I’ve been traveling all over the world again, but this time by plane, leaving Guppy on her own at the Maritime Museum where she will be looked after. Even after the devastating tornado that went through Auckland a couple days ago, she is still gently bobbing around in her marina berth, which was quite a relief to hear. From Auckland I flew to Korea, and from there to Tokyo where I received the 2012 Challenger Of The Year Award from the Faust Adventurer’s Guild. Even though I only was there for three days I saw quite a bit of this enormous fascinating city and culture. Everything is different, from the peoplebeing really polite and generous to the food and even going to the bathroom is a experience all on it’s own. The toilet seats are heated and there heaps of buttons right next to it that do all kinds of weird stuff that I didn’t really feel like trying out. But I had a greattime, also discovering new food–lots of delicious sushi, fish eggs, and some other stuff that I couldn’t identify. After the awardceremony and a fancy dinner, it was off to Amsterdam with a stopover in Dubai. I stayed one night aboard my dad’s ship in Den Osse whichwas really nice, because it has changed quite a bit from the last time I was there. And now I’m in Germany for a TV show. It’s really cold over here with lots of snow and slippery roads. But it’s really nice to walk around at the German Christmas market with my dad. I also just realized I haven’t seen snow in three years, so since I will be leaving in a couple days toward the warm summer of Australia, for now I am just enjoying it.

Laura