MichaelFalk1969's VirtualTourist Home Page

To me, some songs will always represent travelling. The best example is Enya`s "Orinoco Flow": The lyrics are made of exotic place names like Cebu, Bali, Peru, Tripoli and just evoke a longing to travel, to discover those places. Brian Eno`s "Spinning away" comes to my mind whenever I see something awesomely, stunningly beautiful ... the list goes on and on

My personal all-time favourites:
1. Enya: "Orinoco Flow", "Anywhere is", "Book of days", "The Longships"
2. Brian Eno "Spinning away"
3. Alice "Nomadi"
4. All Saints "Pure Shores"
5. Al Stewart "On the border"
6. Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac "7 wonders"
7. Otis Redding "Sitting at the dock of the bay"
8. Chris Rea "Auberge", "Gone fishing", "On the beach"
9. Proclaimers "5.000 miles"
10. Beachboys: "Cocomo"

Best classical "travel music": Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez

When I am not travelling, I love to read books on travelling. My personal favourites:

1. Peter Moore "No shi**ing in the toilet"
Peter Moore is an Ozzie backpacker who has written some truly funny books on his extensive travel experiences. The best one is this. He has done rankings on his best and worst travel experiences, like Top/Bottom Ten plane/ship/bus Travels, accomodation, food, sights, and combines them with truly hilarious anecdotes. His other travel books ("The full Montezuma", "The wrong way home", "Swahili for the broken-hearted" etc. are enjoyable but not great reads either).

2. "Molvania"
A fictional travel guide written in "Lonely Planet"-style on a nonexisting East European country. It is incredibly detailed and uses all common stereotypes and prejudices of Eastern Europe, yet in an incredibly funny way. The book cover says it all: A toothless peasant with a fur hat, offering garlic brandy. P.S.: There is a follow-up book on a fictional South-East-Asian country that resembles Thailand ("Phaic Than") and a fictional South American country called "San Sombrero".

3. Aidan Hartley "The Zanzibar Chest"
This is not exactly a travel book, but the memoirs of a war correspondent in the 1990`s Africa who was born in Kenya and covered Somalia, Rwanda, Sudan to name but a few destinations. The book also features his expat-familiy history over a span of four generations. Sometimes brutal, sometimes weird, sometimes funny, yet you can`t keep from reading.

4. Jules Verne "Around the world in 80 days"
The book that got me hooked on travelling as a kid. I always envied Phileas Fogg for having both the money and time he could spend on travelling. On the other hand, I like to take my time, so 80 days is not exactly much to explore the world!

5. Patricia Schultz "1000 Places to see before you die"
Though the hotel recommendations are mostly too "posh" for my budget, and the travelling tips are rather superficial, the exotic places listed in this book are a constant reminder that I still have lots of travelling to do!

6. Robert Young Pelton "The worlds most dangerous places"
Hair-raising firsthand accounts of travels in countries most uf us would rather skip on our travel itinerary due to political unrest, civil war, famine etc. Contains great one-liners ("Givemeyawallet-Land"). I also recommend - from the same author - "Three Worlds gone mad".

7. Karl May
This classic and popular German author from the late 19th century is famous for his fictional travel adventure stories featuring mainly the Middle East ("Durch die Wüste") or North America ("Winnetou") and other places like South America, China, Africa, and the Pacific. His style is now a bit old-fashioned and overly patriotic, but his books have mesmerized young and adult readers for generations and aroused interest for travel and foreign cultures. The best thing about his books are his vivid and detailed landscape descriptions - all the more astonishing as he could never travel much in his lifetime. Only long after his commercial success could he visit the USA and the Middle East.

8. Paul Theroux "Dark Star Safari"
This book is the story of a Cairo/Capetown - trip of the famous travel author. Sometimes a bit to cynical for my taste, when he is in his annoyed mood, but a master of the English language and he has some great stories to tell. All in all a fascinating travel account of Africa as most people will never now it. Another book of him, "The Great Railway Bazaar", is highly praised but didn`t really impress me.

9. Tom Parker Bowles "The year of eating dangerously"
An Englishman travels around the world in search of extreme and unusual culinary delights (ant eggs, moths, dog, fugu fish, insects, wood (!) etc.), leading him to exotic destinations like New Mexico, Korea, Japan, China, Galicia and Sicily. Hilariously funny and informative by an author who loves food in all shapes and sizes.

10. William Dalrymple "Age of Kali"

I love to make lists ... my favourite films, songs, books, places ... so naturally I created lots of travel-related lists over the years. I will probably never finish them as long as I travel!

Most relaxing vacation: Sardegna 2005
Most exhausting vacation: Venice + Tuscany 1997 (8 cities in 11 days)
Most expensive vacation: South Africa (total costs) - though on a daily basis, Norway + London are top
Cheapest vacation: Europe 1991 - France, Spain, Portugal on roughly 1000 € for 1 month
Longest vacation: India 12/08 - 2/09

Best accomodation:
1. "Elephant House" in Addo / South Africa
2. "Poopally`s Homestay" near Allepey/Kerala (India)
3. "Eagle`s Landing" - Vancouver Island (Canada)
4. "Braeside B & B" - South Africa, near Stellenbosch
5. "Klein Bosheuvel" - Cape Town, South Africa
6. "Gitanjali Homestay", Mysore (India)
7. "Lavender Manor" - Hermanus, South Africa
8. "Bushwillow Lodge" - near Hluluhwe Park, South Africa
9. "Vanilla County" - Cardamon Hills, Kerala (India)
10. "Riad Dar el Hana" - Fes, Morocco

Worst accomodation: a nameless backpacker-hostel in Edinburgh with a punk concierge and no showers

Best Airline:
1. Thai Airways
2. Fly Emirates
3. South African Airways

Worst Airline
1. ALITALIA - no doubt about it !

My favourite cities (worldwide - excluding Germany):
1. Prague
2. Vienna
3. Budapest
4. Sydney
5. London
6. Madrid
7. Sanaa (Yemen)
8. Cape Town
9. Edinburgh
10. Venice
11. Dublin
12. Mysore (India)
13. Quebec
14. Rome
15. Siena
16. Stockholm
17. Ljubljana (Slovenia)
18. Melbourne
19. Bruge (Belgium)
20. Bratislava (Slovakia)

My favourite (big) cities in Germany:
1. Berlin
2. Munich
3. Dresden
4. Weimar
5. Frankfurt am Main

My favourite (small to medium) cities in Germany:
1. Bamberg (you probably never heard of the place, but you better visit it)
2. Görlitz
3. Wernigerode
4. Monschau (Eifel)
5. Münster (Westphalia)

Best scenic views: (world-wide):
1. Urnesfjord / Lustrafjord - the Molden viewpoint - Norway
2. De Hoop National Park - the Dune Trail - South Africa
3. the view from Castle Queribus over the French Pyrenees
4. Backwaters Kerala
5. from the Bar in the Peninsular Hotel overlooking the Skyline of Hongkong
6. Hampi (Karnataka/India)
7. the view from the ruins of Les Baux over the Provence
8. almost any mountain hike in the High Tatra
9. Tsitsikamma National Park (Otter Trail)
10. the view on Matera / Basilicata (stunning from every angle)

My favourite square:
1. Piazza del Popolo - Rome
2. Gendarmenmarkt Berlin
3. Piazza del Plebiscito - Martina Franca
4. Königsplatz - Munich
5. Old Town Square - Warsaw

My favourite street:
1. Andrassy Utca - Budapest
2. Unter den Linden - Berlin
3. Nerudova - Prague

My favourite park:
1. Retiro Park - Madrid
2. Vigelandspark - Oslo
3. Palmengarten - Frankfurt
4. Holland Park - London
5. Lazienki Park - Warsaw

My favourite harbour:
1. Collioure - Southwest France
2. Otranto - Puglia
3. Oslo - Norway

My favourite beaches:
1. Shoab Beach - Socotra
2. Arher Beach - Socotra
3. Qualanisya Beach - Socotra
4. Beaches of Costa Rei (near Muravera/SE-Sardegna)
5. Varkala (Kerala/India)
6. Punta Penna Rossa / Torre di Guaceto / Puglia
7. Noosa Beach / Queensland
8. Hermanus Beaches (South Africa)

My favourite museums:
1. Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) - Wien
2. Victoria & Albert Museum - London
3. Alte Nationalgalerie - Berlin (Museumsinsel)
4. Musee d`Orsay - Paris
5. Louvre - Paris
6. Russian Museum - St. Petersburg
7. Hermitage - St. Petersburg
8. Natural History Museum - London
9. Filmmuseum - Berlin
10. Warsaw Uprising Museum - Warsaw
11. Glyptothek - Munich
12. Doll House Museum - Basel

My favourite ruins:
1. Vijayanagar ruins of Hampi (India)
2. Hadrians Villa - Tivoli
3. Ruins of Ostia (near Rome)
4. Heidelberg Castle Ruins
5. Open Air Museum Xanten (near Cologne) with reconstructed Roman buildings, including an arena

My favourite nature experiences:
1. Sitting among a herd of peaceful kangaroos on Kangaroo Island / Australia
2. Canoeing on - you name it - Lake Canoe in Algonquin Park, Canada
3. Watching a stampede of Wildebeests in Weavers Nature Park, Zululand, South Africa
4. Shark Diving in Gaansbai, South Africa
5. Riding an African Elephant in Addo, South Africa

Best food experience:
1. Bushwillow Lodge - South Africa
2. Mirchi - Asian Crossover Cuisine - Berlin
3. Ristorante da Pio - Martina Franca/Puglia
4. the home-cooked food in South Indian homestays

Worst food experience:
1. crappy and overpriced "Tourist Menu" in unknown Siena ripoff-restaurant
2. "Canzone dei Cantici" - Otranto (crappy and even more overpriced)
3. breakfast in any London hotel or B&B

My favourite tourist-trap: Madame Tussauds - London (I just love it)
My least favourite tourist traps: everything remotely related to Dan Brown novels (Mona Lisa, Roslyn Chapel etc.)

My Travel Plans 2009:
January/February: India & London daytrip
April: Berlin
May: Wetzlar
June: Heidelberg / Amorbach
July: Lower Saxony: Goslar, Einbeck + Lüneburger Heide / Sababurg
August: Saar / Black Forest / Eifel / Thuringia

As for the rest of the year 2009, I will probably take a (long distance) travel break for the first half of 2009. I need some rest, it seems. Among the countries on my travel wish list, Chile, South-East Asia (Laos, Vietnam, Burma) and in Europe Iceland and Croatia would be high priorities. But not so soon, I would guess.

to be continued ...

Finally, a few powerful lines by the author Jack London - a life-long traveller himself - I found just by accident and I would like to share with you. As I read them, I thought that they sum up perfectly my attitude towards life and the way one should use the precious time that is given to us:

"I would rather be ashes than dust.
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom
of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time."