After having spent our holidays in a quite classic way during the last years – arrival by airplane and staying in a hotel afterwards - this year we have something more unusual coming up. A one-week road trip with the motorhome, presumably through Germany. The word „unusual“ is probably not entirely appropriate, because apparently travelling with the motorhome has been coming back in fashion for a few years now.

We’ll start in May with a rented Eura Mobil. This thing is 7 meters long, has a small bathroom, kitchen, the usual sitting area ("half dinette") with a table and a double bed in the rear. Our destination is the Baltic Sea, but depending on your mood we may change our route spontaneously. Also, a week isn't much time if you want to take a few stopovers with you.

The plan is to have no plan. So we’ll just drive off, equipped with a pitch guide, navigation system and of course food supplies and other necessary stuff. But we have deliberately not made any campground reservations and only want to stay overnight on pitches or standing free. We’ll see if this works. The first challenge will be to find a parking place near our home in Stuttgart to load our stuff into the car. Stuttgart is not exactly known for its plenty of parking spaces.

So it will definitely be a thrill, and that's what makes it so appealing. I think with such a holiday you definitely have enough other things in your head to forget about work and everyday life.

When the time comes, I will report back.

I wish you all a happy New Year 2010! Admittedly with some delay, but I had to recover from the new years party and the related stresses and strains.

This year, we (my girlfriend and me) went to Berlin - to visit a good friend who lives there. And who provided us with a place to stay at.

The journey to Berlin by car on the 30th was relatively nasty because it was raining all along and we had poor visibility. About 80 km outside of Berlin it began to snow …

For one week I enjoyed the good weather together with my girlfriend in Seville and Cádiz. Even though the heat in Seville with over 42°C during the day was hardly bearable anymore. The people of southern Spain seem to have a tendency to operate all air conditioning systems at maximum power. That means that you wait at over 40°C at the train station, get on the train in which it feels like 10°C, to be be struck by a heat wave a little later at another station when getting off. And then you enter a restaurant and almost freeze to death.

Otherwise the holiday was great and very relaxing.Seville is a very pretty city, with many sights and a good nightlife. I especially liked Calle Betis with its many bars and clubs. Furthermore, the little street is located directly at the Guadalquivir, where you can sit comfortably in the evening and enjoy the view.

Cádiz is rather a typical tourist place, which has not too much to offer except the sea at the front door. The beach is relatively stony, so you have to be careful not to bend your knees when swimming.

Recommended is the Torre Tavira, which contains a Camera Obscura. During a 15-minute demonstration you can see all other important sights of the city. These can then be visited comfortably by foot. A stay of two to three days is sufficient for this. If you are good on foot you can probably walk through the whole city several times in that time.