It took us just two days to come to this decision, but: New Zealand has us! I mean, no one really needs convincing of the natural beauty of New Zealand. After all, the Lord of the Rings film series, which was shot here, consists of pretty much exactly two elements: breathtaking carnage and equally breathtaking scenery. Much of the nature we saw on the North Island feels a bit like if you took Germany and moved it to the South Pacific. Okay, maybe not the Rhein-Ruhr metropole, but rather for example, the splendid Schleswig-Holsteinish Switzerland, simply spruced up with palm trees and ferns, adjusted...

I've always hated hiking. When we were kids, the words "We're going hiking" rather meant "We'll take your toys away, put you in a stuffy van and drive round switchbacks until your breakfast comes out". On the seemingly endless hikes that, it really was a habit of my parents to stop at every existing trail map without exception and study it thoroughly. And at every bend, every view, however small, the camera was pulled out, a test photo taken, a few settings changed, more clicks of the shutter release and the obligatory "Look how nice the picture turned out"...

Now that we've made it out of Colombia alive, perhaps we could talk about safety. Okay, maybe it would have been appropriate after our hitchhiking adventure through Canada. Last but not least, our parents are probably wondering when we will finally be landing in Pakistan. Colombia? Isn't it dangerous there because of the drug cartel? Did something happen to us when we were there? We could simply answer: "We were really exceptionally lucky, but we had also taken all possible precautions and at the same time heard from others who unfortunately had their passports, wallets, rucksacks and other things stolen...

¡Hola América Latina! was our motto when we touched down on our second continent of our world tour a few weeks ago. South America. It is associated with football, dancing, the Andes, growing coffee (and other drugs) and of course Spanish (sorry, Brazil). Especially when it came to the latter, I felt quite confident, almost superior, thanks to my one-time Spanish school club in grade 8. In the run-up to our trip, we were often asked whether we knew Spanish if we wanted to travel to South America. No, I didn't manage more than the aforementioned one hour of Spanish. Leah downloaded one of the well-known language apps...