When I woke up on Saturday morning my host Alex told me that he couldn't accompany me any longer. I had already arranged my stay in Taupo with my host Patrick so Alex took me to a bus station and I bought a ticket to Taupo. I arrived there around noon. Patrick picked me up and he took me to his home but we stopped on the way to see Huka falls. The water was light blue and it was an impressive sight.

When we got home there was a CSer sleeping but she woke up soon and she left. Patrick had a dog which was papillon breed and a cat at home. He had no time in the afternoon so I had to visit the city by myself. Taupo was colder than other places we visited due to the proximity of the mountains. I walked to the Spa Thermal park and I saw bungee jumping and a swing at the Taupo Cliffhanger. Then I crossed the park and I saw people bathing in the Otumuheke stream. I had no swimsuit with me but I climbed some rocks and I found an empty pool with noone around so I took off all my clothes and I went to the bath naked. The water was around 38°C and I really enjoyed it but I stayed there so long until I got dizzy. Then I walked to the Huka falls but I felt hot for a long time although the weather was cold and I didn't put on warm clothes so I got quite a bad cold that day. I had to hike for around one hour to reach Huka falls, I didn't have proper shoes for hiking, I wore new moccasins so my legs were quite painful at the end. When I reached Huka falls I took some photos there and then I wanted to go to the Craters of the moon so I hitchhiked and a local guy stopped and took me there. The entrance fee was 8 NZD but it was definitely worth it. The atmosphere was unearthly and there was a lot of steam coming from the ground. The sulphur smell was very strong. You can see the video here , there are pools with the bubbling mud. I spent more than one hour there and I climbed a hill but I had a bad cold and I felt under the weather when I left the park and started walking towards Taupo. I hitchhiked again and an Argentinian family stopped and took me to my host.
When I got there my host told me that he had another girl from CS coming. She brought some nachos with her, we ate them and we all went to the engagement party of his friends later in the evening. There was some food and cakes and also a disco. Then we went to the same park where I had been before in the afternoon, my host put some bath foam up the stream and he lit the candles so it was romantic to take a bath during the night. Then we went home and we slept long in the morning. Then the girl woke up and she cooked omelette and Patrick took me to a bus station and I waited for my bus to Wellington. The journey took around 6 hours and there was a woman from Fiji sitiing next to me. We had some talks together and she told me she had been living in New Zealand already 10 years with her children but she planned moving back to Fiji with her husband. The landscape close to the Mount Tongariro started to change and looked like a desert, it resembled Atlas mountains in Morocco.
When we got to Wellington it was already 8pm and it was very windy. I walked to my host Nirmal who lived in the Courtenay Place. He offered me some food and then we watched a Japanese/American horror movie called the Shutter. I liked this movie but I had already seen it before.
I got up on Monday morning and I went to the Mount Victoria Lookout. The weather was beautiful and sunny, it was around 20°C. I enjoyed the view on the city very much.

Then I went to the Cuba street with a bucket fountain which I didn't find particularly interesting and I visited Te papa museum. There was an exhhibition Gallipoli of World War I and the entry was free. The statues of soldiers were huge but they looked very realistic. I took many photos there.

After visiting the museum I went to Nirmal's home and he cooked diner for us. Then we watched the horror movie Babadook but we didn't enjoy it very much. 

On Tuesday morning I went to the airport to take my flight in Auckland. The flight was short but quite unpleasant because I still had a strong cold. When I got to Auckland I took a bus to the city and I met Kynsley from CS. He showed me around and we went also to the beach. 

After Kynsley left I went to the restaraunt Crab Shack which was situated at quay. I ordered a mixture of Green Lip Mussel, Diamond Shell, Moon shell and Tuatua. Half a kilo costed 15.5 NZD. The food was tasty.
Then I took ferry to the Half Moon Bay where I stayed with the same host as before. This time he hosted also a British guy who slept on the sofa and I had to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag. We watched the movie Conjuring 2. In the morning we got up early and I had to take a ferry to the city and then a bus to the airport. It was rainy during my last day in New Zealand. The flight to Bangkok was good, we got food twice and I drank coke with whisky which wasn't the best combination. I saw Austalia from the plane, we could see Queensland through the camera and we also flew above Darwin. I watched two movies during the flight, the first was called Me before you and the second one was called The descendants. I didn't really like any of them, the first one was too emotional and the second one was a classical love triangle.
When we got in Bangkok I had time only 4 and half hour which was too short to go out of the airport so I just walked around the shops. My gate was closed and there were buddhist monks sitting in front of it. When they left I got in the gate and I slept for one hour before we boarded. The flight to Munich was very good, I had two seats for myself so I slept at least 5 hours. We got food twice, in the morning it was the same disgusting omelette with the chicken sausage which we got also when flew to Auckland.
When we arrived in Munich it was only 3°C outside. I had to take S-bahn to Hackerbrücke where I waited for my bus at 10:30am. The journey to Prague took around 4.5 hours. I had two seats for myself so I lied down but I didn't manage to sleep. We got to Prague around 3pm on Thursday 13th October. My trip was great but I was exhausted from a long travel.

On Thursday morning we drove to the seaside firstly where we walked along the coast and I climbed rocks on the beach. Then we went to Matamata where we bought tickets to Hobbiton. One ticket costed 79 NZD but Hobbiton was definitely worth visiting (though it may be disputable whether it was really worth paying so much money for the entrance fee). We waited for a bus in Matamata at 11am. Hobbiton is situated on a family farm, there was much sheep with little lambs in the early spring and the grass on the hills was light green and neat. When we arrived in Hobbiton, it was raining a lot and we had to borrow umbrellas at the entrance. Our guide explained us about the filming and the history of Hobbiton. We walked around and Alex took many photos of me. I enjoyed Hobbiton a lot, but my clothes were too light for this weather and I was shivering.

The houses located under the earth were picturesque. It wasn't possible to go inside, but we admired the round colorful doors and gardens. There were also small hobbit clothes handing on the clothesline. We spent more than one hour there and when we were leaving we drank some cider which was included in the price of the tour.
When we got back to Matamata we decided to go to the thermal springs in Okoroire. There were 3 pools which belonged to a hotel and the entrance fee was 10 NZD per person. There was a small pool with a hot water at the entrance, the water was around 38°C. Then there were two bigger pools downstairs, one of them was around 30°C and the last one 38°C, but it was dirty. We stayed there around one hour, there were Korean guys and I talked to them. Then we went to Rotorua and we stayed there with Alex's niece and her son for 2 nights. They had 3 dogs at home, they were wery friendly. Rotorua was colder than other places, especially during the night it was very cold. I met a couchsurfer Sandeep in the evening and he took me to a restaurant on a hill where we had a view on Rotorua but it was already dark. Then we went to an Asian restaurant and I ate Teriyaki chicken there for 10 NZD. Alex took me to Rotorua lake in the morning and we bought some souvenirs. We walked in the city and we saw many thermal springs and there was a very strong sulphur smell.

Alex's niece worked at a Holiday park inn. We went there and she gave us a little shovel and we went to the beach at the Rotorua lake with thermal springs. We dug a hole in the sand and I took a bath there, but the thermal springs were too hot, I lay down where the thermal water and lake water mixed together, but sometimes when too hot water came I burnt myself anyway.
Then we found a Japanese restaurant in the town, there was a menu for 10 NZD with two pieces of sushi, miso soup, salad and Teriyaki chicken. In the evening I met a couchsurfer from Iran, his name was Mohamed, and we went together with his guests to the restaurant called Pig and whistle. I ate fish and chips there and then we got a present from a waiter which a was a pink cocktail. It was very tasty. Then I went home and the night was bright so the sky was clear and I could see the beautiful Southern cross in the sky.

When I arrived in Auckland I was supposed to meet an Indian guy at the airport. I waited there some hours and I checked my facebook account, but he didn't come and he didn't contact me anymore. I have no news from him since that time and I have no idea what could happened with him.
I organized my stay in Auckland with a guy called Raddeck, but he worked on Saturday and I had nothing to do in the afternoon. I took a bus to the Queen's street, I walked to the port, but I had to pull my suitcase and it started to rain. I found a shelter in the buidling Cinemas. There were sofas upstairs and I lay down there for some hours. I was tired after the long flight. My host told me to meet him around 8pm at Starbucks, but he didn't tell me there were two of them on the Queen's street. I waited for him around half an hour in front of Cinemas, then I found a phone box and he said he was waiting at another Starbucks. He said he was just about to leave when I called him. Finally we met and we drove to a market with food stalls where we bought Japanese food takoyaki, okonomiyaki, steamed shrimp dumplings and spicy octupus. We also found durian fruit there and my host wanted to taste it so we bought it as well. Then we went home, my host lived close to the Half Moon Bay. We ate our dinner and then we watched the movie Blair witch 3, but we found it quite boring. My host had an excellent foot massage machine. In the morning we had to get up early because he worked on Sunday as well, he took me to the ferry and I went to the Queen's street. I had to go to Cinemas again because it was rainy and I had to wait for my bus to Whangarei which was departing at 1pm. I got there around 4pm, I waited at the information center, but my host came around 5.30pm. We went to play frisbee in the park and then Alex cooked dinner, we ate spaghetti bolognese and then we watched the movie Crucible about witchcraft trials. I was very tired, so I was falling asleep during the movie. My host lived in a caravan. On Monday morning we went to Whangarei falls and then to the kauri forest.

In the afternoon Alex took me to the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Center where I had an opportunity to see and touch a one-legged kiwi bird Sparky. He lost his leg in a trap and he has been living in the Recovery Center since 2002. It was a great experience to meet him and caress him. He picked up worms from the soil with his long beak. You can see the video with him here
The was a museum in this center and I saw many photos with Sparky and also his predecessor Snoopy who also had only one leg. Sparky is used to being taken to schools and shown to kids for educational purposes. Then we saw a talking Myna bird outside the center.
Later in the evening we watched the movie Grey and we ate paste again. The following day we went to the Bay of islands but firstly we stopped in Kawakawa where we saw Hundertwasser Public Toilets. When we got to the Bay of islands I bought some souvenirs firstly and then I then I took a bath in the sea but I stayed there only 5 minutes because the water had only 15°C. The weather is New Zealand was very changeable, it was early spring there. When it was sunny it was possible to wear summer clothes, but when it was cloudy and rainy it was cold. Later we went to another beach in Ruakaka, but the weather wasn't so good anymore so I didn't swim there.

Later we drove to Auckland where we stayed one night with Alex's son. We had tacos for dinner. On Wednesday morning we drove to Waitomo caves. The ticket costed 50 NZD but I had a discount coupon so I paid only 37.5 NZD. My host didn't want to go inside caves because he had claustrophobia. I enjoyed visiting Waitomo caves a lot, we drifted on the boat and the view was spectacular, it looked like a night sky. It wasn't allowed to take the photos inside the cave which is a pity. In the afternoon we went to Tauranga where we spent a night with Alex's sister and her husband. We had chicken and potatoes for dinner. We had to travel very fast because my stay in NZ was short.

My decision to visit New Zealand this year came spontaneously. It all started when an employee of Thai Airways dropped fuel surcharge by mistake, causing the prices of return tickets from Europe decreased so much that it would be impossible for a dedicated traveler not to buy it. I chose a return ticket from Munich to Auckland which costed around 550 Eur. There was also a layover in Bangkok. I started searching hosts in Munich and New Zealand quite a long time before my departure, but due to the fact it was Octoberfest in Munich I had a big problem to find a host there. It wasn't easy to find a host in certain parts of New Zealand as well, I had a luck that my host in Whangarei had many relatives and they could host us.
I bought a bus ticket to Munich and I left Prague on 27th September at 5.15pm. I arrived in Munich around 10pm and my host Chris came to pick me up at the station. We walked in the city center by night and we went to a pub where we people sang traditional songs and we drank pear alcoholic drink. We got home after midnight, it was already quite cold during the night. In the morning my host prepared a breakfast for me, I ate salmon with bread. Then we drove to Nymphenburg which is a Baroque Palace with a beautiful garden. Weather was sunny and warm, it was around 20-25°C.

After visiting the palace we went to the BMW museum and then we walked to the hill where we had a great view on the Olympiapark. Then we took metro to the city center and we walked to a fair. Munich was amazing during Oktoberfest, women wore traditional costumes called dirndl, everything was lively and colorful. I enjoyed my stay there so much that I was really sorry that I couldn't stay longer. We walked to Marienplatz where we were supposed to meet Frank from couchsurfing. We walked around and then we went for dinner, we were searching a restaurant but we couldn't find anything convenient, so finally we had to go to a Chinese restaurant. Frank had to leave soon after dinner and I went for a drink with Chris. We returned home before midnight. In the morning I had a breakfast and then I travelled by S-Bahn to the airport. My flight to Bangkok departed at 2.25pm and we landed in Bangkok around 6am. They gave us food twice during the flight, it wasn't very tasty. I slept only two hours during the flight. I had arranged two meetings in Bangkok with people from facebook group, first one was Jeff who I met for one hour at the airport and we drank tea together in a café. Then I took the train to the Nana station in the Sukhumvit district. I met a girl from Belarus there, her name was Sveta. We walked together to the Terminal 21 shopping mall. Weather was sunny and humid, it was around 28°C. It was rain period there but I was lucky that it didn't rain that day. There was a food court in the Terminal 21 and we went for lunch there. Then we walked in the city for some time but I had to return to the airport because my flight was departing at 6.45pm.



When I got to the airport I was very tired already so I found some chairs where I could lie down for some time. I didn't sleep because I was afraid of missing the flight. When we finally got on the plane I was so tired that I fell asleep already before we took off and I slept around 5 or 6 hours. It was dark on the plane because blinds were closed but one passenger sitting in front of me opened them for a while and I saw red dawn above Australia. There was a 12 year old boy from Zimbabwe sitting next to me and we had a talk, then we were served breakfast but the food was disgusting, it was scrambled eggs with chicken sausage. I ate it anyway because I didn't know when I would have an opportunity to get some food again. We landed in Auckland around noon local time.

I started to plan a travel in June already some months ago, but I thought firstly that I would visit Norway because I really wanted to see the midnight sun. There were cheap flights to Lofoten which is an archipelago behind a polar circle, but I couldn't decide if I should go there and then it was too late. My plan changed when my friend Thomas from Paris proposed to visit Vienna and Bratislava and I agreed because I had never been there before. My trip started on 9th June in the morning when I took a bus to Vienna and I arrived there around noon. I walked to our hotel Mailberger Hof which is a 4* hotel. It took me around one hour to get there, I had a map and it was not difficult to find. Thomas came to Vienna by flight from Paris and he got there later than me, I had to wait for him in front of the hotel. When he came we checked in and we visited the city center. In the evening we went to a restaurant where Thomas ate Wiener schnitzel and I ate a Tartar beef steak.
On Friday morning we had a breakfast in the morning which was very tasty, I liked especially the salmon with dill but I ate also cheese and vegetables. The variety of food was very good. Then we walked along the river in the morning and then we took a tram to the Hundertwasserhaus. Thomas bought a colorful decorated lamp there. Then we went to Belvedere where we admired beautiful gardens. The weather was very sunny and quite warm. When we continued walking to the center we saw people who practiced pool surfing. Thomas wanted to buy Austrian traditional clothing so we went to shops and he bought two jackets, each of them costed around 250 Euro. In the evening we took a ferry from Vienna to Bratislava, it was around one hour ride and it was a breathtaking experience. We saw many fisherman's huts during our journey.

Our hotel in Bratislava was very close to the port. We stayed in the hotel Radisson Blu Carlton which was also a 4* hotel. We stayed there two nights but it was too hot there despite the air conditioning was on so I didn't sleep well. In the evening we crossed a bridge firstly and we found a restaurant next to it, I ate chicken and potatoes there. After the dinner we returned to the city center and we went to visit the Old Town. We ate some cake there. It was rainy on Saturday morning but then it was sunny and we went to explore the Bratislava castle and the Old Town. The Old Town was small but worth visiting.

When we walked in the center we saw that a big storm was coming, the sky suddenly turned dark. We went to the Bistro St. Germain for lunch. Thomas wasn't happy that he had to eat French food while travelling abroad but then he agreed. I ordered 'coq au vin' (chicken on wine) and we also ate baked potatoes. The food was delicious but then we ordered dessert. Thomas had a raspberry cake but I had creme brulee which had some very unpleasant burnt flavour. In the evening we walked in the city and we crossed a good part of it.
Our last day in Bratislava was sunny and warm. We went to eat the Slovak national food 'brydzové halušky' (small dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon). I usually like it very much but it wasn't very good in the restaurant, I would say it was almost mediocre.
In the afternoon I had to return to Prague and the following day I joined teambuilding organized by my company. It was next to a dam Seč and the topic was co-operative farm (the most common form of collectivization during the socialism era). We stayed in a hotel Jezerka with a wellness center. There was a swimming pool with salt water, jacuzzi and also traditional and infrared sauna. I enjoyed it a lot and also the buffet and a disco later.
I have to brieftly mention also my travel to Walldorf but it was a business trip so I won't describe it in detail. We travelled there by car with my colleague to meet our boss there who is based in Barcelona and also our German team. Walldorf is a very small city but we visited also Heidelberg and then also Nuremberg on the way back to Prague. Then I went to Slovakia for one week to visit my grandmother and I visited the Spiš Castle there in the eastern Slovakia. It is a ruin but there is a museum inside and we also saw the show called Castle run. Then we went to sulphur springs.
This year I haven't been travelling much yet but I am going to New Zealand in October for 2 weeks.

After my attempt to settle down in Senegal last year when I had to return to Prague due to my leg injury I  looked for a job from October till December. I went to 30 job interviews and I had no luck with finding a job, but when I was just about to give up my effort and take a chance in another country I was offered a job by a personnal agency in a big German IT company. I accepted the job and I started working at the beginning of January.
Due to my new job I was too busy to travel this year, I went only to Italy for one week and then I was in Bratislava and Vienna. I also travelled to Walldorf on a business trip for 3 days. In this article I am going to describe my trip in Italy. It all started when my friend Kynsley who lives in New Zealand came to Europe in March. Firstly he was in Prague during Easter and then he travelled to other countries in Europe. We planned to meet in Italy in April. I bought a flight ticket for 16th April to Milan where I stayed with Michele from couchsurfing who I had met once in Prague 5 years ago. It took 2 hours to get to his place from the airport. I spent one night at his place, he and his wife cooked dinner for me and we talked about our travels. On Sunday I went to the city with Michele and his friend Maurizio, they showed me around but we didn't have much time because my train to Genoa was leaving at 2pm. It was cold and rainy and we went to eat in McDonald's. My impression was that Milan didn't have many tourist places to visit.
In Genoa I walked to the hotel, it took me around 20 minutes from the train station. We stayed at the Albergo Fiera Mare. We had a private room and the hotel was empty, there were no other guests. The woman who worked there was Polish and she spoke only Italian. I understood her but Kynsley didn't speak Italian. The hotel was shabby and the furniture was old, but it was adequate for the price. Breakfast was also included but it was really poor, we got only one chocolate croissant and espresso. I don't drink coffee so I asked for black tea the other day.
We walked on the beach in the evening and then we went to a Chinese restaurant where we had rice and grilled seafood. On Monday we went to visit the city and we walked to the port. It was a sunny day, the temperature was about 20°C. We ate in the Chinese restaurant again and in the evening we went to an Indian restaurant where I ordered chicken with curry. On Tuesday we took a train to Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre. We were supposed to stay in a hotel Luciano but the guy at the reception desk told us that he had another room for us somewhere else with a private bathroom close to the sea so we took it. The room was well equipped and clean. We went to the sea but we didn't swim there because the water had only around  16°C. I saw people swimming but I didn't feel like it because it was too windy and the air temperature was only slightly above 20°C. We went hiking from Riomaggiore to Manarola. We had wonderful view on the hills and the sea and it was much warmer than below because there was no wind.

 



When we got to Manarola I bought a pancake for dinner. Then we returned to Riomaggiore by train. On Wednesday morning we went to Monterosso by train but there we separated because Kynsley wanted to hike from Monterosso to Vernazza and then to Corniglia. I took a train from Monterosso to Vernazza but I didn't have a valid ticket. I got caught but I escaped. It was like slapstick when I was running like a ferret around the train station and people were laughing and pointing at me. It was quite a shame.
I waited for Kynsley in Vernazza and then we hiked together to Corniglia because I didn't want to take a train again. We met at the port and we took photos there. It was very hot up the mountain. When we got to Riomaggiore we bought fried seafood there.
On Thursday we travelled to Pisa. We stayed in the Academy House Pisa Centrale. It was an appartement with more rooms and the staff wasn't there so we had to wait around half an hour until the girl arrived. She was from Albania and she was very sympathatic. She gave us tips what to visit there and we went to explore the city. Pisa is quite small and we crossed the city center quickly. We went to the Leaning tower and we saw lots of people there taking photos while they 'supported' the tower. We walked to the top, but it was uncomfortable to walk there because the stairs were steep and uneven. The ticket costed 18 Eur per person which was quite a lot but I think it was worth it. There was a stunning view from the top.

After visiting the tower we had dinner in a restaurant in the city center. I ordered spaghetti bolognese. On Friday morning we travelled to Florence by train. We stayed one night in the Bed & Bed Cassia. The room was clean and the staff was friendly. We could also take some food and make tea or coffee whenever we wanted. We had one afternoon to visit the city but it was sufficient, we saw most of the historical places. Florence has wonderful architecture. I had to leave very early on Saturday morning because I had to take a bus to Milan. I ate in a fastfood there at the train station and then I took a bus to the airport. I had a beautiful view on Austrian Alpes with snow. I arrived in Prague in the evening but it was rainy and 8°C here. My trip to Tuscany left good impression and remarkable memories.