German by passport, home where I feel most alive
I won – yes I actually really won – a wellness stay at the Algarve. So, flying to Lisbon was for me the only option getting there, hence why not spending a couple of days there?
I went with a really good friend of mine, we even lived together for a short period of time and I knew we’d get along – in fact it was my first proper girl’s holiday in a very very long time. Continue reading “Lisbon”
You probably won’t just go to Lagos as a tourist. You will probably only go if you are an expat going for work, a spouse of an expat or if you happen to marry a Nigerian. I went for work. Having lived in South Africa for 12 years now, I am well aware that SA is not necessarily Africa, hence I knew that something completely different was going to await me .But I am not sure if I was prepared. I guess I wasn’t. Continue reading “Lagos, Nigeria”
Recently, I had the honour to collaborate with another South African blogger, Jacqui, and last week my first guest blog contribution was published on “The Jax Blog”.
If you are interested to read what you can do in Athens if you only have 48 hours or even less, head over to The Jax Blog and read all about it.
Spain is always a good idea – especially when it’s winter in the southern hemisphere. Northern hemispherians never believe me when I say it gets cold in Africa. That’s so far fetched. Although I mostly love Johannesburg winters, the nights get extremely cold, houses are not built for the cold and the air is so dry. That’s why I love to escape the winter here for a little bit if I have the chance. Continue reading “Spain is always a good idea!”
Maboneng is so much more than just “Market on Main” or the “Living Room”. I have been to Maboneng before, usually on a Sunday to go to the market, meet with friends and maybe enjoy a drink at the mentioned Living Room. However, I have never really walked around the streets of Maboneng, looked at all the amazing street art that can be found all over, took in the energy this place, listened to some great live music, had a coffee/lunch stop at creative place and just felt so happy to be calling Johannesburg my home. Continue reading “Maboneng”
I will miss this city. That’s for sure. I hated it when I first moved here 9 years ago and I know that I will miss it like crazy when my time comes to an end here. Maybe that’s the reason why I look at it with a different eye now? Or perhaps, it has really changed over the past couple of years so much that the perception has changed too. Continue reading “Saturdays are meant to be spent in Braam”
It was love at first sight. The moment I stepped out the metro station at Munich’s Marienplatz, walking up the stairs and looking at the building that hosts the “Toy Museum”, I was sold and in love! A feeling of being in the middle of a fairy tale town completely overwhelmed me. It wasn’t my first visit to Munich but I never realized its beauty before. A perfect sunny spring day, probably helped a lot. Continue reading “24 hours in Munich – the perfect date”
I fell in love with Hamburg. Nope, it wasn’t love at first sight.. only several years after my first visit it clicked between us. Sort of like being good friends for a while, keeping in touch every now and then, never losing the connection even if not seeing each other for some time and then comes that one day, when time and place are just perfect – crash, boom, bang! Hooked. Continue reading “Hamburg meine Perle”
The hype about Kramerville has been around for a while now – so it’s not as if I am giving away any secret insider tips..Yet, it seems the hype hasn’t slowed down yet, like it is the case with so many trendy things. Instead there are continuously new places opening and new things to explore. Continue reading “Reasons why I love Jo’burg #6 – Kramerville”
It’s not a myth.. women are different to men. Probably in most aspects of life. I count travelling in, too. I think it’s safe to say that our travelling behaviour is very different compared to that of men. Yet, it feels like all aspects of a journey have been designed by men and are not women friendly at all. Continue reading “When Women Travel”
I just did it! I just went ahead and booked 3 nights in Budapest. All alone. There were two possible options of friends (living in Europe) who were thinking of joining me but in the end couldn’t make it. However, I told myself, if I wait for others to go with me, I’d wait forever – I guess that’s the downside of being single. On the other side.. if I think about it, my ex loved his TV shows or his sports (on TV mostly) too much to make a move on the weekend anyway, so it doesn’t really matter, I guess.
Anyway, I bought a mini travel guide called: “10 things to do in Budapest”, studied the map of Budapest to choose the best located hotel, booked a flight and had anxiety attacks for a few days before I left. Continue reading “Solotrip to Budapest”
A probably once in a lifetime opportunity was presented to me when I received an (almost) all-inclusive invite to the St Moritz Gourmet Festival 2016. One of Switzerland’s master chefs, Reto Mathis, who I had the pleasure of flying to South Africa for an event we sponsored last year, is the president/chairman of the above mentioned gourmet festival and invited me as his guest of honor to his event. Continue reading “St Moritz – Top of the World”
Wow! Bern was one of the surprises of our trip to Switzerland. Such a gem. So underrated.. or rather not known. It is a truly beautiful city. I’d like to come back and explore more of it, as we basically only spent half a day there. Continue reading “Welcome to Bern – the Swiss Capital”
This video by Dawn, the Incidental Tourist, reviews our trip to Switzerland much better than any of my words could have ever done!
A group of 7 people travelled to Switzerland from 04-09 December 2015 and I couldn’t have asked for a better end to 2015! I strengthened friendships, I’ve gotten to known acquaintances on a much better level, I learnt so much from each individual of the group as well as learning from an energetic group dynamic I have never experienced before. I’ve learned that you can close your eyes to the things you don’t want to see, but you can’t close your heart to the things you don’t want to feel. I’ve learnt that surrounding myself with the inspiring people who travelled with me lifts me up, gives me a new perspective on many things. I’ve learnt that this county has an amazing youth that will help to make this country great. I’ve learnt that travelling in uneven numbers can be fun and that there won’t necessarily be a 5th wheel on the wagon (well in our case a 7th). I’ve learnt to love the cold weather. I have fallen #inlovewithSwitzerland.
Thanks you to those who made me learn all of these things and so much more.
Follow Dawn on her YouTube channel for more inspiring videos.
My confession: I don’t know how to ski. I never even made it to a proper skiing resort for a holiday. I have always been the type of holiday maker that would rather chill in the sun by the beach than being active on the slopes ( to add: in the cold). Up until very recently. Continue reading “Saas-Fee: a magical winter wonderland”
Recently, I came to a realization. It was creeping in, slowly but surely and one day it hit my brain: I don’t like going out anymore because I am single! Usually people like going out when being single.. to mingle. The thing is, I enjoy being single and there is no wish to change this. However, it seems like I have hit an age at which it is simply not acceptable (at least for others) that I am single. No matter where I go, be it just casually going out meeting friends and consequently other people through them, be it a work function or, and that’s the saddest part of my realization, be it just going home to Germany to see my family. Continue reading “The Single Woman”
The 24th September marks “Heritage Day”, a public holiday in South Africa. So, this year I decided to take the opportunity and go away for a long weekend. Why not Namibia.. It is close enough (so we thought at least) and since Namibia’s history is somewhat connected to my German heritage it was a good ankle why to chose it. Continue reading “Namib Desert: the land God created in anger – so they say”
Dear All,
I am overwhelmed by an article about me that Caroline Hurry, one of South Africa’s Top Ten travel bloggers, recently published on her blog Travelwrite. I am overwhelmed by her warm words for me, by the response I received from friends and family and by the stats of my travel diary skyrocketing after Caroline’s article was published.
I first met Caroline about two years ago when she was invited to one of our press trips to beautiful Switzerland and since then we have become friends, although I don’t see her as often as I would like to, I guess we are both just too busy. She is an amazing writer and her writing style makes me laugh out loud everything I read her stuff. She is just amazing. She even published a book a couple of years ago: “Handbook of the Huntress”. Caroline once gave me a signed copy after I briefed her in on my extremely good instinct when choosing a man.
Caroline’s words about me amazed me and stunned me, made me feel proud and I wondered if she was really talking about me. I did not recognize myself in her article, but this probably is my biggest challenge.. that I don’t see myself the way others see me. But then again, who does?? We all have our own perception of ourselves, we might feel low in self esteem, others see us shining of self confidence. Same goes for the other way around. We often have this preconceived picture of someone in our head when in fact that person sees him/herself completely different.. But this is probably a whole new blog post.
My very own blog here – if you can call it a blog, because I am certainly not a writer and I write in a foreign language, so I don’t even want to go into all my grammatical or spelling mistakes – is more of a diary, maybe more for myself than for anyone else. Which is probably a contradiction in itself since it is on a public and easy accessible platform. However, I realized that I forget easily, be it experiences, places, names etc. so, this blog serves as an easy reference to look things up or if one of my friends asks me for recommendations in Cape Town for example, I can again, easily refer them to here.
Therefore, thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my thoughts, my experiences, my adventurous dramas. I appreciate it very much.
Much love
Danica
Confessions of a Traveler 