Category Archives: Travel
Austrian Border Control
When you’re smuggling Italian cigars while hitchhiking across the Alps, the imposing Austrian customs checkpoint near Nauders will give you a brief scare. But it was Sunday morning and the soldiers were apparently attending church. Or they didn’t want to … Continue reading
Vogelsang, the Nazi Castle in the Eifel
Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels. After having hiked up and down all the green hills around Bad Münstereifel, I wanted to hitchhike for a change. No matter where. But in this goal-oriented society, where a plan counts for more than … Continue reading
Hitchhiking, an Odyssey with 50 Hail Marys (part 3 of 3)
Zur deutschen Fassung. If you want to do things in any logical order, you better read part 1 and part 2 of the hitchhiking odyssey before reading this article. You remember, I hadn’t made it onto the motorway, the sun … Continue reading
Hitchhiking, an Odyssey with 50 Hail Marys (part 2 of 3)
Zur deutschen Fassung. If you want to do things in any logical order, you better read part 1 of the hitchhiking odyssey before reading this article. You remember that we had reached Friedrichshafen without any major hiccup. But then I … Continue reading
Hitchhiking, an Odyssey with 50 Hail Marys (part 1 of 3)
Zur deutschen Fassung. Last weekend, I finally hit the road again: hitchhiking through the Swiss cantons of Zurich, St Gallen and Thurgau, across Lake Constance and through the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. A brisk 500 km is what … Continue reading
Post-Pandemic Plans
Zur deutschen Fassung. As a friend of alliterations, once the pandemic is over, I will go on pilgrimage to Petra, hitchhike to the Himalayas, walk to Waziristan, go to Giza, travel to Tirana and take the train to Tehran as … Continue reading
A Walk around Baza
Zur deutschen Fassung. Sometimes, I only get to a town because it’s on the way from A to B, but the distance from A to B is too long to travel in one day. Traveling from Málaga to Venta Micena, … Continue reading
A Postcard from Yerevan
Zur deutschen Fassung. “You are from Germany?” asks Alex, the very friendly owner of the very cozy accommodation in a prefab neighborhood of Yerevan. “Yes.” “Then I have to show you a steel helmet.” He gets up, and I follow … Continue reading
Lost in Translation
I am not one to argue that you should only visit countries of which you speak the language. If I was, I wouldn’t have made it to 65 countries or so myself. But speaking the language does increase the experience. … Continue reading
International Women’s Day
Zur deutschen Fassung. Today is International Women’s Day, but many of you don’t seem to know how to properly celebrate or commemorate it. No, it’s a day to fight! As these Italian partisans show us, you can still be fashionable … Continue reading
The Happy Hermit 