1.    its good to travel once in a while without children to rejuvenate a couple’s relationship. What was scary in the beginning (what would we be talking about, if our kids were not around?) turned indeed out to be closing the ever increasing gap between us that was actually only bridged by our offspring lately. Time spent together. Some fighting, but more caressing and getting closer to each other again. Daily obligations when caught up in the routine of work and family life can at times turn into an inescapable treadmill. Thus, our new mid year plan: travel once a year as a couple without children.

2.     Spain, in particular Andalusia, is a great place to spend your holidays: fiesta, flamenco, siesta, sangria, tapas, tinto, playa, prado, etc. We will come again. Spain is a difficult place to live: wealth concentration in the hands of a few, abundant cronyism, vast inequalities of access to health care, education and in particular to the labor market. We don’t plan to move to Spain.

3.    We were lucky to witness an ecstatic football victory celebration, a Corpus Christi parade in Cordoba, and La Saca de las Yuegas (the take out of the mares) in Huelva without having planned any of it. But such festivals contribute a great deal to an enjoyable and memorable holiday. Therefore we will plan all future holidays around local festivities. Pamplona next July might be a good reason to come again.  

4.     The Spanish railway network is great, although it is recommended to always choose AVE trains over all other train classes. Only AVE trains are new or kept in good shape. Moreover, book RENFE tickets in advance online, if you don’t want to pay twice as much at the counter.

5.     Accommodation appeared to be really affordable and mostly great value. Preciously decorated double-rooms including a hearty breakfast for EUR 60 are not easy to find in other countries we have been traveling to.

6.     Spaniards are probably the best-dressed people on Earth. Climate, a beautiful mixture of natural colors wherever you turn your head to and the Islamic-Roman heritages explain this easily. No surprise that many successful fashion brands like Mango, Zara, Massimo Dutti, etc. have their HQ in Spain. In an aesthetic crisis it is recommended to spend some time on the Iberian Peninsula, even more so if the decoration of your new home is on your mind.  Students of architecture, design and other creative industries might well spend a semester or two at Sevilla’s university of bellas artes.

7.    Whether in Madrid or in Sevilla, it’s quite obvious that all that splendor and grandeur is proof of a nation that once ruled the world as an empire. An empire that has been in decline since some time. Quite on the contrary to the Germanic nations, Spain has turned into an entry economy for Asian manufacturers. Tata and Mahindra, never ever seen on Germanic roads, seem to fulfill on Spanish roads EU exhaust and safety standards.  Tata Hispanic produces passenger buses in Spain that are used e.g. by Madrid’s public transport provider. Spain will be most likely also the entry market for Chinese automobiles to Western Europe.

8.    I was told before this journey to Spain that almost all of Madrid’s convenience stores are now operated and mostly also owned by Chinese. Even many traditional Spanish restaurants have been taken over by Chinese without the customer taking notice of it. Behold! this does either not speak for the Spanish gourmet or it speaks for the culinary competences of Chinese restaurateurs. After stops in Madrid, Valencia, Cordoba and Sevilla I can now confirm that at least in regard to convenience stores this is true. The amount of Chinese immigrants is considerable and the EU is advised to enact similar regulations on immigration as China does. Whereas China grants residence only to highly skilled foreigners, the most unskilled Chinese are washed upon the shores of Europe.

9.     What has started in France with Chinese investors buying up Merlot and Bordeaux and Burgundy wineries, will continue in other parts of Europe. I already see my beloved Rioja being sold out to Asian entrepreneurs only to export the produce to Asia where profits for average grape juice are multiple of those in the Western world. The EU states are advised to enact legislation that thoroughly screens the funds of investors and limits real estate purchase to non EU citizens to JVs, in which the majority of stakes remains with a local owner.

10. Culture and history combined with nature and great food is so much better than lazy beach holidays. The excavations of Italica close to Sevilla confirmed my intention to propagandize the thousand-year-old cultural tradition of Europe. I am so sick of Chinese media and brainwashed individuals telling me of their [non-existent] continuous 5000 year history. What is continuous? What is culture? What is history? Its high time for Europe maybe even for the entire Western world (compare Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations) to develop a unanimous understanding of our common roots. China is great and I love many of its cultural aspects, but lately Confucianist propaganda is just giving me the creeps. And I mean it: Europeans have a grand Greek, Roman and Islamic heritage; the latter by some of our politicians purposely forgotten. Another plan thus: travel to places that tell important history like Rome, Sicily, Athens, Jerusalem, etc.

11.  When we bought our tickets to Italica, a top notch archeological site at the same level as Xian’s terracotta army (tickets sell there for EUR 25), we were about to be charged EUR 1.50 for the entry ticket, but since we both have a EU residence permit, we got in for free. There are many other such examples where it just feels like Europe gives away its treasures for free whereas China rips tourists (domestic and international ones) off.  The Madrid based world tourism agency reported that Chinese tourists ranked #1 in international tourism spending in 2013. Considering the size of the Chinese population this is rather not surprising. There will be an increase of 7 million Chinese tourists to the EU in 2014 compared to 2013. The EU member states are well advised to cash in on this trend. An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth.

12. But how do ideal holidays – putting aside my ruminations on orient and occident  - really look like? There are a few aspects that seem to be key ingredients for a memorable and enjoyable vacation.

a.     Share your travel experience: never travel alone unless you need to work out something very personal. Only a shared experience remains a good experience.

b.     Chose a destination in which food you are interested. The value of great food is much too underrated. I don’t understand why Germans and Chinese continue to eat their home cuisine when abroad.

c.      Chose a regional festival for your travel date. Festivals and holidays are windows in the lives of people where they let themselves go or open up some other insight into their lives. This makes a stay in their world much more interesting than any other time of the year.

d.     Travel to fill your intellectual well with something new or forgotten about God’s creation, e.g. how the Roman Empire extended its reaches to the Iberian Peninsula or how the Islamic world influenced Europe for several hundred’s of years.

e.     Combine language training with something applied, in particular for your children who suck up language certainly faster than you, but even more so, if they are immersed into some three-dimensional, captivating activity e.g. four weeks horse back riding camp in Huelva or two week sailing course in Valencia.

f.      Make a clear plan of how many days to spend where, but then allow for some spontaneity and divine guidance to have a smooth experience. Otherwise you are either completely without any clue [only works if you have infinite time available] or you miss the great moments which even a great planner can not foresee. Listen to Arthur Eisenhower: Every time that I prepared for a battle I have found plans are useless; but planning is indispensable.

Pictures of this journey are posted under TRAVELS.

The Living Buddha business, he said, was a political or diplomatic system and always worked out for the good of the rich an influential. The local Buddha was very rich; so was his steward; and when "reincarnations" occurred, it seemed to him that this "miracle" always happened just as it might have been desired by the chief Buddha. For example, when the daughter of a powerful chief died, she was soon afterward incarnated in the person of a small boy, a nephew of the Buddha's steward - a business and political arrangement agreeable to all concerned! When one of the minor Buddhas of Radja died he, too, was happily, conveniently, and quickly reincarnated, this time in the person of the steward's brother!
I smiled and asked the water-carrier how it happened that none of his children was the reincarnation of some departed Buddha. With a twinkle in his eye, he remarked that it was because the sum of all his worldly goods was two goats.
---
Joseph Rock, Austrian-American botanist and explorer traveled for this expedition in Southwestern Gansu province of nowadays China, between 1924 and 1927.

parenting is about finding a balance between taking care of your offspring and taking care of oneself and one’s partner. I quoted Bill Cosby somewhere else on this website: I don’t know the key to success, but I know that always trying to please others is the key to failure. Parenting is all about that. Parents who don’t know where to find their own time and space, will eventually be frustrated and might even suffer from burn out syndrome.

I can’t say that I spend as much time with my children as I would like to, but being in a full time employment that challenges me an average 60 hours a week I need in addition to that some time for myself. Usually stress at work is accompanied by stress at home. As soon as I open the door of our apartment my daughter welcomes me with open arms. I don’t want to miss that daily welcome, but I would like to have some privacy afterwards; which usually does not follow. Instead I am asked to play with her, or my wife expects me to take care of our now 5 months old son. As I grow more experienced in my role as a parent I learn to understand my needs better and know that if I don’t have at least two hours of exercise a week and some minutes of sacred retreat in silence a day, my capability in being both father and husband at home and colleague at work diminishes sharply.

The last two family vacations gave me a new perspective in regard to being a parent. We picked the location for our CNY vacation on basis of two conditions: no Chinese mass tourism and a combination of safe beach and thrilling water sports. Our choice was Huahin, about three hours South of Bangkok by car.  A bliss of a beach, a great kiting location and a great hotel seemed to be our holiday jackpot. But I learned already on the first day that I could not do both at once, having a relaxed time with my folks and setting out for wind and waves. I therefore decided on the second day to leave kite and board in the hotel room and be fully available to my family, stroll together along the beach, play sand or just stretch out reading a book next to my daughter building a sand castle. By pleasing others I pleased myself, and I learnt that there is time even if being on vacation that is better spent with my family than with some kiting mates. But I promised myself, that there will be another week every year, where I just do what I desire, i.e. ride on either water or snow.

4 weeks later we are in Austria, where we extend my business trip with three days skiing in Ramsau, a small hamlet close to the world cup venue Schladming. Ramsau is well known for its Nordic skiing facilities and for its children skiing schools. Our daughter is fascinated by the „white playground“ where she learns every morning for two hours to slide down a gentle slope; but I am again torn apart between wanting to watch & teach her and wanting to get on the mountain after years of China induced snow boarding abstinence. I eventually settle for a good deal that will be my future vacation time management rule of thumb: morning hours with my family, afternoon hours for myself.  On the second day I am rewarded with both: watching our daughter together with wife and baby son, and a breathtaking sunshine ride on the Dachstein glacier in the afternoon. Let’s just hope that this form of time management will also work out the next time I have to wait for the wind to pick up.

After a personal recommendation to fly with Aeroflot, I tried it for the first time in my life with an economy ticket from Shanghai to Madrid this May and was positively surprised. New plane, nice staff, short stop-over in a new Moscow airport terminal, and the lowest fare on the market at around EUR 600 return.

Done so, I decided to get another Aeroflot ticket from Shanghai to Vienna, this time business class. I usually don’t fly business class, because the investment seems to be too high compared to the added value. Lufthansa offers economy tickets at around EUR 1200 return, business at around EUR 3500. Aeroflot changed my mind tough, economy EUR 800, business EUR 1500 for early birds, EUR 1800 if you book just in time.

I am disappointed in many perspectives, but acknowledge the that flying is anyway a tedious, hassle some, irritating and time wasting necessity of modern life, and its by no means easy to make the traveler feel comfortable. Read why:

1.  Flight time: between 10 and 30% longer on the road.

A direct economy flight from Shanghai to Munich lasts 11 hours, including a 1 hour journey to the airport and a 2 hour (security) check-in and a 2 hour drive to Linz, that sums up to approximately 16 hours from door to door.

A flight from Shanghai to Moscow lasts about 8 hours, transfer time and a second (security) check-in between 3 and 6 hours, 3 hours from Moscow to Vienna, everything else as above, that sums up to approximately 19 to 22 hours from door to door.

2.  Newspapers: apart from a single Moscow Daily English newspaper only Russian print is offered to passengers. It just feels not right to have no paper for the take off period. I enjoy musing about news when high in the air. 

3.  Business lounge: both business lounges in terminal F and E of Moscow airport are rather Chinese preposterous in style and badly maintained compared to Lufthansa lounges in Frankfurt or Munich. The food selection is poor, WIFI doesn’t work, but PC terminals are provided.

4.  Vienna Airport: it has always been a national disgrace, this airport. Guests, who landed in Vienna during the last few years, thought they had arrived in Moldavia, if they would have not seen the landscape passing beneath them some minutes before stepping into a building that can only be compared with Vienna’s old southern train station, which looks like an Albanian hospital. Desolate in maintenance, outdated in style and depressing in mood. Compared to Munich airport the new Vienna sky link terminal, that wasted 900 million Euros taxpayer’s money for its construction is still no match. Although the expensive facelift created a quite pleasing look and feel, it seems that only a mask has been put on an ugly face. Beneath all remains the same. Staff as a matter of fact reminds me of Moscow, with such a poor work ethic, the client is left irritated; people get lost due to poor indication of pathways and corridors; I followed the indications and ended up at a staircase and a closed elevator with a trolley full of bags, before me another group of business people changing direction like hunted rabbits, unable to find their check in counters; the walking distance from the rental car return to the terminal is too long; it seems that everything has been done to avoid the traveler’s convenience.

5.  Vienna airport business lounge: guess what? the business lounge closes 22:30. I was close to ask the Austrian Aeroflot ground staff, if we were at the amateur airfield in some provincial backwater or in the 10th largest city of Europe. I got a voucher for the NH hotel across the parking lot. So I had to walk back all the way I had come to find a flight crew waiting room, in similar shape as a Moscow airport lounge, where a couple of South African passengers were boozing on their self-brought whiskey.

6.  Hygiene: Aeroflot business class seats are not cleaned after a long haul flight. In the gaps between seat and armrest, in the slits between remote control buttons and armrest, everywhere you find the remains of prior meals and most likely dried human body fluid.

7.  Shape of planes: if flush buttons in toilets or business class head rests come off their designated position, the LOST brainwashed traveler hears a red alert siren and takes an imaginative journey through the engine, where screws and bolts are coming off, too. An emergency landing in Moscow on the route from Shanghai to Vienna, where we had to be pulled in by a truck due to front wheel suspension problems and lost more than an hour on the roll field surrounded by firemen and emergency vehicles doesn’t really put anything in contrary of this assumption.

8.  Russian work ethics: tell me if you have found them. It seems that even though Russia has had 20 years to recover from a destructive socialist system and people thus had 20 years to pick up a different attitude towards life, nothing has changed. People are rude and surely not service oriented. Words like please or thank you come hard, if at all. People pick up their work, even if on duty, only if long queues have formed. Vienna airport has much in common with Moscow in this regard.

9.  Passport control: the shutters are down, when people get of a plane and reach the passport control barriers. Only after some incomprehensible murmuring the staff from the transfer desk informs the border control officials, who then slowly get to their place to reluctantly, start to check passports from non-Russian nationals. Reluctance seems to be the main companion in Russian professional life. Alas you are an oligarch.

10. Smiling attendants: A lot to complain about, but then again, good value for my money. Business class flight attendants serve meals with an irresistible smile and the first thing they do when the client gets on board is serving a glass of champagne to ask for your name and introduce themselves as your private attendant.