for hiking, skiing, mountain biking cycling and more. Decades ago, there was a high number of lynx living in the area, now they are trying to increase the numbers with the so-called “Luchsprojekt Harz” programme. It is basically our nature playground, less than an hour away from where we live and in the past 9 years I have visited it many many times. In this mostly flat part of Germany the mountains in Harz NP are practically the first mountains you come across coming from Denmark. But, it is not all just in its natural treasures, there are also lots of charming tows up there and the area is full of historical sites, legends, tales about witches and more. In this post I have gathered most of the best corners of Harz national park and wrote about what you can see and do here. Read more below.
BEST HIDDEN GEMS & SECRET SPOTS IN GERMANY | epic lesser-known places
Holidays in Germany? No way! So I thought 10 years ago when I didn´t know much about Germany beyond Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt and I genuinly had no clue here are so many interesting things to see and wonderful places to explore. But then, life happened and I moved to Germany. In the flat, for me slightly boring, northern part. But my always adventurous spirit didn´t let me give up straight away so I spent the last 9 years spending most of my (longer) weekends hopping around the country and getting to know it really good. I can´t deny there are some really nice corners here, despite the fact I really want to move out for years now. But before I change my address I feel like posting a couple of more posts on the blog about Germany, you know, for the memories. So here I am presenting you the lesser-known parts of the country. I´m sure you have not heard about many of these and I bet you didn´t think Germany can be so nice, or did you? Let´s have a look.
10+ reasons why we love Croatia | WHAT TO SEE & DO IN CROATIA
I have been going to Croatia for years. Actually since I was born. After all, we used to be in the same country, Yugoslavia. Sometimes we would go to Istria in the north, sometimes to Dalmatian coast, sometimes just a quick trip to Zagreb and sometimes on a real road trip through the country. Those months long camping trips with my family during the summer holidays are my best childhood memories. I have by far not seen it all and even though my travel goals mostly include rather far-away countries, I (we) continue to visit Croatia every year in the summer, even if just for a week or two. Why? Well because it´s simply beautiful, we can really relax there and in a way, it always feels like home. Especially since we live in Germany. So, I took the time and made a post about why we love Croatia so much. I hope to inspire some of you too.
CULINARY JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD – best food & dishes from different countries
In these weird times when we cannot travel and we are spending our days mostly at home, it is good to have a few options and ideas to keep us busy. Amongst other things, our favourite activity these days is definitely cooking. As a result, fairly obsessive eating is one as well, to be honest. I don´t know about you but we think of food most of the day – if we are not eating it, we´re discussing what we will eat later, what will be for dinner, what to cook when Lu comes and on and on. Looking through my Instagram stories I also feel like I have jumped into the food-blogging pool a bit too deep already, but oh well, this is how it is now. So I thought, travel and food obviously go well hand in hand so why not make a post about my favourite food and dishes from all around the world and combine these two passions? I hope this post cheers you up, gives you some new ideas on what to cook and takes you on a culinary journey around the world.












