Best hidden gems and secret spots in Germany

BEST HIDDEN GEMS & SECRET SPOTS IN GERMANY | epic lesser-known places

KatjaGERMANY 2 Comments

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.

Read More

what to see and do in Croatia 10đ reasons why we love Croatia

10+ reasons why we love Croatia | WHAT TO SEE & DO IN CROATIA

KatjaCROATIA 44 Comments

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.

Read More

Culinary journey around the world - best food and dishes from different countries

CULINARY JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD – best food & dishes from different countries

KatjaFOOD + RECIPES, TRAVEL & PANDEMIC Leave a Comment

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.

Read More

World´s best sunrise spots

The world´s best spots to see beautiful sunrises

KatjaAUSTRALIA, CAMBODIA, EGYPT, INDIA, MOROCCO, NAMIBIA, NORWAY, TIPS, UGANDA, VANUATU, VIETNAM 30 Comments

Early morning alarm clock isn´t a part of a perfect holiday concept for many, but some of us know this is often the time when those special magical moments happen. As I´m not a big sleeper anyway, I don´t have to think twice whether I want to get up and watch the sunrise or not. Besides, quiet mornings while everybody is still sleeping are especially precious to me since I became a mom. In this post I have gathered some of my personal best sunrise experiences from around the world. Read more to see which ones are on my list.

Read More

9th month on the road | Springtime blues & plans fallen apart

KatjaONE YEAR OF TRAVELS 2019/2020 Leave a Comment

It is not easy to write these lines. But life is not always a fun ride and we all need to look and move forward. I ask myself where did March go and I have no answer to that. We´ve been hanging out in our German apartment for half of February and were basically waiting for Spring to start so that we could continue with our travelling adventures. We should have been skiing in Switzerland at the moment, but instead we´re still stuck in Germany. This is probably also the place we will still be at while we should have started our Balkan overland trip in about 2 weeks. Instead we´ll have more Netflix to watch, more food to cook and more books to read. I know I know, we´re not the only ones and we´re all in the same shit. All of our plans have fallen apart. One way or the other. We of course also understand we have no other choice right now and the most important thing is to stay healthy. But still, I did have some difficulties to accept this new arrangement.

The unlucky 2020 is also a very weird for for all of us, who have chosen it for a year of travelling. Some of us are now either stuck at home with no income or stuck somewhere on the way. I really can´t say how our next months are going to look like and to be honest I´m fed up with planning. So many things have not gone as planned in the last months that I´m starting to think it´s better not to plan anything in order to avoid disappointment in the end. Anyhow, there are also some positive things about this spending time at home.

I´d trade them for my plans to come true in a second, but still here are a few. I read a book. We cleaned our apartment. We scrubbed the bathroom. We are cooking and eating like kings every day. Btw anyone else gotten fat in the last weeks as well? I´ve used the sewing machine after a long time and made five new bags, wallets and passport holders. I´ve arranged my pictures on the computer and made a back up of all the files. Especially proud of the last action haha. I also realised, again, how meaningless all the material things are to me, so I am even more determined now to invest my time and money into experiences and non-material things. I also realised it´s not important how many times we have a fight, but how many times we kiss and make up. And I cherish the freedom of deciding where, how and when I can move around the world even more now.

Because I had so much time, I´ve also written a bunch of new posts and finally finished some of the unfinished ones.

I´m so happy I managed to do A GREAT COLLAB POST about SINGLE MOMS TRAVELLING WITH THEIR KIDS. This is a very special topic for me. For this post I found 11 Slovenian single moms and did interviews with them. I have not translated it into English, so you cannot read it yet. I´ve also written 2 POSTS ON THIS EPIDEMIC TOPIC. Not very scientific ones obviously, Im no doctor or specialist in this field. I´ve written one about 20 THINGS TO DO WHILE AT HOME. These might be good ideas also for spending time at home on the weekends once this gets back to normal. The other one was a more sarcastic one. Written straight from the heart, over a glass of wine I believe. And I decided not to translate it to English. To read the first one click on the picture and it will open in a new tab.

20 ideas what to do Holidays at home epidemic Coronavirus

Besides those, I also finished 3 older posts. One about our 4 days winter holiday in the GERMAN BAVARIAN FOREST NATIONAL PARK, one about our short road trip in northern Germany (SCHWERIN & BALTIC COAST) and one about our last year´s camping trip to the GERMAN NATIONAL PARK KELLERWALD – EDERSEE & KASSEL. Click on these post covers and read more about it.

Bavarian forest national park Bodenmais Großer Arber

Schwerin and Baltic coast road trip Germany what to see and do

Kellerwald Edersee national park Germany what to see and do

.

When we still weren´t aware of how things are going to get, I also did a wonderful INTERVIEW FOR A GREAT SLOVENIAN TRAVEL MAGAZINE. I´m actually really happy and grateful for it. Here´s a preview of how it looks, but the 8 pages are only on Slovenian.

What to say more, I´m happy March is almost over. I´m gonna write something similar at the end of April probably, but I´m still positive about May – I hope we can all go on a short trip in May. Somewhere. Anywhere. Until then, stay healthy and strong, physically and mentally.
Kellerwald Edersee national park Germany what to see and do

KELLERWALD – EDERSEE NATIONAL PARK & KASSEL, Germany | short camping trip

KatjaCAMPING, GERMANY Leave a Comment

Looking for somewhere to spend a weekend with our dear friends from Frankfurt, the Kellerwald-Edersee national park, not too far from the city of Kassel, caught our eye. It is geographically conveniently situated between our homes and it turned out to be a great place for a longer Spring weekend camping trip. It is also one of the last beech forests of its kind in Central Europe and therefore also a part of Unesco World Heritage site. Here is more about what we did in the national park and around.

Read More

Schwerin and Baltic coast road trip Germany what to see and do

SCHWERIN & BALTIC COAST, Northern Germany | short road trip

KatjaGERMANY Leave a Comment

A couple of years ago we did this short road trip in the northen Germany and visited the beautiful town of Schwerin, famous for its castle, then drove up to the Baltic coast and stopped at Kühlungsborn and Heiligendamm beach towns. On the way back home from Schwerin we also took a look around in Ludwigslust, a smaller town , about 50km to the south. Schwerin is a beautiful spot if you are in Hamburg and are looking for day trip ideas – it is only an hour and a half drive away. The closest known town at the coast nearby is Wismar, which is also well worth visiting. So, here´s more about what to see and do around there.

Read More

20 ideas what to do Holidays at home epidemic Coronavirus

20 things to do while you are stuck at home | STAYCATION

KatjaTIPS, TRAVEL & PANDEMIC 8 Comments

With everything going on around the world right now due to the current health issues writing about it seems inevitable. I was avoiding it for a long time and I still do not intend to write any advice, information or tips on how to stay healthy, because I am far from being a doctor and I strongly believe everybody should listen to the official advice their countries are giving out to their citizens. However, I might have something I can contribute to this whole situation. It is of course connected to travelling and holidays, but instead of an usual post about what you can see and do somewhere, this one is all about how to spend holidays at your home.

Obviously we are not the only ones affected by the situation and many people all over the world had to cancel, postpone or change travel plans. Many of us are even in a quarantine situation as we speak and are spending most of their time at home. Alone, with their kids, with their partners or families. Here, I made a list of suggestions about what all you can do while stuck at home and how to have that holiday feeling even if you are actually not flying away. Read More

Bavarian forest national park Bodenmais Großer Arber

BAVARIAN FOREST, Germany | 4 days winter holiday in Bodenmais

KatjaGERMANY, WINTER SPORTS Leave a Comment

Skiing in Germany? Is that even possible? Hell yes. With Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria probably being the most famous ski area in Germany, it definitely doesn´t mean it is the only place you can do winter sports. We even have small ski places not to far from where we live in northern Germany but a couple of years ago we discovered a really nice place in Bavarian Forest National Park, which we again passed just recently on the way to Slovenia. Back then we stayed in Bodenmais, did some skiing on Großer Arber ski slopes and explored a bit around. Read more about what you can do in Bavarian Forest National Park in winter or in summer in the following lines.

Read More

8th month on the road | flu and other inconveniences

KatjaONE YEAR OF TRAVELS 2019/2020 Leave a Comment

As the title already implifies, this will not be too much of a jolly post. If January pretty much ran by, February is as slow as the slowest snail and honestly, I can´t wait for it to be over. It started quite positive though, at the forelast January day we spontaneously decided to bring our Defender to the technical exam and guess what? We passed! Yay, we were so relieved. So the day after we drove off in the direction of Slovenia, with stops in Czech Republic and Austria. As soon as we crossed the border between Germany and Czech Republic we were greeted with snow and we spend a wonderful day aimlessly wondering the streets of Karlovy Vary, a fmaous Czech spa town I was wanting to visit for a very long time now. If you wish to read a full blog post about what you can see & do in Karlovy Vary click the button below the picture.

karlovy vary czech republic ceska

read more about KARLOVY VARY

 

Since we were kind of passing by, we finally got to visit our Slovenian friends who live in Graz, Austria. Despite being rather short, it was still a lovely visit. Back in Slovenia, we were enjoying the culinary scene and hanging out with my friends again, while waiting for our French visit to arrive. Well, that didn´t last long though. Somewhere, who knows where, I cought the flu. The normal one, that is., not the Corona one. Still, it hit me pretty hard. And obviously the virus liked me, so it stayed for around 2 weeks. Pretty much the whole time we were in Slovenia. So I had more or less a crappy holiday with most of the days spent in my childhood room at my parents house, while my mom was making tea and bringing me medicine. I did manage to spend a couple of days out in the sun woth our French visit eventually. So, here are a few impressions of our February visit to Slovenia.

Just when I was starting to feel better, it was time to drive back to Germany though. And this is where we are now. Pretty much stuck in my 55m² apartment all day long, since a couple of weeks. And we still didn´t kill each other! No, that´s an achievement, isn´t it? Not that someone thinks we bought half of the local supermarket store and we sit around the apartment wearing face masks. Nooo, it´s because we are secretly starting something new and we´ll telly you more about it soon. We´re quite busy actually, on top of this new project I´m focusing on the blog and been updating it a bit. But new content and blog posts are being written too, so even if it has been a bit quieter over here lately, more is coming soon, don´t worry.

Oh and by the way, did I tell you already we bought our plane tickets for Africa? Yes! We´re taking Lu on his very first safari in August, to Kenya and Tanzania. But it´s still a long way until August. First, we need to see if we can manage to go skiing at the end of Mach to Switzerland – we have flights booked to Milan where we are being picked up and we drive together to Saas Fe with my family from Slovenia. Well, that´s the plan at least, if Lufthansa doesn´t cancel our flights to Milan due to Coronavirus. Until then, we need to also plan our upcoming overland adventures too! And keeping our fingers crossed for a healthier March :).