challenger's VirtualTourist Home Page

Hi everyone,

My name is Holger. I was originally born in Duisburg, Germany, but moved to Cork, Ireland, a few years ago. Not a bad decision in anyone's dictionary methinks. I seem to recall that one particular travel guide once described Duisburg as "a place you're not likely you want to spend too much time in?. " :-)

I am updating my information in Virtual Traveller not half as frequently as I would like to, but by all means do get in touch with me, especially if you have any questions regarding Ireland in general or Cork in particular.

What's with the VT ID?

Well, I wanted to call myself Prof. Challenger after the main character in one of my favourite novels, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD. (Now that would be an interesting location to travel to!) However, VT deemed that name to be too long, so I opted for the shorter version "Challenger". A day after registering I figured that that moniker may be just a slight bit on the cocky side, but as I was already properly registered and had started uploading info onto my site, I decided to leave things the way the are. So "Challenger" it is, and "Challenger" it will be!

Who's the Blonde in the pictures?

That is Anne. I am the photographer in our relationship, so photos of me hardly ever get taken. Just as well that she is much better looking than I am.

What is my dream journey?

My dream journey would be to follow in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg and travel around the world in more than just 80 days along the identical route and with the identical means. Well, one of these days?..

My journeys in 2006:

London (twice), Toronto and St Thomas (Ontario) (three times), Duisburg (Germany) (twice), Madrid, Rascafria, Dublin (twice), Turnberry (Scotland), Washington DC, Baltimore, Chesapeake Bay, Singapore, Tokyo, New Orleans, Sardinia, Rome, Algarve

My journeys in 2007:

Toronto and St Thomas (Ontario) (twice), Chicago, Poland: Warsaw, Poznan, Auschwitz, Krakow, London (twice), Duisburg, Luxembourg, Switzerland: Zurich, Davos, Germany: Black Forest, Bavaria, Italy: Lake Garda, Venice, Dublin, Allihies (West Cork)

What can I say? I was away from VT for most of 2006, but have now come back, so watch this space and check out these latest additions to my pages:

St Michaels (Chesapeake Bay)
Bonane Heritage Park