"TinyTuck's Tiny World" TinyTuck's Profile

Isn't this the the cutest thing?
A dream came true for me visiting that huge penguin colony in Patagonia, Argentina!
If you like them as much as I do visit my t-logue about Penguins!

Does this look American or what?My senior pic 1995

News:
This year is a good travel year with 2 major trips to Iceland and West Africa!

I don`t build pages on VT anymore as I simply don`t have the time. I keep checking my e-mails here, and updating this section as well as my travel map. I am also still interested in meeting other VT members. So, see you around!

Originally I'm from (around) Düsseldorf, then left home to study in Aachen, then lived and worked in Cologne for 2 years before I came back to Aachen. Means that I have never "really" left the state of North Rhine-Westphalia! :-)

I speak German, English, Spanish, French, some Italian and Portuguese. My interests include travelling (guess what!), horsebackriding, yoga, some fitness, inline-skating, outdoor activities, Roman languages, surfing the net, having too much coffee, listen to music, watching movies or good TV shows, meeting friends, drinking beer or enjoying some good red wine, partying, shooting pool...

3 Next trips:
- backpacking Morocco, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali, november (with a friend)
- near Angers, France, 1 week over NYE (with a group of 14 friends)
- ?

3 Last trips:
- Munich, wedding in august
- Hamburg, visiting a friend in july
- Iceland, 2 weeks in june (road trip with boyfriend + trail ride)

Serving Sidra the Asturian way (Oviedo,Spain,2001)

During my education I had the chance to spend some time in a bunch of places. Now, since I`m working, I haven`t left Germany for more than 3 weeks in a row anymore...

- In 1994/95 I was a high school exchange student in Iowa, USA for one year
- In 2000/2001 I stayed a year in Oviedo, Asturias, Northern Spain with a university exchange program
- In winter 2002 I spend a month in Monterrey, Northern Mexico doing an internship
- In summer 2002 I did a short internship in Berlin for 2 weeks
- In winter 2003 I went to Uganda (East Africa) where I worked 4 weeks in the town of Rushere (another internship)
- From Oct 2003 to Feb 2004 I worked in Mendoza, Argentina
- And from Feb to May 2004 in Montpellier, Southern France

Rafting the Nile in Uganda, April 2003

Besides staying abroad I love travelling in the form of round trips, overland, preferredly exploring one country or region at a time. I like visiting national parks, mountains, beaches, practicing some outdoor sports once in a while, and also to spend some time in interesting cities, although I`m not really a culture freak.
I love going to new places each time. However, I fell in love with many countries I will want to go back to some time...
I usually take my backpack, use public transportation and stay in basic hostels. That way you get in touch with locals as well as other travellers, so I don't mind travelling alone. I roughly plan where I want to go, but basically I stay flexible and especially listen to other travellers' advices. I try to get to as many places as possible, but don't like to be in a rush either.

Toilet in the Andes - 3200m (Jan 2004)

- My first round trip: Arizona, USA (guided bus tour with group of other high school exchange students, 2 weeks in 1995): Grand Canyon and around

- Back to the Midwest, USA (home-stay and camping trip by rental car with my ex-boyfriend, 4 weeks in 1997): Chicago, staying with friend in Indiana -> staying with my host family in Iowa -> camping trip around South Dakota (Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore,...) and Colorado (Rocky Mountains) -> back to Iowa -> back to Indiana -> Chicago

- My first independent backpacking trip: Thailand (by public transport with my friend Saskia, 3 weeks in 1999): Bangkok -> Chiang Mai -> Sukhothai -> Koh Samui -> Koh Pha-Ngan -> Bangkok (I was still very inexperienced and probably got ripped-off for two... It was really demanding on my nerves, as I couldn't get quite used to being hassled all the time. Still this was an important mile-stone in my travel history!)

- My first solo trip: Andalucía, Spain, while I was based in Oviedo (backpacking by public buses, 9 days in 2001): Sevilla -> Córdoba -> Granada -> Málaga (including meeting my lazy friends in Torremolinos who were sunbathing all day) -> Cádiz -> Sevilla

- Northern Spain and Northern Portugal (by car with my family, when they came to visit me in Oviedo for 2 weeks in 2001): meeting them in San Sebastián -> Oviedo -> fleeing from the bad weather to León -> Salamanca -> Aveiro (P) -> Braga (P) -> Porto (P) -> Pontevedra -> Santiago de Compostela -> La Coruña -> Luarca -> Ribadesella -> Oviedo (Wow, by car it's just so easy to travel, and you are so independent - some day soon I will really need my own car!!)

Isle of Skye, Scotland

- Chiapas and Peninsula of Yucat?n, Mexico (backpacking with my friend Adrienne for 2 ? weeks in 2002): Mexico City -> San Cristóbal de las Casas -> Palenque -> Mérida -> Chichén Itzá -> Tulum -> Isla Mujeres (including various side trips) - This vacation was so cool! Mexico is a phantastic country!

- Uganda, East Africa - my first "real" solo trip and the ultimate adventure :-), backpacking for 3 weeks in 2003: from Rushere -> Bwindi Impenetrable rain forest (where I did a gorilla track without finding them!!) -> Queen Elisabeth N.P. -> Kibale N.F. -> Lake Nkuruba -> Murchison Falls N.P. -> Kampala -> Jinja -> Banda Island -> Kampala. Also did weekend trips to:
->Lake Mburo -> Kalangala (Ssese Islands)
-> Lake Bunyonyi
-> Katonga W.R.
I really had a great time - and I found out that travelling alone really has advantages!

- Southern Chile, but not all the way down Patagonia unfortunately (backpacking with my friend Katrin for 3 weeks in 2003): Santiago -> Los Angeles -> Villarrica -> Valdivia -> Ancud / Castro (Chiloé) -> Puerto Varas -> Viña del Mar / Valparaíso -> to Mendoza (Argentina)

- Across Argentina (backpacking alone for 2 weeks around New Year`s 2003/04): from Mendoza -> Córdoba -> Santa Fe (Christmas with my friend Luciano) -> P.N. Iguazú (including Brasil) -> Buenos Aires (New Years) / Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay) -> back to Mendoza
+ a long weekend trip to Puero Madryn / Península Valdés with my friend Judith
+ Santa Fe again
+ various trips to the Andes within the province of Mendoza

- Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands (visiting my brother and driving around by rental car with him and two friends for 2 weeks in 2004): Edinburgh -> Sterling -> Loch Lomond -> Fort William -> Mallaig -> around the lse of Skye -> Ullapool -> Durness -> Inverness -> Loch Ness -> Pitlochry -> back to Edinburgh

- Northern India (backpacking with my friend Saskia, 3 weeks in 2004): Delhi -> Varanasi -> Agra -> Jaipur -> Pushkar -> Udaipur -> Jodhpur -> Jaisalmer (including a 2 day camel ride in the Thar desert) -> back to Delhi

- Cuba (backpacking alone, 3 weeks in 2005): Havana -> Viñales -> Trinidad -> Camagüey -> Santiago de Cuba -> back to Havana

Waking up in the Thar desert, India

- Brettany/Normandy, France (road trip by VW bus, 1 week with my boyfriend): Versaille/Paris -> Arzon -> Carnac -> Concarneau -> Audierne -> Pointe du Raz -> Locronan -> Crozon -> Saint-Quay-Portrieux -> Saint-Malo -> Mont-Saint-Michel -> Honfleur -> Le Tréport -> back

- Vietnam (backpacking with my boyfriend, 2 weeks in 2008): Hanoi -> Hoi An -> Da Nhang -> Hue -> Hanoi -> Ninh Binh -> Halong Bay -> Hanoi

- East coast Australia (backpacking alone + visiting friends, 3 weeks in 2008): Singapore -> Sydney -> Cairns/Atherton Tablelands -> Townsville -> Airlie Beach/Whitsunday Islands -> Rainbow Beach/Fraser Island -> Noosa -> Melbourne and Phillip Island

- Iceland 2 weeks in june 2009 (1 week road trip with my boyfriend, then 1 week trail ride on icelandic horses): -> Grundarfjördur -> Akureyri -> Reydarfjördur -> Höfn -> Skogar -> Njardvik -> riding the Kjölur trail -> Reykjavik

- West Afrika 4 weeks in november 2009: 4 days in Marrakesh, Marokko -> meeting up with my friend Saskia in Lomé, Togo -> Grand Popo, Benin -> Cotounou, Porto Novo, Ouidah, Ganvié -> Natitingou -> Pendjari N.P. ->Tanguieta -> Ougadougou, Burkina Faso -> Ouahigouya -> Dogon Country, Mali -> Mopti , Djenné -> Segou -> Bamako

Welcome 2005!! NYE in Paris

- Europe: Ireland, Scandinavia, Greece, southern Italy, Lisbon, Vienna, St. Petersburg, ...
- Asia: Japan, China, Laos, Cambodia, southern India, southern Vietnam, central Asia,...
- Africa: Egypt, Tanzania, Malawi, Madagaskar, Cameroon, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia,...
- America: Canada, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador & Galapagos, Peru, Bolivia, more of Brazil, Patagonia & Antarctica,...
Pacific: the Outback, New Zealand, some islands,...