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About Me

I am Abdullah Ibrahim, I go with the name designcode online. I am originally from Pakistan living in Netherlands for a few years.

I am a programmer, long distance runner and lone wolf! I am in love with traveling, nature, mountains, taking photos and making videos.

This website features some of my travels guides, photos, videos, travel diaries and thoughts.

The Walk

I was supposed to sleep longer after having done a lot of things yesterday but as it seems that sleep no longer likes me. I woke earlier than anyone in dorm, got ready and went out for shower and then later for breakfast downstairs.

I filled my plate with some stuff and sat next to a guy Simon I had very brief chat last evening in Kitchen. We started talking about travel and other things and we decided to go on to the walk in the morning together. He wanted to visit the Reykjavik Botanical Garden and I suggested we walk through the beach. I took him to my favorite spot. Some pictures I took on the way

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Later at lighthouse, we decided to sit down and get some sunshine. Although it was 2 degree but it felt really good in sunshine. We sat there and I felt like that was the moment for my favorite song “Confluence” by Manual. I asked Simon if he mind if I put on headphones and he said no.

I put on my headphones and listen to my favorite track. It’s a piece of timeless ambient music that I’ve listen to several beautiful occasions like sunrises, sunsets and star gazing and on top of mountains. I always hoped that someday I’ll get to share this music who is as crazy as me, but I think the beauty of this song is that I’ve heard it alone and deep down I knew every time that I won’t get to share it with anyone. Anyway, that’s the view I was sitting next to

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Later, we took a walk toward the Gardens and after another 45 minutes of walk, we reached the garden. It was good but nothing extra ordinary as it isn’t spring yet in Iceland. I only took one picture which is

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After spending sometime there, we decided to walk back towards downtown as both of us were super hungry. Another 45 minutes of walk and we were at bay of Reykjavik. We started looking for good options to eat and ended up spending more than 45 minutes and still couldn’t find anything. We decided to go to Noodle Station again as we were completely out of energy at this point. We ordered Noodles with chicken, it tasted so awesome as we were super hungry.

Later, we decided to visit this unique building called Harpa. Harpa is a concert hall and conference centre located by the old harbor between Reykjavík city center and the North Atlantic, the new Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre, stands out as a unique landmark in continuous interplay with its surroundings. The design was influenced by Iceland‘s exceptional and dramatic nature. Situated on the boundary between land and sea, the building is a gleaming sculpture reflecting both sky and harbor, as well as the vibrant life of the city. The entrance is free and you can even spend time in there without any charges. Some pictures I took there

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Later, we decided to take a walk to Tjörnin which is a prominent small lake in central Reykjavík, It is situated in the city centre next to the Reykjavik City Hall and several museums. We sat down there and enjoyed the view

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Simon suggested to visit a nearby cemetery and I decided to go there. On the way, we decided to visit a small museum next to lake. It had big map of whole country and information about it. Later, we entered cemetery and took some pictures

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At this point, we were so exhausted that our legs couldn’t take it anymore so we decided to walk back to hostel. On the way to Hostel, I came across the street that gives an awesome view of Church Hallgrímskirkja and it looked like a space ship

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I went there and Emily was again in lounge. She introduced me to Hatim, a guy from Egypt and Chelsea, a girl from Australia. They two were planning to rent a car tomorrow, so me and Emily decided to join them.

Hatim and me were hungry so we decided to grab dinner together. See that’s how it works, you just met someone and now you’re like best pals. I decided to go to the place called “Gamla” that was suggested by guy in hostel. Now I knew where it was located. We went there and I ordered whale steak. I expected something unique but it tasted like lamb mixed with Tuna :)

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After dinner, we were walking back to hostel but we saw that sun was setting and we decided to see it from harbor. We walked there talking about different things and witnessed something that can’t be described in words. See for yourself,

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After watching the sunset, we walked back to hostel and it turned out that Chelsea was having problem with car rent which put our plan into a hanging position.

I was planning to walk somewhere dark with in city to see the Northern lights again and asked Emily, Hatim and Chelsea if anyone wanna join. Only Hatim said yes and we started walking towards the light house again. When we were close to hostel, we could see lights but as we moved further, it got cloudy and by the time we reach light house it was fully cloudy, we decided to walk back towards hostel. It was very awful walk as it got really cold but we managed to reach hostel. I spent sometime in Kitchen as I wasn’t feeling sleepy but later decided to go dorm. I again managed to sleep for a couple hours tonight.

#travel #wanderlust #iceland

Golden circle, the walk and the lights

So last evening, I booked a tour with “Travel Nice” for Golden Circle of Iceland. A bit of information about Golden circle, it is a popular tourist route in South Iceland, covering about 300 kilometres looping from Reykjavík into central Iceland and back. It is the area that contains most tours and travel-related activities in Iceland. The five primary stops on the route are the Þingvellir national park, the Gullfoss waterfall (meaning "golden falls"), and the geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur.

The tour was supposed to start at 9:30 so I went downstairs, grabbed coffee and croissant and went out to nearby supermarket to pick some stuff for journey. Around 9:30, then van picked me. It was a sunny day in Iceland. Not a a single cloud and thankfully, it was a small group. The guide was Italian living in Iceland for a couple of years. There was a Polish couple, two Irish girls and couple from Boston and as usual me the solo traveler :).

Once we exit the Reykjavík, I started to see such a versatile landscape. Unfortunately, I still felt bad from past events so I didn’t took many pictures and tried to find comfort just by looking at the nature around me silently.

After about 45 minutes, we made our first stop at Þingvellir which is a place in southwestern Iceland, near the Reykjanes peninsula and the Hengill volcanic area. Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is at the northern end of Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland. Alþingi ("Althing" in English), the Icelandic Parliament, was established at Þingvellir in 930, and remained there until 1798. Þingvellir National Park (or Thingvellir National Park) was founded in 1930, marking the 1,000th anniversary of the Althing. It was later expanded to protect natural phenomena in the surrounding area, and became a World Heritage Site in 2004.

After parking the van, we took a small walk from the valley to a nearby small waterfall. The views on the way were brilliant

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Guide told us about the history of the place but I was too occupied by nature around me to hear. Usually, I would try to socialize with people but since everyone was a couple, it was kinda useless to interrupt them. So I walked behind the group silently. We reached the waterfall finally. It was small but beautiful

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I decided to get away from people again and climb the nearby rock and sat there in peace and watched the water drop to ground from rocks

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I was at a place, where I can’t see people down there neither they could see me, after sometime I decided to check on the group and it turned out they left. I decided to go down and followed the same trail and found them at parking. From there, we started journey to second stop that would be Gullfoss. Gullfoss meaning Golden Falls is a waterfall located in the canyon of the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland. Gullfoss is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland. The wide Hvítá rushes southward, and about a kilometre above the falls it turns sharply to the right and flows down into a wide curved three-step "staircase" and then abruptly plunges in two stages (11 m and 21 m) into a crevice 32 m (105 ft) deep.

It was really windy and crowded over there. Again, I went away from group and started exploring on my own. I tried to take a couple pictures but I couldn’t get a better shot because of all the people with their selfie sticks.

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From there, we went to third stop which is famous geyser, erupting every several minutes & shooting water up to 70 m into the air. Guide suggested that we can also grab lunch at one of the cafes nearby. We had two hours to explore and have lunch. I again, set out on my own. There were many people around Geyser with their cameras ready to take pictures of themselves when Geyser erupts. I decided not stay there and climb the nearby hill and take pictures from there. A few pics I took on the way

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After 15-20 minutes of easy hike, I was on top of hill and view from there was awesome. From time to time, a few people will pass through but it was mostly peace. Some pictures I took from there

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There was a mountain on backside and river down there that made an amazing view, I sat there silently and watched the view as I missed someone deeply.

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After spending sometime there, I decided to go down and grab lunch. I went to cafe and got the cheese burger and fries. Nothing extra ordinary to talk about. Later went outside, we still had 40 minutes to kill, so I decided to climb another small hill. Went there, sat and enjoyed this view

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The reason I chose Fine Travel for this tour over any other company is because they had one more spot included as part of this tour. It’s called Kerið which is a volcanic crater lake located in the Grímsnes area in south Iceland. It is one of several crater lakes in the area, known as Iceland's Western Volcanic Zone. We drove there and after sometime, we reached the lake. It was awesome, we walked around the lake and I took several pictures from different angles.

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After spending sometime there, we decided to get back into Van and thus the journey to Reykjavík started. Around 4, I was at my hostel. I was planning to take a nap but I met Emily, the canadian girl from my room and we started to chat. Then we decided to take a walk to the place that I discovered. We took a walk and talked about culture, food and how my culture revolves around food. We also talked about stereotypes and how I am 100% randomly selected at airports for extra checking.

We spent quite sometime walking and by the time we got back hostel, I was super hungry. I decided to go to eat something and Emily suggested Noodle station, a place near our hostel with relatively cheap and nice Asian noodles. Jane, another girl from hostel I met last night in kitchen decided to walk with me to the place. I got the noodles and came back to hostel’s kitchen. There we made plan to rent a car tomorrow and go to places. I finished the soup and went back in dorm. We had new friends there now as our Chinese friends left this morning.Gustova from Johannesburg and Charlotte from US. I told them that today I am going for Northern light tour and they should also as weather is really nice and clear. Then I started talking to Charlotte, she was 18 years old solo traveler and we talked about politics and Donald Trump :).

Then I took my bag again and set out to my hunt for Northern light hunt. Bus picked me at 9 and we started journey. I slept in bus and woke up when we reached at the place. They drove us again to somewhere in Þingvellir National Park. It was dark enough, but from time to time, there would cars and buses passing causing light pollution. Beside that, there 100s of people around trying to take pictures with their cellphones and cameras with Flash on. I got really pissed off and decided to take a walk further down. I asked the bus driver what time we plan to return and he told me time. He asked me not to go anywhere but I said I’ll be back here by the time you go back. He said, if I don’t come back, they’ll leave me. I said sure, what’s better than getting lost in place full of stars, right?

I started walking in random direction and came across a place where there was no one around and it was dark completely. I looked up at the sky and I can’t describe what I saw. The number of stars, I haven’t seen so many stars even at Tenerife because it was a full moon night. Tonight, moon has set already so it was completely dark. Picture of the place where I was standing to take pics

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And this was a lucky night as lights were right in front of me, I setup my camera and took several pictures, some of which are following.

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Lights were there for longer than I saw in Norway/Finland but they were not dancing as much. Still, no complains. I stood there in complete darkness where I couldn’t see my hands and I could hear myself breath. I asked myself, why am I not afraid? Then I laid on my back in that absolute darkness and gazed at stars.

After sometime, it got really cold so I decided to return to humans :). I went into bus and after sometime, bus started and an hour later, bus dropped me at the hostel. I met Gustavo in hostel lobby and he offered me beer. We had beers and Pringles and talked about things. I show him my pictures of Aurora and he was impressed :).

It was around 3 or 4 I decided to go back to my room, tonight I managed to sleep for a couple of hours as I just came back from a place where there were I had a sense of belonging. Before sleeping, I thought, someday, I’ll sell everything and buy a van and drive around in mountains. I will walk up to sunrise every morning and will see sunset every evening. I will sleep there under thousands of stars and that way, I’ll never be alone at night and yet there will be no one to break my heart.

Arrival, Chinese and Walk

Usually before a trip, a do a bit of planning beforehand to make the most out of it. But this time, I didn’t do any planning. I didn’t even know how I would go from airport to the hostel I was staying. I decided to check on things a few hours before my flight and I kinda gave up on planning anything and went to airport. My luggage limit was 5 kilos, but my bag turned out to be 3.5 kilos. It's something that I learned over the time that travel as light as possible. The handbag tag I got my WowAir was kinda funny

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I didn’t talked to anyone at airport lounge and had my headphones on all the time. Very unlikely of me, but the last few months had changed me significantly. I waited for boarding and then got into plane. Guess what? No one was sitting next to me. See, it’s not too bad to be a loner

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During the flight, I ordered couscous with lentils and it was awesome

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When flight was 20-30 minutes before landing, I could see Iceland from my plane. It was kinda grey and I was afraid that I might end up having same experience as I had in Tromso.

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Anyway, plane landed and I came out in lounge and went around to ask people how to get to the place I was staying, I was told to go to one of the counters. I went there and started asking questions about bus with the lady at bus. All of a sudden, the lone wolf inside me woke up. Not only I got it figure out how to get to my place, but also confirmed the tickets for return journey and a Northern lights tour that I booked with my flight.

So I got into bus and the journey started. A middle aged lady from Boston was sitting next to me. I helped her with the seat belt which started conversation about different things like weather. I told her about my office in Manchester and we started talking about nature there. With bus, it took over 50 minutes to get to my place. Initially I was planning to walk this distance :D.

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I walked to the hostel, it wasn’t just a hostel, it was hotel/hostel combined with very nice lobby. I went to service desk and the guy at reception told me that I’ve been upgraded from 12 bed dorm to 10 bed dorm. I was like, that awesome, 2 less snores :D. I got the key and went in the room. It was a room with 8 Chinese women. That’s right folks, not 1, not 2, 8 of them. They had turned the whole place into their house. I could see rope tightened from end to another end of bed and their clothes hanging there. Later at the same time, Emily, a Canadian girl checked into the same room. We instantly became friends because you know, we were not Chinese.

At this point, I was starving. I went down and ask the guy at reception about authentic place for Icelandic cuisine. He suggested me a few places and I set out to walk. Before going directly to the place I decided to talk a walk towards beach. It was 300 meters from my hostel and offered an awesome view.

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Then I started looking for the place the guy suggested me but I couldn’t find it so I went to a place called Old Iceland Restaurant. It was rather expensive, but hey, that’s another thing being a solo traveler offers me. I ordered local draft beer, meat soup and fillet of cod. Following are the pics

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All the food was awesome and I ate so much that I felt like taking a 30 minutes walk despite I was tired and it was drizzling. I went again to beach and started walking. It was a bit cold but I could see mountain next to beach and that got me going. I kept walking and walking and taking pictures on the way

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After walking for almost 45 minute, I reached this place, which is almost the end of Reykjavik. There is small light house here and from there I could see the nearby island. Some pictures

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After spending a couple minutes there, I started walking back towards hostel. I reached there in another 45 minutes. On the way back, I found another interesting place,

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I was dead tired by then. I decided to take a nap/sleep. But the Chinese were packing their stuff and they decided to completely ignore the fact that a fellow human being is trying to sleep. After struggling for an hour, I decided to go outside and sit in Kitchen. I chat with a couple people around and then sat there for a quite sometime until they stopped packing. It was around 2 AM when I decided to go back to room. They were all asleep but guess what? One of them was snoring like a bear. I couldn’t sleep. Lately, I’ve been having issues with sleep anyway. It was around 4 or something I started to fall asleep but Chinese woke up again and started to pack and leave again. After that, I couldn’t sleep at all. That kinda marks the end of my first day and night in Iceland.

#travel #wanderlust #europe #iceland #adventure #hiking

While you are alive collect moments not things, earn respect not money and enjoy love not luxuries

Aarti Khurana

#quotes #life #lifestyle #experience #experiences #travel #awareness

The Farewell

So today was the day I go back to Amsterdam. I woke up early. Jaime and Yuyu were planning to visit Teide National Park today, so they had to leave early. I said bye to them and went in shower to get ready. Packed my stuff and went upstairs to meet Jaime’s parents. It was only Jaime’s mom, so I had good bye hug with her.

Then me and David came out to get breakfast, we went to a nearby cafe and I ordered orange juice, coffee and toast. It was awesome. Then David and me walked to Taxi and I had goodbye hug with David and then went to airport. Rest, you know how it goes.

Just like every time, when I landed in Amsterdam, I called Melih and Derya and they asked me to join for dinner. What would I do without those guys :). So I went there and shared my stories :)

Usually, I find goodbyes and farewell very hard. Leaving the area where you had fun is really hard. Also the people I meet, I make special bonding with them. But this time, I realized that how my life is, meeting people, laugh with them, make them laugh and move on. There is no point trying to find sense of belonging. The very matter in my body probably comes from stardust of far far galaxy (no pun intended). That’s why I find it hard to maintain relationships with other people.

#travel #wanderlust #tenerife #spain #europe #backpacking #hiking #solotravel #adventure

A small hike, run and lots of food

So this morning, I woke up really fresh. Went upstairs after getting fresh to get breakfast. Then me and Jaime went outside again to hike a small near by mountain called Montana Pelada. After 3 Kms of walk from Jaime’s house, following was the view

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We started hiking and I took several pictures of the awesome view

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Then we reached the top. We sat there in silence. Jaime listened to his podcast and I listened ambient music. We would talk from time to time, but I guess the view there required some respect and we preferred to sit in silence. I few pictures I took from there

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Then we started to go down again and few more pics

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Then we got back to Jaime’s place and Jaime and Yuyu decided to go to swim and decided to go for a run. I ran 5K in the same direction where we came back from. It was 25 degrees and I got really exhausted when I got back. I took shower and in the meantime, Jaime also came back. Then we decided to go this nearby restaurant which has really nice sea food. I was literally starving. We ordered 3 starters and fish for main course. That’s how it looked :)

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I ate way too much, way too much. We got back home and I took nap. I woke up and felt sick, because of eating too much. Then I went out with Jaime and David to get some drinks. We had beers at a nearby bar. Spent time there and walked back after sunset. After that, we went to same sandwich place where we went the other day. I didn’t order anything to eat, but juice. We spend sometime outside again and went back home. I slept again immediately as I was feeling tired and sick in my stomach.

#travel #wanderlust #backpacking #solotravel #adventure #hiking #mountains #tenerife #spain #europe

I wonder how biology can explain the physical pain you feel in your chest when all you want to do is be with someone.

Dan Howell

#loneliness #quotes

Mount El Teide: The night I found the one

I have a list of things that I want to do before I die. Hiking the highest mountain of any country is one of them. Doing it in Pakistan seems impossible at the moment as K2, the highest mountain of Pakistan is also the second highest mountain of World. Beside that, we have many eight thousanders.

Mount El Teide is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Its 3,718-metre (12,198 ft) summit is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic. At 7,500 m (24,600 ft) from its base on the ocean floor, it is the third highest volcano on a volcanic ocean island in the world after Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in Hawaii.[ Its elevation makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world. A year ago or so, I watched a timelapse video made somewhere on Teide. It looked awesome. I decided to visit the mountain that day.

Going back to where I left previous chapter, Jaime started discussion with his parents and brother and I later joined after taking shower. They discussed the plan and told me about it. So the plan was, Jaime will drive me to little parking of Montaña Blanca which is like an hour drive from his place. I will start hiking from there and from there, it’s 4 hours of hike to Altaviste Refuge which is a camp that you have to book upfront if you wanna spend night there. But I’ll just stop there briefly if they let me in and will continue hike again from there which people from camp. Jaime’s father gave me brief on google Earth and I took some pictures in case I need to use them during hike.

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After the discussion, we went outside to get something to eat. I went to a nearby supermarket to buy food and drinks for hike. I bought 3 liters of water, 2 red bulls, bananas, dried figs, chocolate bar and nuts. Jaime ordered burger for me from a place on his street. I don’t remember the taste of burger as I was too much caught in thoughts of hiking. After eating, I dressed up for the hike, which was multiple layers of clothes as it was really cold up there. I went up again to Jaime’s parent’s place. Again checked the route on Google Earth with Jaime’s dad. They wished me good luck and I set out to drive with Jaime and his mother. We started driving and I was sitting silent most of the drive, in fact I was nervous :). It was cold up there and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do that, but what I knew that I had to try. After driving for almost 50 minutes, Jaime’s car started to behave strangely, on elevations, it would stop working and we’ll have to start it again. Jaime told me, we might have to abort the mission tonight and try again tomorrow. My heart started to sink. Jaime drove back again until the point we had phone reception again. He called his father and he told him that it’s alright, we should go further as it’s not a big issue. I was so relieved to hear that :). We continue journey again and here are some pictures I took during the drive

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The we reached the small parking spot. I got off the car and I was shivering due to cold, I drank a bit coffee that Jaime’s mom made me in a flask, put on all the clothes. They wished me good luck and I started the hiking and they drove back. Here is a picture of me and Jaime’s mom before I started hike :)

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It was 11:45 when I started the hike and this is the place where I started the hike from,

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It was almost a full moon night, so I didn’t even had to turn on my headlamp. Still with the full moon light, I was astonished to see the number of stars. I could see hundreds of them. When I started the hike, I felt warm. The feeling of fear and anxiety was gone. I knew that there was no one around for miles to watch me but I still felt so safe. It was just me, stars and moon. It was the feeling that I’ll never be able to explain in words. As you could see in the above picture, the trail was very wide and hard to miss, and even the elevation was not too high. So I hiked at good pace, I’d stop from time to time to take pictures of night sky and stars,

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Dec 29, 2015 at 12:02am PST

As I ascended, I could see clouds on top of ocean. I felt the radiation of happiness as walked by myself. There was just something about that place. From time to time, I would hear a noise as if someone is walking behind me but it would turn out that it was my walking sticks or jacket that was making this noise. From time to time, huge stones and plants would seem like big animal moving. I was alone but not lonely. A few pictures I took,

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After hiking for almost three hours I reached the place where there was board and according to board, Altaviste Refuge camp was only 2.5 kilometers. I was really happy to see that I was headed in right direction.

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From that point, the trail became very narrow and hard to follow. I had to turn on my headlamp from time to time. As I went further, the elevation became more steep and hard. On top of that, it became more windy as the altitude was increasing. At this point, altitude started to take it’s toll and I started to feel really tired. Thin air and brutal wind. Take a look at the following picture to get some idea about the trail

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Hiking for another two hours, at this point I was concerned again if I am heading in the right direction, from time to time, I’d look up on the peaks and they would look next to me, I’d climb more and the distance would stay the same. Throughout the hike, I could see the Orion constellation on my head, I felt as if they are looking out for me in this absolute alone place. On the peaks, I would also see something shinning, I wasn’t sure what was that. My idea was that stones were reflecting moonlight. I kept walking and walking slowly after another 45 minutes, I saw the camp. Phew, such a huge relief. I kept walking for another 15 minutes and reached the camp. It was 6 AM in the morning. I saw from the window, there was a guy inside. I knocked on the window and he opened the door and let me in. He asked me what the hell I was doing out there at this time and I told him that I started hike at midnight from down there. He was like, dude are you crazy? And I said, Yes :)

He was German guy, who was staying in camp for night with many climbers. He told me that he had problems sleeping during night due to altitude. Later, more people started to wake up and get ready for hike. I ate dried figs and protein bar, stayed on a chair for 15 minutes and together with other people, started hike. I was exhausted completely, so I went very slow. Altitude was increasing and it was getting hard to move. I was very very slow. Any way, around 7 I started to see twilight on Horizon

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I went further and further and reached the upper station of cable lift at around 7:30. The upper station, or end of cable lift is located at 3,555 meters altitude and going further to the peak requires a permit, but I was there early so there was no one to check permit. Following maps will give you an idea about the steepness from that point to peak :)

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A few pictures I took from there

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Jan 3, 2016 at 3:13am PST

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Dec 28, 2015 at 10:24am PST

I started hiking again at 7:30. At this point, I had headache due to wind last night or altitude, I don’t know exactly. I went very slowly. On the way, I could see gas coming from Earth as it’s an active volcano. Also, the gas is not toxic but still made breathing unpleasant. Also, from time to time, I’d step on stone that was really hot and I could feel it even from my shoes. After an hour and forty five minutes, I made it to the peak. It was a feeling of awesomeness.

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Dec 28, 2015 at 4:17am PST

Although sun was out completely, but I already had seen it rising as I was going on peak. I spent 10 minutes alone on the peak as everyone went down already. In those 10 minutes, I realized something, something that changed me.

The Night I Found the One

In 2015, I put quite some effort in being social, make new friends and find someone to share my days and nights. Because they say that there is somebody for everybody, right? That night, I realized that I function better when I am alone.

Every time I opened my heart to someone, I exposed myself and pushed them away. Not that I have anything to hide, but I don’t have anything special to show either. Most of the time I disappoint people, sometime people disappoint me. Either I slow them down or they slow me down. I’ve always been a loner and will always be a loner. There is no one out there for me and that’s the beauty of it. It’s the loneliness that makes me go embark on adventures like these.

Further more, when I think of it, all my good memories from past are not shared with anyone. No birthday celebrations, no new year celebration, no graduation celebrations, no finding first job celebrations. Driving alone to beaches, stopping at that juice shop in Karachi, watching sunset in Danube, cylcing in Austria, walking near green lakes in Lithuania, Meteor showers in Netherlands, Suva Planina in Serbia, Aurora in Noway and this sunrise at this very mountain, I did it when I was alone. And everytime I tried to share those moments with someone, it turned out to be a disaster.

That night, I came to understand the meaning of this quote by Henry Rollins

Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.

I decided that I will not give my heart to anyone again and the one that I am looking for is actually me. I am not much, but I am all I have. And I have this beautiful world to explore. Every time, I’ll feel lonely, I’ll go to the nature and will find the peace. Because it's the nature where I don't feel lonely. That thought set me free!

At 9:00 AM, I started descending, and at around 9:30, I was at the upper lift. I was told that lift will start working in an hour or so. I was so exhausted that I sat on ground against the wall and slept there for few minutes. It was very uncomfortable and cold up there. After an hour or so, lift came and I got in. Going to the lower part, I realized that there were no taxis. Orginally, Jaime was supposed to pick me from there but his car was broken last night so he took it to mechanic. I asked the guy at cafe that what are the options, he told me that it will cost me around 50 euros to get taxi from there. I sid yeah, whatever, I am really tired, get me one :)

He called taxi and said it will be here in 20 minutes. But it took 1 hour and 20 minutes before taxi came. I got into taxi, gave him address and slept. It took more than an hour to reach Jaime's place. Jaime and his family were sitting outside in a bar, I went to them directly. They congragulated me, I went upstairs and took shower and then went to Jaime's parent's place. Jaime's mom had prepared some local delicious dish that I forgot to ask name. It was rice with many kind of meats

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I ate it and then went for Siasta. I slept like a child for half an hour then woke up with my own snorts :D. I stayed in bed for another hour and then in evening, we went out for walk. It was refreshing and awesome. Then Jaime took us to nearby place for dinner that have Tapas,

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After eating that, we got back home and I was so tired that I slept immediatetly.

#travel #wanderlust #backpacking #solotravel #solotrip #loner #loneliness #lone wolf #hiking #trekking #adventure #mountains #teide #teide national park #tenerife #spain #europe

West, North, Capital, Sunset and the Ignition

So today we woke up to a rain which according to Jaime was a good thing as it will help with the dust. Jaime wanted to take us to West of Island. We woke up early, had breakfast upstairs and then went out. By the time we were done with breakfast, it was sunny

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Jaime started driving towards West, it was a good sunny day

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But as we went further, it turned out that it’s raining over there

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Jaime decided to go to North, we turned the car and it got sunny again :)

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And when we proceed towards North, it got rainy again, so rainy and foggy that we couldn’t see anything

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Now Jaime said, we’re going to Capital. We went there, found the parking and went to a restaurant to eat some stuff, we ordered beers and baked potatoes and kroket. It was awesome

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From there, we went to a near by open market, walked around and ended up near a beach, some pictures I took there

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Now we decided to go back to El-Medano, places where Jaime lives, on the way to parking, Jaime took us inside a building where they have these mini sculpture from Jesus’s time

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A few more pictures, I took on the way to parking

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So we came back to El-Medano and guess what? It was sunny again

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We went to a nearby place and had sandwiches and juice for lunch :)

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Then we went back home and had siasta :), after sometime, we woke up and me and Jaime decided to go to the nearby small mountains Bocinegro and Roja that are visible from his balcony.

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First we went to Bocinegro and spent only a few minutes there, one picture I took

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Then we went to Mont Roja, I had a very hard time keeping up with Jaime, as I had terrible pain in my back. Finally, we reached on the top and it was a very nice view from there, we sat there and waited for sunset and saw people take 1000s of selfies while missing out the beautiful sunset. Some pictures I took there

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Today, mount Teide was visible as the weather was nice. It ignited a strong desire in my heart to visit the mountain tonight. I told Jaime that weather is clear and instead of tomorrow evening, I want to climb Teide tonight. He wasn’t sure if I should do that after seeing my progress on this small mountain but I insisted. He said, let’s talk to my brother and see what happens.

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We spend time there and saw sunset. Some pictures,

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Dec 27, 2015 at 11:09am PST

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After sunset, we started to climb down and on the way back, it was also a brilliant view, I took several pictures

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When we reached Jaime’s house, I went to take shower and Jaime went upstairs to discuss plan with his family. The details comes in next chapter :)

A hike to Parque Rural Anaga and Tapas

On my second day in Tenerife, we were supposed to leave for a hike. How cool is that?

We were going to hike in Anaga Rural Park. The Anaga Rural Park occupies much of the mountainous massif located at the north-eastern end of the Island of Tenerife. With an area of 14,419 hectares, it is a substantial part of the Island of Tenerife and includes parts of the municipal districts of La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Tegueste. This is a steeply-sloping area with exceptional natural and cultural treasures, which has landscapes of great harmony and beauty, the fruit of the coexistence of the human being and nature in a rugged territory. It’s a protected area and you need permit to visit the park. Jaime’s dad had taken the permit already.

So we woke up at 7:00 AM in morning, took shower and went upstairs to Jaime’s parent’s place to get breakfast. I ate bread with butter and some local cookies that were awesome. After that, we got into cars and Jaime’s dad started to drive.

After 2-3 kms, we stopped at a patrol pump to fill gas and get some bread. Later 3 more people joined us for the hike. So now it was 2 cars, 9 people and 1 dog. Weather was still very hazy and the surrounding looked like a place from another planet.

So now that we were altogether, we started the journey again and after sometime, we reached the place where we were supposed to start the hike. That’s how it looked

The dog was so excited when we started the hike, he was literally jumping back and forth and going from one person to another. We started hiking on a very narrow trail with cactus on both sides,

After exiting the narrow trail, this is the view we came across this breath taking view

Then we continue the hike inside the forest coming across stunning plants and views, some which are

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After sometime, we exit the forest and came across a place which offered nice view of valley down there and some mountains around. We sat there and prepare sandwich with bread and tuna. They tasted so awesome. After a few minutes, we started the journey again and came across the most wonderful part of hike. Some of the pictures are,

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Dec 26, 2015 at 10:04am PST

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A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Dec 27, 2015 at 1:53am PST

We entered forest again, this time I chose to be behind the group to feel more connected with nature. I walked silently the whole time and enjoyed the view. More pictures,

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After the hike, Jaime’s dad decided to take us to a restaurant for lunch, somewhere in mountains that offered a nice view. After driving there for 40 minutes, we reached there. It turned out that the place was closed. At that, I was feeling motion sickness as we were driving around mountains for a long time. We decided to go to another place and fortunately it was opened. I don’t remember the name of place but it was a very Spanish place with all local people. We ordered beers, tapas and roasted pork. It was awesome,

On the way back, it was still very hazy and gave a strangely beautiful view,

I had siasta on way back home in car and when we reached home, we spent some time taking shower and resting a bit. After that, we went downstairs again to the bar and had beers. I also ordered sandwich as I was feeling hungry again. Then after sometime, we went up to sleep. That was another very happy and satisfactory day of my life.

#travel #wanderlust #backpacking #solotravel #solotrip #adventure #hiking #mountains #tenerife #spain #europe

Arrival, Nachos and 1906

Coming back from work on eve of Christmas the 24th, I felt sick. My colleagues insisted to leave early as they wanted to be home so they can spend time with their families but I had no reason to go home early. I wanted to leave as late as possible but I ended up the first person to leave office.

Just like any other big event (birthday, new year), I decided to sleep :). I crashed on my couch. Slept a bit, made myself dinner and then decided to pack my bag. Here are the pictures :)

Everyone should spend Christmas holidays at home and home is where the sunshine and mountains are, so I am going Tenerife :) #travel #traveling #travelgram #adventure #adventuretime #wanderlust #solotravel #hiking #mountains #tenerife #spain #amsterdam #netherlands #europe

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Dec 24, 2015 at 1:29pm PST

After that, I felt asleep late night. Woke up next morning, made myself good breakfast and got into train to Schiphol. The usual check-in stuff, after two and a half hour earlier at waiting lounge. It was completely empty,

I spent sometime walking here and there and then people start to come in, 20 minutes before flight, the whole lounge was full. I didn’t felt like talking to anyone so I put on my headphones and listened music. Very unlikely of me :)

Flight took off at 15:30 and I spent next four and half hour with music and eating chips. The plane was full of Dutch people who were going on holidays with their families. I was still very down from yesterday, so I chose to stay silent Towards the end of flight, I had a massive headache. Finally plane landed at 19:00 local time. I left Jaime a message that I just landed. I came out of airport and he was there with his car and friend waiting for me. We got into car and he drove me to his house where I was suppose to stay with him. On the way, he told me that there was massive amount of sand came from Africa this evening that made the weather very hazy.

He lived in an apartment next to beach, how cool is that? He lived on 2nd floor while his family lived on 4th. I dropped my bag, got fresh, put on my Tshirt and shorts. Then we went up to meet his parents. Do I have to tell you how awesome they were? I also met Jaime’s sister’s boyfriend David.

Jaime and his friend Yu Yu had big lunch so they were not hungry, I wasn’t too hungry either so we decided to go to bar which happened downstairs. Me, Jaime, Yu-yu and David went downstairs to have beers. We ordered a beer called 1906. I also ordered Nachos. Both were great.

We sat there for quite sometime and Jaime’s friends from neighborhood started to join. We had to wake up early for a hike tomorrow, so we decided to call it a day around midnight and we all went up and slept.

#travel #wanderlust #backpacking #tenerife #spain #solotravel #solotrip

Aurora: Confident, Warm, Dry, Happy and Loved

Last night was brilliant, I woke up at 10:00 AM in the morning. Packed my bag, cleaned the room and checked out. I knew the bus time. So I was at bus stop 5 minutes before. Weather outside was dry and it was not raining at all. A few pictures I took on the way,

When bus arrived, I got in and asked driver if he could let me know when the bus stop was there and he said second stop after bridge with a very grumpy face. I sat in the bus and waited for the second stop after bridge. I suspected the first stop after bridge was airport but driver didn’t gave any signal whatsoever. I got off at the second stop and I knew it was wrong stop. I asked a girl and she told me that I have to walk back. So I walked back a kilometer cursing bus driver.

After 15 minutes, I was in airport. I got the coffee and a shitty burger from cafe at airport. I couldn’t finish half of it so I threw it in dust bin and went upstairs to check in. After checking in, I ran into the Australian duo from the night before again. We started to talk again, and they told me that they were also going to Amsterdam as their next stop. I talked to them about last night for long time. Then a girl sat next to me, I started conversation with her, she was from south of Norway. We talked about music from Norway.

Our flight was delayed by 30 minutes because of bad and foggy weather at Tromso. After sometime, plane flew. One picture that I took from plane before flying,

I sat next to a Japanese guy, we didn’t talked at all. Plane flew for almost two hours and I slept most of the time. When we landed on airport, I had 14 minutes before my connection flight flies. I walked as fast I could and made it into the plane as last passenger. Plane was airborne after 6 minutes of me getting in :)

Plane flew for another one and half hour or so and I landed at Amsterdam airport to this view

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Oct 19, 2015 at 10:07am PDT

First thing I did was to call Melih and asked them if they wanted to hangout. They asked me to join them for dinner at their place. It’s been a while since I had proper cooked warm food and company of warm people so I said hell yeah. I got into train and then ferry to North (North of Amsterdam). I had an awesome dinner with Melih and Derya, and I told them all the stories. Guys, you are awesome and I love you, I don’t know what I would do without you in Amsterdam :)

My last day in Tromso was exact opposite of my first day. This hunt of Aurora and then finally seeing it gave me a huge boost. Reminded me again how good I am at making my dreams come true. Sharing dinner, stories and laughter with Melih and Derya gave me warmth and happiness. I felt loved, loved by humbleness and beauty of nature.

I realized that I may wander alone in countries, but with so much love for nature in my heart who also loves me back and reward me with her beautiful views, I will never be lonely.

#aurora #aurora borealis #northern lights #tromso #tromsø #norway #travel #wanderlust

Aurora: Autumn Struck Walk, The Good Romanian, Awesome Pizza, A Mighty Fight & The Night We Got Lucky

Autumn Struck Walk

I woke up at 10:00 today. The weather was really fine today compare to yesterday. I felt completely out of energy as I didn’t ate much yesterday. Took shower and booked the same tour online again online. Prepared my bag and left for the bus station. I wasn’t sure what I am going to eat.

When I went out, I decided to walk to Kaldfjord. A place that was recommended by my host. It’s 45 minutes walk from place where I was staying. It was very refreshing outside and it wasn’t raining. I walked the same road that I walked the first night. It looked completely different. The whole town was in Autumn mode. It was beautiful, orange leaves laying around everywhere and trees were also red. I walked slowly looking around taking several pictures,

I reached Kaldfjord after sometime stood for 15 minutes next to sea. I put on my favorite song “Confluence” by “Manual”. Manual is the performing name of electronic musician, Jonas Munk, from Odense, Denmark. It's an ambient song and it always have helped me when I felt alone during my travels. I've heard this song watching sunsets and sunrises, on top mountains, next to lakes. But this time, all of a sudden it dawned to me that those songs by Manual, they were not for sunsets and sunrises, those were the songs for this fall and isolation. A few pictures I took there

After a few minutes, I decided to walk back to bus station and on the way back, I saw someone that I haven’t seen in days. Yes, it was Sun, well a glimpse of it. Not even glimpse, some rays of light trying to make their way out of cloud.

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Oct 18, 2015 at 3:44am PDT

The Good Romanian

I reached the bus stop and waited there for 5 minutes before bus arrived. Got into the bus and bought ticket. I felt a friendly vibe around the bus driver so I decided to talk to him. He turned out to be a law student from Romania who moved to Tromso 2 years ago. I asked him how he felt in the cold weather of Tromso and what he said verified my thoughts. He said the biggest problem was cold people, not the cold weather. It’s hard to be friends with them. And we both agree that we can’t blame the people for that, the weather over there is a nightmare. Imagine not having sunlight for 3 months, I can’t even imagine how they survive winters at all. We talked about several things while he drove the bus for 30 minutes. At Tromso city center, I shook hands with him and wished him luck.

Awesome Pizza

Now I started the hunt of food, I was pretty much out of energy and didn’t had much time, just like a polar beer :D. Walking around the city center, it felt like I am in a ghost town. Shops closes, not too many people around. Finally, I found a Pizza place and I decided to go in. I ordered Chicken Chili Pizza, Coca Cola and Coffee. Good lord, that was awesome. May be I was eating after a long time but it felt so good. I overheard a British couple talking about time travel and I started taking to them. It was a brief discussion and everyone gave their view about what they think about the topic or how is it possible hypothetically.

After spending an hour there, I still had 4 hours to kill. I decided to take a walk away from city center. I wandered here and there, sometimes I would come across something interesting and I’d stop to take pictures.

A Mighty Fight

After 45 minutes or so, I ended up at docks. At this time, I could see clouds opening up and rays of sunlight trying to make their way out of clouds. There was no around so I sat at a rock and watched this fight. Sometimes, sun would show up with it’s full strength and sometimes cloud would make it go dim.

I spent 2 hours there sitting by myself watching this fight. Finally, sun started to go down and it was again amazing view. Mountains with snow on their peak and Sun setting behind them. It was brilliant! Another beautiful sunset that I saw alone. Just like always, it didn't felt right, but it felt good :). Here is a 13 minutes video I made at docks and the background music is Confluence. The music from Dannish musician I keep talking about,

I realize that it was getting really cold and I decided to go to another coffee shop. I went to the same place where I went yesterday. Ordered coffee, put on my headphones and relaxed. I spent an hour there and when it was almost 6, I decided to leave and go to tourist center. I was picked by van at 18:25. Today there was a new guide and there were many people. The British couple from the Pizza was also part of group. I was sitting next to a Argentinean couple Juan and Stella. They were awesome and friendly from the second they entered the van. I talked to them all the way.

The Night We Got Lucky

We stopped at one place, lights were visible there for a few minutes. I helped Juan and Stella with camera settings but couldn’t figure out how to increase shutter speed because menu was in Spanish.

When Stella was not around, Juan told me that he is planning to propose Stella when lights are visible. He asked me if I can take picture of them when he does that. I was like, dude, you can count on me.

We decided to drive further and ended up at the same place where we were yesterday. We had hot chocolate there and sat and waited for the lights to appear.

After some wait, they started to make their way out of clouds. They appeared as a green light on sky. But when clouds went away, it was a complete different experience. Imagine a massive thin green curtain hanging from some unseen hook on sky and swirls. It was like a dance. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. In fact, when I am writing this, I feel like I’ve failed to describe the experience I had.

Thousands of stars on sky, complete darkness, complete silence and a green light appearing on sky. Nah, I can’t describe. I felt connected to the moment. I’ll show you some pictures that I took,

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Oct 21, 2015 at 4:44am PDT

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Oct 18, 2015 at 6:12pm PDT

We asked tour guide that if they’re gonna appear again because Juan wanted to propose Stella at the right moment. Guide said that probably yes. And guess what, they did. Juan asked Stella to marry her, and she said YES!

That’s the story of how we got lucky. I finally saw the Aurora in her full glory and Juan & Stella decided to spend their lives together :)

We got into the Van again, on the way back, I didn’t chat as much with them as they had things to talk about between them :). After hours of drive, we reached Tromso and everyone got off the van and I again congratulate the couple and hugged and kissed them goodbye. I had to take the cab from Tromso to Kvaloya and I was at my place in 20 minutes.

Final Words

We have a story in Pakistan, it is told to children to tell them the value of politeness and humbleness. It goes like this,

Once a man was walking alone in a forest. He had his coat & scarf on. Sun & Wind were talking to each other and wind was bragging how powerful she is and things she can do. Sun was hearing her brag silently and trying to teach her politeness from time to time. Then wind suggested a bet. She said let’s see who can make this man take off his scarf.

It was wind’s turn first. She started to blow like crazy. The faster and harder she went, it made the man wrap the scarf tightly around his neck and head. After 5 minutes, wind gave up.

Now it was Sun’s turn. He came out behind the clouds and started to spread the sunlight gently. The man felt warmth and to enjoy the sunshine, he took off his scarf hence making the Sun win the bet!

I relived the moment in real life. The Sun in my story are the people who are kind and humble and wind are the people who are cold.

If you’re one of those people who smiles at stranger, talk to them and share your happiness with them, knowing that you might never meet again, you are awesome! Nothing is wrong with you! Without knowing, you are making someone’s day, that someone probably will remember you for rest of their life.

You are mightier than any highest mountain, you’re gentle then sun, you’re brighter than any stars, you are more majestic than Aurora, you are the reason this lonely planet called Earth is different than any other cosmic bodies out there in an infinite universe.

#travel #wanderlust #scandinavia #finland #norway #tromso #tromsø #kvaloya #northern lights #north #aurora #aurora borealis #europe

Aurora: Bad Burger, Coffee, The Search & The Hope

Bad Burger

I woke up early next morning, got ready and looked outside from balcony as it was raining. The view was so grey and sad that it looked beautiful.

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Oct 17, 2015 at 1:26am PDT

I decided to go to Tromso city center to eat something and to figure out what are the options. So I went out in a drizzle, and I went through wet streets of Island where I was staying. It was very refreshing and beautiful out there.

I went to the bus station, let me show you the picture of the bus station :)

I got into the bus, got the ticket and asked bus driver if he can let me know when the city center arrives, to which he said yes. After 25 minutes or so, I was in city center. I got off and looked around. All the restaurants were full even though it was just 12 PM, but then again, there were not too many options. I saw burger king and went in. I ordered coffee, and chicken crispy burger.

I didn’t had much expectations with Burger but when I saw it, it was over cooked and when I taste it, it turned out to be the worst burger of my life. I remembered how awesome was the burger that I made at home 2-3 days before leaving. I ate it anyway and then went out. I walked around the docks as it drizzled. Weather looked depressing, one picture I took,

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Oct 17, 2015 at 6:42am PDT

Then I decided to go to Tourist Information Center, it’s called "Visit Tromso". There I met two Indian girls and talked to them briefly about their plan for Northern Lights. Then I went to counter and asked the lady about Northern light and she suggested that I take the guided tour. They will try to find a spot where I can see them. I signed up for one. She was very chatty and when I told her that I come from Pakistan, she said that I have very fair color to be Pakistani :D.

Litre Coffee

The tour was supposed to start at 6:15, I had around 4 hours to kill. I decided to walk in city again but it started to rain and I ended up in a cafe of a hotel. I ordered coffee and sat next to a girl. She looked American so I thought it would be safe to talk :). I started conversation with weather and then we talked about different things like weather, it’s effects on human, human psychology, education system in our countries and various things. She was from Milan, Italy and was there for a conference. We talked for like an hour and then she had some things to finish related to work so she said goodbye. I spent another few minutes inside and then decided to take walk.

I walked in city here and there for an hour or so, and ended up at another coffee place. I got coffee and sat there for an hour. The girl at counter started talk to me that what I was doing here and where I came from. She was from Oslo but moved to Tromso a year ago. After killing some more time in cafe, it was almost 6.

The Search

So I decided to walk to tourist information center because tour was supposed to start from there. I saw two people standing close to information center, so I went there and started taking to them. The lady was from Australia and she was traveling with his son who was like 13-14 across Europe. They were also waiting for the tour, I asked them which tour they were joining and they told me “Chasing the green lady” tour and I told them that’s the one I was joining. At 6:15 the tour guide was there with his Van. Another Spanish couple joined us so we were a group of five people plus driver.

I asked driver if I can sit next to driver and he said sure. He told me that chances were very slim to see the light but we’re gonna try anyway. He told me that we will go all the way to Finnish border and see if we get lucky. We drove on The Northern Lights Route for 2.5 hours. Some times, roads were completely dark and even so foggy that you can’t see anything

We stopped at 2 places during drive to see the situation of clouds. I kept an eye out on sky to see if there were stars visible. I would told guide if I saw any stars and he’d stop to see. We stopped at Finnish border and it was a complete dark place with no artificial lights. We sat there and waited for something to happen. Lights were visible in long exposure camera shots but not so much with naked eyes.

The Hope

And then they appeared, for 5-6 seconds. We could see green light on sky briefly. It was brilliant. It was a dream come true. It gave me hope. Gave me energy and warmth. There were no chances to see the lights today but I still manage to see it :). Some pictures,

A photo posted by Abdullah Ibrahim (@designcode) on Oct 17, 2015 at 1:40pm PDT

After spending an hour or so, we decided to go back to Tromso. Now one problem I had, night buses from Tromso to Kvaløya are not very frequent and it would take a lot of time for me to get there. I told this to my guide and he said that I am lucky as he lives on the same Island :). Again having no plan turned out to be the best plan :). He dropped the rest of the group at their hotels in Tromso and we went to Kvaløya. He dropped me next to my place. I thanked him for the great tour and lift to home.

I went back home, changed clothes and crashed on the bed feeling happy, excited and hopeful. After a day full of rain and cloud, I still got lucky. Even though very briefly but still :)

#northern lights #aurora #aurora borealis #north #tromso #tromsø #kvaløya #finland #norway #travel #wanderlust

Aurora: Anxious, Cold, Wet, Disappointed and Lonely

I always feel excited and anxious the night before the trip. But the anxiety and excitement is so balanced that it feels good. You know the feeling of butterflies in your stomach?

But this time for some reason, I felt more anxious than excited. I came back at late last night after buying shoes and warm clothes, half prepared my bag and slept.

Alarm was set to 5 but I woke up at 6:30. Packed bag, ate breakfast and left at 8:30. Took tram 26 to Central Station and Sprinter from there and I was at airport at 9:30. Checked in and talked briefly to a Dutch couple who were also flying somewhere in North of Norway. Flight was 45 minutes late. I boarded on plane and didn’t had conversation with passenger next to me. As plane flew over Norway, I could see mountains and bays and lake :). As we approached Oslo, it became extremely cloudy.

By the time I landed at Oslo I had only 20 minutes before my connection flight flies. I ran and reached the gate. I turned out that flight to Tromso was also delayed. I sat in the waiting lounge next to a woman from Tromso. I talked to her and told her that I am going there to see the Aurora. She told me a few things about Tromso but that’s it. I felt like I was forcing conversation on her so I decided to quit and put on my headphones. I got the idea that people here are not up for chat :)

Anyway, plane arrived and I boarded, again ended up sitting next to a middle aged couple who were from Oslo but flying to Tromso for some training session. They were chatty and have their stories to tell and wanted to listen mine. We talked for an hour about travel, weather and several other things. After that, I decided to take a nap and slept in plane. Woke up after sometime and look outside and guess what? Clouds! For 30 minutes, we flew through clouds and landed with a bit of turbulence. It was raining like crazy. My plan was to go to city and roam around until my host pick me up. But looking at the rain, I decided to stay in Airport for 2 hours.

I saw a guy in lounge who looked like traveler so I decided to chat up with him. He was waiting for his connection flight and he was coming for Svalbard Islands, huge respect :). He was a guru of finding cheap flights, he shared several websites and tricks with me. We chatted for an hour and then I got message from my host that she is out at Airport parking. I said bye to Matt and went outside and found my host. She drove me to the apartment and I witnessed rain all the way, I felt disappointed :(

After checking in into apartment, I asked my host about the options to eat. Before I go ahead, let me tell you where I was staying. Kvaløysletta, an Island 20 Kms west of Tromso. There were 3 options to eat outside. A supermarket that has a cafe, a Thai place and a Pizza parlor. Since it was raining, I decided to go to the nearest one which was the supermarket/cafe. I walked there in rain for almost 20 minutes, most of the times unsure if I was headed in right direction. I couldn’t use google maps as it was raining and if I were to take out my phone, it would get wet in seconds.

After 20 minutes, I was in the cafe. I asked what were the options, guess what? Not much. Just some fish and roasted chicken. I didn’t enjoyed it at all, as it was overcooked and not tasty at all. See for yourself.

After eating, I got some stuff for tomorrow from supermarket and started to walk back towards apartment. As I walked back, I was walking next to road in dark, it was raining. I felt cold, wet and worst of all lonely. I am good at doing things on my own, but that night, I wished that there was someone with me. That walk would have been less cruel if I was walking with a friend.

I've never read or watched A Game of Thrones but I read one quote from book somewhere online,

When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.

That night, I came to understand the meaning of that quote :)

#travel #wanderlust #tromsø #tromso #north #norway #arctic #europe

Eurotrip Part 3 / Day 15: Romanian, Arabic, Menneken Piss, Fries and Smell of Piss

I woke up in the morning and saw that my host was not in apartment. I left a message that I am checking out and decided to leave without having to meet him.

I was about to leave, when he came back. He insisted that he make breakfast for me. I said just coffee will do. But he made noddles as well. We talked again, but this time he was light about it. He was a Romanian guy, who lived in Spain and now in Belgium and became Muslim a few years ago.

He turned out to be a friendly guy, still very weird. Let me say, he was borderline psycho. Anyway, I left his apartment at 11:30 or something. It was sunny outside,

Last night, I was too tired to observe much but I knew that it was a different neighborhood. In the morning, it turned out to be Arabic neighborhood. Even the shop boards were in Arabic and a lot of Habibis and Habibtees walking on the street :D.

Anyway, I took the metro and got off at the main station again and decided to go to Menneken Piss, because hey why not? I again went through a very Arabic neighborhood.

After quite some walk I managed to reach the Menneken Piss. It was a huge huge huge disappointment. The size of the monument is small. They were dressing the monument and people trying to take selfies and pictures with that, humanity failed! If you don’t know about Menneken Piss, It is a landmark small bronze sculpture (61 cm) in Brussels, depicting a naked little boy urinating into a fountain's basin.

From there, I went to see Grand Palace, the square was just like Dam Square in Amsterdam. The thing about Brussels, it's a overcrowded city with smell of piss everywhere, they have those open Pissua like Amsterdam where man can go and urinate and they are a big source of smell piss. Yikes!

After spending sometime there, I then went to eat Belgian fries, let’s just say that I had better in Amsterdam. Then I walked around in city center and ended up in a very busy shopping street. From there I bought chocolates for friends and then decided to go back station, it was 15:00 at that time. I few pictures I took,

Then I went to station and spent 2 hours sitting there and listening music. After that, I got my backpack from storage and went to metro station to get to the bus stop from where I was supposed to get the bus to Amsterdam. On the metro station, I had a chat with a very sweet Slovenian girl. I got into Metro, got off at the station and spent another 45 minutes at Starbucks while eating carrot cake with Cappuccino. The was the sunset view in Brussels.

Then got into bus and bus left at 19:30. I realized that I was going back home, it was exciting but sad at the same time. But I was going back home a happy person, with a lot of joy and happiness and hope and energy. All that I got from the people that I met on the journey, whom I call friends and family now!

#travel #wanderlust #europe #belgium #brussels #eurotrip #eurotrippart3

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