Being in Hannover as residents for the very last time we tried and still try to fill those almost two months with more than the administrative crap and work - we try to spend a lot of time with our families, as well. Eat together at least once a day, have some wine in the evenings, talk, laugh, hug and do other fun stuff. Like going to the lake for a swim, bake together or, the classic, hike. Last Sunday we drove to beautiful national park ‘Harz’ and spent a day out in the woods, crossing rivers, resting at a beautiful lake and afterwards had a nice dinner out on the porch of some mountain hut with bestest strawberry lemonade and caramelised waffles. It’s been an amazing day with perfect weather, warm and breezy. We hiked through the forest, had good conversations and quite a few laughs, made plans for the future, talked life and holidays and outdoor sports. It’s been one of those days where everything makes perfect sense and you feel utterly happy. A day that you wouldn’t want to forget. So, like always, we took a lot of pictures. The kind of photos you take because you want to look at them whenever you feel blue. When we miss our old home and want to go over all those amazing memories we've collected here. Pictures of moments that will forever remind us of how easy life can be sometimes, how effortlessly beautiful. With us arriving back in Hannover we finally held the HP Sprocket in our hands when we walked through the door three weeks ago. This is the very first time we made use of it. Back home, we picked our fav pictures and printed them - as perfect little reminders for a beautiful summer day. They will be put up in our office in Iceland (which we have yet to find, but whatever). They also will be part of a massive ‘Germany’ album in which we will collect pictures of beloved moments we had - and still are going to have - in our country of origin.

When we stopped blogging, Caro began to write a book, Linda started writing concepts and we began working as freelance writers. With that came more free time. Weekends. Public holidays. And faded memories of all the stuff we once used to love. Hiking. Biking. Climbing. Canoeing. CAMPING. How we freaking loved camping. Writing stories. Telling jokes. Picnics in the woods. Rays of sunlight between tree tops. Coffee in the morning when there was fog over the lakes and the air still crisp before the heat of the day started rising. The smell of nature after rain. Sitting on summits eating a cheese sandwich overlooking what felt like the entire world. Morning dips. With all that free time on our hands we started to go on hikes, again. On bike trips. We browsed for opportunities to sea-kayak in Iceland. To go climbing. To learn how to surf. For the first time in three years that we now live in this incredible country we actually started to engage with it the way we would have back in the days. Got trail maps and a camping card. Took all our old equipment out from under the beds and into some of the most frequented shelves in our closets. After browsing through all the stuff we already own we realised that there isn’t much missing in order to have an amazing camping season. Tents, mats, sleeping bags - all still waiting for us to finally FINALLY bring it back out. So with the necessities sorted we found ourselves asking the most important question: how do we get some amazing coffee in the morning?

Ever so often, we get questions about what clothes to bring to Iceland. Which jackets would be best to protect against heavy rain, what to wear during the harsh and cold winter, or storm season. But above all and most reoccurring: what kind of shoes we would suggest. Well, of course that depends on the season. And on what exactly you have in mind for your Iceland trip. Hiking? Sightseeing? Exploring Reykjavik and dive into the rich culture and food scene? All of it? In winter, hiking is barely possible so we sincerely recommend thick padded boots with massive profile. In spring, summer and autumn we would suggest to bring at least two pair of boots, three if possible. High rain boots, light and waterproof hiking boots with a good profile and, if you want to blend in with the locals, some fancier shoes for dinners and theater. Icelanders dress up whenever they can so you will very obviously be detected as a tourist if you visit a chic restaurant in hiking boots and outdoor jacket (not that anyone would care, though!) If you are backpacking or only traveling with hand luggage and three pairs of shoes are not possible then definitely go for the light, comfortable and waterproof outdoor boot! Since we do get so many questions, we thought that today is a good day to recommend a perfect hiking boot: the TEVA Arrowood Lux Mid - the perfect blend of sneaker and outdoor shoe. Great breathability, light weighted, water and slip-resistent. Especially when hiking for a long time it's super important to have a boot that does not weight much and leaves you blister-free.

We all are children of nature, wether we still feel it or not. The further you go back in time and history the more us humans were connected to our planet, to it's soul, soil, water and wildlife. We did not choose to roam free it was just who we were. We knew which plant cured which sicknesses, which bird made which sound and which berries and mushrooms were poisonous. We don't have to go back to the hunter-gather lifestyle to find those roots, again but we are convinced that life should be lived outside. That wilderness is our most natural habitat. That roaming free is our elemental state of being. The two of us, especially being so connected to and intertwined with Social Media, are glued to our phones, laptops and tablets for most of the day and week. And even though we absolutely and utterly love our job we would both only be half of a person if we wouldn't put all those devices away for at least once every day and head outside to clear our heads. Fresh air and a cold breeze make everything else so absolutely irrelevant, driving out of town on the weekend for a little road trip is what feeds our souls, what keeps our hearts pounding and our brains functioning. To connect with your surroundings gets more and more important since it seems we are growing into a society that completely loses touch with mother earth and the great outdoors. It's about time we reconnect. That doesn't necessarily mean to go on intense hikes, sleep under the stars or cross an entire country by bike it just means to be out there, to feel the sun on your skin, the wind in your hair and to set your feet on ground that isn't a busy street or a fancy coffeehouse rug but a pathway that leads through moss or forest or dunes or hills or something alike. Out there, not in here. Eyes on the horizon, not on the phone.

We are taking eating habits and our health very seriously. We cook a lot, we buy fresh ingredients, we bake our own bread and we educate ourselves. We aren't vegan but we still eat a lot of soy, prefer oat milk over diary and opt for the veggie course whenever we eat out, vegan even, if available. We try to get rid of refined sugar and replace it with date syrup or ingredients alike. We sure love ice cream and we are suckers for a good cake, yet we think that you absolutely are what you eat. We find it a little funny how many people are highly suspicious when it comes to nutritional shakes or food supplements in general but feel like it's no big deal to head out to KFC and other fast food chains where you basically eat what they scraped off of the floors. Balance truly is key to a healthy lifestyle and that means eating at least three times a day, drinking a lot of water and try to opt for fresh fruits, veggies, quit on sugar and go for walks, daily if possible. We live in a time of change. Where we keep our lives organized with cellphone apps, where artificial intelligence gets more and more integrated into well, basically everything and where we have smart solutions and options for whatever you can think of. Smart light, smart electrical devices and an Alexa that turns our music on and reminds us when to take the bread out of the oven. We feel it's weird how many people still make a fuzz about food supplements even though at least every third person struggles with having normal eating habits.

Adventure is out there. It's in exploring places you haven't been to, yet and in finding new beauty at those you've visited a hundred times. It's in smiling at a stranger and getting an honest smile back. It's in the miracle of being pregnant and giving birth to a new human. It's in moving into your first own apartment or settling down in the one you consider to be your forever home. It's in a new love or in falling in love with the same person over and over again. It's in shielding your eyes from bright sunlight, in dancing snowflakes, in the first sip of freshly brewed coffee every single morning. It's in the little things and in the great challenges. It's in new discoveries and beloved old habits. It's in friends and family, it's in laughing, it's in every single day and every breath you take. It's in the fact that our brains are wired in a complexity we can hardly understand. It's in the fact that music makes the brightest day even brighter and gloomy weather beautifully melancholic. It's in the fact that we are able to dance. It's in every single day. Take our daily walk for example. It's the exact same round, day in and out. The only change is between going clockwise or counter-clockwise. Other than that you could say it's forever the same old, same old. Except it's not. The sky ALWAYS looks different. Sometimes it's low tide, sometimes high. Sometimes the ocean is completely smooth, sometimes the waves crash violently against the shore and massive tubes roll over the the sea.