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.
 

Finally I decided to quit my job at Axa assistance and I handed in my notice in July. My last shift was the night on September 11th and then I took holidays. I officially left my work at the end of September.
I thought it over for a long time and I wanted to try to settle down in Senegal. I bought a bus ticket to Paris on 14th September and then a one-way ticket to Dakar on 18th September. The weather in Paris was rather cold and rainy. I met some friends there and we went for a drink and dinner. I went to a Korean restaurant at Bastille with one friend. There was a grill on the table and I ate seafood there.
I left Paris on 18th September early in the afternoon. I changed my flight in Madrid. There was a Senegalese guy at the airport who I talked to and I told him about my plans to visit Mbour.
When I arrived in Dakar I immediately noticed that the weather was sultry and very humid. I talked to a guy from Guinea and we waited for our luggage together. There was my friend Jiri who arrived in Dakar at the same time as me but with a different flight. When we took our luggage we went outside and we met Mamadou who I knew from Mauritania. We got in the car, Mamadou proposed to take us to his friend's place at Pikine but I had already arranged a stay with a couchsurfer in Socabeg. It took nearly 2 hours to get there and it was already around midnight when we got there. Socabeg is a remote part of Dakar and my host just moved in with his family. There was no running water in the house and the electricity sometimes didn't work too. On Saturday we went to the Pink Lake and the on Sunday we met Papis and we went to the Ile de Goree. It was my second time in Dakar but this time it was very different from my first trip there. It was rainy season in September and the temperature was between 30 - 35°C but the humidity was almost unbearable. I was bitten by mosquitos thousand times although I slept under a mosquito net.
We were supposed to travel to Saint Louis on Monday. We got up early in the morning and I started packing my suitcase and then I took it to the yard. There was a cesspit in the yard and when I stepped on a wooden cover it broke and I hurt my right leg badly. Jiri and my host dragged me to the clinic nearby where the doctor put anaesthesia and then she had to sew the wound, I had 6 stitches. I couldn't go to Saint Louis with Jiri and he left there with Papis. They visited a couchsurfer who agreed to host them.
I had to stay at my host until Jiri returned. I couldn't rest because my friends made me walk around Dakar, so I was limping in the city all he time. It was very frustrating because I couldn't swim anymore and I couldn't even take a bath because of the wound. I had to go to the surgery every two days to redress the wound. Once I took a ride in the cart pulled by donkey and I was a center of attention.
Jiri returned on Thursday evening and on Friday it was Tabaski which a festival of the sacrifice of the sheep. My host's wife prepared a delicious lunch for us. On Saturday we left with Papis to visit Mbour, Palmarine and Djiffer. We saw mangroves, flock of pelicans and we spent a night with a local family. It was so hot and humid there that I knew for sure that it wouldn't be possible for me to stay in Senegal. I was bitten by mosquitos so many times that I scratched my legs to blood. My mother bought me a flight ticket to Prague for the October 1st.

When we returned from Mbour to Dakar we had a funny experience in a bus. There was a girl around 6 years old who had never seen white people and she was so frightened that she screamed and tried to flee the bus. She looked glum during the journey, she didn't look at us and there were traces of tears on her face.
Jiri left Dakar on Monday. We went to the Monument de la Renaissance and the island Ngor.

I went to the center of Tuesday and Wednesday with Mamadou and Papis. We went to a market where I bought some Senegalese souvenirs and then I went to the Czech consulate to discuss some issues but the charge d'affaires didn't like the idea that I should settle down in Senegal and she advised me to return home by the first plane. The climatic conditions during the rainy season were unbearable for me. If I had found a place to stay with climatisation I would have stayed there longer but I didn't see any other solution as to go home. Also the food there was always the same, I couldn't eat rice and fish or chicken every day. My last day in Dakar we went to the Parc de Hann and then to the market and my flight was in the evening. I was so tired that I slept during all journey, I changed my flight in Brussels and I arrived in Prague around noon.
When I got home I found out that the stitches on my leg were absorbed and the wound opened. I had to be treated at the surgery, I had to go there every 2 days for some weeks. It seems to be healing well but I still can't put it under water.
I registered myself at the Bureau of Labour to be able to get some benefits and I am currently looking for a job. I don't really want to stay in Prague but I haven't figured out yet what else to do. My stay in Senegal was finished with fiasco and I don't know if I recover enough to give it another try. I need to think things over to find a solution.

My first travel this year started on Friday 17th July. I left Prague in the evening and I took a flight to Paris. My friend Thomas came to pick me up at the airport. I had a bad cold and after taking a flight I suffered from a hearing problem for one week. On Saturday we visited the center of Paris and Thomas took me to the place with food stalls at the riverbank where we had dinner. There were different kinds of food from many countries, I saw also Senegalese food there but finally we chose Asian food. The following day we left Paris early in the morning and we travelled to the Mont Saint Michel. It was a long journey and we arrived there around noon. It was a low tide when we got there.

The weather was partly sunny and partly cloudy but not really warm, it was around 20°C that day. We walked up the streets and we visited the abbey. Then we left and we went to the Saint Malo city which is a port with many ancient buildings. Afterwards we had dinner in a restaurant. We ordered oysters and mussels. We returned to Paris late at night. Thomas was free on Monday and he took me to Etretat in Upper Normandy. I had already visited it once in 2012. It was 25°C that day and some people were swimming in the sea. I swam too but I stayed in the water only for a few minutes because of my cold. Then we walked on the shore and on the cliffs, enjoying the wonderful view.

We had dinner in a restaurant nearby and we ate mussels and shrimps. Then we returned to Paris.
Thomas was busy working during the next days so I visited Paris alone and I met some old friends. It was very hot there, some days even 35°C.

I left Paris on Thursday afternoon. I bought a bus ticket to Brussels with Eurolines only for 9 Eur. I visited my Czech friend who works there for an European institution. In the evening we had dinner with her friends in an Indian restaurant. I ate shrimps and rice. My friend has to work on Friday so I visited Brussels alone but I met her for lunch and then I went to Atomium.

Then I returned to the center and I took photos. It was my second time in Brussels. I met Samba from Senegal in the evening who is a musician. We went to a fast food firstly and then we walked to the Brussels beach where we had a drink. Then we went to a bar and I returned to my friend's home late at night.
On Saturday it got much colder. I didn't bring any warm clothes with me so I had to borrow my friend's ones. She took me to an African restaurant Au soleil d'Afrique. We had a delicious food there, I ate rice, chicken and sauce. We visited the city but it was cold and rainy so we returned home and we watched a movie. I returned to Prague on Sunday.

When I got to the bus station in Kyoto it was very cold, it felt like 5°C. I wrapped myself in a blanket. Our bus was leaving at 10pm. I was travelling with the company Willerexpress and the ticket costed 4650 yen. The journey was comfortable but it was hot inside the bus. I managed to sleep some hours. We got to the Ikebukuro sunshine bus terminal at 7.45am. We had breakfast in a local restaurant, where we ordered noodles sup with egg and spinach and pieces of fried cheese. Then we went to my host's place in Asakusa to put my suitcase. The weather was sunny and warmer than in Kyoto, it was around 18°C. My host bought sweets that were made of red beans and we sat close to the temple and ate them. Afterwards my host took me to the Ueno park with a totem pole and a horse statue. We visited a buddhist cemetary and a street called Rue des arts. My host wanted to show me a modern place in Tokyo and he took me to the Shinjuku station, but we didn't see anything interesting there.
In the afternoon we went to the Hamarikyu gardens which is an amazing place with a pond and a teahouse.

We returned to my host's place in the evening. I was very tired and I slept around one hour before we went to have dinner in a restaurant. The table had a hotplate and my host prepared a traditional food monjayaki and okonomiyaki. Monjayaki is a pan-fried batter with various ingredients. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savoury pancake. 

I had to go to the Haneda airport after dinner because my flight was departing shortly after midnight. The flight was good, I had a conversation with a Japanese guy sitting next to me and I watched a movie called Her, which I found quite boring and I fell asleep while watching it. We got to Paris around 6am and it was still dark outside. My friend Thomas who hosted me in Paris in April 2012 picked me up at the airport and he took me by car to visit Paris. We stopped at Champs Élysées firstly where we could see Christmas decorations and then we went to my friend's flat to rest for a while. After the sunrise we went to the Notre Dame. It was my first time to visit Paris in autumn because I always used to go there in spring or summer. I didn't have any warm clothes so I had to borrow my host's jacket.

We walked for some time in the center of Paris and then we had a breakfast in the Cafe St. Regis. We ate soft-boiled eggs with bread and an omelette with vegetables. After breakfast we went to the Sacré Coeur and then to the airport.  

I got to Prague in the afternoon around 3 pm on 22nd November 2014. I was tired after a hectic trip but it was a very exciting experience.

I went to meet a couchsurfer in Uji on Tuesday 18th November. I spent more than one hour travelling by train. It was a sunny day and I had to wait at the train station until the couchsurfer came. He was around 56 years old, he was riding a bike and I had to walk next to him. After 15 minutes walking we got to his flat, which was quite messy. I drank one tea and I left because I wanted to visit Kyoto. I hitchhiked to the train station where I ate sushi and I got a map of Kyoto. It was already late afternoon and it was getting dark so I had to hitchhike back to Kayashima. When I got there I went to a local shop with food, I ate soup with noodles, egg and some kind of jelly made from a special kind of potato. Then I went to my host and he also cooked soup with noodles, so we had dinner together and we talked about living in Japan.
The following day I moved to another host in Kyoto. He was 22 years old student and he lived in the center of the town. I met him at noon and we went to his home to put a suitcase. He had to work in the afternoon so I went to visit Kyoto by myself. The daily bus pass costed 500 yen. I saw many people wearing kimono in Kyoto, not only women but also men. Firstly I went to Tofukuji which is a buddhist temple and then I walked to Heian shrine which was nearby.

Then I took a bus to the buddhist temple Kiyomizu dera. I met a Japanese couple there and we walked up the hill together and we took many photos. We saw a geisha on our way. It was the only geisha I met in Japan.

The path was surrounded by many shops with traditional Japanese sweets, there was free tasting so I ate quite a lot of them and also I drank free green tea. We got on the top of the hill when it was almost sunset, there were many people taking photos and admiring red leaves. There was also some fortune-telling, my Japanese friends tried it. Then they went to a Silver pavilion and I went to a Toji temple. It was already dark when I got there, I took some photos and then I had to take a bus to the train station where I also took photos of the Kyoto tower. When I got to my host we went to have dinner in a local restaurant, I had to borrow his clothes because it was very cold. I had miso soup, rice, fried chicken and vegetables and it costed around 800 yen. I put soya sauce on the rice but my friend told me not to do that because only homeless people in Japan used to do that. We had a conversation about Japan, my friend told me it was a westernized country nowadays. He said that it was rude to leave a tip in a restaurant in Japan because people are paid for their job and they considered it offensive if somebody gave them money. When we got to his home we drank some alcohol with little pieces of gold and then we drank also plum liquor. My friend had a typical Japanese heating called kotatsu which is a wooden table covered by a blanket. When I went to sleep I was so cold that I had to sleep under the heating.
The following day I went to the Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine. I walked on the top and I took many photos there.

Afterwards I went to the Hongan-ji temple. Then I took a bus to Arashiyama where I went to a bamboo forest firstly. I met Japanese girls there dressed in beautiful kimonos and I asked them to take photos with me.

There were also many shops with free tasting sweets in Arashiyama. I went to visit the Tenryu-ji temple and then also the Daikaku-ji temple. Then I took a bus to my host and we went to have dinner in a restaurant. I had fried oysters with rice and it costed around 900 yen. Then I had to go to a train station to catch my bus to Tokyo.