World traveler with a passion for writing

Now it has also caught me! I resisted blogging for years and had two good explanations for it:

I started traveling when there was neither a cell phone nor internet.... the good old diary and the analog SLR were my constant travel companions, no, even my best friends.

The second explanation is that EVERYTHING has already been written about traveling and hey, who is actually still waiting for me, who has something to tell about the golden times in Mexico in the 90s but has never been to the trendy Ubud/Bali?

But I hiked Mount Kilimanjaro, marveled at the customs of the Chinese in Tibet, went canoeing in South Africa, and spent days in Lukla waiting for my return flight to civilization and fought a fierce battle for food or a place to sleep. I belong to those who don't just think in black or white, hostel or hotel, or rather backpacker vs. package tourist, and maybe it's worth it for me to make my experiences and what I have experienced accessible to all of you?!

I love individual travel, my trips are a mix of backpacking and flashpacking, and I absorb every tip from other travelers and store it in my brain as 'exciting'. But I'm not focused on the mainstream, I like to find niches on our world map, I still see the looks of my parents when I raved about my canoe tour in Botswana in 2004, including camping in the Okavango Delta.

I have traveled to nearly 70 countries, counting quite old-fashioned (and certainly politically incorrect) Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, and Palestine as small sovereign countries. Sometimes I was fast, sometimes I traveled with profound depth. For years I thought that Australia was my real home, even though I never stayed there longer than a few months. As they say, 'home is where your heart is' and it felt that way in Down Under. In the meantime, I have become a kind of 'world citizen', I feel comfortable in every country, but I also appreciate coming home, to Berlin, to my husband and dog.

Speaking of dogs.....my little West Highland Terrier will increasingly ensure that Europe is not neglected in the future. She is very excited to explore the world with us two big pack leaders on her little paws.

And who am I actually? My name is Sandra, I will soon be 45 years young and have always been a traveler. As a child with my parents, alone with school and after-school care, and from the age of 15 really on my own. I was lucky enough to be able to experience 'exotic destinations' like building a tea house in Turkey or Russia during my school days. My first solo trip was to the USA in 1986, followed by the then obligatory trips to Spain. With the completion of my studies, the travel map became bigger and the first trips to Mexico and Kenya followed. It quickly became quite a collection, which I will now gradually tell you about.

The basis for many old reports (before 2004) will certainly be my aforementioned friends - the travel diary and the now scanned photos of the first analog SLR. Please have a little patience, the pictures were just not better back then :-).

In this spirit, enjoy 'allcontinentsinonelife'