Dani

I was excited to hit the road again last week! My first stop were two new countries in two days: I took a plane to Helsinki from where I headed straight to Stockholm on the overnight ferry!

Even though the 4am wake-up call was painful, it was well worth getting up so early to see the sun rise over the Dead Sea from the Masada. And my next stop, Timna Park, turned out to be just as spectacular!

This week I learned that snow is rather pretty and doesn’t (always) suck, that I can survive two days without checking my emails and that I have pretty amazing friends!

Read what I have been up to in the past month, where I traveled to, what went well and what went wrong, where I am off to next, and some reflections on the past twelve months.

For the first time in seven years, I spent Christmas with my family in Germany and I had a blast experiencing German Christmas markets, baking cookies and having some quality family time!

It is rare that I get to a hostel and don’t want to leave, but the Abraham Hostel in Jerusalem was just like that – I felt right at home and am already looking forward to return.

I made it all up to Jaffna in the far north west of Sri Lanka, a city still very much marked by the civil war that tore the country apart until 2009. However, I found a hopeful, welcoming community of Tamil people there!

I have educated several friends on travel hacking this year, and as one of them is about to take advantage of her first free hotel stay, I thought it was time to talk about travel hacking here on Globetrottergirls as well!

A 20km day hike along the shores of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia turned out one of my favorite travel experiences in the country with stunning lake views, odd locals and rural Bolivia at its best.

This past week was all about temple hopping as I explored the ancient cities of Sri Lanka’s cultural triangle. The most remarkable sight: The Jetavanaramaya Stupa!