A Brief Guide to Couchsurfing Camps
May 19, 2018 by Floh
For approximately fifteen years now hospitality networks such as Hospitality Club and Couchsurfing have been spreading through the online world. The paramount goal of these networks has been to bring people together. Offering strangers a place to sleep is still the main way to achieve this goal. Hosting and "surfing couches" is what these networks are best known for throughout the world. However, this is not everything: over the last years it has been possible to observe the establishment of a network within the networks: Couchsurfing Camps... [Read more..]
Monkey Diary: Holidays in Thailand
Mar 27, 2018 by Bimbino
Thailand was the first stop for the monkeys on their journey through South-East Asia. Landing in its Capital Bangkok, Bimbino and Bambina didn't spend much time there, but quickly proceeded to the country's tropical islands. After staying for one week on the busy Koh Chang, they proceeded to the much calmer and smaller Koh Mak. A place the monkeys could…
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Monkey Diary: A Day in Dubai
Mar 07, 2018 by Floh
On their way to Thailand, Bimbino and Bambina had an 18 hours overlay in Dubai. Fortunately, the time they had in the city fell in the day and evening hours. Probably it would have been better to rest after a short night on a plane with only three hours of sleep, but the monkeys couldn't resist the temptation to visit this city beyond their imagination.
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The Forgotten City of Cahokia: America's Best Kept Secret
Feb 26, 2018 by Floh
What if everything you have learned in history classes was untrue?
It is widely known that the territory of the United States of America had only sparsely been populated by nomads, when the first Europeans settlers arrived on the Mayflower at Cape Cod in 1620. Cities where unknown to these lands as were advanced civilisations.
What…
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Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt - Erste Impressionen
Feb 20, 2018 by Inga
Kannst du dir vorstellen, eine Zeit lang in Saigon zu wohnen? Es gibt so viel frisches Obst. Jeden Tag eine Kokusnuss zu trinken kann schnell zu einer täglichen Routine werden. In Saigon braucht man keinen Pullower. Man kann das ganze Jahr lang mit kurzer Hosen und T-Shirt rumlaufen. Eine Wohnung zu mieten ist billig. man kann mit dem Moped herumfahren und auf jedem Bürgersteig parken. Und der nächste Strand ist nur eine zweistündige Fahrt mit dem Boot oder dem Bus entfernt. Lust bekommen?.. [Read more..]
Хошимин - первые впечатления
Feb 20, 2018 by Inga
А вы хотели бы пожить в Хошимине хотя бы месяц? Тут много свежих фруктов, можно пить кокосы каждый день. Тут не нужна толстовка и можно круглый год гулять в шортах и футболке. Тут можно ездить на мопеде и парковать его на тротуарах. Тут дешевое жилье. До ближайшего пляжа - всего два часа на скоростном катере или на машине/автобусе/мопеде. Заманчиво?.. [Read more..]
Ho Chi Minh City - First Impressions
Feb 20, 2018 by Inga
Fancy living in Ho Chi Ming City for some time? There are so many fresh fruits. Drinking a coconut every day can easily become a healthy routine. Here you don't need a sweatshirt. You can walk around wearing T-shits and shorts all year long. Renting an apartment is cheap. You can drive around with a moped and park it on any sidewalk. The closest beach is just two hours away, reachable by road and water. Feeling tempted?.. [Read more..]
Monkey Diary: Capital Hopping
Feb 07, 2018 by Bimbino
For the 9th of January 2018, Bimbino and Bambina had bought plane tickets to South-East Asia. They had found return tickets for € 360 leaving from Praha (Prague). As the monkeys were in Brno and had five days left until their departure, they took the opportunity to visit the close by cities of Wien (Vienna) and Bratislava before returning to the Czech…
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What Does it Take to Organise Wintercamp?
Feb 05, 2018 by Floh
Who Choses Where the Next Wintercamp Will take Place?
As Wintercamp is not centrally organised, it is necessary to find a new host city every year. Such a city is not simply elected, as in the awarding of the Olympic Games. It requires a group of dedicated volunteers who are willing to to organise the next event. Only if such people…
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The Story of Wintercamps
Feb 05, 2018 by Inga and Floh
What is Wintercamp?
Wintercamp is the annual week-long New Year's Eve Party of the
Couchsurfing…
Monkey Diary: New Year's Week in Moravia
Jan 31, 2018 by Floh
Like nearly every year, Bimbino and Bambina had to decided to celebrate the beginning of the new year with friends from all over the world at WinterCamp. WinterCamp is the annual week-long New Year's Eve Party of the
Couchsurfing Camps community in Europe.…
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My Favourite Websites for Travel Statistics and Visualisation
Jan 29, 2018 by Floh
As a German I have an innate affinity for statistics, especially when it comes to travelling. As a passionate lover of maps I like to visualise the roads I have travelled and the places I have been to. I like to be able to see statistics on how many kilometres I have travelled, by plane, by boat, or by hitchhiking. To create a personalised…
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A Fresh Start
Jan 24, 2018 by Inga and Floh
Four years ago, we started writing this blog. First on blogger.com and later on our self-created website.
While we were very enthusiastic about the whole idea of sharing our experiences with the world, our concept quickly started to fail, as we wanted to tell too many stories. Good stories, however, need time. And there was the problem: as we were always on the road, we constantly…
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Cologne Street Carnival: the Best Time to Visit Cologne or the Best Time to Leave the City?..
Mar 02, 2017 by Bimbino
During carnival Cologne changes completely. You look strange when you go out of the house in normal clothes. You feel strange if you don't drink enough Kölsch. Cologne people are crazy about carnival, for many it is the most important time of the year, for some however it is the time to leave the city.... [Read more..]
Chicago: A Walk Around the Downtown
Apr 22, 2016 by Bimbino
During the Easter holidays the Travelling Monkeys went for a trip to the USA. Their first stop was Chicago. For Bambina it was her first time visiting the country of skyscrapers. Chicago was the perfect city to get the first glimpse of impressive buildings aiming to touch the clouds... [Read more..]
Vegetarian Quiche from Ivonna
Sep 01, 2015 by Bimbino
The travelling monkeys met Ivonna a few months ago in Cologne on a Couchsurfing weekly meeting. She moved out of Cologne, but today she visited the monkeys and shared an amazing quiche recipe with them. They had a lot of fun cooking together!.. [Read more..]
The Border Between Europe and Asia: Just an Imaginary Line
Aug 14, 2015 by Bimbino
There are different concepts in the world on how many continents exist. Some of these concepts have a rather geographical or geological background, others go back to views that are based on politics. Whether we speak of Europe and Asia, or only of one super-continent depends highly on what we were taught in school.
When the Travelling Monkeys visited Ekaterinburg they wanted to check out if they could really tell the border between Europe and Asia. What they found was nothing else than a big joke... [Read more..]
1996: Riding a Slow Train Through Siberia
Aug 14, 2015 by Bimbino
There are many trains running on the Tranns-Siberian Railway every day. Most of these trains travel fast and for long distances. Others go slowly and connect neighbouring cities. So far, the Travelling Monkeys only got to know fast trains. To experience something different, they decided to board an Elektrichka: 350 kilometers by slow train through Siberia, including a stop over in the middle of nowhere... [Read more..]
Ekaterinburg: More Motley Than Expected
Aug 13, 2015 by Bimbino
If you consider Siberian cities to be grey and boring you haven't been to Ekaterinburg yet.
Ekaterinburg is a city with a colorful culture and an interesting mix of architecture.
Follow the Travelling Monkeys on a sightseeing tour past an over-sized keyboard, a monument to 'The Beatles', and an unfinished TV tower... [Read more..]
100 Photos of Kazan
Aug 12, 2015 by Bimbino
Despite being among the 25 biggest cities in Europe, Kazan is relatively unknown to most travellers. This has to change! Kazan is an amazing city and it definitely deserves bigger attention. In 100 photos The Travelling Monkeys will show you what they found beautiful, amazing, surprising, interesting, touching, but also disappointing about Kazan... [Read more..]
What To Do In Moscow? (if you have just a 5 hours stopover)
Aug 10, 2015 by Bimbino
Moscow is huge! So is it even worth it to leave the train station (or the airport) just for few hours? It definitely is. The best thing to do is visiting the very centre of the city: the Red Square. It is the best place to take pictures of other people walking around and taking pictures of each other and themselves..... [Read more..]
