- Overview
- (+ earlier Reports)
- Route Map
- Countries
- New Reports
- (+ new Pictures)
- Reports
- Picture Galleries:
- North America
- (Caribbean)
South America - Europe
Africa - (Indian Ocean)
Asia - Southeast Asia
- (Far East)
Australia - (Pacific)
- Statistics
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News – December 2012 (Sharjah/United Arab Emirates, December 31st, 2012)
- Website statistics: In December we were able to welcome 34'954 visitors who did 1'244'611 hits, according to 'Webalizer'.
- 'Google-Analytics' showed 45'702 Pageviews during the same period. The visitors come from ~196 countries!
- (November = 35'922 visitors – 1'168'977 Hits / October = 35'707 visitors – 1'226'553 Hits)
- ('Google-Analytics': November = 35'951 Pageviews / October = 41'163 Pageviews / 215 countries)
- Record day since 12/17/1998 = the birthday of our website: on 11/5/2007 = 13'407 visitors and 787'456 hits
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- 2012 is closing – we wish everybody all the best for 2013!
- Since our last News – November 2012 everything goes somehow haywire – but "after the storm comes calm again". After a really strong
- rainday on November 30th, 2012, the following Friday – which is here the Islamic Sunday – we went picnicking to the desert for the first
- time with an Indian family. On Wednesday, our LandCruiser got new shock absorbers and a new rear master spring leaf – everything free of
- charge! However the delight didn't last for very long as Emil was already ailing since a week due to a chest cold, which appeared now in full
- strength – strangely enough but fortunately without any fever. Our "GP" in Kuala Lumpur suggested by Skype to start immediately with anti-
- biotics, what we try always to defer. Unfortunately Emil had to give in to his advice as the situation worsened – house arrest was indicated.
- Towards mid-December the tide was turning for the better. Not only that Emil's bronchitis was fading away, but we received also an email
- from Australian car travelers, Andrew and Ann, that there was the "1st Traveler's Festival" in Dubai on December 27th and 28th, and whether
- we would be interested to participate. When after three days Mr. Awad Mohamed Bin Al Sheikh Magrin, head of the 'Emirati Travelers',
- called and held out an own stand for us, we agreed to take part in this exciting project of exchange of experiences.
- Because our 30-days' stay permit was ending on December 20th, we had to do a visa-run to the Omani border near Hatta. We would have
- had another ten days' grace (a rather not well-known "gift" from the immigration authorities to tourists), but quite a few preparations for the
- festival was on the horizon. On Friday, December 21st, the German car magazine "AutoBild" published a two-page article about us, called
- 'review' and entitled "Weihnachten in der Wüste (Christmas in the desert)", quasi a continuation of the first article of May 16th, 1997
- "Unsere Wohnung hat vier Räder" (our residence carries four wheels). And suddenly it was Christmas – a day that is rather a common
- working day in the Middle East, although many shops are decorated with Christmas trees. On Boxing Day, December 26th, our "jobs"
- started: First pitching up the stands, which in the afternoon were visited by a crowd of journalists with their inevitable interviews. The main
- day, December 27th, was the official opening. At 10.30am, H.H. Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum arrived in a
- black 'Mercedes G63 AMG V8 Biturbo'. He looked at our LandCruiser, cut the ribbon to the exhibition and presented to all the participants
- a personal certificate.
- Next day, organizers and participants shifted to Ras Al Khaima, another Emirate, for a farewell buffet (with camel meat, rice and more
- local delicacies) held at a desert camp. The results of the media coverage – two newspapers, Gulf Today and Gulf News, dedicated each
- an article to us – have its effect: Honking, waiving, invitations by email, phone calls and SMS; and when we stop there are always people
- with questions. That was our "high" until the day after the camp dinner. Then, a "low" followed: At the "outdoor-party" Liliana caught for the
- umpteenth time a pneumonia. Fever, coughing and stabbing in the chest she already had experienced several times, like in New Zealand,
- Samoa, Tahiti and Madagascar. Said this, it looks very much that we shall spend New Year's Eve sleeping or at least not "partying". This
- doesn't prevent us to hope for a happy, peaceful and an accident-free New Year 2013, which we wish to all of our friends and readers.
Pacific (Febr. 2008-Jan. 2010 + Aug.-Sept. 2010) Caribbean (June 2003-Dec. 2004) Fairytale Wedding in Dubai (March
1999) Las Vegas (Millennium change) Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996) Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997)
New Reports/Pictures
Sri Lank part 1
Sri Lank part 2
Tongatapu Island
Rarotonga Island
Indonesia 2006/07
Temples,
Pagodas, Shrines
The visit of 14 Pacific
Islands with and 1 without our LandCruiser
The visit of 13 Caribbean
Islands with our LandCruiser
+ added from the United
Arab Emirates:
+ added
from a earlier visit to the USA:
+ added
from our Arabian Peninsula round trip:
+ Flashbacks
of our Worldrecordtour:
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IN LEGEND" and afterwards "HAIR TO MAGELLAN"
