Travels in the early 2000s
I travelled for 11 month from august 2001 to july 2002 after graduating from high school. I got myself a “Round the World” ticket and headed off, to see some parts of our planet.
The route started in Brazil, an amazing country. Landed in the northern part, in Fortaleza. After a while in that region, I flew down to Salvador do Bahia, from where I travelled back to Fortaleza along the coast. Before heading to Cuba, I made a 4 day stop-over in Rio de Janeiro.
Then came long awaited Havana, where I got stuck. Spent a lot of time there, hardly got away to see some more. But at least I managed see some of the east of the island. The region around Pinar del Rio. To make my long stay in Cuba possible, I had to leave the country for a short period, so I decided to do a little trip to Mexico. First Cancún, where I enjoyed the profits of the capitalism and then got around the Yucatán Peninsula.
After Cuba, Mexico and again Cuba I did again a stop-over in Cancún. I really do regret that decision, it would have been wiser to go on directly. My planned stop of a few days, got to the worst weeks of my life… I had all my photo equipement stolen, and 8 full rolls of film with it!
Well, planning on a trip to get back to Mexico and Cuba, so I can fill the gap in my collection.
Nevertheless I just got to Trinidad & Tobago for Carnival, which was pretty amazing. After Carnival I went travelling around both island. From there came probably one of the biggest culture shocks I’ve ever had. The next destinaion was Miami… and I just got there on Spring Break. I had no idea. After having been in Central America for such a long time I first needed to get used to it. After a short trip to the Cape Canaveral I went back to Miami and from there over to California. Spent way too much time in Los Angeles. Finally I got to San Francisco, what a gem! Then on to Las Vegas for a gamble and to see the Grand Canyon. That was it for the U.S. Next stop: Fiji Islands!
Wow! I have no words for that place. Those pacific islands are a spot of paradise. Had a marvellous week there, relaxing, snorkeling, partying… just great! A harsh climate change followed when I landed in New Zealand, where winter was breaking in… After some days in Auckland I headed for Taupo, where I got to my first adrenaline kick 😉
Having waited a couple of days till the weather was ok, I was pretty excited when I got onto that small plane which was going to take me up to 4’000m (12’000ft). I have no words for describing that tandem skydive…
There I was picked up by friends to stay with them in Gisborne for a few days before heading for the South Island. Another short stop in Wellington and then finally I put my feet on the southern Island of that beautiful country. In Picton I jumped onto the bus of the Stray travelling company, yet I didn’t know I would spent some of the best days with this inconspicuous group sitting in that bus.
We started off to the West Coast. First we spent two days in the Abel Tasman National Park doing some kayaking and walking. We went on down the coast stopping in various spots. One highlight was Franz Josef where I did a glacier hike. Next big stop was Queenstown where some serious Bungy action took place. The marathon consisted of three jump in three days. First from the Kawarau Bridge (43m), next followed “The Ledge” (47m) and on the third day came New Zeland’s highest jump: “The Nevis” (134m).
After those crazy days which didn’t go by without some good party, we went on south towards Te Anau. From there we did an impressive trip to Milford Sound. On our way to the East Coast we stopped by in Invercargill, the city in the very south of New Zealand. Dunedin followed, a pretty student town with lots to see and wildlife close by. I did some wildlife spotting at the beach there, at dawn we watched sea lions getting into the ocean to go fishing and peguins coming to the shore for the night. The final stops of the tour were Christchurch where I was when the footbal World Cup final was going on and Kaikoura. But unfortunately I had to leave for Auckland without whale-watching, since I was unlucky with the weather. After a couple of days in Auckland I left to start my way back home.
My last landing before Switzerland was Singapore, which I like to call the Switzerland of Asia. I did a trip up to Malaysia from there. First I spent a couple of nights in Melaka, a city which was very important in colonial times and then went up to Kuala Lumpur. In this city, like in Singapore one could literally feel the urge to economic advancement. Getting back to Singapore I had to get myself ready to get back to good old Switzerland…
