User:Sertmann
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About me:
I'm a 28 years young, seasoned traveller from the land of Vikings, or more specifically Copenhagen, Denmark. Apart from living in Japan for a while, I believe the journey can more just as rewarding as the destination itself, and because of this I have done some fantastic journeys (see the best ones below).
Admin (Groundskeeper)
Yeah I have a shiny delete button on my screen, but I'd rather not use it, I'd also rather prefer not to be dragged into discussions as an "Authority" - i'm not - think more in the terms of groundskeeper Willie from the Simpsons.
Docent
I'm a docent and couchsurfing host[1] for Copenhagen where I live, and Hillerød where i grew up. Both in Denmark. Please contact me through my talk page. If you need any help or advise on Denmark in general, drop me line, and I'll see if I can help.
Travels
Beijing to Singapore Only 11 years old my mom dragged me 4 months through Asia on a shoestring budget. From being the main attraction of the day in the Beijing zoo, way before mass tourism descended on the city, to watching my little brother being mugged my monkeys over some bananas in a temple somewhere in Northern Thailand - Did my fist snorkeling on Ko Samet, and discovered that my favorite non alcoholic drink was hot chocolate with sosu milk in the chilly Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Fell a sleep at the famous Cathay Hotel in Georgetown on Penang island, and was waken up by rats on a dodgy hotel in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown - Before i was charming the stewardesses with my fancy strawhat, young and alone on a SAS flight home from Singapore.
Overland from Hong Kong to Bangkok I went through the old Portuguese colony of Macao and the limerocks of Guilin and Yangshou in China. Over the imposing mountains of the Himalaya foothills in the Yunnan province, and dealt with grumpy border guards on the train between Kunming and Hanoi in Vietnam. Splashed in emerald green waters of Ha Long Bay and the waterfall of Luang Prabang, before i sweat my heart out trekking the mountains of Northern Thailand, and cooled myself down again, in blue waters of Southern Thailand, where i also got my diving certificate. Before i flew home, i striked up the most interesting conversation of my life with a Buddhist munk, in the amazing ruins of Angkor, Cambodia.
Island hopping in Indonesia from the mayhem of possibly the worst town in the world Jakarta, over the tranquil temples of Bali. Watched in awe as a bunch of Dolphins jumped in front of the stern, on the ferry to Lombok, and continued onwards to snorkeling the mind blowing coral reefs of the Gili Islands. Smiled to some giggling muslim girls in a store somewhere on Sumbawa, and suffered from hunger during the Ramadan in Bima, but got entertained by a guy trying desperately to clear the grass landing strip of sheep's, just before i was dodging Komodo dragons on my way to Flores.
Experiencing Japan Landed in Narita Airport, clueless that I had arrived in the middle of Golden Week, and spend 30 hours awake trying to find a Hotel, since i hadn't booked. Made a girl cry over a discussion about Northern Ireland on a desolate youth hotel in Hakone, but had an amazing view over Mount Fuji, and Partied hard with the Expo 2005 staff at Aichi in Nagoya, where my friend where working. Had the most amazing fish dish ever in and old thatched roof house in Shirakawa, before I got serious and studied a semester in Kyoto. After a while there, I Got pleasurably lost in the Iya Valley of Shikoku in another amazing thatched roof house run by the Chiiori foundation. Ate the ritual poisonous fish in Shimonoseki, before i boarded a ferry to Busan South Korea and got drunk with the locals in evil rice alcohol. Disagreed with the label of Korea's Angkor about Gyeongju, but had some wonderful hikes there, before i headed back to Fukuoka in Japan. Ran out of money with a disfunctional credit card in Kagoshima, but managed with the help of the embassy, to visit Yakushima with it's amazing primeval forest, and Okinawa from where I almost missed my flight home, because of a nasty typhoon.
New York to Niagara boarded a plane in Copenhagen, only to wake up with a view over Manhattan, did the ritual photo in front of the Statue of Liberty, and solved the labyrinth of the NYC subway, before boarding a greyhound bus to Montréal. Said "allo" to the Quebecois border guards, before having a proper coffee in Vieux Montréal. Woke up from my slumber on the train to Toronto, to a grand view of the 1000 islands on the Lawrence channel, and fell asleep again after helping a long lost friend that was found again, chopping wood on a property in the middle of Nowhere, Ontario - in a proper Canadian lumberjack shirt no less. Only to say a heartbreaking goodbye to her with the thunderous roar of Niagara falls as the backdrop.
Taking the train from Copenhagen to Tokyo Through the Venice of the North that is Stockholm, and had a beer in the center of the medieval town of Tallinn, Estonia, before I was sneaking a look at hot looking dames in St Petersburg, and saying hello to Lenin in Moscow. Boarded a Trans-Siberian train, and had a kebab for lunch in Kazan, and continued city hopping through the Siberian summer in Russia, before finally being able to cool down on the shores of Lake Baikal on Olkhon island. Brushed my teeth before bed time, with goats running around my legs, in front of my Ger in the Gobi desert in Mongolia - before i fell a sleep with Russian drug addict, in a one room apartment in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Woke up with a heartfelt desire to quickly hop on the ferry to Japan, and hike through the beautiful Daisetsuzan National Park. A while later i was ending my trip on the beach of Kamakura with a beatiful Japanese girl.
For further information on where my feet, cars, trains, buses or planes have taken me on our planet, there is a fancy map right there on the right side of your screen.
Whishlist
I have a goal of doing a circle around the world, from Copenhagen to Copenhagen without flying. Since I'm not Paris Hilton, I've been doing it in stages over the last couple of years - and I'm currently scheming how to overcome the pacific.
Australia → New Caledonia → Vanuatu → Fiji → Tonga → Niue → Cook Islands → Bora Bora → Tahiti → Gambier Islands → Pitcairn → Easter Island → Chile
Bora Bora - Tahiti has ferry service, Gambier to Pitcairn, also seems surprisingly possible, and there is bound to be some freighter service between Easter Island and Chile, but the rest it seems I'll have to do in a combination of cruises, freighter travel and boat charter, given the expenses this trip is still a few years out on the horizon, it will probably require a few more years of planning anyway.
Other trips:
Brazil, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, as well as Petra in Jordan combined with some diving in the Red sea. And for a big trip; Botswana, South Africa & Mozambique in one sitting;
Projects
Current Project
Other things I'd like to work on in due time and get them up to usable status.
- Russia to Japan via Sakhalin itinerary, and Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk, Vanino, Kholmsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Korsakov and Wakkanai
- Around Copenhagen: Hillerød, Roskilde, Helsingør, Køge and Malmö
- Denmark's transport hubs Hirtshals, Hanstholm, Grenå, Esbjerg, Gedser, Rødby and Billund.
- Places I love: Olkhon & Rebun
