Aspen pt. II

So, since I got ski-touring equipment for christmas, I wanted to make use of it. So I planed a trip back to the mountains for Febuary after my exams at university. As Rick hat to practise skiing a bit for university he said he'd join me a few days. Since his arrival we spent everyday outside. Most of the time I went on a ski-tour while he was practising. One day we went for some sled riding. Think the last time I did this was together with my ex-ex-girlfriend...so it's been a looooong time. But it was still fun and is defenitely something I have to do way more often. I also went snowboarding for the first time since a while with my cousin after Rick left. Also: I need to do this way more often.
So you can say I found my love for wintersports again. Especially for ski-touring. As I mentioned: This is by far the most exhausting sport I ever did. But it's also really satisfying. Nothing beats the feeling when you arrive on top of the mountain half dead. You also appreciate the downhill way more if you didn't take the chairlift. Plus the experience of nature is way more intense.
On the party-front: Rick and I went out one time I think. But what an evening this was! The weekend he arrived was also the weekend of the infamous Air & Style competition. So there were parties going on all around town. Our initial plan was to check out this one party at the Weekender club. But my cousin also wanted to got the the concert of a cover-band where one of his former classmates was the lead singer. Since we couldn't get any pre-sale tickets for the other party we just went to the concert and would take our chances on what to do afterwards. The concert was fun as I got proper wasted. Don't blame this on me! It's not my fault if they sell beer for 2€! Afterwards we went to McDonalds for a little refreshment. So weird: After midnight they sell food only through the drive-thru, not over the counter. So we had to get into the car for our 2nd round of veggie-burgers...fucked up.
Afterwards we went to the "city". There we split up. My cousin, as he worked for Air & Style last year, went to the VIP After Show party and Rick and myself went with some of my cousins friends to some shitty club. It took us like 5 minutes to figure out that we can't stay here. The others left for home and so Rick and I had to come up with a new plan for the rest of the night. Shall we try to sneak ourselves into the VIP party as well? Sure thing! Seems like lady luck was on our side that night as it was pretty easy to get in. We just told the guy at the door we knew one of the photographers and said we should be on the list. Since he didn't have a copy of "the list" there's nothing he could've said and so we were in. Party was pretty cool. Nice music, nice girls, you get the deal. And it was really funny to watch some wannabe snobs trying to impress the girls on the dancefloor with their sparkling wine bottles. Actually this was really depressingly to watch...
Yeah, in a nutshell this were my 2 weeks in the mountains this Febuary. Here's some pics...


The area where I live.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the 2 weeks that I spent in Tyrol where those 2 weeks where half of Europ was covered in ice. -20°C at night!

Gettin' artsy fartsy with my lomo.

Winterwonderland.








Beer, Pretzles and Schnaps on our als day of skiing.

Aspen

As usual around christmas time I drove home to my grandparents place in the alps. I always love being on the mountains as it gives me the perfect opportunity to get away from it all for a little while. No internet or other distractions there. Finally had the time to read a few books and watch some movies again. Plus I always love it when the family gets together once in a while. Oh, and finally we had a white christmas again...can't remember the last time it was snowing on christmas eve.

But the best thing was, that my two boys, Rick and Fab were visiting me for a few days of skiing. The last time I had friends over at our place in Tyrol must've been back in highschool I think. So this was a welcome change. We've been on the ski slope everyday (weather was perfect), drank like 2 bottles of wine every night while playing boardgames and even managed to go out and party in Innsbruck once. Think from now on well try to do this every year now.


Can't remember the last time we had that much snow around Christmas. Loved it!


I got ski-touring equipment as a present that christmas. Something I really wanted to do for a long time. Let me tell you: This is by far the most exhausting sport ever! I didn't now that you can sweat that much while it has minus degrees. But I really really enjoyed it.


My uncle, who took me with him on my first ski tour.


Fügen in the infamous Zillertal. Perfect weather on the mountaintop, fog in the dale.


Fab.


Rick & myself.


Beer & pretzels.


Diablos Chemie Leipzig!


Perfect weather in Kühtei.


Chillin in the sun.


Jause.


Chillin in the sun pt. II.


The morning after a glorious night out in Innsbruck. Well, most of the evening was spent in my cousins flat playing Super Mario III. on the old NES system. Don't think we decidet befor 3am to go out. Went to the Aftershave for a few more beers. Next moring: Hangover-Ski-Session!

Reset!

I just made the decision to pick up blogging on here again. I've posted on tumblr now for the last 16 months. It was fun, but I'm kinda sick of it at the moment. It's just too much about posing and fishing for compliments. The more likes/friends/ass creeps people have on there, the better they seem to feel. I won't buy into this. Also, this makes it too much like a social network for me and facebook is allready enough. I like the pureness of blogspot way more at the moment. There's no such thing as following people going on here. Well, blogspot also has this function, but none seems to use it. So if you're really into a blog, you check it out a few times a week for updates and not just wait till the updates pop up on your dashboard. So this asks the people that are interested in your blog to be way more proactive, which I like a lot more. I want people to show active interest, not just passive consumption. Also I don't need any likes and stuff. I started blogging, cause I started to devote my life to the spirit of wanderlust and I wanted to share my experiences with my friends. And I think my friends like what I'm doing (and if they don't, I don't think they'd check out this blog anyway), so no need for any likes.
Also, the temptation to just reblog any stuff you find interesting/amusing, is on tumblr way bigger, as a repost is just a click away. This makes it really easy to lose the focus of what you intented to do with your blog. Things get watered down so easily. Plus: I don't like it when people don't put in a little bit of effort to show what they're about and just reblog stuff that other people did/created. There's a huge lack of personality going on on tumblr, which makes it really boring. There's so little creativity going on.

So this is why all my personal, travel-related stuff will be posted here from now on: pictures, stories, plans,... Don't expect any daily updates, this won't happen. For music, literature, football, bicycle, movie,... you can still visit my tumblr.

Time for change...

Seems like everyone's now on tubmlr...time for me to chance sides too...

http://tothedrifters.tumblr.com/

Restless

After I came home from Israel I was kind of fed up with this whole travelling thing. Well...fed up is the wrong description for how I felt back then. I guess I just missed the being home feeling, cause since the beginning of the year I was on the road almost constantly. Staying in Vienna felt more like waiting. Waiting for the next plane to take off. I forgot how it felt to be at home, how it felt to settle down. But now that daily routine and work got the best of me I get this restless feeling again... I just want to get out there, see awesome places, meet new people and make interesting experiences again...simply grab life by the throat. The next bigger trip's planed for April 2011 and will take me to Japan together with my cousin. Can't wait for that. Pretty long time though, but a few road trips will hopefully get me through this period...

Slow down

I'm a bit displeased with how this blog turned out the last couple of weeks. Somehow I lost my focus. "To the drifters" is a song by a band called Defiance, Ohio and the lyrics to this song are kinda about when people move away from each other but still are there for each other no matter what. I think i started this blog when I started to travel a lot to show my friends or whoever's interested what's going on in my life and tell them about the experiences I've made. But as time moved on, that blog turned out quite different. Kinda as an outlet for my bad mood and on the other hand as a thing to brag and show off. I also got interested in analog photography as well and wanted to share my pics. But let's face it: My Photographs aren't that special at all for the most part. There's no need to upload a mediocre picture every day. So I think I'm gonna slow down again with this blog here, will delete e few entries, update a few of the others and get back to it's original purpose: Share experiences! So no more recommendations, no more uncommented picture uploads, no more more or less uninteresingt stuff. This will also mean no more daily updates. But most of you have me on facebook as well and I'll just post it there when I've updated this blog...

RESPONSE TO G-RIOT
to the drifters!
in hopes that our paths cross again.
to the homesick!
home is when we do meet again.
our histories, our futures, our foundations, are hope.
it's a way to never forget.
i'll say goodbye.
and hope never to mean it.
our love and our hope.
no nation or state can contain it.
if you call me up drunk, at four in the morning,
no matter the timezones or state lines away.
i'll be on buslines or burning up phone cards.
just like i lived eight blocks away.

Big in Japan

15.4. - 3.5. 2011

Konichiwa Bitches!

Back to life, back to reality.

A few hours ago I got off of the plane that brought me back from Tel Aviv, via Minsk, to Vienna. Don't know how I feel about that.

Crusades pt. X

Eilat

Crusades pt. IX

Jerusalem Day 5: Dome of Rock & Masada

Crusades pt. VIII

Jerusalem Day 4: The Dead Sea.