Vacation memories – tips for a short vacation in your own 4 walls

adminonAugust 15, 2023August 22, 2023Leave a Comment

After my travels there is always one thing on my checklist: Preserve vacation memories. As we all know, the trips are always over much too quickly. Most of the time you just arrive in the place and you feel like you are already on the plane back home.

Not seldom to the cold, uncomfortable and rainy Germany. And right there, I start to plan the next vacation again. But even if I change the place, the feeling of my travels stays in my heart. In the form of vacation memories in my apartment!

Vacation memories in my living room

But how to conserve these vacation memories best? Photos are of course a classic. Sure, I always take hundreds of photos on my travels. Mostly these are gathering dust on the hard disk of the computer. If you think about it, this is already quite a pity. I am not a big fan of photo books and also not of oldschool photo albums. Because most of the time I have 2 places where my photos gather dust.

My favorite thing is to fill the numerous picture frames in my living room with my very own vacation memories. So I can pick out the most beautiful pictures for myself. If I then make myself long on the couch, then I always have everything in view and can again revel in my vacation memories.

In my kitchen hangs a big canvas equipped with my favorite photo from my visit in . This also automatically puts me in the vacation mood when I drink my coffee in the morning.

Vacation memories on my plate

For me, the culinary aspect of a vacation is always at the forefront. I love to see beforehand what to expect and what culinary highlights I can look forward to.

What I find while browsing the web or on other blogs then so, not infrequently makes my mouth water. Especially dishes that you didn't expect at all. This happens before my travels. But what do I do best to keep afterwards still all the delicacies in my head?

A few years ago, I decided to buy myself a cookbook in each country. Always with typical dishes for the respective region. So I can revive my vacation memories in my kitchen once again. It is of course clear that I can no longer reflect the feeling 1 to 1.

But I find it nice to reflect everything again. At home I like to browse through the "ideas" I brought with me. In the twinkling of an eye a delicious dish is created which revives the vacation feeling (at least in the stomach). You can find all my delicious travel recipes here:

Vacation memories in my kitchen

In my kitchen also hangs . I traditionally give this to my sweetheart for Christmas. The photos I use for this are, of course, from our travels together. In general, many of my travels and vacation memories are reflected in the kitchen. Here hang a few pictures from England and a Turkish lamp from Istanbul has its place here.

I also like to make myself a delicious black tea that I brought back from Sri Lanka. This is the best way for me to indulge in my vacation memories.

Vacation memories in my garden

My garden is my personal oasis of calm Here I can switch off and dig in the dirt all day if I feel like it. Many plants that grow here are not native to Germany. But at first I was not so aware of it, until I found out in Egypt that the beautiful purple shrub basil is also native there.

The red maple that comes from Japan. The Korean mint that blooms beautifully blue in autumn. I also brought tulips from Amsterdam, which I look forward to again in the spring. Just as on the Turkish chilies, which are very aromatic and wonderfully durftenden rosemary on the Provence.

Use vacation memories for the next trip

I often think about what I liked best about my travels. Meanwhile, I have clearly crystallized there that I am very interested in street art and art in addition to the culinary surprises of the country. So I use this knowledge and plan my next trips specifically according to my interests and memories.

In which city I find exactly what I am interested in? It is of no use to me to end up in some hick town where there is nothing to interest me.

So this is how I look for vibrant metropolises that are packed with street art. Which also have many culinary highlight and are ideally by the sea or near beautiful nature or parks. Very simple or?

A travel diary for vacation memories

I often watch documentaries about culinary highlights in foreign countries. All too often I catch myself thinking "I want to experience that too". This is then the typical course of acute wanderlust. Especially when I then still browse in mine.

Gradually this process starts and usually ends with me researching my next trip in different blogs. Or alternatively book directly. It is a fine line between wanderlust and memory. But the easiest way to fight wanderlust is to go back in time and just dream about my vacation memories. Or even to go for a walk in my home country.

Conserve vacation somehow? Tell me your tips and tricks. I am looking forward to your comment!

A delicious risotto is one of the best comfort foods for me. Not everyone likes the sloppy and creamy texture, but those who do will love this recipe. Promise.

I like to prepare risotto in different ways. Quite classic, with butter and a good portion of fresh grated parmesan, with fresh mushrooms, or as in this version an Italian spinach risotto with goat cheese. This is Italy on your plate!

Want to try more recipes with goat cheese?? I have a delicious recipe for bread or even a .

A good spinach risotto needs time!

Spinach risotto with fresh goat cheese

Risotto is not a quick dish, because in Italy people like to take their time to prepare meals, but with a little trick you can take a little less time standing at the stove or "precook" risotto for 2 days without it becoming too soft.

I learned this trick from Jamie Oliver, because he prepares risotto in such a way that 75% of the work is done in the first step. The risotto can rest in the refrigerator until you continue to cook it.

Of course, there is nothing to stop you from doing the two steps one after the other.

Step 1 to the perfect spinach risotto

The rice is pre-cooked to 75% in this basic step. Onions and celery are sauteed with butter and olive oil for about 15 minutes. The rice is added to the ingredients and deglazed with white wine. Then broth is added by the ladleful.

When the liquid evaporates, the next ladle. Do not add too quickly, because then you will get mushy rice soup. After approx. 15 minutes, the risotto can be poured onto a tray and is put in a cold place.

Step 2 to the perfect risotto

Now the actual preparation begins and the spinach comes into play. Here you can use either frozen spinach leaves or fresh spinach as ingredients. You need approx. 300 g. which is sauteed with a clove of garlic and olive oil.

In a saucepan, heat the broth again and add the spinach to half of the liquid. Add again by the ladleful. When the rice is creamy, it is mixed with the spinach and half of the fresh goat cheese and seasoned with salt and pepper. The rest of the Parmesan cheese goes on the finished risotto. Delicious!

Spinach risotto with creamy goat cheese

Of course you can also use regular cream cheese if you don't like the taste of goat cheese. However, fresh goat cheese is also the mildest cheese you'll get from the category.

The lemon or lime zest gives the risotto a certain lightness that goes perfectly with a good glass of white wine with your meal. Bon appetit!

My Work and Travel Report: Field Report

It had been clear to me for a long time that I wanted to spend some time abroad after school. And since I, as a native of Hamburg, already feel like a citizen of the world, even the most distant destinations could not intimidate me. The only challenge was the choice of the respective travel destination. After all, there were a lot of exciting options here. New Zealand, Canada and Australia were the main countries I chose. Because apart from their geographical dimensions and impressive nature, these countries also offer the very practical model of a so-called "Work and Holiday" visa. This not only proves to be beneficial, as you get to know the country and its people, especially when working with locals and other travelers, but it also helps you to increase your travel budget.

Travel planning on my own

Since I have already spent a long time researching the topic of staying abroad and have come across many tragic-comic stories of former working holiday travelers who booked their stay in the country of their dreams with an organization and experienced many a nasty surprise, it was clear to me that I would rather rely on my own intuition. Apart from that, what was important to me was that boundless feeling of freedom and independence that one generally associates with living and working in Australia. Because it should be Down Under in the end. In the end, Australia combined pretty much everything I was hoping for from a six-month stay in a foreign country: unique nature experiences, a multi-faceted entertainment offer as well as a wealth of possible activities and ultimately, of course, work opportunities. It is clear that I was anything but petty in this respect. Because I was already used to a lot from numerous vacation jobs.

The only thing I was worried about were the necessary formalities. However, one look at relevant websites was enough to find out that the visa can be easily applied for online. In terms of jobs, I was, as already mentioned, open and open-minded to everything. Since you are only allowed to work for up to six months with a working holiday visa, I knew that I was somewhat limited in my choice of activities, since many industries are only looking for personnel for a longer period of time.

The most interesting jobs at a glance

Within the framework of a working holiday stay, jobs in the catering trade, in the tourism sector or in construction were the most popular. The latter were supposedly particularly well-paid, but somehow I had no great interest in wasting my precious time on excessively physically demanding work. For me, activities were more suitable, where I could meet nice people at the same time.

And there is no doubt that there is a lot of that in Australia! So I was lucky enough to find accommodation in a hostel right at my first stop in the lively metropolis of Melbourne, where I not only met countless like-minded people, but also particularly helpful personnel. Paul and Steve, for example, not only provided the reception and the always crowded bar with the necessary input, but also spread valuable information about comparatively lucrative jobs.

In order to make the most of my initial enthusiasm, I seized almost every opportunity that came my way. This included the weekend service at the hostel, where I met a lot of interesting young or young-at-heart people at the reception. met young-at-heart people from all over the world, for whom there was also nothing better than the passion for travel. During the week I worked during the day in a cafe located directly on the beach. From here I had a wonderful view of the sea, which somehow triggered homey feelings in me as a real Hamburger. However, I must confess that I bluffed a bit to get this job. Because from already collected experience could be truly no speech. In view of the already almost monumental espresso machine, I felt a little different. But also here there were great colleagues who quickly introduced me to the art of high-quality coffee preparation. In the evening hours I exchanged the brown bean for a little stronger ingredients. The owner of the coffee house, Ollie, who was only a few years older than me, was obviously taken with my eagerness to learn and work and immediately offered me a job in a bar on Rye Back Beach. It is located about 70 kilometers from Melbourne in the beautiful Mornington Peninsula region.

Harmonious combination of work and leisure as a recipe for success

Of course, whether you choose a booked or self-organized working holiday stay depends on your personal taste. The choice of activities is also up to everyone. I was certainly luckier than average to run into people in each place who helped me out in some way. As an insider tip, I can only recommend to allow yourself some time off every day, even if you have a hard job, in order to enjoy the beautiful sides of your host country. I have met many people who, after three hard months of picking fruit without any significant variety, were completely unnerved and exhausted and needed a period of regeneration first. Of course, working in the countryside can also be associated with great experiences. For me, however, the stay in Australia was above all so unforgettable and probably wonderful in every single moment, because I had to fulfill a whole potpourri of tasks every day and was rewarded for it with unique and varied impressions. In my free time at Rye Back Beach, for example, I had the opportunity to make friends with passionate surfers and to learn some tricks from them in order to improve my own skills.

Melbourne as a legendary metropolis with many faces also had its own charms to offer. Besides open-minded people and cultural diversity, an almost overwhelming entertainment program was waiting for me. This ensured that even during my busy phase in Melbourne I never really felt exhausted. Accordingly, after five months of varied activities, I was able to start my trip to the outback with a wealth of new experiences, beautiful memories and the necessary small change to get to know my host country also from the perspective of a relaxed backpacker.
The statement that traveling educates, I can now only confirm with regard to my wealth of experience gathered during the working holiday stay in Australia.