travelling | Irina Bernebring Journiette

2013/12/16

131216 — One week in Bangkok.

Snow was traded for humidity as I descended upon a city in turmoil. Warnings echoed as I settled in a small house next to the protesters. In the morning, as I walk for work past the army headquarters to the UN building 500 meters away, the protesters and I have formed our own little ritual. I smile and they smile and perhaps we are all safe. At night their chanting morph into singing. I listen to the sound of their political devotion and let it guide me in my sleep.

2013/01/08

130108–Good Morning and Good Bye.

It’s departure time. I’ve just finished packing all my bags, hoping I have everything and now it’s time to leave. It feels strange, exciting and somewhat scary. Loulou called me yesterday, just returned from Tanzania and had some scary stories to tell. The gist of her stories were simple: “Don’t get kidnapped”–I will do my best.

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2011/11/27

111127 — Goodmorning Dubai!

So. This is were I woke up this morning.

Yup. I’m in Dubai. Pretty awesome actually. My mother managed to make it a secret until we were in the air. (I looked like a freak at the airport constantly covering my ears, singing and only faceing the ground. At one point security actually even approached mom and asked her if “I had a problem” or if there was “something wrong with me.” She did her best to explain but he just shook his head in disbelief and settled with me just being crazy and not a security risk. The entire thing–travelling without knowing where you are going is quite epic and highly confusing. When I saw the aircraft, we were flying Swiss, and it was a jumbojet (I later learned that it was heading to Zurich eventually) I thought that mom had gone mental and that we were heading to Colombo or some other quite distant place. But no, up in the air we got complimentary birthday champagne and the destination was revealed. About 40 min later we touched ground. Spent an hour or two working our way through the rigorous airport controls, hailed a lady cab and headed over towards our hotel (which also remained a secret until we landed) the Atlantis Palm Beach.

It’s the one in the middle, right by the beach. Oh yeah. Here’s a water park and an aquarium. And they have tame sharks to swim with. Life’s pretty awesome at the moment.

2011/11/26

111126 — “Ohh man, we’re in Oman”

Tomorrow is my birthday and me and my beautiful mom are sitting at our B&B by the beach in Muscat, Oman. The surprise-trip I got as my present. So far this trip has been nothing but relaxing. We’ve hung out at the beach, snuk into the luxury hotel next to us, indulged in arabian food, strolled around in the old souks. But. Today, all of that is going to change. Today the adventure part of this trip begins. One part of the trip, the four day tour starting Thursday, that we have hired a 4×4 and driver for, that goes into the desert and up into the mountains, camping beneth the stars and exploring the old Oman, I was a part in planning.

The other part on the other hand that apperantly starts in about nine hours I did not have a clue about until this morning when my mom accidentally slipped before biting down on her lip: “I don’t know if I will need to check this bag,” she said before turning and looking at me, joyful panic in her eyes. Did I hear that? Yes. What does that mean? No idea. Well. Now I needed to pack too I guessed. She lauged. “Well, that you needed to know eventually,” she said. “Your passport,” she added. Sure. I already got it. Then, from her side, another slip. “I hope we can re-enter with the same Visa.” She bit down again. Did I hear that? I pretented not to. We are going on a plane apperantly. Where? No idea. Somewhere outside Oman. She’s still keeping the secret. And here I thought the surprise was the trip to Oman. No, now there is a surprise in the surprise. My mom is going Inception on me. I can’t wait to see where I wake up tomorrow.

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