I can't write in both languages, I am sorry!

It is impossible to keep up with writing the blog in two languages, so English speakers, please use http://notesfromanothercountry.blogspot.com and translate in an online engine such as http://translate.google.com

I am really sorry, but there is simply too much to see and do to waste time in front of the iPad for 2+ h every day...

Or just look at the pics I upload there...

Sep15 In and Out: Argentina to Uruguay

The flight I had feared for a long time due to its duration wasn't that bad in the end. I slept 8 out of the 12.5h. The sunrise above Brazil - well above the clouds - was unbelievable! Those are the advantages of an overnight flight. In any case you can see the sun rise. :) Maybe worth becoming a pilot. 

Enought of praising the sun, The forecasted temperature for Buenos Aires is a freezing but sunny 50F/ 10C. Just like summer in Germany this year. 

In the end I don't care. I bought my ferry ticket to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay a couple of days ago and am therefore not only leaving Buenos Aires again today but also Argentina. Of course I will be back once Yvonne gets here in a couple of days.

But first I will fulfill another dream, which is to see Montevideo. On the way there I am stopping in Colonia. 

Back to the plane. We are landing after a spectacular view of Buenos Aires. What a big city!

Our parking position next to a jumbo from Lufthansa leaves me smiling. The engraving is: "Fanhansa" - not very nice of us to be flying exactly that plane to Argentina, but also nothing we can do about it now. :)

Immigration passes with no issues and I am grateful for free Wifi. After cleaning up a little in the bathroom I am ready to enter South Anerica once more. I have a couple of hours to kill in Buenos Aires before my ferry to Uruguay.  But all my thinking about what to do with my luggage in the city for a couple of hours were useless. In Argentina it is not the immigration that leads to huge queues, it is the customs control. Every piece of luggage is being scanned before leaving the secured area. This takes time. The queue goes back and forth through the whole baggage hall and I estimate about 1.5h until I can possibly reach the scanners. Another issue is that my "active queuing" skills are basically gone and tons of Latinos pass me this way. I remember fast and so I just turn around and move a little to the left which gets me into the queue that is coming back from the end of the hall. The huge family doesn't even notice and so I safe at least 30min. :)

Considering that they don't even look at the scan, the effort they have with the scanning is immense. 

Just before the exit I see some bus booths and get myself a ticket to the ferry terminal without having to get cash. 

The outside is as cold as I feared and I am glad that I didn't forget my softshell jacket on the plane this time, I desperately need it.

Queueing for the bus - this will turn out to be my favorite activity in Argentina today - I start a conversation with a Spanish guy who wants to take me to Bariloche for skiing. Tempting but it would totally ruin my plan for this week, the only plan I actually have for the whole trip so far. And also I am a bit scared to get back on the skis for the first time after I broke my ankle in someone else's boots. I'd rather try with my own in the Alps when I am back. I refuse the offer and exit the bus at the brandnew ferry terminal where I am greeted with something familiar: a Milka stand.

On the second floor my Argentina entry stamp gets its brother the Exit stamp and their neighbor an Uruguay entry stamp right away. So my first visit to Argentina lasted less than 2h, but I will be back. 

And here we go, the next long queue. My chances for a window seat are so small that I don't even bother queueing for so long and take a seat in the comfy chairs until most people are on the boat. 1h of boat sleep is almost as good as on the plane and is only being disturbed by German honeymooners discussing their travel plans for everyone to hear but for sure nobody to understand except for me.

The hostel is only 5 min from the terminal. My body is longing for some movement and so I carry my stuff there, the big backpack on the back, the small one in the front. 

I have a room to myself for about 3 min before Sarah enters. She is from California and traveling SA since about 5 months. We have a lot in common. :) My travel companion for today! I am glad. We start our common time with Chivito, the Uruguayan national dish. 

The city walk after is finished fast. Colonia is very tiny and within 1h we've seen most of it. From the lighthouse we have a great view and can even spot Buenos Aires in the far distant. We find the Street of Sighs, don't know the story that goes with it, but we got the picture now. 

Armed with homemade icecream we look for a spot to watch the sunset. 

Brrrr, cold. As soon as the sun is gone we go back to the hostel to get our jackets. Back on the street we notice that this tiny town is completely deserted now, noone is on the streets and it is hard to find an open bar to get a drink. It is much easier to find a smoke, the weed smell is everywhere. 

One sangria, a nice conversation and here I am in bed. The shower can wait until the morning. It is way too cold.

Stop2: Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Sep14: The beginning of a looooong trip

Flying around the world is definitely something I wanted to do with Star Alliance... I simply love most of their airlines and I have been collecting miles there forever. When I checked for affordable tickets, the only ones which could include the Easter Islands were One World, because only LAN serves that tiny remote island. Since it would have been significantly more expensive otherwise, I chose to fly with them. At least they don't have Aeroflot in their alliance. :)

But they do have BA, which is not as bad as their airport, I thought. 

Well, since last night I tried to check in online in order to secure a window seat for the 14:35h flight to Buenos Aires tonight. But even this afternoon at 3 pm I was still "too early" for check in and the website told me that I could only check in 24h before the flight. Well,... 

By this afternoon I had of course quadruplechecked the date and year of my flight. :)

In the end I got to check in like an old lady at the counter with my passport and everything and even scored a window seat on tonight's long flight... So only the Terminal 5 hatred is still there and even that is fading. It is actually nice here and aside from not working power plugs my experience is much better than last time when I was stuck here for 36h in a 2inch/5cm "snowstorm".

Coming back to the tearful good bye... No, I won't get into that. I told Grandma she will just have to count down the days, which she gladly accepted once she figured out that it is not that long. Today is the 14th and I will come back on the 20th... Piece of cake! 

I don't know what was wrong with people today... They boarded and deboarded abnormally slowly. Maybe it was because there were only tourists or was I just too excited to get on the plane and then out again? To get everyone on board in Munich took more than half an hour. 

Some people were extremely busy checking every row number all the way from 5 to 28 where they were actually sitting. Maybe someone mixed in 28 before 12... You never know...

At least here in Terminal 5 all is the same. I am sitting in Lisa's and my favorite restaurant where hours and hours were spent years ago and it almost seems cool... Or is that the A/C?

Enough with the jokes...

Thanks Dad for driving me to the airport... The soldier in the storm :)

Oh, and I will attach pictures of "the owl" still to get a name. That is a gift from my Godchild Eva and I am taking her around the world, showing her things.

Stop No1: London Heathrow - GB check!

Ready - Set - Go

Every great journey starts with a good espresso...

Flight No 1, Munich to London Heathrow - not my favorite airport and definitely not my favorite Temrinal: 5, the one where my sister and I got stuck almost 6 years ago for more than 24h because of an inch of snow, which shut down not only the airport, but all public transport and basically all life in the UK. But I won't be thinking about that. I am on my way to another what I am sure will be a great adventure...

Packing gets easier the more often you do it and so I was done very fast last night and only had to make few choices... Maybe the decision making was made easier becuse all my belongings are crammed in a room in my parents's house. This is not exactly I imagined the second half of the year to be when I started 2014 with crutches and metal in my ankle. And here I am at the beginning of 14 weeks, 12 flights, 9+ countries and many memories to be. I couldn't be more happy for the way things turned out. One of my dreams will come true... When I am back in Germany just before Christmas, I will have literally surrounded the world. This means I will have the longest imaginable flight which leaves Tahiti at 7 am and gets me into Auckland at noon the next day after an only 6h flight.

Not stopping by in the US on this trip is intentional. I spent most of July there already, meeting friends and hanging out at their great lake houses where I met more friends... And I saw "boyfriend", so all is good for 2014. :) But I will be back, no worries.

My trips to Sweden and Portugal would definitely be worth a couple of entries here... They were tucked in between the US trip and the unpleasantries of moving out and putting my life into boxes.

And then there was family time first with my sister and newly acquired brother-in-law in MUC and last week at home with my parents and Grandma... Cleaning out the attic and finding my childhood safely stored up there including all letters I got made me laugh for a couple of days... OMG...Schmuddelbuddel :)

I won't look back in time, but strictly forward now...

14 weeks... 1direction: West, 1 mission: expand my horizon

Stay tuned...