Trip to Germany & Berlin coming closer! PLUS Information on Aguia-Branca, MeinFernbus & Condor luggage allowance

Since Dezember, I am planning my next Trip to Germany and Berlin! YAY!!! This time together with the prince of sun <3 Now there are only about three weeks left, OMG, so excited =)

I am going to visit my friend Berlin girl at her place in Potsdam, do Berlin sightseeing (and shopping) with the prince and her and we will even do a short day trip to Warnemuende, a seaside resort and former fishing village situated on the Ostsee, Baltic Sea in the North-Eastern part of Germany, close to Rostock. I am really looking forward to showing the prince an authentic German beach and sea as well as traditions and his first, ever dunes (and dune rabbits!). (He does not know about the day trip, so.... cannot wait to see his face when he suddenly stands in front of the beach and sea, he thinks we are only going to visit Berlin and Potsdam, no word from me or Berlin girl about the trip or destination hehe....

Castle beauties - Fantasy vs Reality 

There is more, my family and I are planning to go on many castle trips, at least 4 different ones, one will be the Hohenbaden Castle, one castle near Gengenbach (forgot the name, I have to research some more...) plus the beautiful Hohenzollern Castle (those three are all located at less than 2h by car from my parents' place) and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (the one that Disney used as a template for their dream castle) (located more or less 4h by car from my parents' place).

And as a cream-top for my holiday cake of wonders, two of my dear London friends, holiday girl and dance girl, are coming over for a weekend trip, none of them have been to Germany so I am thrilled to introduce them to our wonderful culture, delicious hearty German food, relaxing Roman bath-spa, breath-taking waterfalls.... *_* so excited!

So, other than that I have been planning to take lots of books and have made some packing lists (what to pack in Brazil), German-culture-related items (especially German children s books and items), shopping lists, Berlin packing list, Berlin to-do list, Berlin shopping list, my region's to do list, home-trip packing list.... I did mention that I love making lists... haha....

I mentioned some of our travel companies during my Europe trip last year already, I actually used the same companies as we do this time, but now I'll explain the baggage allowances for each company in detail.

So here you go, here more about each company we are travelling with:

Our first travel company is a Brazilian coach company called

Aguia Branca - 12h night bus from Porto Seguro to Salvador
-one suitcase of 30kg (to be stored in the luggage department of the bus)
-no exact restrictions for hand luggage

Last time I travelled with them, I only had one hand luggage (the carry on size), but most people travelling with me on the bus had a carry on plus normal handbags plus enormous plastic bags with them so I am quite optimistic that they are pretty generous with hand luggage taken on the bus with you (as long as you can fit it into the relatively generous space in front of you).

Arriving at the bus station in Salvador the next morning, we will take one of the local buses to the international airport in Salvador, where we will catch our flights in the afternoon, we are flying with

CONDOR, 10h over-night transatlantic flight from Salvador to Frankfurt
-2 suitcases of 32kg each (yes, you are reading right here *_*)
-hand luggage=carry on of 6kg
-1 laptop bag plus laptop
-1 small handbag
-umbrella

Isn t that just a dream....! Let's get that straight.
Proper 64 kg checked luggage. 6kg carry on. Total: A whopping 70kg. Not counting the handbag and laptop bag stuff!!! AAAAND the prince and I are travelling together. Each of us has those allowances, making it official:  140kg. Plus content of two small (hand)bags & notebook bags *_*

Right, last trip to Berlin, we will probably leave most of my stuff at my parents' place when we leave for Berlin and only take one suitcase and backpack with us, so our last company mentioned is

MeinFernbus, 10h daytime coach trip from Karlsruhe to Berlin

Our luggage planning

-2 suitcases of each 20kg
-hand luggage of 15kg

Whopping, isn t it!

I know now you'll ask me how I will ever be able to get my luggage sorted with so many different luggage restrictions.

Keep calm and... read on ;)

My favourite solution for bulky beam problems: Ceiling bookshelves

Bulky beam and projected ceiling bookshelf

Advancing in our construction, we`ve finally had to confront our little beam issue in our living room. We first thought we were able to make it a fun feature of our already wholly-different-from-anything-known-in-the-world house but then found it still to bulky and interrupting in our rather small living room. But as it is necessary in the whole stable construction blabla, we cannot just remove it and had to come up with another solution to hide it somehow and so I went on browsing solutions, from adding artificial beams and painting them all the same colour or adding wooden features, adding circles or complicated terrace styles as well as bringing on pictures or plants. But then I stumbled over another alternative that totally convinced me: BOOK SHELVES! Lucky me that I had already planned to integrate some book shelves into our living room area as this option is the most cost effective of all beam hiding solutions as well! We just need to get a pretty large shelf (3m long x 0,4m wide), place it right in the middle of the beam so that each bookshelf side on the right and left of the beam will have an equal share of 0,15m bookshelf space and the middle part of 0,1m will be covering the beam itself from below.

Cut through ceiling/beam/bookshelf from the side

As we are currently working on a few other construction projects, I am not sure how quick we will be able to integrate this idea, but I CANNOT wait to finally get some proper book storage space and almost library feel into my home!!! ;)

Foldable, lightweight travel wellies - Hunter Original Tour Rubber Boots

Hunter Original Tour Wellies in black

This one is pretty funny. Every time I tell people that I urgently need quality wellies (rubber boots), the next best thing they answer is `but aren`t you living in Brazil - isn`t this one of the most tropical places with long sun hours and burning heat?`

It surely is. Nevertheless, the quantity of rain is very impressive all year round, the rainstorms and resulting immediate floodings cause totally muddy streets in less than 5minutes, streets would have to get redone about 2-3 months if they were to look about alright and tidy. But that`s probably just a dream of all residents, no reality in any case... I have often observed old people being really afraid of walking outside due to the totally slippery pavement and street, often the pavement is totally destroyed or simply non-existent, so everyone has to walk on the street instead. I already slipped several times - which isn t very tragic as my bones are still pretty flexible. But imagine someone older...

Hunter Original Tour Boots and its anti-slip rubber sole

And nobody likes to slip, if we are really honest, especially when it`s totally muddy. So shoes or wellies that have adequate soles for slippery grounds are very precious. Nevertheless, I also walk my dog in the muddy streets so.... he really doesn t care if the ground is totally slippery and muddy and will play anyway so my feet, legs and trousers will be totally soaking in water or mud when we come home (let`s not talk about Luke`s muddy condition after the walk here haha, that`s another topic). But well, good resistent waterproof wellies will pretty much resolve most of those problems. That`s why I decided to get quality travel rubber boots as I will also use them as winter boots, just with high boot socks to keep my feet warm in addition to dry during the autumn and winter months I spend in Europe. As I am going to travel with them, they should not be too bulky and heavy, and as I wish to use them both during walks in the countryside, but also in the city, they should be pretty as well.

Quite a challenge. But thank god, I stumbled over the following blog: libertylondongirl.com - Living in London and close to Hampstead Heath, food lover, sausage dog walker and passionate traveller herself who introduced her readers to her favourite Hunter boots. And following her blogs throughout the - what? about 5-7maybe few? years that she continues to passionately write about them, totally convinced me to get them myself.

Hunter Original Tour Wellies - foldable & lightweight,
but city-chic - perfect for travellers

They have some original sturdy ones for rain and snow which are more convenient if you only use them around your area but also have one model for travel bugs like me: The Hunter Original Tour! Foldable, lightweight and stylish-city-chic! So I`ve ordered them, in pretty black which combines with about every item of clothing I have I guess... (and if not, who am I to care :D All I want is having clean and dry feet and less washing jeans to add that one - lol), happy and lucky to have found those boots that just include everything I needed at the very moment =)

Design, build and live in your own house - all at the same time: Part 2

Update of my house plan

It has been quite some time since I had first written about how to design, build and live in your own house - all at the same time.

Blogpost:
Design, build and live in your house - all at the same time

I just stumbled over this old blogpost and realized that by now - almost one year later - we have changed quite a lot during the course of construction works and changes in our previous plans and needs. I guess the best and biggest change was that we managed to seperate the kitchen and living room space, first we were not sure if we were able to fit in all furniture into the rather narrow kitchen-laundry room area neatly and comfortly but luckily it all worked out perfectly - we did not even have to remove the hammock!

And now it feels like our whole house is bigger :D Both livingroom and kitchen have a much larger feel to it. Amazing what a bit of moving-furniture-around can make of a drastic change.

I really could not resist adding in this picture of Luke who decided to gently remind me that I have been sitting at the computer/laptop for long enough, gently pawing my foot *_* and bringing along his all-time favourite toy: An old t-shirt of mine! ;-)

Design, build and live in your own house - all at the same time

It is probably one of the most common reasons why people are not able to visualize and afford their own homes and enjoy life at the same time:

They believe you can only live somewhere when it's ALL DONE AND READY.

Morning visit on our construction site

The prince of sun and I knew that it would take years to save money to have a ready home. As our whole life is an adventure anyway we knew we would do it differently.

We decided that all we care about is:

-saving money long term: getting out of the vicious circle of wasting money through renting and using the savings for travelling and enjoying life

-independence, safety & freedom: having our own place where we feel safe, are totally free to do what and how we wish to do it, for example having our own dog without worrying about changing rent regulations

-an affordable hence small but cosy home base: to be able to travel now and then and not have high maintenance/utility bills while at home and when travelling/abroad

-cheap living costs in the town of our home base, here in Porto Seguro, Brazil

-no rush: being able to take it slow, design and build the house at our speed and wallet abilities

-have spare time and enjoy life: instead of having the life of workaholics and no-time for 6-10 years, and not taking advantage of our youth, we prefer to build slow but steady and be able to go out, travel, eat well and enjoy ourselves with friends, family or just the two of us.

My house plan

So that's what we did: First we obviously needed a piece of land. We chose a long, narrow one, flat space of 3m wide/streetfront and 20m long/between two other houses. This shows that it won't be an ordinary house, the way people normally believe houses 'should' be built - such as

Can your job pay London´s rent?

London is quite known to be one of the most expensive cities in the world, although it has fallen a few places.

This interesting homepage let´s you calculate whether the salary you are gaining (or maybe a salary from a job offer) would pay a studio flat or even just a room in your chosen London boroughs:

Can your job pay London´s rent?

Try it out! =)

The sea

“Mr. Hoshino?” Nakata said, breaking the silence. 
“What is it?” 
“The sea is a really nice thing, isn’t it?” 
“Yeah, it is. Makes you feel calm.” 
“Why is that?” 
“Probably ’cause it’s so big, with nothing on it,” Hoshino said, pointing. “You wouldn’t feel so calm if there was a 7-Eleven over there, or a Seyiu department store, would you? Or a pachinko place over there, or a Yoshikawa pawnshop? But as far as the eye can see there’s nothing – which is pretty darn nice.”


(Kafka on the Shore)

Sufferings of frequently occurring Offline Existance – or: Internet in a small Brazilian town

Internet in Brazil is like an annoying neighbour: if you don´t need it, it´s always available and stopping you from doing your work but as soon as you urgently need its help it´s either busy due to a lot of people using it or not available.

*********************************************************************************

We like to think of Brazil as one of the leading nations. Economy, wealth, development.

Unfortunately I am forced to say that Luanda (capital of Angola) has more reliable internet providers. During my time there, the internet in two private apartments as well as the internet cafe never failed (only when we had some of the occasional electricity failures but then again, it wasn´t the internet providers fault…)...

Working mainly through the internet and online masterboards, my husband and I have been fighting our way through at least 4 different internet providers. Two mobile stick internet options (claro and vivo, incredibly expensive and incredibly slow), radio  and cable internets (affordable, but totally unreliable). We will hopefully soon be able to try out the last remaining, expensive option called Velox (unfortunately we do know from relatives using it here in Porto Seguro (region Bahia) that even this option has similar failures although it seems to be the fastest and reliable of all). So what do they all have in common?

My Top 5 favourite places in London

Those are my current Top 5 favourite places in London

1. Hampstead Heath 

My favourite London Park (Tube: Hampstead) and the area where I wish to have a small garden flat in the future. It is the place where I´ve dreamed alone, had picknicks with friends and where I can renew myself after a tiring day – whether working or when coming back from the busy centre

2. The British Library 

(Tube: Kings Cross) 
Researching, browsing or just enjoying free time over free classics of British literature and the whole atmosphere of reading people surrounding you, also offer free internet, lovely to meet other fellow literature/book fans. I also love tiny side street book shops, often just stumble over them during a shopping or sight seeing trip. Oh and the (under) Waterloo Bridge Second Hand book market is fantastic as well!

3. Whereever my beloved Zouk-Lambada, Samba and Kizomba classes take place

An ordinary sleeping pattern during a weekend in Porto Seguro, Brazil

An ordinary sleeping pattern during a weekend in Porto Seguro, Brazil:

11pm-4am: Local Street Event (=you get free Party Music at xtreme volume in your house even with closed doors and windows)

4am-6am: drunk ppl walking home, screaming and throwing glass bottles on the street, cars getting damaged due to glass on street, fights...

6am-9am: Catholic Youth Centre (neighbour building) start their drum and capoeira training

o_O

Result of this weekend's sleeping pattern: non-existence ;)

Ein normaler Morgen in Porto Seguro, Brasilien

Ein normaler Morgen in Porto Seguro, Brasilien beginnt in etwa so: Du wachst – ganz natuerlich – vor deinem Wecker auf. Aehem, ja. Z.B. durch die Sonne, die dich an der Nase kitzelt. Oder durch den Wecker deines Nachbarn (oder deines Herrn Gemahls, des Sonnenprinzen), jedenfalls ein Wecker, der ungefaehr eine halbe Stunde lang alle 3 Minuten immer wieder losgeht. Oder durch einen Guten-Morgen-Kuss deines Mannes. Oder durch die Musik der Nachbarin, die seit Monaten jeden Morgen die gleiche CD hoert. Oder durch den Duft vom

How's Brazil?

And again, the most asked question when on the phone: How's Brazil?

It's not an easy one to answer.

"It’s love and hate, beautiful and ugly, friendly and rude, relaxed and loud, peaceful and chaotic, full of rules and then again none…"*

And it smells of sweet mangoes and salty ocean wind...

Thoughts on German breakfast culture and my favourite French delicatessen shop in London

I have always been fond of breakfast time. I even feel like after having lived with friends and the prince of sun in London and Brazil that German culture compared with the latter literally celebrates breakfast, especially on Sundays.

A German proverb even has the following diet suggestions:"Frühstücke wie ein Kaiser, iss zu Mittag wie ein König und nimm dein Abendmahl wie ein Bettler" ("have breakfast like an emperor, lunch like a king and dinner like a beggar").

So what's part of a typical Baden-Württembergian German Sunday breakfast?

How do you know that you have been in London too long?

You say "the City" and expect everyone to know which one.
It happened...

You have never been to The Tower or Madame Tussauds but you love Brighton.
Actually, I have been to the tower once and even twice to Madame Tussauds, would go to the tower again (on a quiet day) but… never again to Madame Tussauds! And YES, I ADORE Brighton and its stony

Dream Home in Hampstead Heath

I have had this dream for a long time... And maybe one day....

I believe I have lived in pretty much every wind direction of London: During a 4 week language course I shared a flat with an English host lady in lovely Putney (SW), which I loved for its beautiful houses and green spaces, especially the little castle tower next to Putney Bridge. During my BA studies I shared a flat in north-east Walthamstow (E) and was and still am a huge fan of its high street market.

Then a few years later during my BA and MA I lived in Holloway Road, Islington (N), loved the Spanish restaurant around the corner and its spinach cream soop as well as the mouth-watering lamb kebabs you can get in loads of places there. Later it was Camberwell (SE) with a local tiny park (30 sec distance) and cheap cinema visits in the neighbourhood's Rye Lane cinema for 3,5 pounds... A few weeks at my friend s house in Ladywell (SE) (this area has great fishmongers for everyone who loves to cook grilled Tilapia!).

When the prince of sun and I stayed in London a few months ago, we stayed in Plaistow (E) (this area's tesco sells delicious (& cheap) beans "feijao tropeiro" for about 60p per kilo!) and our final home was in lovely Southfields (SW), just adored the 5-minute walk to Putney Heath and Wimbledon Park as well as the French shop around the corner with its incredible mirabelle jam!

But I have always known where I would want to stay and create our cosy London nest.


In wonderful Hampstead Heath. 

Let me introduce you to this beautiful green area in case you don t know it yet:

And yes, in case you are wondering and asking yourself whether we are in the countryside already, no, the Heath really is located in

Living in two countries - 2 - The pros and cons

Feeling the wind and smelling the salty sea air with the prince of sun at the beautiful Taperapuan Beach in Porto Seguro in December, climbing the rocky Gertelsbacher waterfalls with my dear mum in the land of milk and honey in April and having a nice cup of tea in a lovely Hampstead Heath or Camden café in August with "the dance girl"!

  

Here a few pros and cons for having your heart (and stuff) in different places:

Living in two countries - 1

What's a woman to do when she's loving two...

Or three...

Three cultures, that is. And two cities to live in. The one and only city which is the 'love of her life'. Then the small town to live life to the full and the home*sweet*home to visit family and friends whenever the Sehnsucht (home sickness - which does not really contain the real sentiment...) hits the top nerve.

The home obviously is Germany, my home country. A village close to the French border, a 30-minute drive to beautiful EU-Strasbourg and an oasis of tranquility and peace of mind. Most of the time at least ;) I love visiting my parents and siblings who I ADORE, with all their odds and bits, but as it is after about 2 weeks, my dear self and its freedom genes are urging to leave to where its heart last stayed or where it would like to stay. Let's call this German village "the land of milk and honey".

The small town to live life to the full is a Brazilian well Bahian town called