Bounce Box Battle
If you hike the Te Araroa and you get to the South Island, you have two options for some of the stretches: get to town for resupply or send yourself a so called bounce box to some of the very remote places hikers come through. And if I say remote, I mean it. In size…
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Trail and Travel
In the nearly final stage of my prep for my year around the world I was already a bit worried whether I had made the right choices. Having a year, going to “only” six countries and having 4 long distance hikes between 600 -1200 km plus the highest mountain in Africa, kind of seemed crazy,…
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A Trail For A Queen
No, I am not talking about myself, no worries. But about my first bit of the Te Araroa on the South Island of New Zealand. And let me tell you, no better start than this. It is not difficult to explain why I am so taken by the Queen Charlotte trail. For one, it has…
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Life is what happens while you are making other plans…
I have not even started the Te Araroa and it already showed me who the boss is. As I wrote in the last post, for me good planing means to have a framework and then be flexible to circumstances. One of them happened today: I was supposed to take a ferry across the Cook around…
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Te Araroa – First Steps First
Perhaps a no brainer but your trail does not start the day you set foot on the trail. It starts much earlier and depending on what kind of planer you are more ore less intense and time consuming. I would call myself the “have-the-basics-down-but-what-happens-happens” type. For me have the basics down means: know the route/have…
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Why do people hike?
“Ahhh, what a boring question!” You might think. If so, please feel free and close this blog entry, you might find something more interesting the next time around. Let me start with why I hike: I am not sure! Perhaps I have to start with the fact that I love to hike but at the…
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Bitter – Sweet
Only a few days are left before I leave for my next adventure. While sitting in a typical inaka coffeehouse, listening to upbeat Japanese pop music I let the last three months pass by and feel that something has come to an end. Coming back for an extended period was like hooking up with an…
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The Japanese Sound of my Life
You might be able to relate. There is music, that has shaped your life. It is the music you go back to when you are happy, nostalgic, heartbroken or just re-evaluating your life. When talking Japan there is one artist, who has entered my life in my twenties and has always been part ever since:…
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Kyoto – Mon Amour
It has been a while since I have published something. I have to admit that traveling quite extensively, digesting all the impressions and then putting it immediately into writing, is something that does not work for me. Some things need time to find the right words. That is why some of the places I have…
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Tokyo Tales
In all these years it has been the first time, that I have spent more than two consecutive days in Tokyo. When I applied for my scholarship it was always clear that I did not want to live in Tokyo. For one, the next big earthquake after 1923 was to be expected (which then ironically…
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Over-Tourism – a problem or just part of the game?
I have been travelling as long as I can think and even before. The first time I was one a plane -alone- was when I was not even two years old. A flight from Berlin-Tempelhof to Hamburg. I love travelling and always wanted to be a flight attendant but the moment I stopped growing, I…
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Michinoku to hike or not to hike…
The answer is very simple: it depends! If you are a „classical“ thru-hiker who has done trails like the PCT or AT etc. You will be disappointed. Though there are some stretches where you have no infrastructure and some wilderness, it is very different. The Michinoku is very new (it only opened in 2019) and…
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My top tips when travelling in Japan
Let’s start with the bad news: Japan suffers a tourist invasion and will charge more money from foreigners for specific sightseeing spots. Also taking pictures of Geisha and Maiko in Kyoto is becoming illegal and will cost you a fine. I have to say, that I am very sorry, that it has come to this.…
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The Short Leg Conundrum
There are quite a few people who are of the opinion, that I have a somewhat large personality. Whether that is true or not is obviously depending on who you ask. But unfortunately that specific attribute does not extent to my legs. They are, by any definition you want to use, short. Period. Over the…
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Saying Goodbye is a Chance
Before I left I wrote a book review on the book “The Phone Box at the Edge of the World”. I also mentioned that on my hike I would actually come by Bell Gardia. Little did I know what would happen… Part of the hike to the little village Namiitakaigan yesterday was, let’s say, challenging.…
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Relationship Status: It’s Difficult
The Michinoku Trail and I are not clicking. It is as simple and as difficult as that. Sitting here, trying to decide what to do, I ask myself whether it is him or me? Or is it just both of us not being in sync. I try to figure out what it is that puts…
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Nature Rules
Lush, bountiful are words that come to mind when you hike in rural Japan. Once you are off the tarmac you will see green in all shades and forms. But not only that, even now in late summer, nearly autumn pops of colour grab your attention. The blossoms are delicate, nevertheless, visited by a few…
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Zero Day
I have been in Japan for nearly two weeks now and it is time for a little recap. First things first. It always surprises me how fast I adapt to Japanese culture and despite the fact, that I have not been to Japan for six years and practically spoke hardly any Japanese during that time,…
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You never know…
It might be coincidence, that I finish writing this blog post in a hotel instead of my tent with a view of the Pacific Ocean. Today I had to change my plans all over. I was supposed to make my way to the Natori Trail Centre by foot and partially train as I wanted to…
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The Phone Box at the Edge of the World- a book review
On my 41st birthday, I decided to have a big party. I wasn’t able to celebrate my 40th, so I just postponed it for a year to have friends come over to enjoy each other’s company, and celebrate getting older. I had set up the table for 14 people, stood in the kitchen for hours…
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On my way… to Japan
It has been too long! More than six years to be exact and I cannot wait to step out of the plane and reconnect with what I call “my Japanese self”. May 1st, 1993. This is the date my never-ending love affair with Japan started. I arrived in Tokyo and had to take a train…
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How to stay in touch?
One of the things that have been set from the get go was that I will purchase and carry a GPS tracker with me, while I am on my hikes. Looking into it it became clear quite quickly that it would be the Garmin in-reach mini 2. Yes, I have been influenced by the YouTube…
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Better safe than sorry…
I am back in Berlin… since the 1st of August… until I fly to Japan on the 31st of August. Why? That my plans would be in constant flux was a given from the beginning; I was just surprised how fast that would happen. I was on my fifth day of hiking the Kungsleden and…
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Overwhelmed by Nature – and suspension bridges.
I have been told, that nature above the arctic circle is breathtaking but I had no idea how much so. The first couple of kilometers it felt just nice, a hike like nearly any other in a more wooded area. But the further I came the more breathtaking were the views. What I am going…
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Seven Days Disconnected
When I publish this I will have been offline for a whole week. No reception whatsoever between Abisko and Vakkotavare . Only my satellite GPS communicator was able to let people know where I am if they have the link or if I used some of my very precious free messages per month that are…
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Are Swedish Trains as bad as Germans?
Sweden is pretty. People are nice and helpful and completely understand when you do not understand a single word, at least when you are listening to them. When I reached the platform from which my night train was supposed to leave, it was already very busy. Many backpacks with many people ready to be taken…
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400 Days
If you know me, you know that I have a passion for numbers. If you don’t know me, you know now. My colleagues call me lovingly a nerd, and I am very honoured by it. Numbers used to be my safe place. They were always reliable. 1+1=2. They were the counterpart to my very unstable…
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My best hiking buddies: a hornet and a summit
When I started looking into long distance hiking, especially the PCT it became clear that beside the backpack there are two more things that are important if not to say crucial to survival. A good shelter and a good sleeping system. Or to put it a bit easier a house and a bed. Both need…
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Size is not important – but weight is
At the end of the last millennium I got myself a backpack. At the time it was state of the art, as I was able to adjust it to my upper body length. Backpacks specifically made for women were still something of the distant future. This backpack survived multiple (shopping) trips to Japan and moving…
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GEAR UP
There is a wonderful children’s book called Storm – Stina written by the Swedish author Lena Anderson that tells the story of Stina, who is often out and about to find things. One day she sneaks out despite an upcoming storm and is lost until her grandfather finds her. Instead of scolding her he equips…
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One Year - Five Continents 