During my research about Germany, I stumbled upon quite a few travel blogs. One of them was Ali's Adventures, and she had amusing, quirky, informative posts about living in Germany and her experiences with traveling around the world. One of her posts greatly helped me with deciphering the German trash system, and many other things--Ali just seemed like a cool person all-around.
And...I asked her for an interview.
And she sad YES!
Ali Garland had made it a mission to get to all seven continents before she turned the age of 30, and she succeeded! Nowadays, she lives with her husband, Andy--also a travel addict--in Freiburg, Germany, and they run a travel blog, Ctrl-Alt-Travel, with thousands of views a month. (How COOL is that, seriously!) For anyone who wants to check it out, links are below the interview.
Without further ado...
...
Me: Your stories on your blog sound fantastic. What made you two decide that youwanted to travel, and blog for a living? (Sounds like an awesome job, by the way)
Ali:-- Thanks! We don't really blog for a living. Blogging is fun, and we love to share our stories and encourage others to travel, but for most people, it's really hard to make money from a blog. Andy is a web developer and spent his first 5 1/2 years in Germany working for a company in the city of Freiburg. Now he is a freelancer/contractor, which means he can work short term contracts for different companies and have a little more flexibility with things like time off. Andy decided to move to Germany because he needed a change, and since he studied German in high school and college, Germany was his first choice. I'm currently wading through German bureaucracy to see what my options are for working as a freelance writer. I met Andy (through Twitter!) the summer of 2010 while I was still living in Atlanta. I had always wanted to try living in Europe, so when Andy and I fell in love, we decided it just made sense for me to move. We got married June 2011 and I moved to Germany about a month later. We both love traveling because we enjoy experiencing other cultures and trying other foods. We love having a home, but often we need a change of scenery to get us out of our comfort zone. So now we try to travel for a few months of the year and enjoy being home the rest of the year.
Questions about Germany:
Me: I heard you two have lived (and have just moved again) into Germany! What was your experience living there? Any culture shock?
Ali: -- Andy has lived in Germany for about 6 years now, and I've been living here a little over 2 years. Our permanent home is in Freiburg, which is in the southwest corner of the country, but we are currently in Berlin for a few months until New Years for Andy's current contract. He certainly dealt with culture shock, but since he's been here awhile, some of those memories have faded a little. My culture shock is a little more fresh though. I didn't speak any German before moving here (I studied Spanish for my foreign language) so it was hard to do even the simplest things. Eventually I enrolled in an intensive integration course, which was about 4 hours of class per day, 5 days a week, for 8 months. It's a lot to learn in such a condensed way, but at least now I can do simple things like go to the grocery store or get my hair cut without needing help.
Me: Any advice for students learning the German language? Or any language in general?
Ali: -- Practice! Finding a native speaker to practice with is key to learning the language. Even better, immerse yourself in a country that speaks that language. My Spanish improved drastically after only a week in Ecuador a few years ago, and there's no way I'd understand even the little bits of German I do without living here. Try not to get hung up on the little details at first, just learn vocabulary and sentence structure. German grammar is difficult for English speakers because it doesn't follow the same patterns. It's more important to focus on learning that rather than getting frustrated trying to learn the gender of every single noun. People will still understand you if you use the feminine instead of the masculine, but structuring the sentence incorrectly could confuse someone.
Me: Every country, every place has this sort of “atmosphere”, this special “feel” that stays with you even when you leave. What do you think Germany’s “atmosphere” is?
Ali: -- Wow, that's a hard one. Germany is very organized and has a reputation for being very efficient. That doesn't mean everything runs as smoothly as you'd think. Rules and procedures that make sense to natives won't always make sense to us foreigners. And if your situation falls within the 5 or 10% that doesn't fit within the norm, it will take a long time to get things figured out. Germany loves rules and paperwork.
Me: Best part about living in Germany?
Ali: -- I love that there is so much great public transportation. Our apartment in Freiburg is less than 5 minutes from the tram, and the trams get us just about everywhere we want to go, so we don't own a car. I also love that we can hop on a plane or train and be in another country and culture within just a few hours. We live an hour from France and an hour from Switzerland.
Questions about traveling in general:
Me: How, personally, has traveling changed you?
Ali: -- Travel has made me a more confident person. I didn't travel outside the US for years because I didn't have any friends who wanted to travel with me, and eventually I decided to stop waiting for someone to join me. I booked a trip to Greece and went by myself, and it was a turning point for me. I realized there wasn't any reason to sit around dreaming about traveling when I could just plan a trip and go instead. I also realized I was a stronger person than I thought. Navigating your way through a foreign country and making it through successfully can do that.
Me: Even though I’m not an avid traveler, I know there is this moment in the midst of your trip when the sights and atmosphere of the place are surrounding you and you have this brief, disconcerting, enlightening moment and you think, This is what life’s worth living for. Would you like to describe any of those moments?
Ali: -- Andy and I had a night like that in Lisbon last September. We flew to Portugal for a blogging conference, and we only had one night in Lisbon before we needed to catch a train to Porto the next day. After dinner, we just started walking around to check out the neighborhood. Something about the big open squares with ornate fountains, the smooth cobblestone streets, the smell of the ocean in the breeze, it all just grabbed us. We sat at an outdoor cafe with a drink, soaking up the atmosphere and talking. I can't even put my finger on it exactly, but it's moments like those that remind me of how much I love to travel, to be in different places, and that it's worth some sacrifices to make our life of travel work.
Me: And lastly, what is your Number 1 advice for traveling? (Other than, “Don’t forget the plug adapter!”)
Ali: -- Number 1 is to just GO! It can be scary, but once you get there, the fear starts to disappear. Don't let your fear make up excuses to stay home. Bad things can happen anywhere, whether you're in your hometown or in a foreign country, so you might as well get out there and see more of the world. Travel slower than you think you need to. It takes more mental (and sometimes physical) energy to be somewhere that's different from what you're used to, so you have to give yourself time to rest and take it all in. Do research before you go but try not to plan too much. Leave yourself room to be flexible and spontaneous. But really, just GO!
Ali:-- Thanks! We don't really blog for a living. Blogging is fun, and we love to share our stories and encourage others to travel, but for most people, it's really hard to make money from a blog. Andy is a web developer and spent his first 5 1/2 years in Germany working for a company in the city of Freiburg. Now he is a freelancer/contractor, which means he can work short term contracts for different companies and have a little more flexibility with things like time off. Andy decided to move to Germany because he needed a change, and since he studied German in high school and college, Germany was his first choice. I'm currently wading through German bureaucracy to see what my options are for working as a freelance writer. I met Andy (through Twitter!) the summer of 2010 while I was still living in Atlanta. I had always wanted to try living in Europe, so when Andy and I fell in love, we decided it just made sense for me to move. We got married June 2011 and I moved to Germany about a month later. We both love traveling because we enjoy experiencing other cultures and trying other foods. We love having a home, but often we need a change of scenery to get us out of our comfort zone. So now we try to travel for a few months of the year and enjoy being home the rest of the year.
Questions about Germany:
Me: I heard you two have lived (and have just moved again) into Germany! What was your experience living there? Any culture shock?
Ali: -- Andy has lived in Germany for about 6 years now, and I've been living here a little over 2 years. Our permanent home is in Freiburg, which is in the southwest corner of the country, but we are currently in Berlin for a few months until New Years for Andy's current contract. He certainly dealt with culture shock, but since he's been here awhile, some of those memories have faded a little. My culture shock is a little more fresh though. I didn't speak any German before moving here (I studied Spanish for my foreign language) so it was hard to do even the simplest things. Eventually I enrolled in an intensive integration course, which was about 4 hours of class per day, 5 days a week, for 8 months. It's a lot to learn in such a condensed way, but at least now I can do simple things like go to the grocery store or get my hair cut without needing help.
Me: Any advice for students learning the German language? Or any language in general?
Ali: -- Practice! Finding a native speaker to practice with is key to learning the language. Even better, immerse yourself in a country that speaks that language. My Spanish improved drastically after only a week in Ecuador a few years ago, and there's no way I'd understand even the little bits of German I do without living here. Try not to get hung up on the little details at first, just learn vocabulary and sentence structure. German grammar is difficult for English speakers because it doesn't follow the same patterns. It's more important to focus on learning that rather than getting frustrated trying to learn the gender of every single noun. People will still understand you if you use the feminine instead of the masculine, but structuring the sentence incorrectly could confuse someone.
Me: Every country, every place has this sort of “atmosphere”, this special “feel” that stays with you even when you leave. What do you think Germany’s “atmosphere” is?
Ali: -- Wow, that's a hard one. Germany is very organized and has a reputation for being very efficient. That doesn't mean everything runs as smoothly as you'd think. Rules and procedures that make sense to natives won't always make sense to us foreigners. And if your situation falls within the 5 or 10% that doesn't fit within the norm, it will take a long time to get things figured out. Germany loves rules and paperwork.
Me: Best part about living in Germany?
Ali: -- I love that there is so much great public transportation. Our apartment in Freiburg is less than 5 minutes from the tram, and the trams get us just about everywhere we want to go, so we don't own a car. I also love that we can hop on a plane or train and be in another country and culture within just a few hours. We live an hour from France and an hour from Switzerland.
Questions about traveling in general:
Me: How, personally, has traveling changed you?
Ali: -- Travel has made me a more confident person. I didn't travel outside the US for years because I didn't have any friends who wanted to travel with me, and eventually I decided to stop waiting for someone to join me. I booked a trip to Greece and went by myself, and it was a turning point for me. I realized there wasn't any reason to sit around dreaming about traveling when I could just plan a trip and go instead. I also realized I was a stronger person than I thought. Navigating your way through a foreign country and making it through successfully can do that.
Me: Even though I’m not an avid traveler, I know there is this moment in the midst of your trip when the sights and atmosphere of the place are surrounding you and you have this brief, disconcerting, enlightening moment and you think, This is what life’s worth living for. Would you like to describe any of those moments?
Ali: -- Andy and I had a night like that in Lisbon last September. We flew to Portugal for a blogging conference, and we only had one night in Lisbon before we needed to catch a train to Porto the next day. After dinner, we just started walking around to check out the neighborhood. Something about the big open squares with ornate fountains, the smooth cobblestone streets, the smell of the ocean in the breeze, it all just grabbed us. We sat at an outdoor cafe with a drink, soaking up the atmosphere and talking. I can't even put my finger on it exactly, but it's moments like those that remind me of how much I love to travel, to be in different places, and that it's worth some sacrifices to make our life of travel work.
Me: And lastly, what is your Number 1 advice for traveling? (Other than, “Don’t forget the plug adapter!”)
Ali: -- Number 1 is to just GO! It can be scary, but once you get there, the fear starts to disappear. Don't let your fear make up excuses to stay home. Bad things can happen anywhere, whether you're in your hometown or in a foreign country, so you might as well get out there and see more of the world. Travel slower than you think you need to. It takes more mental (and sometimes physical) energy to be somewhere that's different from what you're used to, so you have to give yourself time to rest and take it all in. Do research before you go but try not to plan too much. Leave yourself room to be flexible and spontaneous. But really, just GO!
Thank you so much, Ali! Here's some cool links:
Ali's blog: (http://www.aliadventures.com/)
Andy's blog: (http://www.groundedtraveler.com/)
Ctrl-Alt-Travel (their shared blog): (http://www.ctrl-alt-travel.com/)
I'll keep you guys posted!
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