My long way to New Zealand

A 653-day adventure by blue penguin Read more

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Trip start
May 3, 2015
My long way to New Zealand blue penguin
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Day 1
Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 2:00 PM
⛅ 13 °C
Altitude: 468 m
Germany Großer Teich 50.68385, 10.9226850°41’2” N 10°55’22” E
Ilmenau
May 3, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
With big and heavy backpacks we start our journey on a Sunday after lunch. Going by carsharing to Basel.
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Day 1
Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 10:00 PM
🌧 17 °C
Altitude: 267 m
Switzerland University Basel - Biomedicine Department 47.5664, 7.598647°33’59” N 7°35’55” E
Basel
May 3, 2015 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
First stop in Basel, were we've stayed with my Dad and Mercedes for a few days.
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Day 3
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
⛅ 21 °C
Altitude: 423 m
Switzerland Quaianlage 47.36789, 8.5381247°22’4” N 8°32’17” E
Zürich
May 5, 2015 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Daytrip to this nice city
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Day 5
Thursday, May 7, 2015
☀️ 16 °C
Altitude: 367 m
Switzerland Uni Dufour 46.1994, 6.1414146°11’58” N 6°8’29” E
Geneva
May 7, 2015 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Visited Ali's friends and ex-work colleagues. He showed me around many places and one day we went for a bike and hiking tour to Mt. Saleve
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Day 10
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: 132 m
Italy Piccolo Teatro Grassi 45.46653, 9.1854745°27’60” N 9°11’8” E
Milano
May 12, 2015 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Couchsurfing in Milano with Guiliano. Visited the World Expo and some great sightseeing spots as well as China town.
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Day 12
Thursday, May 14, 2015
☀️ 23 °C
Altitude: 5 m
Italy Giardino Papadopoli 45.43851, 12.3239645°26’19” N 12°19’26” E
Venice
May 14, 2015 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Stayed with Maria from AirBnB in Padova and did a day trip to Venice.
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Day 13
Friday, May 15, 2015 at 12:00 PM
🌧 14 °C
Altitude: 283 m
Slovenia Prešeren monument 46.05148, 14.5065146°3’5” N 14°30’23” E
Ljublijana
May 15, 2015 in Slovenia ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
Even if we just had a few hours to spend in Ljubljana we've managed to see the castle and had a good lunch before going onto Zagreb by bus.
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Day 13
Friday, May 15, 2015 at 9:00 PM
🌧 14 °C
Altitude: 135 m
Croatia Zagreb 45.81468, 15.9809345°48’53” N 15°58’51” E
Zagreb
May 15, 2015 in Croatia ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
Did AirBnB again with a nice couple. We've visited a Museum for Modern Art which had a slide. The next day we went to the Museum of Broken Relationships. The rest of the time we've walked around a lot in the city and also visited a botanical garden.Read more
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Day 15
Sunday, May 17, 2015
⛅ 22 °C
Altitude: 128 m
Serbia Topčidersko Brdo 44.79084, 20.4418544°47’27” N 20°26’31” E
Belgrade
May 17, 2015 in Serbia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
This city really surprised me in a good way. I can just recommend it to everyone to visit. It has a huge fort, busy market and the best ice cream ever!
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Day 17
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
⛅ 25 °C
Altitude: 260 m
North Macedonia Macedonia Square 41.99748, 21.4279841°59’51” N 21°25’41” E
Skopje
May 19, 2015 in North Macedonia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Interesting city with many road traffic constructions. We rented a whole apartment for ourselves and got good help to find it from our carsharing driver :)
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Day 19
Thursday, May 21, 2015
⛅ 23 °C
Altitude: 547 m
Bulgaria Sofia 42.69924, 23.3280442°41’57” N 23°19’41” E
Sofia
May 21, 2015 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Here we stayed with a wonderful couchsurfing family. During the daytime we walked around the city and its parks and monuments. In the evening we could enjoy a tasty homemade meal :) The whole city smelled of food anyway.Read more
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Day 21
Saturday, May 23, 2015
☀️ 26 °C
Altitude: 181 m
Bulgaria Stara Zagora 42.42144, 25.6361842°25’17” N 25°38’10” E
Mount Buzludzha
May 23, 2015 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
Together with Ivelina and her family we went by car to the countryside. Here we explored an abandonned building from the communist time. We then took a nightbus to go onto the next adventure.
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Day 22
Sunday, May 24, 2015
⛅ 26 °C
Altitude: 55 m
Turkey Hippodrome of Constantinople 41.00926, 28.9749941°0’33” N 28°58’30” E
Istanbul
May 24, 2015 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
We got the chance to stay in the shared flat with the boyfriend of my friend Elif even though she was in Japan during this time. Istanbul is wonderful, I especially like the less touristy Asian side :)Read more
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Day 26
Thursday, May 28, 2015
⛅ 17 °C
Altitude: 863 m
Turkey Ulus 39.93225, 32.8549139°55’56” N 32°51’18” E
Ankara
May 28, 2015 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Our next stop in Turkey was Ankara. Here we had another great couchsurfing experience with a nice family. It was a little rainy, but we enjoyed the food and sights anyway ;)
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Day 28
Saturday, May 30, 2015
⛅ 16 °C
Altitude: 56 m
Turkey Trabzon 41.00283, 39.7155341°0’10” N 39°42’56” E
Trabzon
May 30, 2015 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Just a small city close to the border of Georgia. We had some more good food and walked around the market streets. Trabzon is famous for its special bread. And this was election time in Turkey... which you can see easily ;)Read more
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Day 30
Monday, June 1, 2015
⛅ 20 °C
Altitude: 7 m
Georgia Batumi 41.64297, 41.6385941°38’35” N 41°38’19” E
Batumi
June 1, 2015 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
On the bus to Batumi we would meet our travel buddy for the next few weeks: Killian from France.
Actually we all came to Batumi to get our visas for Azerbaijan. This took a week and so after two days in an hotel, we stayed with a super friendly couchsurfer. He is a Turkish guy, who was born in Germany. (Thank you again Yavuz for getting our jackets back that we left in the bus!!)Read more
Yavuz GüneyIt was my pleasure, hope to meet you again. By the way your jackets are still with me :)
9/23/15Reply
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Day 34
Friday, June 5, 2015
☀️ 23 °C
Altitude: 136 m
Georgia Kutaisi 42.25768, 42.6903242°15’28” N 42°41’25” E
Kutaisi
June 5, 2015 in Georgia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Just a quick stop for 1 night in a little hotel. We've tried some Russian food and got hunted by some dogs. I don't know why, but they are always more interested in Ali than in me
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Day 35
Saturday, June 6, 2015
⛅ 25 °C
Altitude: 435 m
Georgia Vere 41.71518, 44.7821841°42’55” N 44°46’56” E
Tbilisi
June 6, 2015 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Met up again with Killian with some nice food and drinks. Next day we've walked around the city, where a marathon was going on.
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Day 36
Sunday, June 7, 2015
🌬 25 °C
Altitude: 247 m
Azerbaijan Fioletov Stansiyası 40.38755, 49.8590940°23’15” N 49°51’33” E
Baku
June 7, 2015 in Azerbaijan ⋅ 🌬 25 °C
Went by overnight train to Baku. It was a long ride (4.30pm to 10am), but I slept well.
In Baku we had to wait for our ship to Aktau (Kazakhstan). As we decided not to take the ship on the next day we stayed another 5 days with our great couchsurfing host Alex from England. We ate a lot of cheap business lunches and could watch wrestling at the 1st European Games.Read more
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Day 43
Sunday, June 14, 2015
🌬 25 °C
Altitude: Sea level
Caspian Sea 42.85935, 49.9779342°51’34” N 49°58’41” E
Caspian Sea
June 14, 2015, Caspian Sea ⋅ 🌬 25 °C
With Killian and a Russian girl called Lena who we've shared a cabin with on the cargo ship. We were the only tourists there and so the boat crew took good care of us. We got food 3 times a day and even saw some sunsets.Read more
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Day 46
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
⛅ 33 °C
Altitude: Sea level
Kazakhstan Aktau 43.64639, 51.1643243°38’47” N 51°9’52” E
Aktau
June 17, 2015 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Here we've arrived by ship early in the morning and somehow hitchhiked into the city. There we've stayed with our couchsurfer Askar and his father in law, who prepared a tasty plov for us. After two days we had to leave again for a 46 hour train ride to Astana. It was so hot here!Read more
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Day 50
Sunday, June 21, 2015
🌬 25 °C
Altitude: 341 m
Kazakhstan Astana 51.15197, 71.4572851°9’7” N 71°27’26” E
Astana
June 21, 2015 in Kazakhstan ⋅ 🌬 25 °C
Finally we've arrived in Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan). All was clean and modern and we stayed in a big flat with Ali's brother and his family.
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Day 55
Friday, June 26, 2015
☁️ 18 °C
Altitude: 823 m
Kazakhstan Gornyy Gigant 43.23481, 76.8900943°14’5” N 76°53’24” E
Almaty
June 26, 2015 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
After another 24 hours in the train, we were finally in Almaty. Our couchsurfer Ataner provided a whole flat for us, which actually was a guesthouse for clients of his company. The last two nights we've shared it with a Japanese couple and we all went to a Turkish restaurant together. Almaty is good for many hikes and it has also a chocolate factory :)Read more
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Day 59
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
⛅ 33 °C
Altitude: 780 m
Kyrgyzstan Bishkek 42.86589, 74.5900842°51’57” N 74°35’24” E
Bishkek
June 30, 2015 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
We had nearly two weeks to discover Kyrgyzstan. Because our flight to Delhi was already booked we've spent the time in canteens, undertook some sightseeing and organised a trip around the lake. I bought a 6kg watermelon for around 1€ and ended up sharing it with the whole hostel, because we had to leave the next day ;)Read more
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Day 61
Thursday, July 2, 2015
☁️ 18 °C
Altitude: 1,768 m
Kyrgyzstan Karakol 42.48395, 78.4002242°29’2” N 78°24’1” E
Karakol
July 2, 2015 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Came here for hiking and horesriding and stayed in a cute warm yurt. Our hostel owner Eleman took good care of us, and did I already mention: Kyrgyz food is so good!
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