As a 2nd generation “military brat”, I moved a couple of times throughout my childhood. By the age of 14, I had lived in 5 different towns across Germany and made one 3 year stopover to France.
At that point, my family settled to the outskirts of Berlin (“Berlin, Berlin, Berlin… du bist so wunderbar, Berlin”) and I fell in love with what the German capital had to offer. My parents equipped me with my first cell phone, an annual pass for the local public transport and a reasonable curfew (although I would regularly try to fight them on the later) and I had the city at my feet. Like a lot of teenagers, window shopping and going to the movie theater were my favorite and safe pass times. And I loved it.
At 16, my parents gifted me the opportunity to do an exchange year (of 10 months to be exact) in the U.S., which I spent with a wonderful host family in Central Florida. For me, this was a truly transformative time and I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.
After that, I returned to Germany, got my high school diploma (Abitur) and went on to University. For better or worse, I was very disoriented and insecure about a potential career path. I initially started the Bachelor program “Culture & Technology” at the TU Berlin, but figured out within the first week that it was not what I had imagined and that I would not finish the degree. Instead I started to stretch out my feelers into various directions to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
Luckily for me, I stumbled across Market Research and subsequently Sociology (the study of social behavior, society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture that surrounds everyday life). I got accepted into the University of Potsdam, where I completed both my Bachelor and Master degree in Sociology. For me, it was the perfect deep dive into questions that I had had for most of my life. I went on to work in Market Research, initially for a small market research agency in Berlin, then for an online statistics database in Hamburg and currently New York City.
As you may gather, I was able to garner insights on a handful of places as a resident, mainly Berlin, Hamburg and New York, since these are the places I lived as an adult. In case you have any questions on these, please feel free to ask me 😊
But what about travel?
So far, I have had the opportunity to explore the following (more or less) notable places:
Disclaimer: When it comes to travel, I only include places that I have actually had a chance to visit and explore. Layovers and stop-overs are not included in my definition of travel 😉
Europe
- Germany
- Berlin
- Bremen
- Cologne
- Dresden
- Düsseldorf
- Leipzig
- Munich
- Potsdam
- Rostock
- Stralsund
- Stuttgart
- Wuppertal
- France
- Paris
- Strasbourg
- Italy
- Bologna
- Florence
- Milan
- Rome
- Sardegna
- Venice
- Spain
- Barcelona
- Granada
- Madrid
- Seville
- Tenerife
- United Kingdom
- England
- Brighton
- Canterbury
- London
- Penzance
- Royal Tunbridge Wells
- Scotland
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow
- England
- Other places in Europe
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Athens (Greece)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Dublin (Ireland)
- Helsinki (Finland)
- Istanbul (Turkey)
- Krakow (Poland)
- Lisbon (Portugal)
- Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
- Oslo (Norway)
- Prague (Czechia)
- St. Petersburg (Russia)
- Stockholm (Sweden)
- Tallinn (Estonia)
- Vienna (Austria)
North America
- United States of America
- Albany, New York
- Alexandria, Virginia
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Los Angeles, California
- Maui, Hawaii
- Miami, Florida
- New York, New York
- Norfolk, Virginia
- Orlando, Florida
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Richmond, Virginia
- San Francisco, California
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Washington, D.C.
- Williamsburg, Virginia
Asia
- India
- Agra
- Jaipur
- New Delhi
- Sawai Madhopur
- Varanasi
- Thailand
- Ayutthaya
- Sukhothai
- Chiang Mai
- Khao Yai National Park
- Vietnam
- Ha Long
- Hanoi
- Hoi An
- Hue
- Ninh Binh
- Phong Nha
- Sa Pa
Africa
- Luxor (Egypt)
- Marrakesh (Morocco)
- Mauritius
This adds up to a total of 28 countries and 83 towns, cities or places on 4 continents. And I can’t wait to see what still lies ahead.
How about you?
What has been your favorite travel destination (so far)?
Wandering Explorer Travel 
You’ve had quite the adventure since you were a kid! Glad to have discovered your blog, and I can’t wait to see what else you’re up to in the near future!
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Thank you, Rebecca, that is very sweet of you. I also love your blog and can’t wait to read more 💕
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Great to hear that you live a full and adventurous life!
Many thanks for stopping by my travel and photography blog – much appreciated.
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Impressive list and nice to see that you have made it to Stockholm (even though Stockholm barely counts as having been to Sweden) 😀
I assume that you have explored several smaller places not included on any list? Sometimes the small villages provides the best experiences. 🙂
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Not in Sweden (yet) 😂 But I hope to go back eventually and explore some of the other places around the country. I have heard great things 🤓
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I can really recommend it 🙂
Which cities are your top 3 so far?
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Overall and globally? Great question 🤔 There are so many great places for travelers 😂 When it comes to cities to visit, my favorite places in Europe would be Venice, London and Seville. Venice and Seville mainly for the architecture and feeling of being in a different world, London for offering so much excitement and history in one place. How about you? What are your personal Top 3?
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I have the same problem as you, it is just impossible to rank them all 😀
I usually go for the places I really want to return to and those countries are Georgia, Namibia and The Gambia. 🙂
Cities in Europe would probably be Bratislava, Budapest and Riga (Or Tbilisi for those of us who include it as Europe). 🙂
But there are so many to chose from 🙂
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All places that I still have to explore 🤣 I’m especially eager to visit Budapest. Everyone that had a chance to visit seems to have loved it.
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Quite a collection of places and we share several of them with you and its hard to choose favourites. Travel is a wonderful thing. We retired to go travelling this this time last year which unfortunately came to an abrupt halt in Vietnam due to the Pandemic. We see that you have been to Canterbury in England, its our nearest town, just 10 minutes drive from us, we love the city, hope you liked it too 😁
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