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UAE & Oman - A baby moon between skyscrapers & sand dunes

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Our baby moon unfolded somewhere between jetlag, sunrise skyscrapers, desert dunes, coral reefs, museums, mosques - and a growing appreciation for slowing down (at least occasionally). Dubai wasted no time easing us in. A brutally early start delivered us straight into the city’s defining rhythm: efficiency, scale, and spectacle. After checking into a Downtown apartment, we wandered around the Dubai Mall area, scouting food and accidentally getting swept along by the post–fountain-show crowd surge - a very Dubai kind of welcome. The next morning began in a way that still makes me question our decision-making: sunrise from the Burj Khalifa. Watching the city slowly wake up from 456 meters above ground was undeniably magical - the desert haze, the quiet, the sense of being suspended between night and day. Worth the 5am alarm? Annoyingly so, yes. Dubai then showed its social side: brunch at Palm Jumeirah, a marina stroll (plus a spontaneous boat ride), and an international surprise birthd...
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India & Sri Lanka - Four Weeks through Heat, Healing & Monsoon Wildlife

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Mumbai welcomed me exactly as expected: loud, hot, humid, chaotic - and somehow still incredibly charming. It took almost two hours for immigration after two A380s landed simultaneously (night-arrival efficiency: denied) and at  at 5:30am I  collapsed at Naman’s place for a much-needed reboot. The next five days were a immersion into his world: constant change of plans, food craze & lazy lunches, rooftop football, late-night movies in recliner chairs (yes, complete with the national anthem), and meandering through Colaba, Bandra and South Mumbai. Mumbai is a city of contrasts - leafy calm around the apartment, and two streets later, full sensory overload: traffic, horns, people, life everywhere. I escaped the heat with café breaks, sampled my way through street food (wada pav instantly entered the top tier), and let the city do what Mumbai does best: overstimulate and embrace you in the same breath. Landing in Kerala felt like switching from fast-forward to slow motion....
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Camino Portugues - Stripped Down to the Essentials

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After years of flirting with the idea, a couple of weeks deciding on the route, and a few days of - loosely - preparing, the day had come to finally embark on the Camino Portugués.  The alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. 😴 Excitement and a touch of fear made sleep elusive. A quick ride to the airport, a short nap on the plane, and by 8:45 a.m. I found myself in sunny Porto - the perfect welcome to lighten my mood. At the Sé Catedral I picked up my Camino credentials, followed my first yellow arrows, and rewarded myself with a warm pastel de nata and a cachorrinho (local hotdog) recommended by my Uber driver. Too tired for the city crowds, I hopped on an early train to Vila Praia de Âncora - my chosen starting point. An evening by the beach, early dinner, and quiet time at the hotel helped me feel mentally prepared, physically overpacked 😂, and ready for whatever lay ahead. Day 1 – 28 km / 6 h 10 min I left at 8:30 a.m., the sun already rising over the rugged coast. The signs were...
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