US Trip (Coffee on me for the person recognizing the title quote without googling!) I am not exactly off in three weeks, I am off in 10 days! And I am not prepared at all yet, so I better start working on that. I have stripped off quite some bits from the draft plan and [...]

TV-2 in Paris How to be impulsive and try something new in six easy steps: Read on facebook (and yes I want to be your friend too – I am known as Ingrid M van Vliet, the M standing for mad) that TV-2 (danish band extraordinaire) is playing a concert in Paris. Admit that taking [...]

So I took my backpack and discovered that Love never ends A train at 9.47am on a Sunday morning – after a short night and weather that could not be more depressing – demanded a lot of willpower. But I had my book and the prospect of a train trip, and even if it was [...]

Piccadilly Circus in the rain I am struck by a severe (blog) writers block (and wondering who is interested in reading all this crap shit stuff anyway), so a couple of notes and then I am off. When I took this picture 2 days ago (without having an umbrella at hand but not minding the [...]

Mother and daughter No I didn’t immediately role into an after-birthday-depression. I spend my birthday and weekend away from my computer and with Billy (Elliot and Mack), apes and my mother. And this must be my new favourite picture.

The Bridge A view from my train window on my way home from Carlisle through a country I have seen way too little of I found out. Over bridge of sighs To rest my eyes in shades of green Under dreamin’ spires To Itchycoo Park, that’s where I’ve been What did you do there? I [...]

What is going on? Why do both the Times and the Guardian rate this (hopefully) last film in the trilogy that well? I was utterly bored! I gave it a fair chance, but I admit, having read nearly all Ludlum books, that these three were not among my favourite ones. Neither is the film. What’s [...]

Not to be moved I have been very busy and not around a laptop for days. That’s my excuse. On the other hand, who wouldn’t want to look at the Bill Poster for the rest of the year.

Train spotting in Longsight Manchester is a great place to be. If you love rain. Which of course I’ve always said I did. It does get a bit annoying though when you have to stand out in the rain for a couple of hours. Just to let you know how exiting it is to be [...]

It’s amazing. We were 7 people, all around my age (17) and we were all so nervous for this exam, it was like being back at high school again. We all passed. I am relieved, because it was tougher than I thought, it was all new for me and it is all so different from [...]

On route with the flying Scotsman The flying Dutchman with a Scotsman in a Flying Scotsman train. This trip couldn’t go wrong. If you don’t want to read about Edinburgh, come back somewhere at the end of the week. If you do – it’s going to be a trilogy in 4 parts. Please step in.

In case you were wondering why it is so quiet over here – well I am in the process of falling in love with Edinburgh. I’ll be back in London tomorrow with more about this lovely city, men in kilts, taxi drivers which voicilicious accents, lots of pictures, a new addition to my “Bill posters [...]

He has been asking, begging and nagging me for ages about going there, and what he demands .. “So, why exactly should we go there?” I asked him. “I can give you loads of reasons” he said.

After an evening at the Russian Border (passport control took 4 hours!) and the Mongolian border (passport control took 1.5 hours) we entered Mongolia. While enjoying a good night sleep, after yesterdays , we were brutally woken up at 7.30 am in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia’s capital. While having lived in luxury the last 5 days (2 [...]

The Great Wall of China – this is a great wall

2nd of March 2007 – 4th night on the Trans Mongolian train “Are you asleep?” ~Gina “I have pretended to be dead since 1 am, but I am still alive, still awake.” ~Lawrence I had pretended to be dead since 1 am, but at 2.36am in the night I was still alive, still awake. I [...]

The Trans Mongolian train on the top of the world The Trans Mongolian train in the morning sun on the top of the world in Mongolia a day like this a day my thoughts all wander off a day my brain refusing work just wants to be back on that train

Trans Mongolian train If you want to get an impression of what my train castle looked like, please step inside.

Moscow Yaroslawsky trainstation Moscow, 27th February 2007 – Yaroslawsky station And then you are standing there and think : What could be the train to Beijing? This wasn’t the most fun day of the trip, but I think I’ve found my train, thanks to someone writing Beijing/Peking in Cyrillic on a piece of paper. Now [...]

I am in China! Wooohooo! Moscow was harsh in many ways, and I didn’t feel too sorry to leave it. I found my train, woohoo! for that and thanks so much for all the crossed fingers – it helped!, and I will write more about all my up front worries later. But I entered my [...]