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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AUCKLAND, New Zealand | weekend city trip

KatjaCITY BREAKS, FAMILY TRAVELS, NEW ZEALAND, SINGLE PARENT TRAVELS Leave a Comment

Touchdown in Auckland – our FIRST TIME IN NEW ZEALAND. Sounds amazing right, but at that moment it was not – we were tired and our feet were smelly. Having had 2 flights behind us, each being well over 10hrs long all we wanted to do is shower and sleep. We completely lost track of time and were not even sure which date it is. Luckily we realised it was midnight already so going to sleep felt like the best thing to do anyway. Read more about what we did in Auckland once we got over our tiredness.

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WAIHEKE ISLAND, New Zealand | day trip from Auckland

KatjaFAMILY TRAVELS, NEW ZEALAND 15 Comments

RAINFORESTS, sandy BEACHES, VINEYARDS and top end RESTAURANTS – all on one island which you can circle in just 1 day? Yes please! Before we flew further to Cook islands we had a couple of days to spend in Auckland and were determined to visit one of the islands close by as a day trip. And so we landed on WAIHEKE ISLAND a day before Christmas and were blown away by its unexpected beauty and diversity. Here is a post about what we saw and did.

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SINGAPORE LAYOVER – how to spend a day in Singapore between flights

KatjaSINGAPORE 8 Comments

Singapore is without a doubt one of the best places you can think of for a layover between flights. The city itself of course deserves at least a couple of days of your time, but in case this is not possible, A LAYOVER IS A GREAT INTRODUCTION into what this modern Asian city has to offer. So how is it done and what can you actually see & do in 1 day? Check out our TIPS AND ITINERARY SUGGESTION.

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Best Christmas markets in Germany travel December

GERMAN CHRISTMAS MARKETS

KatjaGERMANY 2 Comments

December in Germany is all about Christmas markets! Smell the sweet cinnamon waffles, mulled wine, gingerbread and grilled sausages while strolling around in the labyrinths with food & hand made products stands – BIG TOWNS set up several Christmas markets on larger town´s squares, SMALLER CITIES have one Christmas market and even the smallest VILLAGES usually organise a 1-day Christmas market on the first December weekend. Markets are often the event of the year for many locals and everyone is always looking forward to the moment when they open.

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HALLE and LEIPZIG, Germany | weekend trip to former East Germany

KatjaCITY BREAKS, FAMILY TRAVELS, GERMANY Leave a Comment

Leipzig is just a bit under 2 hours driving from our home and makes a great WEEKEND GETAWAY spot for us! We made this short trip in Autumn and the city really surprised me with its MODERN fancy shops, nice architecture and overall atmosphere – I must confess I expected something much less up to date. It really looked like a nice city and I could even imagine living there without feeling I ended up “just somewhere”. Not sure I could say the same thing for HALLE, but more about that part at the end of this post.

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Dinner at a Michelin 3-Star Restaurant Aqua Wolfsburg Germany

dinner at a Michelin 3 *** restaurant | AQUA, Wolfsburg, Germany

KatjaFOOD + RECIPES, GERMANY, SPECIAL EXPERIENCES Leave a Comment

Eating at a Michelin star restaurant has to be one of those things many people who love exquisite food have on their “do at least once in a lifetime list”. And it is not just about good food. Surely, one can eat a delicious meal in a simple street food stand somewhere in Asia as well. Here it is also about using unique ingredients, combining them in new ways, applying special techniques etc. Besides, it is about the whole experience of this culinary journey that is so special in the end. Even though it is more expensive, it is worth every euro. Since we happen to have a 3-star restaurant very close to where we live here in Germany, I could not resist going one time. Here´s how it was.

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