Cindy Naidoo

cindy and her powderpuff girls

Cindy Naidoo

I love travelling and I love chocolate and I believe that if either of these are not possible, then life is not worth living!! I used to jet set when I was younger, do organized tours whilst staying in impersonal hotels, then I found this amazing website called "Couchsurfing" and it has just changed my life and I love it!!

The day I found Couch Surfing I came "home". Since I became a member I feel like I'm living an enchanted life - the life I was always meant to live.

I'm not intimidated by travelling alone anymore as, at least some of the way, someone is "looking out" for me.

My whole concept of travelling has changed. Previously travelling was to see the world. Now I travel to meet friends and see as much of the world as possible while doing it.

In between me going to see the world, the world comes to see me. Who can ask for anything more?

I'm a smiler by nature, a teacher by trade, traveller by choice....Big thing about me....I have an addiction, I can't help it and it will never go away, I have been bitten by the travel bug, so stamp me up!!!!

Our last evening in Europe

Europe » Italy » Lombardy » Milan January 19th 2010

Communication

cindy and her powderpuff girls

We returned to the Casattis apartment, where I cooked us dinner. Emiliano had returned from his trip and we were very happy to finally meet him. The girls were overboard, they thought he was cute (winking eyes face). He was just as wonderful as his parents. Laura joined us for dinner, where everyone used their fingers to eat (Indian style). After dinner Guillia wanted to take us out sightseeing, but we just wanted to stay at home and chat with the family. It was fantastic just to sit and share stories, using a dictionary to try and understand each other. The next morning the Casattis all time off from work to drop us off at the airport. We were looking forward to going back home but at the same time very sad to have spent so ... read more

Let's climb the Duomo

Europe » Italy » Lombardy » Milan January 18th 2010

Pigeon in the square

cindy and her powderpuff girls

Today is a day for a bit of sightseeing. I wanted to climb the Duomo, the cathedral church of Milan and the fourth largest cathedral in the world, but the girls were not so keen. I think they had had enough of cathedrals and churches and were now looking forward to going back home, (we all were), but we were in Milan and so the Duomo it is. Kostansa, Guillia's friend's daughter said she would meet us in the city centre and show us around a bit. We arrived at the Duomo a bit before Kostansa. The Duomo is really astounding. There is so much detail, and so much to look at. It is wonderful that the Duomo is on the a grand square so you can really step back and see the enormity of the ... read more

More Milan Sightseeing

Europe » Italy » Lombardy » Milan January 17th 2010

streets of Milan

cindy and her powderpuff girls

After visiting the Duomo, we did a bit of shopping and then we decided to eat one fancy meal in a fancy restuarant, as we had not done that on our entire Europe trip. Kee wanted pizza and Krisel wanted pasta. Me I didn't want anything. Kostansa was meeting her family for lunch but she said she would sit with us for a while. We found a restaurant that we thought looked fancy and sat down to order. The prices were outrageous, the food awful and to top it all we still had to pay a fee of 5 euro each for sitting in the restaraunt:( After that disgusting meal, Kostanca left to go home and we visited some of the markets. We also found these stairs that led out of the subway station, as you ... read more

Last stop Milan

Europe » Italy » Lombardy » Milan January 16th 2010

Waiting for the tram

cindy and her powderpuff girls

Whle we were still in South Africa, Andreas had emailed me saying that train tickets from Berlin to Milan were going on special for just a few hours and that you could only buy it in Germany at the supermarket and if I wanted he could buy these tickets for us on his credit card and then when we came to Berlin we could just pay him back the money, I could not believe the kindness of this complete stranger, he was willing to risk a lot of money on us without even meeting us and what if we never arrived in germany!!! then he would be sitting with these train tickets that he had already paid for! But we did arrive in Germany and we were so grateful to Andreas for getting the tickets for ... read more

CHOCOLATE HEAVEN IN BERLIN

Europe » Germany » Berlin » Berlin January 15th 2010

Streets of Berlin

cindy and her powderpuff girls

After the visit to the concentration camp, Andreas took us shopping to some cool factory outlets that sold branded clothes and of course everything Krisel saw was a "must have", but her money was almost all finished so she had to just chill! The best part of this shopping expedition with Andreas was the Lindt factory shop where Lindt chocolates were about a quarter the price of what we would pay in South Africa. We bought three backpacks full of chocolates to take home to SA for all our families and friends. Inside this shop I thought I had died and gone to heaven...rows and rows of chocolates...happy happy. Between the pastries and the chocolates I've been eating since our arrival in Europe, I've put on so much of weight, it is actually not funny. Normally ... read more

Some sillinessas we went shopping in Berlin

Hey look I have hair, but the girls said

KZ Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Europe » Germany » Berlin » Berlin January 14th 2010

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

cindy and her powderpuff girls

As promised, Andreas took us to Sachsenhausen a suburb of Oranienberg about one hour by train from Brandenburg where during WW2 the Konzentrationlager Sachsenhausen concentration camp was located. The girls were studying WW2 at school and Kee was excited to go the concentration camp. The camp was started in 1938 and over 200 000 people were imprisoned here and tens of thousands were killed mostly through hunger, disease and torture. Camp inmates were detained in barracks. Unheated in the winter, stifling in the summer, inmates were squeezed three together into a single 70-cm bed and permitted several minutes per day for washing (two cold fountains per 400 prisoners) and using the toilets. Regulations for camp life were detailed and the tiniest violations brutally punished: SS guards were known to suffocate prisoners to death by inserting their ... read more

Any prisoner going into the neutral zone was shot immediately

New Years Eve and beyond continued...

Europe » Germany » Berlin » Berlin January 13th 2010

More New years eve party pics

cindy and her powderpuff girls

Hey guys we just have so much of pictures and we really want you to see all of them so we have to do another blog with the rest of the pics. Hope you enjoy them. We miss you all so much... read more

Let's rock together into the New year

Europe » Germany » Berlin » Berlin January 12th 2010

The CS party at Belushi's was rocking

cindy and her powderpuff girls

The New years party was awesome. The girls were having a blast. There were CSers at the party from all over Europe. We were obviously the only Indians at the party and everyone was always buzzing around the girls. The Europeans liked our skin colour and thought we were exotic. I like Europe! In India the people kept telling me my skin was too dark and that I had a vey bad tan and all the ladies kept offering to buy me skin lightening cream and here in Europe my skin colour was considered beautiful and I was considered to be exotic. NICE!... read more

****Happy New Year****

Europe » Germany » Berlin » Berlin January 12th 2010

Getting ready for the NYE party

cindy and her powderpuff girls

Getting all dressed up for the New Year's Eve party was a big deal as the girls could not really prance around all dressed up whenever we went out because it was too cold and they had to stay covered up all the time, so here was their chance to show off a bit! We had wanted to go to a nightclub in Berlin for the New year as we had heard so much about being in Berlin for the new year, but then we did not want to be in a place with only strangers which is why I had asked Andreas to check if there were any CS parties happening in Berlin and there was and it was in a nightclub, so the girls were looking forward to this. Me too I have to ... read more

Raclette - A WOW New Years Eve Dinner

Europe » Germany » Berlin » Berlin January 11th 2010

The holocaust monument in Brandenburg

cindy and her powderpuff girls

Andreas lived just outside Berlin in a city called Brandenburg. Although it surrounds bustling Berlin, Brandenburg is a very quiet peaceful place surrounded by nature. Today Andreas took us out for a bit of sightseeing in Brandenburg and Berlin. We visited a monument for victims of the Nazi holocaust. This was just a monument and we really wanted to visit a concentration camp, so Andreas said that he would take us to a concentration camp on another day as we had to leave early and now it was already a bit late. Andreas then went back to the house as he wanted to prepare dinner and we went into Berlin for some sightseeing and shopping. Tonight is the New Years eve party and the girls are very excited. Everyone says Berlin is the place to be ... read more

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