"Some background info" Phillylawyer_19107's Profile

I was born in Belgium and spent the first five years of my life there. As a large part of my family still lives there (in Oostende), I still go there quite frequently and I always consider Belgium to be one of my home countries. Later I moved around Germany a lot, I have lived in
- Eupen/Belgium (1974 - 1980)
- Übach Palenberg/Germany (1980 - 1984)
- Aachen/Germany (1984-1988)
- Hagen/Germany (1988-1993, 1995-1998)
- Jena/Germany (1993-1995)
- Philadelphia / USA (1998-2000)
- Boston / USA (2000)
- Frankfurt / Germany (since 2000)
As you see there has a lot of moving been going on in my life. Now I am settled quite nicely in Frankfurt and even though it was supposed to be just a temporary stop, I have grown to like it. This area has a lot to offer and is quite international.
My first move alone (without my parents) was the one to Jena, which is set in the former East Germany. When I moved there in 1993, there was still much reminiscence of the time before the opening of the wall, and everywhere you could see construction work and changes. It was quite exciting and I will make an own travelogue about this as the area around Jena is one of the most beautiful in Germany.

We have travelled a lot ever since I can remember. I think my first really big journey was in 1986 when my birthday present was a 4-week-journey to the US. Boy, was I excited and boy, did my parents suffer as I dragged them to every Civil War battlefield I could find! Since then, my major journeys were (I don't remember all, I might update this...):
1986 - USA (New York, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, California)
1988 - USA (Texas, California)
1989 - Egypt
1990 - USA (Virginia, D.C., Arizona, Florida)
1990 - Egypt
1991 - Egypt
1992 - Budapest / Hungary
1993 - USA (Denver, Spokane)
1993 - Vienna
1994 - USA (Denver, Spokane)
1994 - Hungary
1997 - Mexico
1997 - USA (Boston, Minnesota, Arizona)
1997 - Cruise (Danzig, Tallinn, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Kopenhagen, Stockholm)
1997 - South of Spain (Marbella, Sevilla, Grenada)
1998 - Cruise (Naples, Pompeji, Santorini, Greece, Istanbul, Ephesos, Crete, Capri)
1999 - East Germany
1999 - Prague
2001 - England
2002 - USA (Philadelphia, New York)
2003 - Vienna

As you see, the US is one of my favorite destinations, I especially like the East Coast (being a history buff and all), New York City never fails to amaze me and Philly is of course my favorite place ever. I also enjoyed the cruises - it is so convenient, no travel stress, each morning you wake up in another country or city. Fabulous! I wish I could travel even more. I'd love to go to Egypt again and I would like to explore more of St. Petersburg/ Russia. Some places I have never been but always wanted to go are Rome and Edinburgh. And I want to explore more of the US, finally see Gettysburg and more of the Southern States.

So, 2005 will finally bring more travelling for me. In May it's off to the Costa Blanca in Spain, mainly to visit some new-found relatives, but of course also to enjoy the nice old towns there. And in July, I'll be back to my beloved England, again for family research, but also to do a lot of sightseeing. I'm very much looking forward to that!

Unfortunately, I haven't got the time to come to Virtual Tourist as often as I want, simply because I don't have as much time as want at the moment (new job + MBA studies starting). So if I don't react to emails (or only react very lately), please forgive me, it's probably just because I haven't read the mail in question yet.

To give a bit more background than just travels and moving, well, here are some of my interests: as you can tell from my travel pages, I love history, so that's a main interest. Another thing I adore is British humor - it's the best (and the best of the best is "Absolutely Fabulous", the funniest series I ever watched).

I very much enjoy reading, currently mainly thrillers or crime stories, as well as biographies. Writing is also something I do as often as I can.

I have a weakness for computer games (esp. The Sims) and also for shopping and I very much enjoy spending time with my friends, we go to the lovely beergardens and restaurants here in Hessen or visit the opera or just meet and chat. I'm glad to have many good friends.

Well, as I said before, I have many more travel pages I want to create, so I hope to get to doing that soon!