holiday-ays

this week's Blogstoeckchen by Miss Winkelmann :-)

your holiday plans for 2011?
not sure if they will all work out in the end but so far:
3 days camping in Norfolk to attend an photograph a wedding, starting in 2 days from now
4 days Stockholm in August with my husband
3 days Bayreuth with two friends (I have tickets for the Wagner festival)
a few days in Guernsey again or maybe Jersey in early October
hopefully another camping trip to Canterbury in summer
and 2 days in Paris completely on my own at some point.

what is your favourite way to spend holidays?
going to a place which has lots to see and do, where I feel safe and if it offers the chance for some shopping it won't hurt too

the best holidays ever?
I liked the majority of my holidays (and haven't been on too many yet anyway as I never really travelled until I left school and only had my first flight when I was 23) so there isn't one standing out.

the worst trip?
10 days skiing in 8th grade. Went to Neukirchen in Austria and hated every second of it. Went so far that when we arrived back home I kneeled pope-style on the school car park and kissed the ground.
Don't wanna offend anyone but since then I have issues with Austria...

favourite destination?
would give every country the chance to be my favourite destination (maybe even Austria lol). Spontaneous, utterly dull and embarrassing answer: anywhere where I have a chance to communicate in German, English or French.

5* hotel or tent?
I discovered camping exactly one year ago so I'm quite taken by the idea of sleeping in a tent. Of course I wouldn't say no to the 5* hotel but camping, although limited on where you can go, is such a nice way to save an awful lot of money.

food?
if possible self-catering. I like cooking, am a bit picky when it comes to food abroad and it's simply so much cheaper.

how detailed is your planning?
quite - before booking I'm known for getting obsessed with comparing prices and reading every little detail on tripadvisor. And I love buying travel guides and own a lot. So, yes, my planning is detailed, how the reality then looks is a different story though...

what needs to be in your luggage?
all sorts. I do plan outfits before packing but in the end forget to look at my list so I often forget at least one thing. But I'm one of the few people who absolutely love packing...and absolutely hate unpacking, so I never use wardrobes on holidays. What always needs to be in my luggage? Camera, diary, phones, sunglasses, hand sanitizer and anti-sickness tablets (just in case).

which places do you have to see before you die?
Marrakesh, the Easter Islands, New York, San Francisco, Moscow and St.Petersburg, Thailand...pretty much everywhere I haven't been yet.

what would you do with two months free time and 20.000Euro cash?
not sure, I'm a student so the two months free time bit is not a fiction and doesn't excite me a lot. So I probably would spend the money on a new boiler for the house, a Nikon D700 and a Louis Vuitton handbag...but to answer the question the way it is meant: I would maybe travel form the east to the west coast in the US...or go on the Transsiberian railway to Bejing...or live 2months in Paris...or book a round-the-world ticket...don't really know.

funniest travel anecdote?
not a travel anecdote as it happened in London, but: twice it has happened so far that I ran into people I know from uni. Not the most likely thing to happen considering how many millions of people there are in London. And funny as my reaction was always the same completely confused one.
("Oh hi!"...*thinking about walking on...then thinking again...it's London for fuck's sake!!!...I've just met her in London and not on the campus...you can't walk on just like that!...isn't that incredible?!?* "Hi! What are you doing here?"...*what a stupid question...don't know what to say...it's so weird...I met her and we are both in LONDON*...)