Almost 12 years ago, I traveled on my own for the first time to Australia. Back then, there weren’t smartphones, no googlemaps, or facebook and instagram, no tripadvisor. I had just finished college three years before, and had been working in our family-run business. For the trip, I bought a big blue backpack and since I hadn’t really learned the art of packing light, also took my mom’s blue-green trolley. Not exactly a backpacker, but not the sleek traveler either. I brought my Canon digital camera, a clunky looking gadget by today’s standards, and a little notebook.  Since blogging was limited to known writers and personalities at that time, my hastily written journal was my only outlet.

17 Sept 03
11:45 AM  onboard Sydney to Singapore flight

I just finished watching a movie–Goodbye Lenin–a Deutsch film by Wolfgang Becker with cast lead by Daniel Bruhl. It’s a very moving story set in East Germany in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell and capitalism took over socialist East Germany.  Continue reading →