Travel Experiences

I'm not much of an adrenaline junkie. You won't see me bungee jumping or snowboarding down a mountain. As a matter of fact, I won't even go on any rollercoaster that has a looping. I'm also fairly lazy, so you won't find me cycling around Iceland or hiking across New Zealand.

I also don't believe that experiences are any better because they were hard to achieve. Given the choice of walking to the top of the mountain or taking a cable railway, I'd rather take the easy way up. If I'm breathless, I want it to be because of the view, not because of walking uphill. (I also don't think a meal will be better because you searched the mushrooms yourself and cooked them over a campfire. I'm perfectly happy to order stuff prepared by a professional.) I don't really mind walking if there is no alternative, I just don't buy into the "the harder you worked for it, the more the experience is worth" myth.

Given all the things I don't like doing, it sometimes surprises me what kind of things I have done over the years. But I like to try new kinds of transport (which is also a bit odd, since I don't really love cars [don't even own one], they're nice to get from A to B, but I can't get excited about most of them) and lots of the experiences involve some method of travel.

Things I've driven

Things I've been a passenger in

Other odd things I've done

Highest, lowest, deepest, farthest, fastest

Most western point I've been to: Anchorage, USA, about 150°W.
Most eastern point I've been to: Napier, New Zealand, almost 176°E.
Most southern point I've been to: Road from Te Anau to Queenstown, New Zealand, roughly 45.7°S.
Ok, none of the three above is meaningful anymore. My furthest south had changed in December 2005 to Punta Arenas in Chile at 53°S, but that was valid for about a week before getting to the ultimate south: The South Pole at 90°S. So my furthest south will never change again. Since I walked around the South Pole, I also covered every degree of longitude from 180°W to 180°E in a couple of seconds, so I will never reach a point more easterly or westerly than I've already been to.
Most northern point I've been to: Near Moffen Island, Svalbard, Norway, 80°N.
This is now also not meaningful anymore. I went to the North Pole in April 2008, so the furthest north is now and will remain at 90°N.
Highest altitude: On board of Concorde, 57000 feet (about 17 km or 10 miles).
Highest speed: On board of Concorde, Mach 2 (about 2400 km/h or 1480 mph).
Highest speed in a car: Driving a Ferrari 488 GTB on the race track at Monza, 269 km/h (about 167 mph).
Biggest depth: Submarine, Eilat, Red Sea, 180 feet (about 55 meter) below the surface.
Lowest point on surface: Dead Sea, 1200 feet (about 360 meter) below sea level.
Highest altitude on surface: It used to be Inspiration Point, Utah, USA at 8800 feet (about 2700 meters). Then it was the South Pole, which is at 2850 meters, but now I've spent some time at the Alps highest hotel 'Grawand' at 3212 meters. I've also been to 'Klein Matterhorn' at 3883 meters, but I only spend an hour or two there.

Visit to concerts

This has nothing to do with travel at all, but after making the list above, I went into a sort of 'I really did all that?' kind of mood, and I started to think about concerts I've been visiting. And since I'm in list-making mood right now, I thought: Why not list them as well, even though this has nothing to do with travel?

Not all of these were of my own choosing. Rest assured that I would never attend a Kelly Osborne or Corrs concert on its own, but they were opening acts for groups that I wanted to see, so I had to watch their performances es well. Be charitable and assume that any annoying group or performer listed was the opening act for a more interesting group...

Without any specific order:
Pink Floyd, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Rolling Stones, U2, Frank Zappa, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Kolbe & Illenberger, Neil Young, Manfred Mann, Jethro Tull, Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits, Tangerine Dream, Grateful Dead, Jackson Browne, UK Subs, Eagles, David Bowie, Eurythmics, Supertramp, Chumbawamba, Who, Bobby McFerrin, Eric Clapton, Gary Moore, Laurie Anderson, Simon & Garfunkel, Robbie Williams, Suzanne Vega, Joan Baez, Konstantin Wecker, Mercedes Soza, Bettina Wegner, Santana, Bob Dylan, Chris De Burgh, Leningrad Cowboys, Roger Waters, Blues Band, Mike Oldfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Foreigner, Lake, Corrs, Kelly Osborne, Kodo, Ondekoza, Hank the Knife and the Jets, Holograms, Meatloaf, Heather Nova, Alanis Morissette, She-Male Trouble, Mark Gillespie, Vibrators, Cobra Killer, Wir sind Helden, Madsen, Kling-Klang, Portishead, Randy Newman, I heart Sharks, Dakota Days, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, Hugh Laurie, Sonoio, Geographer, Ladytron, Steve Reich, Los Lobos, TV Smith, Björk, Roger Hodgson, Paul McCartney, Soap Girls, Peter Pan Speedrock, Amanda Palmer, Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy, Judith Holofernes, Kids of Adelaide, Kiefer Sutherland, They Might Be Giants, Band Maid, Roxies, Interrobang, John Cleese, 10CC