To rent or to buy?

Since I moved to Belgium in 2001, first as a student in a residence, then working here, I always rented. I shied away from buying, for several reasons: the thought of chaining me to a bank for decades, the thought of signing a contract, in legalistic, financial lawyer’s French I would not understand (I hardly understand […] Read More

Rue de Londres

With only a bit over seven weeks left on this trip, before I’ll board flight LH511 from Buenos Aires to Frankfurt, it is high time to start thinking about practicalities of return. I’ll land in Brussels on March 23rd in the afternoon. Where do I go, where do I sleep the first few weeks….? I […] Read More

Collingwood

The plane ride was smooth, bus and taxi in Melbourne, too, and so I arrived in my new home in Collingwood, at the border to Fitzroy and in walking distance of all my favorite spots, Sircuit, The Peel, Wet… Lisa and Sara greeted me, and so did Action, their cute doggie, jumping up and down […] Read More

Bellas Artes residence

I finally completed the last missing booking on this crazy trip. I booked my room in Santiago in February. This time, I’ll stay in the beautiful and vibrant Bellas Artes barrio, a place where I have spent a lot of time on the last visit. My old place in Providencia, with the amazing view and […] Read More

Back to SERENA

One of the last bookings for this trip: I booked my place for the last two weeks in Buenos Aires. I’ll be back at exactly my old place in Recoleta, in Arenales/Callao, my lovely SERENA Apartment with the balcony and roof top pool. It was perfect last time, with the pool nearby, the main bus lines, […] Read More

Cape Town Boys vs. West End Girls

Aaaaand…. here we go, Sven has arrived and I have moved into total luxury. A nice 2 bedroom apartment in Tamboerskloof, a fancy Cape Town neighborhood at the foot of the Lion’s Head, including a balcony with a view over town. It’s something I could NEVER afford on my by now dwindling budget.   We first went […] Read More

Meet the cockroach…

Cockroaches can be found all over the world, and I have met my fair share of them on this trip.  They love to live in hot climate (and I’m traveling through summer) and find tons to eat in our trash. You can’t really get rid of them. Cynics say that the only surviving beings after a […] Read More

Melbourne (the return)

Few places have made a bigger impact on me than Melbourne, if any. I was drawn to this city long before I actually set foot in it, not knowing where that came from. Maybe stories from friends, articles I had read and forgotten about but had anchored the city in my subconscious mind. So when […] Read More

Cape Town Jackpot

I realized it the moment I stepped off the airplane and onto the tarmac. The smell: Despite the engines just being turned off, I didn’t smell the expected kerosene…. it was fresh, clean, salty ocean air. No dust. Blue skies. No dust. Bright sunshine, blinding. I hopped in a taxi and the driver got me to […] Read More

My Bangkok home

As I had to make a stop in Bangkok anyway on the way to Mumbai, I added a few days to the trip. I’ll have 7 days in Thailands capital. I was looking for a hotel to stay, and got in touch with my friend and former colleague Daria. We worked together for the Press […] Read More

My new place in HK

Coming back from Macau yesterday, I also had to check in into a new airbnb place, this time a bit higher up on the hill, but still in the same area. Henri’s friend Ivy greeted me downstairs, all sweaty after pulling up my damn heavy luggage for a couple of blocks. I found a great […] Read More