It’s been a year…

…since I returned to Austria, my home country.

Exactly one year ago I arrived at Zurich airport which marked my return to Europe after 7 years abroad – 6 years teaching in New York City & 1 year traveling around the world. This last year hasn’t been much smooth sailing, but more of a rollercoaster ride. It’s been a year full of new beginnings, interesting experiences, and expected as well as unexpected adjustments.  It’s been a year of feeling a little lost at times - in the fall often still feeling more connected to my old life in New York City than my new (old) life in Vienna. I realized that 7 years is a long time & things had changed. During my 6 years in New York I had not only adapted to life there – sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously – but also gotten used to it – the good and the bad. I had become more familiar with it than life in Austria. Then, my trip around the world made me see so much of our world – countries, cultures, people, animals, food, etc. After all this, I wasn’t just going to fit in again here in Austria. And believe me there’s hardly any weirder feeling than that of feeling like a foreigner in your own country!!! Feeling like one while still not really being a foreigner can be a rather confusing experience.

“It takes about a year to really return after such a long time abroad”, is what friends told me.

There’s no shortcut.

But I’m slowly settling and I’m starting to feel that things are going to work out - that it was the right decision after all.

I have accepted that it takes time to not just physically but also emotionally arrive…

So better late than never    :

Vienna, here I am

PS: Do you know the book “I’m a stranger here myself”? It got a whole new meaning this year - I can now truly relate to the author’s experience 

PPS: Met with Sonja & Christian today – old Austrian friends whom I’ve known since 2002, who still live in New York City & also traveled the same year as I did. It was so nice to see them

PPPS: Skyped with Veronika & her kids in NYC this evening   It’s wonderful to stay in touch with old friends!

LEAVING AUSTRIA TODAY :)

Today is the day! I’m packing and will be leaving tonight, at 22:45, from Zurich airport to start my TRIP AROUND THE WORLD Next time you’ll hear from me, I’ll be in Bangkok, or somewhere in Thailand where I start my trip.

No ATM in Laos?

I just checked the website of my credit card to find out in which countries I can use it. Well, I can use it easily in Thailand (130,000 partners, 7,500 ATMs, 3,172 cash points), possibly in Vietnam (7,745 partners, 7 ATMs, 303 cash points), and rarely in Cambodia (114 partners, 0 ATMs, 12 cash points), but NOT in Laos; I can also use it in Malaysia (43,196 partners, 2,350 ATMs, 2,062 cash points). I remember vaguely reading in a guidebook somewhere that Laos doesn’t have many ATMs. Maybe I should change some money in Bangkok into Lao currency (kip)…

Fights at Thai-Cambodian border – Preah Vihear Temple

I’m still in Austria getting ready to start my trip around the world on Monday. My first stop will be Bangkok and I plan to travel in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam for 3.5 months. Staying informed and avoiding certain parts on my trip seems to be a good idea while traveling in this region: Today I read on the ORF website that there are – again – fights at the border of Thailand and Cambodia in the area of the Preah Vihear temple.

The New York Times reports today, 10/15/08:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/world/asia/16cambo.html?ref=world

and about three months ago, 7/21/08:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/world/asia/21cambodia.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=cambodia%20and%20thailand&st=cse&oref=slogin

Haider dies in car accident

When I woke up this morning, they said on the radio that Joerg Haider is dead. He died early this morning in a car accident in Carinthia. I was speechless. As much as he was a highly controversial politician, he was part of the Austrian political system as long as I can remember. Most politicians from the time when I was in High School are not politicians anymore; they come and go - but he was always around and I sort of got used to that. I mean, neither was I particularly fond of him nor would I ever vote for him and I always thought that I wouldn’t mind if he was gone, but now – and I never thought I would say this – it’s actually weird that he is dead and I feel sorry for his family and friends.

Travel insurance

Comparing insurances is no fun, comparing travel insurances is even less fun. You start reading about all the terrible things that could happen to you while you are traveling somewhere where you don’t speak the language, don’t know anybody - and you are all by yourself… Well, I’m still going on my trip around the world, but just making sure to have a good travel insurance. After comparing various travel insurances, including oafa, sos international, World Nomads (lonely planet), and a few others, I think I’m going to go with oafa (oesterreichische Aerzteflugambulanz – Austrian Air Ambulance).

Protests in Bangkok

Still in Austria; busy getting ready for my trip…

Protests in Bangkok escalate - I hope the situation calms down by 10/20/08, when I start my trip. First stop: Bangkok. I checked the website of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (= US Dept. of State, British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Australian Dept. of Foreign Affairs & Trade) which informs about the protests and what’s happening in Thailand, but it doesn’t say that you shouldn’t go - meaning neither travel warnings nor travel alerts were issued. That’s good news, as these websites are often overanxious.

The New York Times reports:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/world/asia/08thai.html?scp=3&sq=bangkok%20protests%20oct.%207&st=cse

More cows and snow in Vorarlberg

Yesterday was the first day that it snowed in Austria this fall. When I looked out the window this morning I saw the mountains covered in snow… When I drove through Dornbirn to the shopping mall “Messepark”, I encountered a cattle herd walking an the road in front of me and ten other cars through the city. I guess they were the last ones to be brought home to their barn – remember “Almabtrieb”

Elections in Austria :(

Agnes and I are still traveling in Bulgaria; we just returned to our hostel in Sofia and checked the first results of the elections of the Austrian government: what a mess! The result is really disappointing

I bought my RTW-Ticket today!

I bought my ROUND-THE-WORLD-TICKET today I’ll start Mon, Oct.20, 2008 in Zuerich and the stops will be: ZURICH – BANGKOK – AUCKLAND – NADI – LOS ANGELES – NEW YORK CITY – ZURICH. As of now I’m planning to travel in

• Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and possibly Malaysia) for 3.5 months (Oct.-Jan.),
• New Zealand for 5 weeks (Feb.),
• Fiji for 3 weeks (March),
• skip LA,
• then reach NYC at the end of March/beginning of April
• From there I’ll probably go to South America either with Verena or by myself for 2.5 months (April-June).
• Then back to NYC at the end of June/beginning of July,
• maybe a last trip to visit Jenny and her family in Florida in July,
• and then back from NYC to Zurich at the end of July

Of course, this is only a rough outline, more of an idea on how to spend the next 10 months, but by no means a fixed itinerary!!! I might change my plans, well the amount of time I spend in each country, as I travel. The nice thing about my ticket is that I can change the dates