BALI: Between Paradise and Chaos.
What can a lost baggage do for you?
The flight from Singapore to Denpasar airport is supposed to be an easy routine. The volcano on Java, however, decided to spit out an uncontrollable ash cloud that would interfere with flights.
It’s safe to say that I was more than relieved when I heard Bali airport was opened again.
On the plane I met a nice Swedish girl who I will meet for dinner again tonight.
One of the good things about travelling by yourself, is that there are hundreds more out there like you. All of you are forced to get out of your comfortzone, which will result in getting to know some of the best people ever.
When we stepped out of the airplane I felt the relaxation and excitement kicking in…, which vanished completely when the baggage claim band stopped as I still had not received my backpack with literally everything I needed in it: clothes, hygiene, medicine.
I angrily filled out a form and had to go to my hotel without any of my stuff. The hotel I stayed at the first two night was a very nice one: Nusa Dua Beach Hotel and Spa. (A present from my uncle) They provided me with lots of what I needed. If you have money and want to spend it on luxury this is a great option.
It is great comfort but nothing for someone travelling alone. No interesting conversations with strangers!!
I could not quite enjoy paradise. I had no idea how my journey would continue. I planned to go to a different island ( Nusa penida) but had to cancel last minute because my backpack still had not arrived after two days.
I started buying the most necessary things and decided to go to Ubud, the spiritual centre of Bali. Here I noticed that I didn’t need at least half the things I had packed. I was fine without any of my stuff. I had a passport, a credit card, a phone, and a little backpack as my hand luggage. I simply didn’t need a lot more or I bought it. Two days later my backpack finally arrived after I called the airline a dozen times (Warning do not use Tiger Air. They are famous for losing luggage and barely doing anything about it)
What I learned from this experience was that despite my panic, I felt unexpectedly free. No weight on my back, just myself, and the most necessary. If you have saved some money for your trip a situation like this should not get you out of balance.
Noted: less baggage, more freedom.
Lose some pounds in your backpack. I will when I plan my next trip.
PS: if these clothes in my backpack had not cost any money I would probably throw them out asap.
Singapore: Disney Land with Death Penalty
The title might not make sense to all of you out there. But it kind of does if you have been to Singapore. This city seems so perfectly organized and set up, that it could be Disneyland. To all of you who have not been lucky enough to enjoy Disney: It is paradise. As a child it can even seem like reality to you. But as a grownup ( not saying that I am one) you realize that the walls are made out of paper instead of real stone, but they look perfect. Too perfect for that matter.
Singapore’s business district and the area boyfront around Marina Bay Sands ( that fancy ass hotel with the infinity pool on the roof) seem too beautiful to be real. The trees in the gardens by the Bay don’t stand there by chance. Nothing in Singapore exists by chance.(maybe little India) The Gardens by the Bay have metal trees even. They look strangely gorgeous. It is a must see preferably at night when they light up in different colours to music (Disney music not kidding)
Hawker centres are another good example for Singapore’s perfect organization. Food stands have been crowded up into these to make the food safer. Their hygienic rating goes from A to C. A being the best. They offer food for a good value from all over the world. You can get any food you want. I recommend Chinese or Indian. Disney World in Florida has these restaurants with country themes. An additional similarity, I told you so.
Not in a Hawker centre: Dorian fruit. Forbidden in transit. Smells like cheesy feet dipped into fruitsalad
But my heading had a bad aftertaste: death penalty. Besides being perfectly organized in public transit, food, architecture etc. Singapore has found a way to maintain its safety despite its crazy immigration and growth rate. It is one of the strictest countries in the world. Drug dealing is punished with Death. Eating in a metro with a 1000 $ fine. Think twice before you satisfy your cravings there. If you’re pregnant and can’t stop yourself think about how you will be able to take your child to Disney Land with this money some day.
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As a passionate traveler I have never had any issue going anywhere by plane. It never occurred to me that something would happen. After all, it is, statistically speaking, still the safest way to get from one place to another. Of course, I had heard of the tragic plane crashes (malaysian airlines, the plane that got shot out of the sky in Ukraine). I feel bad that all of these incidents have shocked, but never affected me in any way. As a German, Lufthansa (Germanwings belongs to Lufthansa) always meant perfect technological safety. The perfect reputation. Perfect control. The cause for the plane crash, as I learned today, was a copilot who willingly let the plane crash. I am not here to accuse him, or curse him. It just has devastated me to hear, that the victims were killed by nothing we can control, fix or eliminate in the future. I cannot support people who are filled with hatred towards the possible predator. I can only support the feeling of helplessness. We cannot explain every human being. Even though we try to measure blood pressure, brain waves… We will never be able to completely understand what’s actually going on.
Actually, I cannot shake the feeling that our world has become a darker place. In my guts I am a little scared even. Not a very rational thought, considering the history the world has had. However, I feel like it gets harder and harder to hold onto things, because they can change in an instant. Life or death.
Tragedies like this one just make my unbearably sad. All my compassion goes to the victim’s loved ones. My tears cannot possibly share your pain. However, I won’t be scared to get on the plane. Don’t be filled by hatred towards the airline, the copilot or anyone else. Hatred won’t honor the victims. Don’t be scared of flying. Humans are humans. And humans do things, we cannot follow or understand. Hoping this tragedy will never be rewritten.
Anticipation
A German saying says that “prejoy” (or anticipation) is the best joy. And it is true. I am dying to go backpacking in Indonesia. And to keep my urges in check I bought a completely useless and touristic Marco polo guide book. There you go… I was weak. But it gives me joy thinking about the possibilities. #prejoy #guidebook #Indonesiabackpacking
Endorphins
It is a widespread belief that after you have exercised your body produces more endorphins. Those hormones are, among others, responsible for happiness, or at least temporary luck. Well, I can tell you, I have experienced this “rush” almost every time. Just today I got into my car, pumped up the music and jammed until I felt so embarrassed when other people saw me that I stopped for a short time. But all the sport fanatics out there know what I mean when I say “rush”. You get home after work and feel exhausted. How could you possibly feel better after exhausting your body even more? But yes, it is possible. And since you know that you will feel better after, exercising can almost become an addiction. I push myself harder and harder every time to walk out of the class with bones like jello and the feeling of flying, because I cannot feel my legs. Right now I enjoy this feeling, because it helps me to enjoy the rest of the evening instead of lying in my bed feeling like crap. But I know people, who actually get addicted. They work out more than once a day, always trying to achieve this rush. It’s a drug.
On the other hand, sugar, for me it is chocolate, can do the exact same thing to you. Especially people who like Candy (like me. LOVELOVELOVE Candy and Chocolate) tend to reward themselves for hard work or a small achievements with sugar. The mind connects sugar with a reward, and you feel better, more energetic. But only for a moment. As your insulin drops quickly you feel hungrier and weaker than before, feeling you have worked hard. You get another piece of Candy.
I proudly announce, I have both addictions. Even if I manage not to eat sweets for a week or so, I just value it too much.
Don’t agonize about little flaws. I feel a little Candy addiction can’t do harm. It’s not alcohol or worse. And as long as you don’t value exercise more than the people you love…what can seriously be wrong with that? There will always be people judging judging you. “You work out way too often” Or you will be judging yourself eventuelly. “I should’t have eaten that Kinder Bar”.
Find your own balance. It’s all about how you achieve “unconditional happiness”(read on my Creation page). I do by working out and jamming in my car. Even better with a Kinder Bar between my teeth.
Kickboxing
In my humble opinion, kickboxing is one of the best sports if you plan to get in shape. In the beginning it can cost you everything to keep on going but as soon as you have found a class with an instructor you like and with people who motivate you, you will get addicted to releave your stress by punching a punching bag. The training involves drills, pretty much every kind of fitness exercise that comes close to military fitness drills (joke) (actually no joke…it can be horrible), and of course kicking and punching techniques. I avoid sparing (fighting that avoids injuries) because I solely do it for fitness. Maybe I will try it some day though. If you are looking for a whole body work out, which gives you defined but not huge muscles, this is it! Even if you think it to be too harsh at first: Keep. Going. Work hard and you will have so much fun! As a women it also makes me feel saver. Even though my instructor tells me to run away and scream as loud as I can if I get attact by a man for example, I know he taught me how to free myself out of such a situation at least for a few seconds so I actually can run and scream. Reality always looks differently of course. Kickboxing is not only for boys. It is not too manly. Girls, get on to it.
Anyone from Hamburg:
My class is at the On Stage fitness centre at Wartenau with Jotis
Take a look
Traveling and Money
Since I am currently planning my trip to beautiful Indonesia the money issue is always on my mind. I work a lot for my trip. But of course, I also want to work for my daily life expenses. Whenever I walk into a mall, I ask myself the following questions:
Do I need this? Do I want a nice dinner in Indonesia or do I want a Starbucks coffee? Sometimes I even try to find excuses to buy things, because I might “need” or wear them on my trip. Rubbish if you ask me.
I salute you! I salute the poeple who are able to strictly save up money and can resist the urges of a consumer. I respect and admire you!
If traveling was free, I would literally not come back until I craved German food. But I am pretty sure that is how all explorers of this world feel. And I salute you, too.
SO in order to stay on my track and keep up the work, which can be really exhausting I put together some tips to do so.
STAY FOCUSED
If your trip is far in the future and you still have months and months to go, it can be easy to focus on your daily life rather than your goal of traveling. In the end you might not have saved enough money to make your trip happen. Therefore, print out pictures, constantly make arrangement for your trip. Get vaccinated, make plans for the trip you probably won’t stick to. But it doesn’t matter as long as you keep your goal in front of you without getting frustrated about your life at home! You know why you are doing this!
PAY CASH
Using your debit or credit card all the time can seduce you to buy more things all together. You won’t have a bad conscience anymore, because you can’t see the lack of money until you check you bank account. Go to an atm once a week and get as much as you think you will need. Only use more for emergencies, or absolutely unstoppable cravings. I said ABSOLUTELY unstoppable! You will know how much you spent at the end of the month and know how much of your savings you will need for daily expenses.
BUDGET OR LUXURY
It really depends where you are going in this world! Go to countries, you know to be cheap. South East Asia for example gets you paradise for a great value. South America is just the same. Of course, you might want to visit other places of the world as well, but as a young, energetic and (let’s be honest) broke person, stick to the cheap ones. When you are young it is easier for you to stay in hostels with people you don’t know. So go for it. You can find occasional luxury there for a fraction of the money you’d spend in an expensive country.
Columbia
One thing that I have learned about traveling is to take every opportunity to do so. Pretty close to a year ago, I went off for a big adventure to Columbia. One of my friends was doing social work there back then and she casually asked me to visit her, knowing me she never expected me to accept that invitation. Columbia is bound to a lot of prejudices, and I was very prejudiced. But since I was down for a trip and had saved up some money, I took a risk, which turned out not ti be a risk at all. And it was so worth it. Columbia is one of the most diverse and beautiful countries in the world. The capitol Bogotá is HUGE. If you ever visit it you should see the Monserrate. On top of it even though it’s pretty high you stll won’t be able to see the city limits.
The Caribbean coast was amazing as well. You can climb through rain forest in national parks
, and sleep at beautiful beaches, which we accidentally did. We attempted to rent a hammock but they were all gone by the time we got there.
Finally, it is a good thing to take risk. For me it turned out to be the best trip of my life so far. Take a risk. But be safe. Inform yourself and get to the airport!
Simply the BEST
I decided to put a map together about where I have been in my life. I have covered a lot of Europe and North America. Only one trip to Columbia so far. But I really want to see more of South America. My next trip will be Indonesia and Singapore. I am absolutely excited, as I have booked my flights for July a couple days ago.
When it comes to organizing trips I have a few websites I always use lately because they are, in my humble opinion, simply the best. Oh how i would love to put a youtube link to Tina Turners video here. However, I am forgetting these winners here:
1. http://www.momondo.de
I haven’t found any website that works so well when it comes to looking for the cheapest flight if you are NOT bound to a specific date. I compares the prices of hundreds of airlines and also which days are the cheapest.
2. Airbnb
Airbnb is the perfect opportunity to travel on a budget but still not miss out on luxury. Sometimes you are tired of spending the night with 7 other people in the room you don’t really know. Well how about a room to yourself somebody who lives at that place currently is not using? OR even an apartment that was set up to be leased on airbnb. There you go, usually you get a whole apartment for two, for a cheaper price than a budget hotel room. It is amazing what they offer for places in Indonesia for example. Same days of my trip, I tell myself, I attempt to live like a king.
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