Mountains. Sea. My old bedroom. The sound of snow crunching under our feet. Fire place. Grandma´s beef soup. Skiing. The falling apart playground in the park. Christmas lights. Drunken teenagers on the last bus back from the centre. Memories. The smell of warm cookies. Wine. Wineeeee. Family. Friends. Love. The ever barking dog of our neighbours. More Fridays with plane tickets. Me & Lu. And just me. For the next 3 weeks. And South Pacific after that. No alarm clocks, no meetings, no phone calls, no every day hectic. No job, no kindergarten. Until mid March. 3 days to go! Adios Germany. Soon :).
What? You´re going all alone?
This question has been following me for the last couple of weeks. And considering the fact I have realised I have not written anything in months (yxkćblekžnfidn!), this might be the time to do it. So. The answer is, no, I´m not going all alone. I´m going with the best possible little traveller. With one that can be more durable than so many big ones. Luckily. Many supportive messages have flown into my inbox lately (thank you guys, you know who you are), but of course there have been also some less encouraging ones. Thanks also to those – you made me write something after a long time.
All alone with a small kid? Won´t it be too dangerous? Too expensive? What if something happens? And if someone gets sick? Aren`t there still cannibals? Oh Well.
It will most certainly be expensive, but as always – where there is will, there is a way! Going down the stairs to the basement can also be dangerous and I crossmyfingers no one will get sick. Are we afraid? Alright, we are a bit. At least me. Kids are anyway fearless or they don´t know exactly what is coming. But it´s a good dose of fear, just enough to get some adrenaline running.
How do we dare to do this? Easy. The same as we dare to be all alone like this every day. At home. And to be honest, it´s been perfectly fine like this, all alone. You won´t believe it, be we also go all alone to buy our weekly groceries, we go all alone camping for the week end, we go all alone on a plane. We also swear all alone in the car when someone is driving to slow on the Autobahn and we visit the doctor all alone if we have to! Every morning we go all alone to work and to the kindergarten. So why not go all alone travelling somewhere far away? It will be just like at home (minus the annoying alarm clock at 6:15 in the morning and plus a fairly dose of sun and sea).
So. We are going all alone somewhere far away. As far as we can go. With the finger through the globe. To the other side of the world.
It´s not like we are running away. Okay maybe we are a little bit. One last time before school starts next year. And for as long as it is possible at the moment. 2 and a half months. Would have been great to do it for a whole year though. Maybe some other time. And of course we could not miss the chance of coming home first. To Slovenia. To ski. And say hello to family and friends. To eat and drink. To admire our beautiful mountains and smell the Adriatic sea for the last time this year. Before we replace the winter gloves and scarves with flip flops and bikinis. And sit on a big plane at Munich airport. And then the next one in Singapore. And then the next 14 smaller ones. Just the two of us. Me and Lu. All alone!
THE PHILIPPINES | 2 weeks mom & son backpacking trip to Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor & Negros islands
This was OUR FIRST MOM & SON ADVENTURE outside of Europe. I bet the Philippines are not one of the easiest countries to try this out, but we made it. And we had fun! And i realized I was totally able to do this SINGLE PARENT TRAVELLING thing. A friend and her 5-year old son decided to join us, so we went together. It was quite practical at times because Lu had someone his age to play with. Overall it was a nice trip despite the fact we were quite UNLUCKY WITH THE WEATHER in the second week and had to change plans a bit. Read more about what we did and where we went below.
THÜRINGEN, Germany | 4 days camping road trip to Sangerhausen, Erfurt, Eisenach and Drachenschlucht
Not so long ago, it was still kind of planned that we pack up our “summer clothes” and drive off to SYLT – a German island I´ve been really eager to visit ever since I moved over here. But then, well, as we by now probably all know, plans changed. It would have been a long drive by myself and besides, we had no reservation. So, plan B was CAMPING WITH LU, for the very first time! Well, I`ve done it often enough before to feel comfortable sleeping in a tent. Since we conveniently paired up with friends who live on the other side of the country – it was obvious we would meet somewhere half way. And there was THÜRINGEN. We´ve only always just driven through parts of this German state, when going to Slovenia and all I knew a bout it actually was that there are nice forests.
BAD PYRMONT, Germany | weekend getaway to one of the best German spa towns
The second weekend in May was approaching and it was still rather cold and rainy in Germany. Despite that, we took our chances and booked one of the last remaining free hotel rooms in Bad Pyrmont, a SPA TOWN just about 2hrs drive from where we live in Germany. My mom was visiting and this short trip felt like a good idea. And it was – we had full sunshine the whole Saturday, Sunday wasn´t so bad as well, but we decided to head home a bit earlier and enjoy lunchtime on our home terrace. Anyway, if you´re looking for a place to relax and enjoy beautiful parks with a Mediterranean touch, this is a perfect place to do it over here in Germany!
SAXON SWITZERLAND national park, Germany | 4 days trip to one of the best German parks close to Czech republic
In the beginning of May Lu and me decided to visit this park together with my parents who were just visiting from Slovenia. Getting out of the house, exploring something new and catching some fresh air was wonderful. After STOPPING IN DRESDEN FOR A DAY on the way to the park, we spent 2 nights in an apartment in a little town called GOHRISCH and went on a few hikes. We were really surprised how nice the park was and I can most definitely say that it´s ONE OF MY FAVOURITE GERMAN NATIONAL PARKS I´ve been to. Read more and check out the photos to see what I´m talking about ;).
DRESDEN, Germany | weekend city trip to the capital of German state Saxony
This year´s 1st of May came conveniently on a Monday, which meant we had a longer weekend without taking a day off work. Already a couple of months ago we decided to head to the wonderful SACHSEN SWITZERLAND NATIONAL PARK and possibly make a stop in Dresden on the way, as I´ve never been there yet. Due to our separation a month before, we had to reorganise the whole thing a bit, but Lu & me decided to go despite everything that just happened – with my parents. It was a bit strange as it was the first little trip without dad, but still, it was nice and we went lucky with the weather. We made a STOP IN DRESDEN FOR A DAY and loved it! The city is really beautiful and I think you should plan in at least 2-3 days to get the best out of your visit. But one day is enough to get some impressions. Read more about our day visit.
HONG KONG | what to see and do in 5 days
We started and ended our recent TRIP TO ASIA with our two 5-year old boys in Hong Kong. Visiting Hong Kong as a SINGLE MOM WITH A 5-YEAR OLD was super easy and not a problem at all, it was just as any other big city. I liked it quite a lot and I´m glad we got to spent that many days – we really got a good impression. The thing that stayed in my memory the most are the CONTRASTS – walking down the night market one evening was so different to walking through a modern shopping centre the next day. So, what did we do and what we think you should not miss on doing during your visit? Read more 😉
BEST STREET MARKETS IN HONG KONG | from food to birds, flowers, fabric, jewelery and more
I heard that HONG KONG IS ALL ABOUT FOOD & MARKETS. After we visited, I can only agree with that. Okay, there are also other things, but you simply cannot ignore all these yummy snacks and markets. Remember to BRING CASH & BARGAINING SKILLS, dont´t forget to check the OPENING HOURS of the markets and bring a printed MAP (or install an APP on your phone). Sometimes it´s easy to get lost at those small streets. Oh yes, and put on some COMFORTABLE SHOES! Here´s a list of some of the markets we found the most interesting 😉
MACAU | weekend city trip from Hong Kong
As soon as I booked our plane tickets to HONG KONG (an onwards to the Philippines) it was clear we wanted to see Macau as well. Initially we were thinking about a day trip from HK, but then decided to spent the first 2 nights here – this turned out to be a great idea and gave us the chance to experience the city also in the evening when millions of lights turn it into a real “ASIAN LAS VEGAS”. Macau was not a super beautiful city I would say, but it sure was interesting and this UNIQUE MIX OF PORTUGUESE ARCHITECTURE and CHINESE CULTURE is surely one of a kind. Read more about how we spent our short visit before we continued our trip on to Hong Kong.