THÜRINGEN, Germany | 4 days camping road trip to Sangerhausen, Erfurt, Eisenach and Drachenschlucht

KatjaCAMPING, FAMILY TRAVELS, GERMANY, SINGLE PARENT TRAVELS 8 Comments

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.

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BAD PYRMONT, Germany | weekend getaway to one of the best German spa towns

KatjaGERMANY Leave a Comment

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!

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SAXON SWITZERLAND national park, Germany | 4 days trip to one of the best German parks close to Czech republic

KatjaFAMILY TRAVELS, GERMANY, HIKING, SINGLE PARENT TRAVELS 12 Comments

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 ;).

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DRESDEN, Germany | weekend city trip to the capital of German state Saxony

KatjaCITY BREAKS, FAMILY TRAVELS, GERMANY, SINGLE PARENT TRAVELS 10 Comments

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.

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HONG KONG | what to see and do in 5 days

KatjaCITY BREAKS, FAMILY TRAVELS, HONG KONG, SINGLE PARENT TRAVELS 3 Comments

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 😉

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BEST STREET MARKETS IN HONG KONG | from food to birds, flowers, fabric, jewelery and more

KatjaHONG KONG 25 Comments

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 😉

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MACAU | weekend city trip from Hong Kong

KatjaCITY BREAKS, FAMILY TRAVELS, MACAU, SINGLE PARENT TRAVELS 9 Comments

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.

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BACKPACKING WITH KIDS | how & what to pack

KatjaADVICE & INSPIRATION, HONG KONG, MACAU, THE PHILIPPINES Leave a Comment

1 mum, 1 son, 3 destinations, 18 days, 1 big backpack, 1 smaller one and a kids one. There was 15-20C in Hong Kong & Macau, over 30C in the Philippines and under 0C at home when we left. Meaning we had to pack a little bit of everything – light jackets, long sleeves, but also flip flops and swimsuits. How did we manage to pack all that and more into just those 3 baggage items? Easy peasy!

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our first MOM & SON TRIP to Asia

KatjaHONG KONG, MACAU, SINGLE PARENT TRAVELS, THE PHILIPPINES Leave a Comment

Seriously, you are going all alone? Well no, I´m not going all alone, I´m going with Lu, he is actually a person, even though he is 5! I heard this question so many times when I told people what we´re about to do. See, we´re going to Asia in just a couple of days – but this time it´s not going to be the usual 3 of us. This time, we are leaving Gin at home. One of us has to work haha. Jokes aside – sometimes it´s really not easy for us to synchronize our holidays due to work and this year it just so happened that we would have to wait the looong 6 months until summer before we went somewhere together. This seemed like eternity to me, so I started searching for plane tickets, more for fun than real. After all, as long as Lu still goes to the kindergarten we can go where ever when ever. Want to know how are we doing this?

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NORTHLAND PENINSULA, New Zealand | 6 days road trip

KatjaFAMILY TRAVELS, NEW ZEALAND 18 Comments

This trip came up totaly unexpectedly and i have to confess, we were quite sad about it at first – because it meant we were cut of our RAROTONGA visit for about 5 days. As we only found out about this plane connection change like 3 weeks before we left, we had very little time to organise everything, rent a car and book places to sleep and most of all – to DECIDE WHERE TO GO. The other option would be the Coromandel & Bay of Plenty area, but due to summer school holidays and New Years, everything was already booked out. So we were left with NORTHLAND PENINSULA – and we loved it! Seriously, we were really happy everything happened like it did, because we ended up having a great time in New Zealand and were absolutely blown away by its beauty and the friendliness of the locals. Seems like everything does happen for a reason. Here´s a long post with lots of photos about what we did and where we went.

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