Perhaps some still remember my blog post about how unforseen events can change your life and that my health hasn’t been the best for a long time. I wrote that about half-year ago and now it seems things are finally looking brighter. With the trip last week to Cologne some of you might have noticed that I am actually able to go on a trip. Ever since the beginning of this year my health has been improving and I could also reduce the med intake. This helped a lot to feel better mentally because you won’t really feel in good shape when you see how much medication you have to take just to get the day started.
This year is still young and already much has changed. I left my job as I wouldn’t be able to really find my way back in after being away for so long time. Now that would make me unemployed again in some sense but I have still the business with my wife in which I started to help out more and more again with my improving health. As things are looking much better again for me we decided to “redo” the trip to China which I had to abort last year. So in one week we are flying once again to Xi’an and stay there for nearly three weeks. To make things a bit more interesting my father is coming with us again. What about my dear mother? When we invited her she just said “One time in China is more than enough for me!”, okay…
In China we will spend most of the time in Xi’an but according to my wife we will actually go on some trip again with a tourist group. You know my feelings about those tourist groups but well, at least we will be going somewhere this time. What makes this trip a bit more complicated is that my father is not the youngest anymore with his 75 years and then the issue when it comes to food. We have to schedule everything well so he does not get too exhausted and we have to find a healthy mix for him between Chinese food and some Western restaurants (looking at you Pizza Hut). I hope he will enjoy this trip as it won’t be this time as hot as it was back when he visited the first time in 2011 during the hot July weeks.
It still feel weird for me to actually plan such things again. There I was half-year ago and things were kind of bleak and now I am going to a three-week holiday in China. Besides that I slowly started with some sports again to get back in shape as far as it is possible right now. Will I ever be back to 100%? No, I won’t be but that is alright. The possible 90% are already more than I have ever imagined several months ago. Now I am looking forward to this summer and I really want to have a proper visit at the beach this year!
How has been your year thus far?
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That’s great you are feeling better. Looking forward to hearing about stories in Xi’an!
There will be for sure something interesting to write about again. Wonder how this whole tourist group thing will be
Glad you are feeling better — so how is Pizza Hut in China? Similar?
I can’t really make a good comparison as I was only in Pizza Hut in China, Germany and Luxembourg so far (never went in Finland as some prices are triple there…who would want to pay 40dollars for a standard medium pizza?).
The pizzas itself are pretty much the same, only the desert vary and some other side dishes plus one or two pizzas I would say
I saw this Pizza Hut comment and I couldn’t help but say that this same restaurant is expensive in Romania too. Or… that’s how it looks for me, a poor student. D:
I generally try other alternatives. xD Or make my own pizza. ouo
*Whispers* Again, me so happy that you are feeling a lot better!
Well, I don’t know how the Euro translate into your currency but you need to think that Finland also got the Euro…sooooo when in Germany this medium pizza is around 11-12 Euros and in Finland an insane 34 Euros!!!! With the same average income 😮
Shoot. I forgot about that! In that case, I should change my comment a bit. Pizza Hut is one of the most expensive restaurants in that field. (Unless I’m being terribly mistaken…)
Also, if I were to also convert that price into my currency… it would be even worse… given the average income here. ._.
I remember my days as a poor student, could sometimes only afford some apples and stuff besides the university lunch…no happy days. Thankfully things are better now and if I can do that anybody should be able to 🙂
Wow, that’s great news, Timo! Happy for you and your family. I guess the trip to China was kind of unplanned? Great! More stories for us to read 🙂 I also hope that you make it to the sea/ocean this summer!
My year so far has been going well. Quite good traveling this year so far and some more to look forward to, so I’m happy and excited.
It was kinda unplanned. We thought about it for a long time but then suddenly decided to make it happen as things are going well. Just too bad about the flight tickets though, could have saved over 100euros when ordering earlier per person.
The beach is a big goal for me, especially as Nathan loves water and having waves hitting is little legs when standing at the shore 🙂
I’m glad to hear that your feeling better! Also happy to hear that you are feeling well enough to go to China again, especially with your father! Your father is really brave and healthy, my dad is also 75 but I don’t know if he would be able to handle China, haha.
Best of luck to you and enjoy your trip. very excited to read about it!
Thank you. My father is still rather active so he should manage somehow. Afterall he just finished renovating their living room and one floor within a few days only!
Glad to hear, that you are feeling better and even good enough to travel to China again. I hope your trip will be not only a great story source but also very enjoyable for all of you.
I am not a big fan of tourist groups, though to be fair I was only part of one so far in China. Looking back to it I have the feeling about 90% of it were visits at some tourist trap places, where they sell god knows what σ^_^;
I’m looking forward to read about your trip
Oh yeah the tourist trap places. Few years back we stopped at every annoying souvenir store, it was so annoying.
I hope to be able to write some stuff while I am in China, lets see how much free time I will have 🙂
Glad to hear your health is improving. Enjoy China!
Thank you so much. I really hope that my father will be able to enjoy this trip!
So great to hear about your improving health. I wish you all the best. I am sure holiday is always better for body and mind. Have a great time and keep us posted.
I am looking so much forward to the food there. I havent eaten real Chinese food for so long time I am really craving for my favorite dishes and restaurants there! After I have visit each one at least once I am sure I will be able to relax 🙂
It’s great that you are feeling better. Enjoy your trip!
The first 4 months of this year have been pretty calmed to me. Working for home, reading, watching some series… I didn’t do anything super exciting, apart from the trip to Japan. But now that warmer temperatures are here, festivals and BBQ season are about to start! Yaaay!
Warmer season/ boiling outside in a few months :p
We extra planned this trip right now so it wont be too hot in Xi’an. They have temperatures between 22-25 degrees celsius right now which is for a Nordic person like me similar to Sauna 😀
Very good to hear that you are healthy again, Crazy. Sorry to hear that you left your job but I suppose you have to do what’s best for you. The main thing is health. As cheesy as it sounds, health is wealth and without health, it is so hard to do anything. Enjoy Xi’an and hopefully all goes well with the tour group.
This year has been a rocky one for me, what with not feeling well physically and mentally, and feeling drained. However, I think I am doing too much – have been putting a lot of energy into my book and it is still a long way to go, but I think perhaps it’s time to slow down and get better 🙂
Oh well, somehow I dont even feel sad anymore about leaving work. For so many months I was stressed out how I can back into my work again once healthy but when it got too much my wife told me to take the easy way out and just focus on getting better. Now I feel actually rather good so this summer can come!
Sounds not so good that you had some problems thus far. I really hope you will sort it all out and in future getting the book done without too much stress!
It is good to hear that you placed health first because work, well, we can always do it another day. And if it is a job that you didn’t like and you went to work still not 100%, it will only bring you down once again.
It looks like I will have to stop the book for a while until I get better because I am getting better very slowly. But good things take time to happen 😀
Take good care of yourself, afterall I expect to read the book at some point 🙂
I’m so pleased that you are feeling well enough to travel. Enjoy the trip to China.
Thank you, I will try to enjoy and relax there (plus eat a lot), besides that I hope to take a lot of good pictures for this blog 🙂
I’m so happy to hear about your improving health condition and I’m looking forward to read about your upcoming trip to China. That’s really great news:)
Though I am really looking forward to this trip I am also afraid of MIL’s madness. Perhaps I should write some day in the future a book about it 🙂
It’s lovely to hear your health has/is improving and that you can return to Xi’an. I hope you enjoy it and can enjoy the lovely food there without having to visit Pizza Hut too many times (ha ha). Have a wonderful holiday as you know I love China and my return to Australia after three and a half weeks travelling around is only recent.
Pizza Hut wouldn’t be the worst place to visit a few times 🙂
Really looking forward to the trip which will start this Sunday. Just tons of stuff to do prior to it such as some really frustrating tax paper work…
Glad that you are doing better with your health now. Who is to say that leaving your job isn’t the best thing that could happen? Most of the successful people in the world are those without proper jobs. It is just that it is very hard for someone with a stable job (like me) to suddenly let go of it. So maybe you quitting your job might be a blessing in disguise, who knows? 😉
And you get to go on a trip again! Woohoo!!
Thank you, I am really looking forward to that trip which will be in just five days.
Lets see how it will be without my job, contract was cancelled for end of February so it aint that long yet. Just hoping my little business will work out well 🙂
It is good to hear of your good health. A trip to China, too. Glad it has been a good year for you and your family.
This year been a funny sort of year for me but it has also been a year of personal growth (both good and bad).
Looking forward to hearing about your trip to China.
Lets see how this year will continue and how my body (and mind) will adapt to getting healthy again after so long time.
This trip to China will be really special and I hope to be able to write some stuff while being there 🙂
Yay! Great to hear your health is improving and you can make a trip to China. Hope you have a fantastic time there and continue to improve ^^
Hope my health will stable / improve so I can start to enjoy more things again 🙂
Hope your health will improve steadily!
Thank you, looking so much forward to be able e to travel again and enjoy life which was not really all working out for the past year
Loved it when we were there. I love real Chinese food so I was in Heaven.
Indeed, the food is always best where it originates from! Tried once a “German” restaurant in China…oh my god it was terrible but the Chinese loved it :p
I don’t know the details of what’s been going on with you, but I sure do relate. It’s been a slow start for anything personal. I’ve been sick and now I’m trying to catch up on blogs and life. I’m glad to hear that you are on the up and up! Take good care and looking forward to your next adventure in China 😀
I am just happy that I managed through the past year and now I am facing slow improvements.
China will be hopefully amazing and I hope to get many many stories together there!
That’s great that things are slowly picking up for you CC. As for your father and trip to China, do enjoy every day with him. He will be most grateful for your presence. Is the air quality going to be good for him???
Life is a blink of an eye…your parents won’t be always around.
Maybe for meals if there is reliable consomme soups (without MSG), lighter meats and veggies….
Last time in 2011 he managed well with the air but the heat was a big problem (middle of July with 35-38 degrees celsius!). This is the reason we decided to go now when the temperatures are still below 30.
We will see about the food but he will manage, at least he did so last time 🙂
🙂
I’m so glad to hear you’re feeling better. Best wishes for a good trip to China and success in your business.
Thank you so much. Being able to travel again surely feels amazing. I didn’t imagine being able to do so ever again just few months ago
I’m so happy I found your blog, can’t wait to read more.
Thank you for following. Hope you will enjoy the mostly weird stories of my life and the hopefully few darker points 🙂
I’m sure I will enjoy it, as I’m hoping you enjoy my blog.
It’s refreshing to see you totally different from the way you were before Timo. I did not know you were sick so maybe my comment is late but it’s great you’ve recovered so well.
Looking forward to catch up on your Blog and reading about your family travels especially in China.
I know I’ve said this before, but have you considered writing a book about MIL? and to make your Blog into fine print..that would be exciting!
Thank you, 2015 was really not my year at all. It was just with spring approaching that I recovered more and more. These days I am actually again looking at training plans to get my body back into shape as during the last year my weight changed a lot (standard weight was 74 kg, lowest last year was 61! and highest 99kg!!!!).
I had already some ideas about putting my collected MIL stories into some fine print but I never got past the initial ideas so far, could be also because these days I am kept busy enough with our own business 🙂