Day 2 – Still bad weather – so here something special a freehand HDR in color and in B/W

Black and white or indoor…

[Show as slideshow]

Hope you like one…

Today, I got my first stamp into my passport for 2013. Hopefully, many of them will follow this year. Already during the metro/tram ride some points remembered me to Japan. The trains were totally overloaded and the addiction to disgusting perfume doesn’t make the situation better at all. But, finally my nose and I survived this little journey and after a little search I checked in. Next Point – FOOD!

I read in my travel guide book something about an original small restaurant near a big shopping street. There was a hint that the restaurant has no big sign and it would be on the 6th floor. So as expected – first time I miss the sign. Second time with GPS support I found this “sign” on a normal bell:

Yea – found but the elevator wasn’t what I expected…

Again, I remembered my time in Japan and that a lot of placed looked awful from the outside but awesome from the inside (better this way) and like in Japan the place was amazing. Sorry for the bad picture – only my mobile was available and it was very dark but the place was a mix between Starbucks, a living room, a mountain cabin and a very tiny penthouse flat from a green pace activist.

Goal for total: Trying to get Lost => achived!

PS: Thanks for all the Happy birthday wishes – I had a awesome day

I saw this week the travel documentary “A Map for Saturday” after I got a tip in a forum. The movie reveals the world of solo long-term travelling. A guy from New York with a job as a sports journalist decided after 3 years in his job to quit and travel the world. During his trip he interviewed some people and documented the typical backpacker style. I can’t tell too much – but in my opinion a “must see movie” for all people how have wanderlust and love the backpacker style…

So try your very best to see the movie and let me know your opinion! I had a big big smile on my face while watching the film and I was dreaming about the upcoming big adventure…

Homepage: http://www.amapforsaturday.com/
Trailer: Trailer on YouTube
Blog: http://fiftyweeks.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas to everybody!

After a very cool drift on the Airbus parking space, some interesting stunts on the Autobahn, and finally with 220km/h (137mph) I arrived yesterday evening in Mannheim. Normally the winter in the south is harder but in the moment it’s like summer here. Not really much snow, it’s more than 0 degree by day and almost no wind. Unfortunately, there is also no sun here so I wasn’t outside today.

In order that I didn’t get bored – I remembered all the fantastic Christmas cards from you guys. Normally I don’t do such things but I had the feeling I should react… I decided to strike back as hard as possible – I took a pen, some prepared cards and… I wrote BACK – BY HAND – WITHOUT ANY COMPUTER – NO E-MAIL – nothing digital – not even by buying anything online. Mission is almost completed – only the stamps are missing. But I have totally no Idea how much a letter or a card is to Canada, USA, Denmark, England… or even Germany. So I promise I’ll go to the post office next week and I’ll finish the job!!!  I hope you can read my terrible hand writing and of course my English and for one person my even worse German.

Hope I will write another Post before New Year – last 3 weeks I didn’t have too much time for such things – it was very very busy at Airbus and my college had holidays.  So more time for even more photography is definitely one of my New Year’s resolutions.

Today is my personal international toilet day. Not only because my day starts normally with a small pit stop on this location but also one of my main working task was related to this topic. Maybe not all of you know, the Department I’m working for is TBCED2 – yes this is how Airbus people introduce themselves. For the rest of mankind it means: Research & Technology Department for the Cabin section. So I’m related to all research for stuff which you as a passenger can see or even better touch.

So, as you can easily imagine, toilets on an airplane have also to be developed and this is not less important than e.g. the engines.

Failure on the engines => people pee themself and emergency landing!
Failure on all Toilets => people pee themself and emergency landing!

So same same but different!

In a few weeks, there will be a big meeting some project leaders present their research status – amongst others one of the toilet topics. The point I’m interested in is the exact timing. On such whole day full of meetings the agenda shouldn’t be too boring. So the question was – is toilet an interesting topic or not? So my colleges ensure me toilet topics are the most interesting topics at all. As a conclusion of your discussion: Everybody feels like an expert on this, it isn’t long time ago that you used one and last but not least you can argue with: This is SHIT!

Needless to say, this is not enough for an international toilet day. On my way home I read in my book (First-Time Around the World) the toilet chapter *g*. I’m sure some of you remember our special moments related to this subject. In the book the author divided into squatter, almost-western and Japanese toilets. In my opinion “no toilet at all” is missing! For the people how have some problems to imagine this types I will try to explain the context in an engineering way…

Squatter:
Something totally new for Europeans but I guess at least two billion people use this daily. The idea with these is that you squat over a hole a try to hit your target like a 52-bomber. Sometimes there are special marked areas on the left and right site you can step on. Biggest problem during the first experiences is keeping the balance. Falling back or frontwards is not recommendable. Of cause, you should also hit the target, especially the man should consider the blowback – aktio = reaktio! If you think this sounds challenging – imagine it is totally dark and you have another flashlight in the other hand 😉 and after managing all this complexities you try to find the toilet paper. Now it is the right moment for one bad and one good news! Bad news – there is probably no paper  at all. Good news – the people are not that dirty and developed another method. Look at your left hand, if it is empty you are well prepared. May I shortly introduce – your new toilet paper. No I’m not joking, there should be also a bowl of water which you can use to clean your hand afterwards but please don’t expect soup! So now you learned why no one in India touches people with the left hand. Welcome to real life 😉

Almost western:
Sometimes it happens that you enter a toilet and you see a toilet bowl. First impression: YES WESTERN STYLE but if you look closer you notice that the person which installed it was not that professional of even worse some people tried to figure out if their head or the bowl is stronger. Both possibilities head to even more complex squatter. Now you have to stay, hit the target and watch out that you don’t get injured by sharp edges. Beyond that, the problem with the toilet paper will remain. Often you get the possibility to use newspapers (not that bad) or even worse magazines. The glossy pages may look better but cost you hours to clean yourself. So the best tip – bring your own toilet paper!!!

Japanese toilets:
If you think of the direct opposite of the just explained locations you have a Japanese one. This high-tech monster has often more wires than your computer and more buttons than you remote control. The high end version has internet connection, heated toilet seat, water cleaning system, air dryer, music box, massage functions, emergency button and automatic open/close function – of cause all managed by a remote control. My first experience with this high-tech machine was, how should I say, refreshing. I was well prepared, not shocked by the number of buttons but still searching the right one – the flush button. So I stated to push the biggest one – and heard a flush sound – first thought – YES I MADE IT – second thought – maybe not there is no water coming *arg*. Next one was the massage function – not so easy to find the stop buttons so before I found this one I activated the water cleaning system. I heard a hydraulic sound and felt seconds later a very very very stong water jet trying to enter my ass. I think was never sitting this concentrated and straight on a toilet. Afterwards I was lucky and found the air dryer but still no flush. After some more massage and some music songs I had to give up – went to my office and asked one of my colleges: HOW IS THIS FUCKING TOILET WORKING – maybe I asked more gentle but this is what I thought.  (The flush button is often a lever behind the toilet lid)

No toilet at all…:
I’m sure all people being with me in this moment can remember the situation in Namibia. We are in the middle of the desert and the truck stopped. Through the speakers we get the message – toilet stop. I turned left – no toilet – I turned right – no toilet, hmm maybe behind a bush??? Hmm there is no bush – turned left again – hmm still nothing. Door opens and our drivers explained in short words: Girls on the left, boys on the right. I have to say, it was not easy in the beginning but after some stops I got used to it. Anyhow there are some more things to mention. Sometimes girls haven’t the same understanding of left and right. So it can happen that you are a little bit faster than the others and you have the great idea to catch you small camera and go to the backside of the car to make some nice and innocent landscape shots. What I had to see there was not exactly what I expected. Life is not easy – but brutal. Another good tip, especially for the girls – if you have to go to a toilet which is more or less a hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere and there are mosquitos around – they won’t be as gentle as I was – they will bite you – some of you up to 50 times in one butt!

I’m sure all of you have special experiences which are related to this topic too – so plz use the comment function to share it ;).

Is it normal to miss people who were only a few weeks a part of your life? Since I’m back from Africa a lot of my friends talk about the “New Sven” – a changed person.  Yesterday, I read in my new book – maybe the first one after years which is not 100% non-fiction book – about travelling alone. Why travelling alone and what this means. In a lot the author wrote I can find myself and after thinking a little bit about the whole thing it’s no rocket science ;). What we single travelers really try to find is simply ourselves – that’s nothing new but do you/we need loneness? The only thing I need is to be separated of my daily friends. As long as anybody remembers you to your normal life – it is much more complicated to do the next step. The big problem gain on you. after you did these steps, you have to go back “home”. Everybody recognize a change but nobody is able to understand it. There is nobody smiling if I look to the sunset and ask yourself where this Ausi with the gloves is now, nobody gives you a hug because you are swearing: “fucking …”, no tent-rules at all in your room, no totally crashed people sitting/sleeping next to you in the morning – opening one eye and give you a smile, no one trying to jump earlier than you into a pool, no dilemmas in the evening, no Americans  you would cross the dessert for or even invest a 1min healing hug, no Ausi drinking you under the table with a simple smile, no 40min for a milk shake and angry people waiting for you in the truck but excuses you everything after a honest sorry (I was so proud Daniel), no one giving you a dressing-down if you are depressed and tried to escape from the group, no bunnies and shorts ;), no lost glasses and you give a shit, no 4:1 and you are still in Africa (our moment Ali), no little girls who make you losing your heart to her with the most beautiful smile ever, no airplanes with totally finished tires, no soooo much more moments… After so much intense situations I think it is totally normal to miss an environment which understands you 100%, which loves you because of all this and not in spite of your trip.

The big question for me is now – Would I do this again or give up parts of it but having people at home who can probably understand at least a part of your trip? The answer today for me: YES travelling alone, which ends up with a lot of new friends, is my way of traveling. Definitely, distance is a big problem for these friendships but my most intense friendship started also with some distance and will survive equal how many km or miles will be between us.

@my Africa family: Hope this memories bring a smile also on your faces – would love to get a picture from these – and I promise I will try to MAKE this picture someday myself. First step will be a hug from my potential daughter for swearing…

Remastered fotobook about my trip to Japan.

[Show as slideshow]

12►