Our Very First Trips
Europe, India and SEA, 2004-01-01 12:00 by Laerke
Our first big trip together was in the summer of 2002, we were 20 and 18 and Martin had only had his license for one year– still his mom let us take her car on a one month trip through Europe. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing or where we were going. And that was the summer that half of Europe flooded. However all went well, we had an atlas and a tent with us and we stayed just ahead of the floods without even knowing about them – and we explored Berlin, admired Rothenburg’s charm, paddled a swan boat in Prague, saw the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam and swan at Cote De Azure in France, two of my personal highlight were walking in Monet’s garden and seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre – oh and our horseback riding trip in the Camargue was pretty fantastic too. A very special trip :)


The car that made it all happen




We were young and in love – luckily we are still both!!

In 2003 my feet were itching – I wanted something to happen, I wanted to see the world. Martin was busy at University but very supportive of me wanting to travel and so I set off on my own – to India!! I wasn’t really alone though, I went with an organization to do volunteer work teaching English in a tiny town in Rajasthan. This was my first time backpacking and I had packed sooooo much stuff, my backpack was incredibly heavy! I definitely learned a lesson there.


Besides teaching, we also did quite a bit of exploring: We rafted down the Ganges – very cool experience! Beautiful scenery, lots of sunshine and this being India – we also saw a dead body floating in the water, plus a few skulls on the banks here and there...


We rode elephants and explored the many forts and castles of Rajasthan – and I even got to dress up as an Indian princess for a lesson in Rajasthani dance. We also did a homestay with a lovely Indian family.


The kids we were teaching were great, some naughty – some nice :) And it was quite the experience to be living in the desert in Rajasthan.


I was enchanted by it all – from the holy men in Jaisalmer to the fantastic beaches of Goa where everything was so laid-back, and it seemed from top to bottom young people from around the globe were chilling, enjoying life and smoking weed. This was my very first taste of the backpacker life.


I fell head over heels in love with India! When I, after 3 mind-blowing moths, left I felt like also left a little piece of myself there, and there was no question about it – I had to return, the pull was so strong. I remember at home seeing a scene from India on TV, a busy street filled with cars, rickshaws and cows and the sound of honking horns – and I felt it physically in my stomach, it tightened with the memory of it all and an acute longing. Luckily, I persuaded Martin that we were going travelling, and already a year later we left on a 6 month trip through India and Southeast Asia.


Our 2005 “big trip” as we called it (now we call it “the first big trip”) happened right after the boxing day tsunami that wreaked havoc on much of Southeast Asia and India, and we did see some of the after-math of this. Most notably in the Southwest of India were we together with an Australian girl got a ton of rice together that we drove out into what was once a fishing village by the sea. After the tsunami it was merely a barren field with many, many rudimentary tents erected. All of the houses, boats and nets had been taken by the waves; the only thing standing was a tiny temple. This was built of bricks and maybe that is why it survived, it now acted as the food chambers. When we got there with all our rice the only thing in the temple was a bunch of coconuts.


Here is some of the rice, but there were so many people! There was no way our ton was going to feed all of them for very long. The most amazing aspect of that day was that here we were - wanting to do a little bit for them, and then they ended up doing a lot for us. We were given soft drinks, and the women put bindis on our foreheads, flowers in our hair and they even lent us some of their jewelry – so we could look pretty for the mini fest we suddenly found ourselves in. There were people everywhere and suddenly one guy was dancing on the table, it was uplifting to see that these people were still smiling – and even dancing. I hope that with that attitude and their kind hearts they pulled through this tough period.


We weren’t blogging back then but more photos from our 6 months jaunt through Southern India, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia can be found here: Southeast Asia.

2008-06-20 10:31 by Martin
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2009-12-09 08:58 by Martin
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2009-12-21 18:51 by ML
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