A journey to the world.
What you FIND here:
- More than 300 traveled destinations
- Detailed info and background knowledge
- More than 10.000 photos und videos
- View into my personal travel archive
- Travel Stories in the categories: adventure / encounters / spiritual
What you DON’T find here
- Guide to hotels/bookings/luggage
- Favorite lists for vacation
- Product recommendations and online shops
- Marketing-oriented “travel tips”
- Populist advice like “why you should quit the job and travel the world”
Purpose of this Travel Blog
This travel blog has no commercial interests. Anyone looking for flight, hotel and luggage tips is better off elsewhere. I don’t provide ranking lists as well because I do not want to favor or devalue my experiences. This website is my personal travel archive with documented experiences in text and images, which I would like to share with friends, relatives and anyone interested. The following three categories and the description below summarize my interest, curiosity and enthusiasm for travel and reflect on the content of this travel blog.
My way of traveling
Everything gets a little bit distorted if you use words. Words are not good for the secret of a meaning. But in general, I travel because I am interested. Mainly because I want to observe and understand: other truths, styles of thinking, new ways of life, unusual food. Therefore my major travel projects lead me to unconventional areas. And I’m consciously taking my time for this. Not to collect as many travel stamps as possible. But to travel as slowly as possible, drifting away and letting myself go into the newness. See what happens. Very often it results in profound experiences and valuable encounters.
In my jobs I always had one specific goal in mind. I don’t have that when I’m traveling. I’m not looking for anything. Not even for myself. Being in search for something makes you dependent. Searching means you’re hunting, not finding. For me the world is perfect in every moment. I don’t have to compare it with a certain type of ideal I wish. Explaining or criticizing the world should remain the task of others. For me everything has to be the way it is. During my lifetime I’m keen to explore, admire, love and respect this world. And if I can recognize certain correlations on my way, it makes me happy. For these reasons traveling creates the most fertile space for reflection.
Breathtaking
Nature
Remote
Living Environment
Different
Cultures
Remote. Different. Breathtaking. Quite often those 3 adjectives face my main interests on the road: nature, living environment and culture. And I developed special tools for that: Observe. Feel. Listen. The easiest way to develop the required openness and patience in new environments is to travel alone because there is no distraction. Then I feel most intensely what connects me with the surroundings. In that sense, nature always amazes and teaches me great things: to feel and be able to breathe in the unity of life.
But I also love to travel with friends, relatives or spontaneously with strangers. Then complementary qualities are getting added to the journey. Particularly I’m fascinated by those people who live beyond the digital progress or in a non civilized environment, because most often it’s them who seem to be far more developed than me in so many essential things of life.
I want to experience all of this during my best years. As a result, firstly, I don’t have to wait so long for my discoveries, secondly, I can travel much easier and thirdly, my experiences are staying longer with me. Who knows, maybe one day there are grandchildren who might be interested in some of my travel stories.
My Travel Destinations
Places I've been
In 2011 I’ve spent 8 months in Asia. In 2014 I traveled west for a whole year – just to come home from the East in 2015. Afterwards and in between I kept switching my sofa with my backpack – sometimes job wise, sometimes privately. A Trip around the World – I haven’t made that yet, even though many people say so. The graph below proves that. Been to some places – but traveled the world?! I won’t make it in 1 life…
Camera Equipment
Nikon Z6: mirrorless full frame camera (DSLM)
- 24.5 MP / ISO 100-51.200 / 12 fps / 4K films / Wi-Fi, 5GHz
- Shutter speed: 1/8,000sec – Bulb
- Auto focus: AF-S, AF-C, eye AF (273 measuring points)
- Tiltable touchscreen with a resolution of 2.1 MP
- Stabilized viewfinder shows subjects with 3.68 million pixels clear, sharp, fluid and bright.
- Ergonomic: deep and secure grip, lies comfortably in the hand
- More light penetrates the full format sensor due to the distance of only 16mm between the bayonet support and the sensor
- FTZ adapter shows no loss in imaging performance with other manufacturer lenses
- The 5-axis image stabilizer (VR) is integrated in the camera and compensates for camera shake in five directions.
- Wi-Fi function allows fast and wireless file transfer to laptop and smartphone – remote control via smartphone is also possible
- The battery can be charged directly on the camera housing via USB 3.0.
- No slot for SD cards -> XQD memory cards
- Automatic HDR and timelapse recordings
Nikon Z 14-30mm f4
- Ultra wide angle
- 485 grams
- Filter diameter: 82mm
- no image stabilizer
- AF motor
- weather sealed
- Closest focusing distance: 28cm
- Sigma Art 24-105mm f4 DG OS HSM for Nikon F
Sigma Art 24-105mm f4 DG OS HSM for Nikon F
- My always on
- 885 grams
- Filter diameter: 82mm
- Image stabilizer: yes
- AF motor
- Closest focusing distance: 45cm
Sigma Contemporary 100-400mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM for Nikon F
- Ultra telephoto lens
- 1,160 grams
- Filter diameter: 67mm
- Image stabilizer: yes
- AF motor
- Closest focusing distance: 1.6m
- Photo bag Balade Bag 300 by Matin made of cotton canvas (In order not to be immediately identified as a photographer with expensive equipment when traveling, a small, ergonomic and weatherproof shoulder bag with a neutral look is important to me; so a hiking backpack with / can also accommodate for: Nikon Z6 + my 3 lenses + all my accessories + water bottle. Alternatively a 13 “laptop)
- Dual charging station from Weiss (charges 2 batteries at the same time; enormously space-saving, cause I can use plug & cable of my smartphone)
- 4x EN-EL 15b 2050 mAh battery (safe is safe)
- FTZ adapter
- Iris Edge ND 1000 Neutral Density 82mm filter (compatible with 2 of my lenses, fits easily in a bag)
- Pixel-RW 221 / DC2 radio remote control (100m range, always with long exposure in use, quickly attachable)
- Moman mini tripod with 360 ° ball head (small, light, simple, stable: aluminum tripod can be loaded with up to 10kg, no tilting even with long and heavy lenses)
- XQD card reader (data transfer also possible with software – I prefer to plug it in)
- 2x XQD card (128GB + 32GB)
Xiaomi Mi 9T
- Operating system: Android 9.0, MIUI 10
- Processor & driver: Octacore & Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon
- Memory: 128GB memory, 6GB RAM
- Body: Gorilla glass 5 (front & back), aluminum frame, dual SIM, 156.7 x 74.3 x 8.8 mm
- Display: Amoled, 6.39 “
- 4 cameras:
Main camera: 48 MP, f / 1.8, 26mm
Pop-up front camera: 20 MP, f / 2.2
Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f / 2.4, 12mm
Telephoto: 8 MP, f / 2.4, 53mm (2x optical zoom) - Video: 1080p @ 30fps (with image stabilizer)
- Connection: USB 2.0, Type-C
- Battery: 4000 mAh battery, 18W charging power
- Headphone connection: 3.5mm jack
further features: A-GPS, fingerprint scanner under display, Bluetooth 5.0 - Release launch: June 2019
GoPro Hero 3 Silver
In use since 2013. Whether 40m under water or 6km above sea level – a compact compromise, also for the ultra wide-angle range.
- Housing waterproof up to 60m
- Ultra wide angle up to 127 °
- Autofocus / 10fps
- f2.8 / 11MP / 154g
- WiFi, Mini-B connection USB 2.0, micro SD card
- exchangeable battery (1.050mAh) – USB charging function
- Video format: mp4
For 10 years (2010-2020) the Canon EOS 550D with a Sigma 18-200mm lens f3.5-6.3 was my loyal travel companion. Compact and light. Sandstorm in the Gobi Desert, -25°C at 6,000m in Bolivia, river dive in a Chilean river, and dropped off my table, which made her dizzy for 1 month. Still everything survived. Retired since 2020. Since then: Nikon Z6.