Author RenegadeTourist
The same road that I've driven every day, passing the same houses, the zebra crossing with the orange light, the pizza place at the corner, the house covered in vines on the way up the hill; all so familiar, like home yet it's not. Every day for two months but now it's the last time. In a few hours I'll be sitting on a plane on my way home and it's unlikely I'll be back. I'm happy to leave, but also sentimental. It's strange, this may just be some insignificant village in the German countryside, a boring little town not worth caring about, but the place has gotten to me somehow, the tiniest part of me will miss it. Goodbye.
The fog is so thick, I can barely see the road ahead of me, it's like driving through paint diluted in water. All I can see is the red glow from the tail lights of the car in front and the swirling mists, lit up by my head lights, bright white against inky darkness of the forest. Dry leaves keep falling from the branches above, mixing in with the fog as it flows around the car like smoke in the breeze, sweaping up and over windscreen or creeping along the sides, only just revealing the next few meters of asphalt. I concentrate, focusing on what little I can see of the white lines along the edges and that glow up ahead in order to not go flying off the road. Part of me thinks thi is crazy, wants to slow down, but part of me wants to stick to that other car, let it guide us through this soup like an ever moving beacon. I choose the latter and keep a steady pace, that red glow at a constant distance, but one thought keeps spinning through my mind: this is just ridiculous.
I feel my photography skills have improved a fair bit recently, mostly when it comes to adjusting the settings to difficult light but other aspects as well. During my stay in Germany I’ve taken a few pictures that I’m actually quite proud of but they don’t really fit in any of my other posts. However, I would still like to show them off so here we go:
I’m here in Germany for business reasons but me and my colleagues still get the weekends off like normal, so we are able to go out sightseeing. There are of course some limitations due to Covid19, but so far they are comparatively mild and we’ve been able to visit a bunch of different tourist attractions. Some of them are really worth seeing so I thought I would share them here.
Schloss Lichtenstein
Germany is full of castles, if you do a search on Google Maps you’re bound to find at least ten in any given area. With that being the … Read the rest
I'm on what I believe is the main shopping street in the city, it's wide but free of cars with shops and restaurants all along the sides. Despite being a fairly sizable city, all the shops are closed; the lights are on but the doors are locked and not a soul inside. Out in the street there are a few stragglers but otherwise it's deserted. At this hour, when the light has started to fade but the street lights have yet to turn on, the feeling of emptiness becomes profound, like the entire city is dead. And there, for a few moments, I flash back to the deserted airport with its long corridors and waiting halls nearly devoid of people. In the back of my mind I know that this is normal for Germany, but for a brief moment I can't help but think that this is due to the pandemic.
I recently changed jobs and because the Taiwan branch of my new company is just starting up, management has decided to send a bunch of us to the head office in Germany for training. Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t really be worth posting about but as everyone is well aware, circumstances right now are everything but normal. Simply put, I’ve had a chance to go traveling internationally despite a global pandemic. This is something that I think is worth posting about.
First of all, we are ten people in my team, I am the only European, the rest are Taiwanese. … Read the rest
It’s cold outside, only a few degrees above feezing. The sun has barely started to rise, giving the sky the merest hint of pre-dawn light, just enough to see the outline of landscape we’re driving through. All around us is a thick grey mist that creeps across the dark fields on the side of the road. We cut through the fog like a knife as we speed down the road, leaving a trail of clear air behind us. Our headlights burrow into the mist, illuminating a few meters of asphalt ahead of us and the odd roadside tree, before the … Read the rest
I have just left the passport checking counter and I’m walking towards my gate. I turn a corner and walk a few meters down the corridor, idly remembering what it used to be like here, and that’s when the emptiness of the place hits me with full force. There were a few other passengers at the security checkpoint, and at emigration there were the border controls officers who checked my passport but here I am all alone. The long, wide corridor with its conveyor belt walkways and information sign hanging from the ceiling, normally so busy, is completely devoid of … Read the rest
As we all know, international travel isn’t possible with a global pandemic going on but domestic travel is still possible, at least here in Taiwan. We’ve been thinking of going back to Yilan and the secret beach for a while now and last weekend we decided to do it. Previous trips with the baby have either been day trips or trips back to Yinis parents house where we already have plenty of baby things. This was the first time staying overnight in hotel with the baby which was an entirely new experience for us but we decided to take on … Read the rest
The Most Unintentionally Hilarious Scene Ever
A couple of days ago I found myself on a twelve hour flight, unable to sleep. With time to kill but no motivation for anything "serious" I decided to watch some braindead action flick. Swiping through the menu I found Fate of the Furious (or Fast and the Furious 8 if you prefer) which seemed to be the perfect pick. It turned out to be a far more interesting movie than I had ever expected.
The Fast and the Furious franchise has always been known for over the top car action so I knew what I was getting in to, but this topped all of the previous ones... read the rest