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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ARE-A-MATATUI VILLAS, Aitutaki, Cook islands

KatjaCOOK ISLANDS Leave a Comment

Imagine a place so close to the sea you can HEAR THE WAVES hit the reef edge at night, a place only a few steps away from a DREAMY SANDY BEACH which you visit every morning with a coffee in one hand and a book in the other one. Imagine a place surrounded by lush tplants and wonderful FLOWERS. A place where it´s easy to forget which date it is. A place where your kids have enough space to run around and PLAY. And now imagine a beautiful fully equipped and tastefully decorated VILLA with a wonderful spacious porch. And it has two bathrooms! And it´s located on one of the world´s best little paradise islands, AITUTAKI. We know this place. We´ve just been there last month :). Want to see how it looks?

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RAROTONGA, Cook islands | around the island in 2 days

KatjaCOOK ISLANDS, FAMILY TRAVELS 22 Comments

Not being quite sure what to expect from THE LARGEST AND THE MOST POPULOUS of all the Cook islands we landed at the foot of its beautiful mountains in a stormy morning and immediately felt ready to explore! As we were coming from the surreal AITUTAKI, where we were enjoying our relaxed and well-deserved holidays on some of the world´s best beaches, we thought – Rarotonga can never beat that! And honestly, it really can´t. But nonetheless it is an amazing island and we LOVED ITS HILLY INTERIOR which we sadly did not have time to really explore this time. Rarotonga is definitely not much behind on the awesomeness scale! Due to a series of events we only had 2 days, but I think we used them really well ;). Read more about what we did!

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AITUTAKI, Cook islands | 8 days holiday on one of the best islands in the South pacific

KatjaCOOK ISLANDS, FAMILY TRAVELS 2 Comments

Finally, we were here! In case you are wondering – yes, it was just as beautiful and amazing as it looks in the magazines. We planned the longest stop during our recent New Zealand / South Pacific trip right here on Aitutaki, one of the stops on the notorious Coral route. Although it looks like a tiny dot in the middle of a big ocean on Google maps, it has much more to offer besides perfect sandy beaches and colourful corals on its 15 uninhabited islets in the turquoise Aitutaki lagoon. How does this little paradise in the Cook islands look like? Keep on reading 😉

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AITUTAKI, Cook islands | one day in paradise

KatjaCOOK ISLANDS 4 Comments

Endless white sandy beaches, palm trees and fresh coconuts, tropical fish and a coral reef. Does this sound like paradise? It does, but we think it´s for some other reasons than these same white sandy beaches. After spending a little less than 2 weeks on Cook islands, we believe in what we´re saying ;). Read on if you are interested in how our day in paradise looked like!

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