Travel Tips

My travel passion stuck Catherine too and our first small effort was a citytrip to Spain's Barcelona. I never thought she would be as tenacious as I was but she followed me the whole three days without complaining of having to rest.
Waw!
Gaudi and Miro overwhelmed us (two years later I bought her a Miro litho for Valentine) and we had a great time.
Smells like teen spirit

At the Book Fair in Belgium, we stood before five shelves of Lonely Planets and I asked Catherine, joking, 'choose one, and that's where you and I will go'. To my great surprise she came out with the Rajasthan guide. What, India for a start? Shouldn't that be too tough for someone with no backpacking experience? Well, she had a great guide and after two days, she was a travel addict too.
Rajasthan would be perfect without the Indians....

Last year, as a suprise, I offered C Barcelona because we were ONE YEAR together. This year she booked, without my knowing, a trip to Prague.
This wonderful old city is a bit too touristy but is far better value than Budapest, Vienna or some cities in the former Soviet countries.
After 3 daysn you have a stiff neck by looking up at all the wonderful facades of the splendid houses

Well, I was there before and normally don't go twice to the same country but Egypt is something I wanted Cat and the children to guide through. They enjoyed the pyramids, the magnificent temples in Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, shopping in the souqs...
I was very satisfied the children (9,10 and 12) adapted very good to the backpacker's life and were very interested in culture... but sometimes they went crazy in the hotel

Well I'd never been to black Africa and heard that Mali maybe was the best option. I convinced Cat that she shouldn't go there and went with Jaak, my grand-frere.
At least, there's some culture in Mali(Dogon Country) and history (Timbuctu) to be seen.
It was hard to adapt to the African way of life and although we had a great time in Dogon and Djenne, I realised Africa was not the ideal country for me.
The annoying and sometimes agressive Malinese sometimes made me climb a baobab tree

Third citytrip for Cat and me, after Barcelona and Prague.
Who wouldn't like a cheap but excellent hotel with view on the Pisa Tower?
We spent three lovely days exploring Pisa and the innumerable museums of Florence (don't miss Michelangelo's David), eating pizza and drinking vino bianco

For a change (and because it's cheaper) we went to this former Soviet country with the car. It gave us a lot of freedom to move around.
We stayed one week at the Balaton Lake (swimming before noon and visiting something in the afternoon), went to splednid Budapest for a few days and ended in the wine region of Eger.
Lovely holiday

Great experience, doing 3 countries in 2 weeks - I consider it as an appetizer. Moscow was rainy and 2 days was enough. Mongolia was beautiful in the snow and 2 days Beijing was way too short.
The train itself was a revelation, I wasn't bored one single second.
But the drunk Mongolian traders were not funny

Great experience, doing 3 countries in 2 weeks - I consider it as an appetizer. Moscow was rainy and 2 days was enough. Mongolia was beautiful in the snow and 2 days Beijing was way too short.
The train itself was a revelation, I wasn't bored one single second.
But the drunk Mongolian traders were not funny