Elena77's VirtualTourist Home Page

"That feeling when you are in another city, another town, strange and new streets and you realise you are wholly alone. Not one person around you knows you and no one knows where you stand in this world. It is these moments travelling that make me think about the past more than ever..."

I don't have too many travel plans for 2009... yet. We've just returned from Brazil and my finances have to recover before I can make any new, big plans. A few trips abroad are already confirmed, though:

January -> Dublin
May -> Stockholm
July -> Ireland & Czech Republic
September -> Finland
November -> Rome

I also have plans of visiting Edinburgh and Riga. But I haven't organized these trips yet. I don't even know exactly when I'll have time to go and who'll want to accompany me. We'll see...
There are also plans of visiting Armenia... but this seems to be the most uncertain trip of all so far. We've been invited to visit Yerevan and I would love to go there and finally get to see a part of the world that I've never been to before. But many things still have to be organised and clarified before anything can be confirmed...

For me travelling and meeting new people is one of the biggest joys of all. I just love getting away and seeing new things and to make new experiences. Gladly I am in the lucky "position" of being able to travel with a band which is playing quite a number of concerts abroad. So I do accompany the guys on their travels whenever I can. Still this kind of travelling has advantages and disadvantages: sometimes there is no time at all left for things like sight seeing or even finding out a bit more about the place we're at. That's also the reason why I've got quite a number of "hotels and accomodation" tips at my travel pages.
But whenever we can we try to make sure we've got enough time to explore the place/ city and to do some sight seeing. And "being on the road" with the band does have BIG advantages, too: it makes travels cheaper for me and it makes us get in contact with the local people a lot better than on a "normal" tourist journey.

I've got a few serious obsessions besides travelling: history (Germanic, Scandinavian, British, Irish, Celtic ...), music (almost all kinds of METAL), reading (historical/ fantasy novels and history specialized books) and photography.

Some of my favourite authors are Rebecca Gablé, Derek Meister, Bernard Cornwell, J.R.R. Tolkien, Andrzej Sapkowski and Peter Tremayne.

I'm also extremely fascinated by the photography of Simon Marsden. He mostly takes infra-red pictures of haunted castles and ancient sites. Pretty gloomy but that's the way I like it! :) For those who might be interested:
www.simonmarsden.co.uk

I'm a member of the relief organisation Plan Deutschland and do support the family of a 3 year old girl called Amanda living with her family in Belém, Brazil.
www.plan-international.org
I've met so many wonderful people in Brazil and it does feel good being able to return a little bit of the incredible hospitality I have been lucky enough to experience during my visits. Brazil will always be a very special place for me and I can't wait to return and see my "surrogate family" again, finally! :)

When browsing through a couple of my tips you will soon recognize my above mentioned passion for history/ historic sites/ etc. There are heaps of tips on castles, ruins, fortresses, neolithic tombs, ... I'm fascinated by practically everything that's at least 600 years old! ; ) Sometimes I fear that my tips turn out to be a bit "dry", with lots of year dates and info like that. I just hope you'll enjoy a little history lesson anyway! : )

What else?
Well, I'm not very good at talking about myself, I fear...

To me the best thing about travelling is meeting new people. I did get to know so many great, amazing and unique people within the past years! And some of them turned out to be real "soul mates". I am blessed with friends for life in places like, for example, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland, Brazil, Finland, USA and Australia... and that's the greatest gift of all! We're visiting each other mutually and are in permanent contact.

"Upon the hearth the fire is red
Beneath the roof there is a bed
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight
Then world behind and home ahead,
we'll wander back to home and bed"

(c) J.R.R. Tolkien

Our good friend Cristiano chose to leave this world at December 21st 2008.
We will never forget you and hope you've found some peace wherever you are now.