Happy 2020 from Jonas and me! We hope you had a wholesome new year’s eve. I hope you’ll have a good start of the new decade with lots of adventures (small and big), fair winds, good hitchhiking road karma, or a strong but not scary current to paddle in. Jonas and I are currently in Chiang Mai (Thailand), but we took this photo at the Austrian Danube. At the town of Spitz an der Donau there’s a ferry to cross the Danube to the right-hand side where the signs 2019, 2020, and 2021 are very close to each other. It’sContinue reading
Kayaking the Ping River in Chiang Mai, Thailand
So far, Jonas and I joined the paddling meetup on the Ping River in Chiang Mai twice. Kayaking in a group usually happens once or twice a week in Chiang Mai. Click here to find the information to find the next kayaking meetup, the map of the route, and some tips on what to bring/wear. Paddling Addicts Since we finished paddling halfway down the Danube, Jonas and I have been looking for our next paddling fix. We once paddled down the Morava river in Slovakia before drying our dear boat Zucchini. But since then, we haven’t set foot in aContinue reading
The Hitchhiking Videogame – Version 2.0
Remember three years ago? When I made a hitchhiking videogame with Jonas in South America? Well, we got a new version out with slightly better graphics and more adventures! Take me to the Hitchhiking Videogame! Version 2.0 Since the first version, Jonas took a Udemy course on game development with Unity. After he finished, we started to rebuild the basic JavaScript game in the Unity engine with C#. In other words: we used a different programming language to recreate the game. I brushed up on my Microsoft Paint skills and redid a lot of the graphics. I also asked inContinue reading
9 Important Apps to Download Before Your Trip to China
These are the applications we downloaded before we traveled to Shanghai, China. We were in Shanghai on China’s 144-hour visa-free policy. We downloaded these apps and maps in advance of our 5-day Shanghai itinerary. I’m using a Xiaomi phone working on Android and Jonas uses an iPhone with iOS. All apps mentioned in this article are available for free. 2020 update: If you manage to enter China during/after the coronavirus outbreak, it’s likely that you’ll need to download the government-approved COVID-19 tracking app called ‘Health Code’ by Alipay (支付宝健康码). If you have any experiences with this app I’d love itContinue reading
144 Hours in Shanghai: My 5-Day China Itinerary
This is about October/November 2019 when I visited Shanghai for a five-day stopover. This happened from Thursday the 31st of October till Tuesday the 5th of November, 2019. That’s when we flew on to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We traveled to China visa-free with the 144-hour on arrival visa. Though it’s our personal itinerary, this article also contains a wealth of information on things to do and see in Shanghai on your 144-hour visa. Here you can find a handy map of our itinerary and the sights. Here’s a list of must-download apps for your trip to Shanghai or elsewhere in China.Continue reading
Hitchhiking the Donghai Bridge from Zhejiang to Shanghai
These events happened on Sunday the 3rd of November, 2019. We’d taken the bus from Dishui Lake (Dīshuǐ hú: 滴水湖) in Shanghai Municipality (Shànghǎi shì: 上海市) to Yangshan Island (Yáng shān: 洋山) in Zhejiang province (Zhèjiāng shěng: 浙江省) via the Donghai Bridge (Dōnghǎi Dàqiáo: 東海大橋). After sightseeing at one of the scenic areas, we wanted to hitchhike back the same way to Shanghai. Click here to read about our full 144-hour Shanghai itinerary. Here are all the apps you need before you travel to China. Contemplating Hitchhiking in Yangshan We’d spent a little over an hour hiking around the beautiful rocky area at Xiaoyang Mountain (Xiǎo yángContinue reading
Hiking and Urban Exploring at Devínska Kobyla, Bratislava – with Pirate Kitty!
During our stay in Bratislava, Jonas and I planned a day trip to Devínska Kobyla – the highest point of Bratislava. The peak is at 514 masl and there’s an abandoned missile base there. We planned to go hiking in the forest and see if we could enter the abandoned buildings by means of urban exploration. This happened on Friday, October 11th, 2019. To skip to the map and route of the hike, click here. Background After the kayak trip, Jonas and I traveled back to Bratislava because we loved it so much. We wanted to stay in the cityContinue reading
Paddling the Morava River – A Day Trip from Bratislava
We finished our kayak trip down the Danube in Mohács. After that, we traveled back to Bratislava – our favorite city on the Danube – to work for one month. One day, we wanted to do a day trip with our kayak named Zucchini. We chose the tributary to the Danube named the Morava. Here’s the story of how we paddled part of the Morava River on Friday, October 4th (2019). Want to do it yourself? Here you can find the route details and the interactive map. Plotting and Planning a Kayak Trip around Bratislava The Idea The idea to paddle a stretchContinue reading
Danube Kayak Trip Interactive Map
This is the fully-operative map of our Danube trip so far! You can use the left-side panel to summon or dismiss the information you’re looking for. I included information about the route, the distance, the obstacles in between, the places we’ve stayed at, which stretches require a permit, and which parts we (had to) skip on the Danube. Each paddle day has its own related blog post you can read. I’ll update this map the more we travel this majestic river with our inflatable canoe. Click in the upper right corner of the embedded map to open the map in GoogleContinue reading