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!

From one metropolis to the next

Fra en koloenorm storby til en anden - tirsdag kl. 18.10 landede vi i Singapore efter 4 dage i Bangkok efter Hua Hin. Bangkok var vildt; det thailandske nytår, Songkran, begyndte dagen efter vi ankom, og som følge af det var byens turistcentrum et kaos i næsten al den tid, vi var der. Det var meget vådt, eftersom nytåret fejres ved at alle plasker vand på hinanden med vandpistoler. Ikke noget jeg normalt ville forbinde med fejringen af et nyt år, men man er vel også ovre på den anden side af jorden!

Videre til Singapore - hvor Bangkok var enorm og kaotisk, er Singapore bare enorm. Ordet 'kaos' eksisterer ikke her. Selv Tokyo kan ikke følge med længere, og jeg havde ikke troet jeg skulle leve til at se en by, der kunne måle sig med Tokyo hvad angår renhed, orden og pænhed på trods af den store befolkningstæthed, man finder i begge byer. Men Singapore er bare i en klasse for sig. Den ligger nr. 3 på verdens ranglisten over befolkningstæthed, og hvor det kan mærkes i Tokyo, er bybilledet ikke overrendt her. Det spiller bare. At det hele så fungerer på grund af en utrolig stram overmagt (tyggegummi er ulovligt; det siger lidt om standarden!), kan man jo se som man vil. Men der kan ikke være nogen tvivl om, at Singapore bare holder. Så mange forskellige kulturer og mennesker, der lever side om side på en ø, der er 716 kvadratkilometer stor. Det er altså imponerende!

Dog er det allerede farvel til Singapore imorgen, da jeg fandt en billig flybillet til Kuala Lumpur, Malaysias hovedstad. Jeg glæder mig helt ustyrligt til at se KL, som de lokale kalder den - og jeg glæder mig til besøge endnu et land. Malaysia er det sidste land, jeg besøger i denne omgang - på torsdag påbegynder jeg min hjemrejse til Skotland igen, så det er bare om at nyde de sidste par dage!

From one huge city to another - Tuesday afternoon, I flew from Bangkok to Singapore after staying in the Thai capital for 4 days. Bangkok was definitely an interesting experience; it was chaotic and even though I actually like Bangkok as a city, 4 days was more than enough. Songkran, the Thai new year, began the day after we arrived from Hua Hin and the touristic centrum of Bangkok turned into a watergun fight with locals and tourists splashing water all day long. Very wet experience! It was interesting to experience a different way of welcoming the new year - water is something I'd never connect with new year's, but hey, I'm half way round the globe, so ya can't expect everything to be the same!

Moving on to Singapore - whilst Bangkok is one big, happy mess, Singapore is the stricter and cleaner cousin. Singapore is huge as well, but it just works here. The Singaporean dictionary doesn't include the word 'chaos'. Even Tokyo - and I never thought I'd live to see a city overtake Tokyo in terms of law and order - has gotten some serious competition. Singapore has the 3rd largest population density in the world and whilst I'm guessing Tokyo's just as dense, you don't feel it here. The streets aren't overly crowded all the time - how that's even possible, I have no clue. But it's impressive! The fact that all this is caused by very strict laws imposed by a very strict (and indirectly homophobic) government is the other side of the coin, but I guess you can't have it all. Just to give an example: chewing gum's illegal. Just saying. However, there cannot be any doubt that it works; Singapore works and it's cool. There are three dominant cultures/ethnic groups/peoples, whatever you like to call it; Malays, Chinese and Indian. We have Chinatown and Little India. You see every shade of yellow, white and black possible in the general street scene and people live side by side. It's amazing to see.