Arriving home.| niqwithq.com
"It can be done", I was convinced. "If only I went eastward as far as east takes me", I thought. "All the way around the world - and eventually return from the west." "How cool would that be?" An idea I was only 24 years old when I had this idea the first time. Having spent a four-month term abroad in Northern Finland, I had acquired a taste in travelling. On top of that, I was newly in love. You know what that means: Everything was possible! But then, life got in the way. I was young. Maybe ...| niqwithq
As a working citizen in Austria, you can be so lucky. Every 4 years, you get the opportunity to take up to 1 year off work to educate yourself. The idea is to learn new skills that could help you in your career. If your employer agrees, you can go on educational leave. All sponsored by the state! Since regulations have been quite lax so far, many people decide to spend the time travelling, while educating themselves in a not-so-demanding way. In my case, I'm learning Spanish. I'm attending an...| niqwithq
There's nothing out of the ordinary about my Tuesdays. Usually, they are just ordinary 24-hour-long Tuesdays. But there was something different about this particular Tuesday. It's the fact that it lasted 32 hours and 20 minutes. What on earth happened? The time machine Imagine a traveller. The traveller is on a very special mission on September 3 of 2024. At the first glance, nothing seems special about his mission: he wants to travel to San Francisco. He's a traveller after all. What's so sp...| niqwithq
Even with all the navigation assistance imaginable, the real challenge of driving a scooter in Taiwan is the left turn. In Taiwan, motorbikes with engine power less than 125ccm, are only allowed to go in the first two rightmost lanes. Driving on the right side of the road, in bigger cities, including the capital Taipei, where 3 to 4 lane roads are quite common, this restriction complicates your ability to make a left turn. Theoretically, it's not allowed. But there is a hidden design in Taiwa...| niqwithq
Two months ago, I found myself in a typical Hong Kong-style café that offered one signature dish of the Cantonese cuisine that I just had to try. The pineapple bun. Disclaimer: This post is not about the "web3". The title is a stupid coincidence. It's the third part of a series called Labelling the Web. Technically, there is no web3 anyways, there is only one web, and it definitely needs better labelling! The pineapple bun Don't get your hope's up just yet. There's actually no pineapple insi...| niqwithq
I'm wide awake. Travelling can be exhausting. But two months of resting in the Philippines allowed me to recharge my batteries. I'm rested. Ready to travel again. I had doubts about this idea for a while: The idea of a literal trip around the world. The idea of literally circumnavigating Earth. Start in the middle of Europe. Head east. To Greece, then Singapore, then Oceania. Travel through Southeast Asia, then East Asia. Head further east. Over the Pacific Ocean. Cross the International Date...| niqwithq
Driving a scooter in Vietnam without using Maps.| niqwithq.com
In the upcoming weeks, I'll take a year off and travel around the world. Naturally, I will blog about this epic adventure. But not on niqwithq.com. And here's why. Writing in German When I decided to document my trip in blog form, I thought of a selected group of people that would be happy to become my readers. I call this group friends & family, with a focus on my family (hi mom). That's when I wanted to try something new and write in my first language, which is German. German doesn't go wel...| niqwithq
It's easy to forget how much happens in your life if you don't look back from time to time. I usually browse through my photo gallery, when I reflect on my past year. This year, I also reflected on the music I've been listening to. As an avid last.fm user, I can time travel to any period of my life and check out long forgotten favorites from my music library. When I reflected on 2023, I created a Spotify playlist of my favorite music for every month of the year. January I celebrated New Year'...| niqwithq