Category: Living

How to handle jet lag

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I know there are probably more ways to deal with jet lag than I can count. Everyone I know has his or her own way and idea what is best.

However, since I feel that I had a bad case on my hand and am now (on Monday) more or less getting over it, I decided to share how I have handled it so far.

1. Keep hydrated!

Drink, drink, drink… Water is best, so no coffee (or just a small amount). Tea is okay I guess or I have been drinking a lot of a soda that is called VitaminWater which I remembered from Ohio. It says zero calories, so not sure about that, but it tastes so good!

2. Get into a schedule!

The worst that you can do is arrive and go to bed (depending on what time it is). I arrived here around 2PM and I was naturally exhausted after being awake for almost 24 hours. I could have gone to bed at 6PM when I arrived at the hostel, but I stayed awake until 10 PM. That meant a lot of yawning and I swear I blacked out a couple of times. But it also meant that I only woke up once during the night and almost slept for 10 hours. The nights after that I would also wake up once, check the time and go back to sleep.

3. Keep moving!

It can be challenging to keep busy and not decide to go to sleep, take a nap or just chill somewhere all the time for days. I figured out that for me it is better to keep walking, see things, get my mind off of being sleepy. I do have blisters now and my feet hurt (on Saturday I walked 15km – so proud of myself), but it also meant that I was tired enough to sleep at night when it would have been hard because my body was on Munich time.

4. Eat something!

With me, jet lag means also loss of appetite. Basically it seems like my body doesn’t know what time it is and thus decides to concentrate on other things than being hungry. It is important to have regular meals with some greens and vitamins! Get on a schedule for that as well! Have breakfast, even if it means getting up earlier than you want, eat a small lunch and have dinner!

What do you do against jet lag? Any helpful ideas out there?

Cheers

E.

Munich’s Best Observation Deck

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Hello dear fellow travel aficionados!

As mentioned in my little recap for 2015, I had my friends visit me in Munich in April. You all might have already experienced the same thing: We travel to see different cities, but when it comes to the one we live in, we just don’t do the usual sights. I mostly tell myself: “Oh, those crowds, I’ll do some other time!” So with my friends here for a few days, I had to quit the excuses and dig into my knowledge of great places in Munich. And Munich certainly has a lot to offer. One of my favorite places to get an overview of the city is the clock tower of St. Peter…

The Catholic church with its tower, called “Alter Peter” in Munich, is the oldest church in Munich. It is located very close to Marienplatz, Viktualienmarkt and all the other well-liked places in the city. The tower has a height of 91 meters and thus offers a great view all over Munich (you can go up to 56 meters).

We were quite lucky to choose such a clear and sunny day in April and the sky certainly was showing off with all those little white sheepy clouds. Check out some of my pictures below!
As for more details: You’ll have to pay a small fee to go up (as far as I remember 2 Euros) but it’s worth it and it is supposedly open year-round. The steps are quite steep, all 306 of them. Make sure to look out for people coming down, too.

We actually spent almost 45 minutes up there, taking pictures and walking around on the observation deck. It’s a convenient place to point out sights if you don’t want to take a longer tour. Also, it is right next to the Rathaus and the city center so you won’t have to walk far for the best view in Munich. Afterwards make sure to get some delicious food at Viktualienmarkt!

Until then,

Eva

2015 Recap

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Oh time flies when you are having fun!

It is February 2016 now and I just noticed how lazy I have been. I apologize, dear followers, and I promise to try my best to do better.

So let’s see: What did I do in 2015 – travel-wise?

In March I spent a few days in Mannheim, Germany at a conference. I wouldn’t much call it traveling or a holiday, as I spent most of my time in the university there, still, I liked what I saw and I am planning to go back and explore more. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken due to my lack of nerves concerning presentations.

In April I was happy to welcome two of my best friends in Munich. A. came all the way from Florida to visit me and was later joined from H. who came from Berlin at that time. Though it was just for a week, we had lots of fun and did a lot of sights in Munich, Salzburg and Füssen. My first visit to Neuschwanstein! I definitely should devote a post to that!

In June I spent a few days with my mom at the beautiful Lago di Garda in Italy. It’s one of my favorite places. We have been going to the same towns since I can think, so it feels a lot like coming back to many nice memories, always looking for changes. Places change so much over the years! It was incredibly hot outside, but more on that another time!

In September I was accepted to spent a week in Kleve, near Düsseldorf, Germany at a Summer School on Digital Storytelling. There are still so many impressions on my mind that I have no idea how to put that into words. The week was filled with good memories, but also a lot of work.

In hindsight, my year didn’t look that boring, but still it felt extremely empty with no trip longer than a week. I missed my being-abroad-on-my-own a lot and I’m looking forward to this year and hopefully more time spent away from Munich.

Until then, take care!

Cheers,

Eva

Hostels and traveling on your own…

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When you are travelling on a budget (and let’s face it – who isn’t) and on your own, you will soon find out that the biggest obstacle is to find a place to stay. A place where you feel safe, where you can enter the bathroom without feeling the urge to clean it…
For me, it seems that with the years going by, I find myself longing for clean and quiet spaces. When I think about my first trips, I didn’t care much about anything. All I wanted was a bed in a reasonably clean hostel, no matter how many people I had to share my room with. On my trip last year, I struggled a lot with finding the right living arrangements. One option was choosing a hostel which I decided to do in New York City and Boston, my first stops on the trip.

In New York I lived in a nice little hostel in Chelsea. I had been staying in a hostel before, but it had been located further north in Manhattan and this time I wanted to be more in the South. To choose my hostel, I always use websites like hostelworld.com or I simply look for reviews on google. For me it is important to now what other people had been saying. The hostel in Chelsea was all in all ok, it was reasonably priced for a place in New York, the staff was nice and they offer smaller rooms and free breakfast. It is located in a quiet street with a lot of shops and cafés in walking distance.

In Boston I chose to stay in a youth hostel which so far has been my best experience in a hostel abroad. The youth hostel is located in the Theater District/ Chinatown, so most sights are in walking distance. Also, there is a Panera right next door 🙂 The hostel has been built only a few years ago, so everything is quite modern and new. The staff is nice and helpful as well and they offer a lot of activities like tours to a brewery or to museums.

All in all, I prefer staying in hostels over a hotel. It is good to catch up on sleep after a long flight in a hotel, but hostels are always more fun as you can meet so many people from so many different places!

The Homestay experience

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As my posting a few days ago showed, I enjoyed London a lot. It’s an amazing city and I am without words to describe it. My time there wasn’t nearly enough to do all the things I wanted to do.

Besides that, my trip to London was also my first experience with Airbnb. Finding a place to stay that I like has always been hard for me. I don’t like to spend so much money on a hotel when I could use it for something else like entry fees or shopping. I’m mostly ok with hostels, when I don’t have to stay in large dorms alone with all strangers. Yet, I have never had a good night’s sleep in a hostel before, so when it comes to that I try to make other arrangements. Of course I had thought about couch surfing, but as a female traveller I have to admit that I am too scared to try it. There are so many what-ifs: What if the total stranger decides to not let me stay… is a rapist… You never know.

Last year I heard about Airbnb which is basically an online platform where people rent out rooms in their houses or apartments. You have to register and then can choose the city, date and price range your room should be in. For some reason, it felt more secure to book the room there. We (my friend and I) stayed with a nice couple in a really new apartment in Kensal Green. They were nice and helpful whenever we met them, but with our own key we were able to be on our own.

So far, I can only recommend this platform, but I know one experience is not quite significant. That’s why I will most likely try that a couple more times on my next trips. Does anyone of you have any recommendations or advises? Let me know!