Auckland

Yes, I did make it to New Zealand. With even less baggage than I had started out with (my orange bag and I have been reunited since, though). The first few days have been wonderful - am staying with Maureen and Peter, who have been absolutely lovely and have already shown me a lot of Auckland and the surroundings. Here's me earlier today:

Yesterday, we went up two of the (about 50) volcanoes Auckland is nestled among, saw Devonport, a nice little suburb, and did a harbour tour.

The weather has been great, and so far, no jetlag. I've also got the pass for the Magic Bus which I'll go around New Zealand with. Life's grand!

Sydney

Unfortunately, I missed the connecting flight to Auckland because the Singapore-Sydney flight was delayed. Or rather, "re-timed" as they seemed to call it there. A very clever piece of rebranding - I feel much better being on a "re-timed" flight than a delayed one - as if a team of experts really thought about the timing of the flight, and then improved it after very careful consideration. The result is still the same, though, I'm sitting at the airport waiting... But at least I know it's daytime, and SUMMER (outside, inside it's the same airconditioned air as everywhere)!

Singapore

Have just landed and am about to start exploring the airport. The flight so far was fine, I even managed to get some sleep. They said it's about 6 o~clock local time, and the first thing I have to figure out is whether that is in the morning or evening. Or maybe it doesn't matter, I'm not staying in this timezone for long...

Waiting...

So, here I am. All packed up and no place to go (yet - another 6 hours or so before the flight takes off).

I've done pretty well with the packing, though. Everything seems to fit in the bags. I hope I haven't forgotten anything vital. Passport - check. Credit card - check. A multitude of USB cables, chargers and adapters - check. Should be ok then.

In less than 48 hours...

I'll be on the plane! And there's still so much to do. Like recycling my plastic bottles. After all, this is how I plan to finance the trip*...

* we do get 25 ct per bottle back in DE, so about 4,000 bottles can get you a flight to Australia (if you're lucky). 

I had imagined Brisbane slightly differently...

... but hey, I'm flexible. Good thing the packing isn't finished yet! So, out with the sunscreen and bikini, in with - well, actually, I think nothing I have is rainproof enough for this, so I'll just take a few more books to read.

Ode to Wiesbaden

Since I had a very nice evening yesterday in Wiesbaden, I have been thinking about things to write about this city. Hhmm... It's of course famous for --- its beautiful houses? 

Well, enough about Wiesbaden already, instead here some photos from the fabulous sailing holiday in Croatia (in September). They remind me of summer, and summer is where I'll be as from next week!

Barcelona - again

After only two weeks at home, back to Barcelona -for my uncle's memorial service, unfortunately. But everything has a positive side (if you only search long enough), which was that my parents and one of my sisters came, too. So in spite of the very sad occasion, we had some nice, sunny and warm days together. We did the tourist bus tour (good, but almost too cold to sit on the open upper deck now, and the seats inside are mostly not very good) and took the time to explore the Parc Güell (photos on the left). 

We also went to the Maritime Museum, spent a lot of time on or near the beach (no swimming, though!) and walked up the Paseig de Gracia, which is a lovely boulevard with great Modernismo buildings (and interesting traffic lights).

Out with the old!

It's been over a week since the last entry, and I don't want to lose my blog-momentum, so I'd better write a little paragraph. It's not that I haven't done anything, just not any travelling (I don't think Rosbach, Gießen and Wetzlar really count). And since it's called meikesreisen, travel should be the focus of the whole thing. I've done one thing connected with travel, though: I bought a new bag! I always try to get rid of something old when I buy something new, and that's why I've just put my trusty old suitcase on ebay. Bye-bye, thanks for the many great trips - and the countless times you smashed against my calf and gave me a bruise. (photo to follow)