Nina
Markus
Holamundo
about us
NINA (Chaayakumari)
Nina booked her first trip secretly on her own at the age of 16: a language course in Malta. Since then she takes every single opportunity to travel whereever life takes her. She loves mountaineering, is the greatest fan of desserts but also feels comfortable on a beach or in the rainforest.
Nina has a german passport, lived in Spain and Chile and currently calls Switzerland her home. Having a hungarian father, a german mother, a slovakian grandfather and an austrian grandmother, she grew up in a very international environment. No wonder, she is always very curious to discover new cultures.
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3 favourite countries: Namibia, Chile, New Zealand
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3 memorable travelling experiences: reaching the top of Huayna Potosi in Bolivia (6.088 m) at sunrise, first dive with turtles in Sabah/Malaysia, every single sunset in the Namib Desert/Namibia
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3 most horrible travelling experiences: being completely robbed in Perth/Australia, minibustrip in Malawi next to a nonstop vomitting lady, a night in hospital in India after food poisoning
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3 favourite foods: coconut based curries in Thailand, fresh fruits in Malaysia, avocado shake with chocolate in Indonesia
MARKUS (Sailesh)
Markus early lost his enthusiasm for travelling due to some package trips to classical holiday destinations in Europe (like Baleares/Canary Islands). On an individual backpacking trip around Canadas West he discovered how rewarding travelling is and since then, nothing can stop him.
Markus always has great fun in using the local methods of transport, be it never ending bus journeys in South America, a train trip in Southern Africa or a rickshaw ride in a hectic indian city. For him, it is the best way to get in touch with the locals and to feel a country.
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3 favourite countries: South Africa, Malaysia, Bolivia
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3 memorable travelling experiences: a couple of days in an elefant camp in Northern Thailand, reaching the top of Cotopaxi in Ecuador, snorkelling on Sansibar/Tansania
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3 most horrible travelling experiences: being completely robbed in Perth/Australia, a night in a tent with clacking crocs close by in Northern Namibia, food poisoning in Cordoba/Argentina
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3 favourite foods: paper dosa and kulfi in India, helado in Argentina, fried rice in Malaysia
Paramahamsa Vishwananda - our spiritual master
In 2013 we met Paramahamsa Vishwananda for the very first time. It was this one special day that changed our lifes completely. Well in the outside we still keep doing our normal business, we still keep travelling. But life got a different purpose for us. Early, we were travelling in the search of something we could hardly name. It was happiness, but still it was more than what we know what happiness is. We know now what it is and we stopped searching. It is this ever lasting happiness, this love we cannot describe. The love we feel when being with our spiritual master. It is not a human kind of love, it is much much more - divine love. Back then in 2013 we started with yoga and meditation, Atma Kriya Yoga to be precise, and we keep doing this every single day, if we travel or not. Travelling now has a different meaning for us. It is not searching any more. We either travel with Paramahamsa Vishwananda or we travel to have time to dive deeper into the spirituality and take ourselves away from daily duties. And to simply enjoy life and the beauty in the simple things one sometimes can hardly value when being caught up in the work routine.
We are very blessed that in 2016 Paramahamsa Vishwananda married us with a traditional hindu ceremony. Whenevery we can we travel to places where he gives Darshan (personal blessing), holds satsangs (spiritual talk) or is on a pilgrimage. He has become the central point of our life, he is our boss in the company, our best friend, our travel companion, our teacher and our anchor point when life is getting up-side-down.
Our bucket list
Mauritius - visiting Mauritius together with our spiritual master Paramahamsa Vishwananda.
Panamaricana - an expedition along the Panamericana is a long, long dream. Maybe one day we will make it come true.
Australia - although we did not like Australia so much, we are keen on getting to know the northern part of the country from Brooms to Cairns by 4x4 camper.
New Zealand - climbing Mount Cook and tramping in Mount Aspiring National Park in New Zealand. Swimming with dolphins in the Catlins in New Zealand (we missed it on our first trip to NZ due to freezing temperatures). Road trip on the southern island of New Zealand with sunshine
Laos/Cambodia/Thailand - cruising on and along the Mekong River and finally visiting Angkor Wat and Luang Prabang
Mongolia - train ride to Mongolia and exploring the Gobi Desert
Pacific Islands - island hopping in Polynesia like: Fiji, Pulau, Bora Bora, Samoa, Easter Islands and Hawai
Colombia - a classical backpacking trip
Cuba - a roadtrip through Cuba witha combination of beach, colonial feeling, people and nature.
Philippines - mainly for natures beauty, tropical beaches and friendly people.
Chile - so much more to experience in this amazing country like: backpacking La Serena region and the south, tour on the inland icefield and lots of hiking. Preferably with our own transport.
Scandinavia - roadtrip through Norway with lots of hiking, Aurora Borrealis, roadtrip through Iceland in summer and also a trip in winter, Stockholm and the south of Sweden for a quick trip in between
Canada - heliskiing in Alberta and British Columbia, more hiking in the Rockies, canoe trip to the eastern coast, watching the polar bears around Hudson Bay, lots of vegan food
Namibia - 4x4 trip through the most beautiful country in the world, we will never get tired of this
Spain - hiking and rock climbing in the national parcs
Japan - diving into this complete unknown country (at least to us)
Ruanda/Congo - visiting the gorillas, climbing up volcanoes, diving into the local life esp. in Ruanda
Big cities - some big cities are still waiting for us. Among these high on our list are: Marrakesh, Rome, Stockholm, Paris (for Nina), Prag (for Markus), Athens
Himalayas - Kind of a mixture of a spiritual trip and a hiking trip to India, Nepal and Butan
China - we have mixed feelings of China. But the Chinese Wall and some regions look appealing (nature!). But no big cities!.
Brazil - enjoying the nature of Pantanal is a big point on our list since many years.
Peru - still the region south is missing with Cusco, Macchu Picchu, Arequipa and Colca Canyon.
Antarctica - this remote region has a big draw on us. But the shaky boat trip has been putting Nina off so far..... Anyway, it is on the list!