was one of the titles Google’s Gemini AI suggested after I fed it this blog entry. I thought I would give it a try and see what AI has to offer. I don’t love it,… Read More »“Scootering Through Smoke and Smiles: Our Unexpected Hanoi Adventure”

There have been quite some changes in our travel plans. After Bolivia, we intended to visit the ABC Islands but had to cancel because we didn’t have the required yellow fever vaccination. We had planned… Read More »These streets will make you feel brand new

When we left Cusco, we took an overnight bus to Puno, a little town on Lake Titicaca. I hardly slept that night, because Peruvian streets have a lot of speed bumps and the driver did… Read More »La Paz & Lake Titicaca

Bee’s holidays started, so we got time to explore more of Peru. Cusco was our base for trips throughout the Incan homeland. Our apartment was situated at around 3390 m / 11100 ft, which was… Read More »Cusco and the Incan Homeland

This month, my longtime home town Vienna has again been ranked as the most livable city in the world by The Economist. There are many reasons why this ranking makes sense to me. Public transportation… Read More »Lima – Culinary capital of the world and much more

Cuenca lies in the Andes at an altitude of 2,560 m / 8,400 ft. The climate, albeit a bit warmer, reminds me of Bogotá, which is situated just 80 m / 250 ft higher. It… Read More »Tranquil Cuenca

Bee visited Buenos Aires on a short trip in 2018 and told me on her return that I would like it. I imagined it more like Montevideo turned out to be, and in some ways,… Read More »Buenos Aires – buena vida!

I love the Vipassana course concept because, although the meditation was taught by Gautama Buddha, the meditation itself is completely secular in its nature. Vipassana courses are based on donations and all the people who… Read More »My Vipassana Experience in Argentina

We stayed in Barrio Sur, a very lively neighborhood known for Candombe, a Uruguayan form of drumming and dancing. Every Sunday evening until after 11:00PM, I heard the loud beating of the drums from our… Read More »Montevideo, the unassuming little gem among the Latin American capitals

Our arrival at Lake Atitlán was awful. We both got the flu (we think). We were vomiting and not sure if we had food poisoning. Which brings me to the first downside of nomadic living… Read More »The downsides of nomad life

“LAKE COMO, it seems to me, touches the limit of the permissibly picturesque, but Atitlan is Como with the additional embellishment of several immense volcanoes. It is really too much of a good thing.” So… Read More »Lake Atitlán

Growing up in a very political family, where discussions were led with lots of emotions on a daily basis, for the longest time I was convinced that this kind of political engagement was good and… Read More »Nicaragua: Ringing in 2023

Time is passing at high speed, even when you try to take it slow by adhering to the national Costa Rican motto “Pura Vida,” which means something along the line of pure/simple life. Tamarindo was… Read More »12 months on the road

I always felt I am not a high rise person, always preferred Brooklyn to Manhattan and what seemed to me to be cuter parts of various cities with shorter buildings. Well, that changed here in… Read More »Hot November

When I was about 19 years old, I learned yoga in my hometown of Graz from a Dutch teacher, who became a very good friend and an influential person in my life. Since he was… Read More »Medellín or Rishikesh

Our landlord decided to start construction in the house during our stay. Once, water came through the ceiling in the dining room and whole walls were torn down with a hammer next to our apartment.… Read More »La belleza está en la calle

Our Paris apartment was one of the smallest apartments so far, comparable to the size of the one we stayed in Madrid. Ironically I got sick in both of them, this time with COVID. I’m… Read More »From Paris to Bogotá

I am not a coffee connoisseur by any means, but I like to have a good cup of coffee, and by a good cup, I don’t mean filter coffee. We can’t pick our apartments based… Read More »Espresso Dream Come True

I am sitting in the TGV train from Bordeaux to Paris, traveling at 320 kph (199 mph) and thinking to myself “that’s the way transportation has to be in Europe”. 2.5 times faster than a… Read More »Trains, Friends, Yoga and Port Wine

We are approaching our last day in Lisbon. What started a bit chilly and rainy has turned into full-on summer weather. In the beginning we had to start the gas heater in the living room… Read More »In Need of Exercise