My best (press) trip:

Again and Again: Road To Mandalay in Burma. This beautiful and grand river Irrawaddy, the rural people living on the shores, the temples and pagodas of Bagan, the smile of the Burmese, our wonderful tour guide Mimi, who never gets tired explaining the history of the Burmese kings, our energetic doctor Hla Thun who for so many years has supported the poorest of the Burmese people with medicine and life saving treatments. It is a land of dramatic contrasts, for me it still remains a place of yearning I want to go back to again and again….

My most favourite souvenir:

Kitchen Magnets – the whole world on the door of my fridge!

Lessons Learnt:

To appreciate and understand foreign cultures I learnt to do away with my German ideas of how the world should be! It clouds the mind if you filter everything – sometimes unconsciously - through a set of pre-defined expectations. Of course, this is also true the other way round. I have stopped looking at Germany against the backdrop of sunshine reggae and blue horizons - and find it truly beautiful.

The Destination of my dreams:

It is a journey rather than a destination I dream of: an Atlantic crossing from Rotterdam to New York.