Vor kurzem bin ich durch Tomasz von http://meczektravelblog.com/  für den Liebster Award nominiert worden. Dafür erstmal ganz herzlichen Dank! Ich habe mich sehr über die Nominierung gefreut und schaue auch bereits seit geraumer Zeit immer wieder gerne auf deinem Blog vorbei.

Leider hat es jetzt doch etwas länger gedauert, bis ich endlich zum Erstellen dieses Posts gekommen bin, aber zwischen Arbeit und Familie bleibt leider im Moment so gut wie gar keine Zeit für Freizeit und Hobbies.

Aber jetzt zum eigentlichen Thema: der Liebster Award:

„Der Liebster Award ist eine Blogartikelserie, in der sich Blogger gegenseitig 11 Fragen stellen und weitere Blogs mit neuen Fragen nominieren. Das Ziel ist die Vernetzung untereinander und die Leser können so mehr über den Blogger und seine Beweggründe erfahren.“

Eine echt nette Idee also, bei der ich gerne mitmache.

Da mir die Fragen auf Englisch gestellt wurden, werde ich sie wiederum auf Englisch beantworten. Ich hoffe, dass ich in absehbarer Zeit auch noch dazu komme, das Ganze zu übersetzen, ich werde diesen Artikel dann entsprechend editieren.

Und nun zu den Fragen:

1. What made you become a travel blogger?

That really came through my kids, who monopolize my parent’s time whenever they visit. There was never enough time to tell them about our trips and adventures and show a few pictures. So I decided to put it all down in writing in the form of a blog. Pretty quickly it became apparent that my readership doesn’t only consist of our friends and relatives, but that there’s actually quite a few people out there who are interested in out exploits.

I’d also like to use this opportunity to say thank you for that interest and for all the nice comments we received and for all the great blogs I got to know through you…

2. Which of your trips/travels would you repeat again without hesitation and which would you never do again ?

Actually, there hasn’t been a single trip so far which I really disliked. Most locations I have been to, I would revisit without hesitation. That said I’m very partial to the North, the rugged arctic landscapes and the solitude of pristine nature. Given a choice between that and, say, a city trip anywhere, it’s obvious what I would prefer.

But, coming to think about it (and if that also counts): I once went to a music festival and that’s really not an experience I care to repeat. All those drunk people and the noise – just not my cup of tea!

3. Sometimes during our travels we land in a secluded place where we feel very close to the mother earth. What was your best moment with mother earth?

There’s quite a few to choose from and it’s hard to pick just one particular moment. So I take one that’s still fresh in my mind: Last winter/spring in Greenland. It had snowed all day, but towards the evening, it was clearing up from the west. The sky was still overcast with dark clouds but at the horizon, a line of blue could be seen. I wanted to make a quick trip to the Icefjord by myself but the children were intent on joining me, so we all went. After a while, Lars and Jaaku turned back to but Niklas wanted to stay with me. We made our way toward the Sermermiut valley, ancient settling place of the Greendlandic peoples. I longed to go further up the hills but Niklas was getting tired and wanted to turn around. While we were discussing what to do, the sun came out below the clouds and the landscape around us was lit up in a magical light.

All exhaustion was forgotten and Niklas ran ahead of me up the hills to get a better view. And there we were, high above the icefjord, the snow muffled every sound, not the tiniest breeze disturbed the waters below us, and the setting sun bathed everything in orange and red and purple colors.

I felt awed, and happy and completely calm – one with nature. It was a wonderful moment  and even better for being shared with my eldest son. And I could see that he was feeling the same way.

 

4. What destinations have most exceeded/failed your expectations?

Most exceeded:  Finland! When our second son was 1 year, we longed to go on an outdoor adventure again. For logistic reasons, we decided to go canoeing. My husband did some research and suggested the Saimaa lake in Finland. I was less than excited about this. Finland? That’s just lots of trees and moskitoes! By far the most boring of the northern countries! Well, by now, we have spent our summer vacation in Finland four years in a row… so I guess I was wrong about Finland!

Most failed: pretty much every natural sight in the US. You expect great nature (and it is), but it always turns out to be concrete and parking lots and railing and the fear that somebody might get hurt and sue for compensation, so better eliminate even the slightest risk. Absolutely kills it for me!

 

5. What is the best snorkeling spot you have been so far ?

I haven’t done much snorkeling in my life (is always been the north for me), so there’s not too much to choose from. But I have spent a year in Miami, doing my Diploma Thesis. I had a friend who had a house on the Keys, where we sometimes went snorkeling. The water there is only a few meters deep and there a lot of rocks, where you can see a huge varierty of animals: colorful fish, nurse sharks, barracudas, lobsters, moray eel…

Unfortunately I don’t remember where exactly it was any more, but it must have been somewhere off Islamorada (or in the vicinity)

6. Most exciting animal encounter during your travel ?

This one’s easy. Here we go: Musk oxen aren’t exactly small animals. And the vegetation in Greenland isn’t exactly dense and high – more like knee-high blueberry brushes. So you wouldn’t expect it to be possible to overlook a musk oxen which is only about 5-6 m from you. But that’s exactly what happened to us – until it stood up. Fortunately the animal was just as surprised as we were and decided to leave instead of attack. Which then made the encounter not only the most exciting which we have had so far, but also the funniest:  A musk oxen running  has an eerie resemblance to a huge Yorkshire terrier, fur swinging back and forth…

7. Have you ever been in real troubles or danger during your travels?

Luckily not. At least not to my knowledge. Before I had children, I did a few stupid things while travelling and took some unnecessary risks but fortunately, gut instinct and a good portion of luck always kept me out of real trouble.

8. Try to associate these 3 expressions with some of your travels/adventures: kindness, silence, happy people

Kindness:  2014, the first time we were in Finnish Lapland with the kids (then aged 2 and 5). We were making camp on the banks of the

Ivalojoki when some locals came by to chuck wood for a party they meant to have the next night. They chucked some extra wood,  stacked it next to the fireplace, lighted a beautiful and bright fire and then left without a word – a warm fire as a kind gift to a young family in the wild. And we experienced such kindness several more times in Finland.

Silence: Here, the remote and quiet places we have visited spring to mind, but there’s also silence closer to home.  One of our favorite places is the ruins of the  “Schmidtburg”  where you are allowed to camp with prior reservation. If you are lucky, you have the entire place all to yourself at night and so even in densely populated Germany, you can experience true silence.

Happy people: Whereever we have been in the world, the happiest people we encountered were always children playing outside and left to their own devices.  Not playing with any expensive or sophisticated toys, not playing a sport or anything with rules made by adults but instead, making use of anything they find and making their own rules. And those times also make up the happiest memories from my own childhood. This kind of happiness is something we would like to give to our own children, too.

9. Which travel books or movies would you buy someone to inspire him to travel ?

I love and am inspired by nature documentaries (e.g.: the BBC documentary “Planet Earth” by Alastair Fothergill) and lavish coffee-table books (e.g. “AntArctic “by Michael Poliza or “Ein Jahr in der Arktis” by Florian Schulz). Also I find all kinds of travel reports very inspiring (both as printed books (“Kajakträume” by Lars Schneider is sitting next to me on the table right now) or on the internet (on the “outdoorseiten.net” or on different travelling blogs, many of which I know through my readers))

10. Name 3 destinations from your bucket list and explain why you want to visit them.

One: the Tasermiut Fjord in southern Greenland, and I think this video is reason enough:https://vimeo.com/147032739

Two: The Great Bear Rainforest in Canada (although I kind of mind the “Bear” and the “Rain” part…). I’ve read a few very nice travelogues about kayaking in those parts and I was stunned by the beautiful pictures and the accounts of paddling among whales and other sealife.

Three:  Kamtschatka, a long peninsula at the far east end of Russia. Even the name sounds inspiring and foreign and enticing.

 

11. What’s your next travel destination ? Why did you choose this particular one?

We have booked our flights a few days ago: we are doing it again, we’ll visit Greenland in winter! This time, our destination is Uummannaq, but on the way there and back, we’ll also revisit Ilulissat and Rodebay (the latter mainly because of the children, who still keep talking about Ole, the hotel owner and mayor of Ilulissat, whom they kept following around telling him stories in German and eagerly listening to his English or Danish replies.)

We are very excited what great adventures and wonderful people await us this time…

Unfortunately, this also means we get to spend a painful amount of money again – but what better way of investing your money than in wonderful memories that will truly last?

And what could be more wonderful than the clear and open skies,  the endless fields of ice, the quiet, the Greenlandic people…

I just wish I hadn’t dropped out of my Danish class this winter. But that’s where reality hits: between work and family, there’s just not much time or energy for much else.

 

Sooo, und nun ist es an der Zeit den Award weiterzugeben. Da ich aber erstens ein bisschen kontaktscheu bin und zweitens, das Ganze nicht exponentiell verbreiten möchte, werde ich nur eine weitere Person nominieren und zwar Andreas vom Abenteuer-Almanach http://abenteuer-almanach.de/, der schon viele tolle Touren, speziell in Finnland gemacht hat und in dessen Blog ich mir immer gerne Anregungen hole (z.B. die Tour zur Wildniskirche bei Inari hätten wir ohne seinen Artikel darüber nie gemacht)

Hier sind also meine 11 Fragen:

1. Was hat dich dazu bewogen, ein Blog anzufangen?
2. Was war deine bisher schönste Tour?
3. Wie bist du auf Finnland als Reiseziel gekommen?
4. Welche Orte auf der Welt möchtest du unbedingt noch besuchen?
5. Wie bereitest du dich auf eine Outdoor-Tour vor?
6. Was ist es, das dich immer wieder hinaus in die Natur treibt?
7. Was ist dein bisher schönstes Foto von einer Tour?
8. Wo holst du dir die Ideen für deine Touren?
9. Warst du jemals auf einer Tour in einer gefährlichen oder kritischen Situation?
10. Was ist der unützeste Gegenstand, den du jemals auf eine Tour mitgeschleppt hast?
11. Wie hast du es geschafft, deine Kinder vom Outdoorleben zu begeistern?

Und zum Schluß noch die Regeln des Liebster Awards (hier erlaube ich mir, den betreffenden Absatz einfach von meczeks Blog zu kopieren):

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster Award in which you:

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog. Try to include a little promotion for the person who nominated you. They will thank you for it and those who you nominate will also help you out as well.
2. Display the award on your blog — by including/displaying it in your post. The best way to do this is to save the image to your PC and then upload it to your blog post. There is plenty of Liebster Award pictures on the internet.
3. Answer the 11 questions about yourself that your nominating blogger chooses for you.
4. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award. These must be rather new bloggers. The definition of “new bloggers” is not really clear. I would suggest to nominate these with less than 3000 followers. I also strongly recommend to contact all bloggers which you have nominated and ask then if they accept the award. Be aware that not all bloggers want to play this game and some may refuse your nomination.
5. Create a list of questions for your nominated bloggers to answer.
6. Explain rules of The Liebster Award in your post.
7. Once you have written and published your post inform the people/blogs that you nominated that your post is finished so they can continue the chain and nominate next bloggers.
8. Very important ! Enjoy winning an award and pass this great feeling to your nominees!