2015's destinationer

Edinburgh, Skotland: på tur med Emil i februar. Han kom på besøg, første gang i Skotland, og vi skulle da selvfølgelig besøge vores hovedstad.

Edinburgh with da brother, his first time in the United Kingdom!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: april. Påskeferie. Det gad jeg godt igen.

Last stop of my spring break was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - definitely have to go back there someday

Singapore: også april. Sjovt nok i samme påskeferie. Nok den mest kompakte by, jeg nogensinde har besøgt.

Singapore was my second spring break country

Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand: april. Første destination besøgt i min påskeferie.

Very first stop on my spring break tour of SE Asia - Nakhon Ratchasima, conveniently located off the beaten tourist track

Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven (Skotland): marts. Udflugtsmål da jeg havde mor, far og bedstefar på besøg fra Danmark.

The famous castle, situated just outside Stonehaven, is one of the reasons I love Scotland, and something I had to show my mom, dad and grandpa when they came to visit

Exeter, Devon (England): juli. Da jeg besøgte Chris og hans familie i den sydvestlige del af England.

Lovely Exeter in lovely Devon, close to Chris' family's residence in the Southwest of England 

St. Louis, Missouri (USA): oktober. Weekendtur til Missouri's statshovedstad for at heppe på vores eget hold, Rhodes Lynx.

Along with some fellow Rhodents, I went to the capital of Missouri to cheer for our football team

Little Rock, Arkansas (USA): september. Efterårsferie med nogle af de bedste mennesker, jeg mødte i USA i denne omgang.

My fall break was spent in Arkansas with some of the best friends I made whilst on exchange

Chicago, Illinois (USA): november. Thanksgiving-ferie for at besøge en af mine bedste venner.

Thanksgiving break in Chicago

Kraków, Polen: juni. Mor-datter tur sommertur og et nyt land tikket af listen.

A part of my summer was spent in Cracow, Poland

Göteborg, Sverige: december. Nytårstur med Chris, så han kunne få opfyldt en drøm om at se mere af Skandinavien. Og så jeg endelig kunne sige, at jeg nu har jeg fandme været i Sverige.

Sweden for New Years with Chris and another country to tick off the list

2015 var ikke et heeeeelt skidt år på rejsefronten, kan vi blive enige om det? Det blev til tre kontinenter, ni lande, 4 amerikanske stater og 23 flyveture. Jeg fik endelig besøgt Sverige, hvilket var en meget positiv overraskelse! 2016 bliver nok ikke helt så proppet, men det er nu også helt okay. Hvis man rejser for meget, så kan virkningen godt aftage lidt. Så nu vil jeg bare gå og glæde mig til næste tur, som bliver Irland i april.

A selection of my 2015-destiations. I managed to visit three continents, nine countries, 4 American states (7 if you count the numerous layovers I had) and I was on 23 airplanes. Pretty good, huh? I finally managed to visit Sweden, a country so close yet I've never actually been there. Plus I was positively surprised! It's actually really nice. Who would've thought.
2016 won't be as adventurous (well, it will be, just not in the exploring and travelling sense of the word), but I'm actually okay with that. I've found that there is a thing as too much travelling. Too many planes and too many airports. The effect tends to wear off if you do it too often. So, in the meantime, I'll just enjoy these next couple of months until I'm off to Ireland in April!

The English countryside

Efter næsten tre uger i England er det vist på høje tid at dele lidt billeder fra den smukke engelske countryside. Her er jo vildt skønt og idyllisk. Præcis som i de engelske tv-serier, vi jo er så vilde med i Danmark. Landskabet. Menneskerne. Lige på pletten. 

Jeg befinder mig i Colyton, Devon - omkring en fire timers kørsel fra London og en halv times kørsel fra den største by i Devon, Exeter (som jeg rigtig godt kan lide, i øvrigt!). Chris er jo fra England (hvis der var nogen tilbage, der ikke vidste det) og med en lang sommerferie var der jo ikke andet for, end at tage hen og besøge ham og lade lidt op, inden turen går til USA om 2,5 uge. Mere om det senere. Jeg har været i England mange gange efterhånden, men mærkeligt nok har jeg kun været i London, Brighton og Oxford - så at komme ud på landet var en øjenåber og en helt ny oplevelse. Jeg havde nok ikke troet, at noget så smukt kunne befinde sig så tæt på Danmark. Det minder meget om landet i Danmark, men det er bare lidt mere rustikt, billedskønt og idyllisk. Jeg kan godt lide det! Alt er stille og roligt. Ingen trafikstøj i en radius af hvad der føles som 100 kilometer og telefonsignalet er næsten ikke eksisterende. Fotomulighederne er fabelagtige. Det er ingen sag at komme helt ned i gear, så det gør jeg. Sammen med kattene, der oftest ligger i en lænestol eller er ude og fange mus. Man er vel på landet.

ENGLISH After being here for almost three weeks, I figured I'd just share some pictures from beautiful Devon. I'm here visiting Chris and I'm here for a month in total before jetting of to the US in 2,5 weeks time. More info on that later on. 

Now, I’ve been to England before; however, my list of places is limited to London, Oxford and Brighton, so coming to Devon and the English countryside was a completely new experience. The countryside is absolutely beautiful. Yes, England can be beautiful. Gorgeous in fact. It's quiet. Peaceful. Small villages, old houses and beautiful, picturesque fields as far as the eye can see. Old English traditions are still alive here. We've been at a village fête, visited tiny churces and local markets. I've xperienced the English fondness for dog shows. Like my mom said, it’s like stepping into an episode of Midsomer Murders. Cats dazing in the sun when it's out or inside, snuggling up on the couch, when it's pouring outside. It's mostly pouring. After all, this is England. 

✈ The travel chronicles ✈ - the people

Imens jeg prøver at komme over mit omvendte (og desværre stadigt eksisterende) kulturchok efter mit relativt korte USA-eventyr, har jeg tænkt meget over følgevirkningerne af turen og hvordan den har påvirket mig. Nej, faktisk over effekterne af alle mine ture. Mine eventyr, som jeg ynder at kalde dem i daglig tale. Godt nok har det ikke altid indebåret regnbuer og candyfloss-farvede græsmarker,  men det har været mindeværdigt. Selv alle de katastrofale og ulykkelige øjebikke. Up's and down's. Og det er vel det, det hele handler om, ikke sandt? Og nu, nu skal det handle om det at rejse. Jeg vil jo så gerne have en rejseblog og det nytter jo ikke noget, at jeg kun skriver, når jeg er on the road. Refleksionerne hører vel også med, og eftersom jeg er i Danmark, er der jo ikke mange eventyr at rapportere om i skrivende stund. Så jeg vil bruge tiden på at reflektere lidt over det at rejse.

Folk har ofte spurgt mig om, hvorfor jeg godt kan lide at rejse. Især mine gamle klassekammerater fra min gymnasieklasse, der blandt andet ikke kunne forstå at jeg gad tage en måned til Spanien for at lave noget "så kedeligt som at studere spansk". Og jeg har længe ikke vidst, hvad mit svar burde være. Jeg kan godt lide at se ting, jeg aldrig har set før. Den første gang, man ser et berømt vartegn, for at nævne et eksempel. Jeg glemmer i hvert fald aldrig det øjeblik, hvor jeg, totalt overgearet og lykkelig, så Big Ben for første gang i horisonten med mine nye venner på sprogrejsen til England. Jeg glemmer i hvert fald heller aldrig den ubeskrivelige følelse jeg fik, da jeg stod ud af bussen på Times Square omgivet af 120 andre ekstatiske piger fra alle afkroge af verden. Men det bedste ved at rejse? Mennesker. Forskellighed. Mangfoldighed. Det bedste ved at rejse er alle de mennesker, man møder på sin vej. Sådan er det i hvert fald for mig. Jeg fanger tit mig selv i at tænke 'hvordan har jeg været så heldig at få lov til at blive beriget med dette menneskes selskab?' Jeg har også tit tænkt 'åh gud, hvad skal jeg gøre for at slippe af med hende her?' Man må jo tage det sure med det søde.

Om det var den ekstremt stereotypiske russiske pige, hvis selvlærte engelsk klart overtrumfede mit og alle de andre studerendes, om det var den israelske fyr, hvis skriftsprog decideret lignede volapyk for os andre, om det var den pige, der, da jeg mødte hende i Skotland, ikke kunne svare på spørgsmålet om, hvor hun kom fra, da hun ikke vidste, hvad hun skulle kalde for hjem, eftersom hendes forældre ejede huse i Los Angeles, Christchurch og London, om det var den fremmede mand i Texas, jeg endte med at støde tilfældigt på to gange og som, på trods af ikke at kende mig, alligevel satte sig ned og tog sig tid til at snakke med mig om det at være væk hjemmefra.

Det er næsten underordnet. Det fascinerende ved at møde nye og anderledes mennesker er deres historie. Hvem de er, hvor de kommer fra, hvem de gerne vil være og hvor de skal hen. Og hvorfor de er her. Der er altid dem, der overrasker mig; dem der ikke passer ind i den kasse, man på forhånd har placeret dem i og man derfor er tvunget til at kasserere de fordomme, man havde om dem. Der er dem, der, når jeg har sagt farvel til dem, har efterladt mig med en tom og opgivende følelse - det værste ved at knytte sig til folk, som man har eventuelt kun har kendt i et par dage, det er tanken om at man ikke har en jordisk chance for at vide, om man nogensinde ser dem igen eller om man overhovedet kommer til at holde kontakten. Heldigvis træder den følelse for det meste i baggrunden og bliver erstattet af en anden; følelsen man får, når man opdager at man lige har fået en ven for livet - oftest på den allermest tilfældige måde. Venner, som du ved altid vil være der for dig, selvom afstanden mellem jer er enorm. Derfor er det min yndlingsting ved at rejse. Venskaberne, historierne og de lange samtaler til langt ud på natten med mennesker, du ikke kender.. men alligevel aldrig har lyst til at forlade igen.

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While I'm still trying to deal with my reverse culture shock, I've had a lot of time on my hands to think and reflect on the thoughts and the speculations that my stay in Texas has undoubtedly left me with. Which made me reflect on all of my adventures. Because that's what they've been. Adventures. Not exactly the kind of candy floss pink fairytales with unicorns at the end of the rainbow, but adventures. Journeys. They have all been memorable, even the many moments of sadness, giving up and just plain out irrationality. The up's and down's. It all counts. And really, that's what it's all about, isn't it? That's what this is gonna be about. Travelling. Afterall, I do claim this to be a travel blog, so why not use my travels as an inspiration, even when I'm not on the road? All the aftermath is just as much a part of it as the physical journey itself. The reflections are a part of it and since I'm currently back in Denmark, those delightful travel-related experiences are out of the picture. So for now I'll spend the time reflecting on the thing that is to travel. 

I've often had people asking me why I like travelling so much. Especially my old high school classmates. Some of them simply couldn't comprehend why I bothered living in Spain for a month for something as boring as that of studying Spanish. For a long time I didn't know the answer. I still don't. Sometimes I ask myself the same questions. Then I think back and remember all the feelings, the people, the adrenaline. Suddenly, I don't remember why I ever had any doubts. I like seeing things for the first time. The first time you see a famous landmark, for instance. One thing is for sure, I'll never ever forget the first time I saw Big Ben. I was with my new friends and my international class and we had anticipated the moment for what felt like years. It was breathtaking. I'm also positive I'll never forget the moment I stepped out of the bus at Times Square at nighttime. But my favorite part of it all? People. Diversity. Multiplicity. The best part of travelling is all the people you'll meet. Sometimes I catch myself thinking 'how on earth have I deserved to be blessed with the company of this person?' Other times, I catch myself thinking 'oh dear god, how am I gonna get rid of this person?' No light without darkness.

Whether it was the extremely stereotypical Russian girl, whose self-taught English without a doubt made the rest of us feel utterly inferior, the Israeli guy whose written language literally looked like nonsense to me, the girl, who, when I met her in Scotland, couldn't quite provide me with an answer to my question of where's she's from, as her parents own houses in Los Angeles, Christchurch and London or whether it was the stranger in Texas I accidentally ran into twice, who, despite not knowing me, still took the time to sit down with me to discuss the subject of being away from home.

It doesn't matter. The fascinating thing about meeting new people is their story. Everybody's got a story. As it turned out, the stranger in Texas was in fact not Texan; he was from Wisconsin and even though he hadn't even left American soil, he agreed that Texas does feel like a different planet. We all have a story. I did too. He felt drawn to ask me about mine because I was on Skype speaking a language he could make no sense of. Our story. Who we are. Where we're from. Who we want to be and where we're going. And most importantly of all, why we're here. There are always people who manages to surprise me: they're the ones that doesn't fit into the box you've already put them in even before they've opened their mouth and you therefore have to dispose of all your prejudice. There are the ones, who, right after I've said goodbye to them, have left me with an empty feeling - the worst thing about bonding with people you have possibly just known for a few days is not knowing when you'll see them again. Or if you'll ever see them again. Fortunately, that feeling tends to fade and turn into another; the feeling you have when you realize that you've possibly just gained a friend for life. Usually in the most random way possible. A friend you know will always be there for you even though the distance between you is four-digit number. That is why it's my favorite thing about travelling. The friendships, the stories and those hour long conversations in the middle of the night with people you're only just getting to know but somehow never feel like you want to leave.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford

London er fortsat den by, jeg holder allermest af. Sprogrejsen i 2011 var det mest sublime, jeg nogensinde har oplevet. Ikke engang New York eller Tokyo har ændret på det.