I guess if you’re a lazy cat, you can also hitch a free ride.

A nice chunk to bring home for bedtime or shower snacking.

Crispy white bread, thinly sliced ham and pickles would make an awesome dinner…..maybe thickly sliced German butter (you can buy it a Janet…best butter ever…tastes almost like icecream).

Almost no booze this year outside of the “stint” in Vietnam…and yesterday’s 200ml of mulled wine was the 1st drink since Asia….crazy..

Today I got 4 tiny liquors. I’ll have one of the sour ones now…..sooooo excited…weeee..

I’ve always wanted to visit. The plan is to walk around the actual super pretty forest, eat some Black Forest cake, eat a slice of Black Forest ham and visit the cuckoo clock factory.

Maybe a coocookoocooo is in my future.

Masks compulsory…..

It obviously needs a lot of work.

Staying another night, of course….I’m not crazy…(this time room with balcony).

It’s soooooo cozy and warm and kind and Christmasy here………not in Eastern Europe anymore….sigh..

The Baden Baden markets are the most busy “anything” I’ve ever seen in my life.

This is the “attachment” bag to my big Thule backpack, it’s 20L. Everything fits just perfectly, I even brought my MacBook (I never bring my laptop with me). I have all my clothes (including 2 jackets inside now) all the charging bullshit (I actually use the laptop as a powerbank) and 3 phones. Fantastic.

I should book a hotel…

Don’t ask about the juice…..freshly squeezed grapefruit…tastes like sucking on Jesus himself. Trip is absolute butter so far and Varna airport is super clean and cozy. I magically fly away in exactly 2 hours.

I’m bringing 2 jackets….it looks like it will rain at my destination.

So…the moment I’m leaving is the exact moment my super fancy jacket arrives in Burgas from Romania. I should expect an email any moment now. I’ll pick it up the moment I’m back….it will be perfect for UK hikes in a couple of weeks.

The cheap 40 Euro down jacket I’m wearing now is already 6000000000x warmer and more comfy than any of the other shit currently in my closet. I’ll return it….it will be frivolous.

I appreciate you taking the time to read my jacket story…

Why didn’t I think of this 20 years ago?

But to its credit…it’s open, it doesn’t smell like poverty and garbage and it’s super warm. 9/10.

This was weirdly unplanned, I didn’t even want to eat anything before departure…but I got fucking hungry.

This was the fastest dinner I have ever put together…I have no idea why…boiled the potatoes then put them into the air fryer for a moment. Shallots with butter and I found some weird BBQ powder stuff and added a teaspoon (it made everything jelly), added peppercorns (I love how they get crunchy soft after a while) then grilled the steak on my hot little Japanese non stick for just a few minutes…one flip….buttered both sides….paradise.

Here is the kicker…feel free to murder me. Not only is cooking a steak like this far easier with a lot less effort and cleanup and nonsense than BBQ…I think it’s tastes better.

I SAID IT……

The steak was butter (and it’s just the standard steak from LIDL which is fucking awesome)….yes, again, it melts in your mouth.