And
while you are here....
... some basics:
I am a travel-writer from Germany (born 1965, B.A. in international
politics, history and journalism, free-lancing since 1992)
In the last years, I have reported on a daily basis from New York
City for SWF3, the most influential German radio programme, worked
for the PR department of an entertainment giant based in Japan,
filmed for ZDF (one of two public TV-stations in Germany) and
interviewed a variety of people like Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Lenny
Kravitz, Sting and R.E.M. for Rolling Stone Magazine. For Vogue
I checked out the most beautiful beaches and resorts (lucky bastard,
eh?), the editors of BMW Magazine sent me test-driving in the
deserts of Namibia. “Fit for Fun”, a well-known German
sports magazine, had me travelling with an Australian Boxing Circus
in the outback for a couple of very dusty weeks.
In the time between, I was reporter-at-large for GLOBO, one of
the most influential German travel magazines ever (think National
Geographic Traveller in German and you get an idea…). After
over 70 stories and almost ten years, the mag’s lights went
out in November 2001.
Currently I am working for a large number of magazines, newspapers
and publishing houses (about twenty of my books are in print right
now). My stories have been translated into 17 different languages.
In 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009 I have won the prestigious
"Columbus Award" for the Best Feature Travel Story,
something like a travel writer's Oscar, presented by the German
Association of Travel Writers.
If you want to view a list of destinations I have been to and
worked on, please click HERE.
A complete list of the magazines and newspapers that hired me
to write for them can be found HERE.
And if you just want to read some excerpts of my work – here
you go:
... the excerpts:
"...The clerk at the trekking agency in Kathmandu looks like
a general in battle and needs half an hour to prepare our storming
of the mountains: bus tickets to Birethani, air tickets back from
Jomoson, a guide for eight days, one sherpa. “You really
only need the one?”, ask the man behind the desk, playing
with his bundle of dollars. “One is quite adequate”,
I hear myself say. “I’ll carry my backpack myself.”
The Jomoson trail is considered to be one of the most beautiful
routes that skirt the Himalayas – and at the same time one
of the easiest. Jaya, our guide, glances at his watch. “Two
hour, Ulleri”, he decides. “I know very good lodge.”
Unfortunately, the Good Lord has placed the Ulleri Steps this
side of the “very good lodge”, 3315 irregular steps,
carved out of the living rock and worn smooth over centuries by
billions of feet and hooves. After about a hundred of these damn
things I make up my mind to continue the trek without smoking.
After another five hundred I abjure acohol forever. Sweating and
gasping for breath, I lean on a rock and gaze enviously at all
those who lightfootedly hurry past me – including in this
case women with 800-litre plastic cans, a horde of schoolchildren
and grannies wearing thongs, discussing the latest village gossip
as they jog uphill and laughing at the top of their voices as
they do so.
But every road finally comes to an end (four hours later, to be
precise), and it is there that the tired traveller receives his
award. This is not, however, true in the case of our lodge, which
lies crouching in a kind of fissure in the rock, reminding one
of the stable at Bethlehem....”
(from: “Halfway between Here and Heaven”)
“....Austin and Nashville: they were and still are Cain and
Abel, gutter and glamour, good and evil. When Willie Nelson left
Nashville and returned to Austin where people left him alone and
let him smoke his dope – this was when the phrase “Music
City of the World” was finally coined for good. Maybe this
is another reason why the rest of Texas would prefer to ignore
Austin: too many liberal politicians, too many students, too many
environmentalists, drop-outs and hippies, and above all too many
long-haired country musicians. The rest of the state would probably
like to cover up Austin with a gigantic bumper sticker: “Don’t
mess with Texas!”...”
(from “Into the Heart of the Empire”)
“....Today things are different. In a city in which eleven
of the twelve biggest hotels in the world are to be found, small
thinkers have no chance, here things are done in a big way. Vegas
is one big superlative and anyone who wants to survive in Vegas
must offer superlatives – otherwise his creations will run
the risk of being forgotten tomorrow and blown up the day after.
“The predilection of Las Vegas for blowing up its hotels
makes it the most typical American city oft the 21st century”,
Tom Wolfe recently stated complacently. For this reason the Luxor
does not just boast the strongest beam of light in the world (
a kind of ack-ack searchlight, which every night attracts the
complete desert moth population), it also almost succeded in wheedling
the Cairo National Museum into giving it two genuine mummies for
the buffet decoration. The MGM paid Barbra Streisand ten million
dollars for a two-hour-performance. The Rio has the most valuable
whine cellar in the world (said to be worth six million dollars),
Caesars – with its touch of style and a truckload of kitsch
the most typical of all Vegas hotels – has the shopping mall
with the highest turnover in the USA. And along with such or similar
statistical feats, Las Vegas at the beginning of the 21st. century
can also point to the biggest saltwater aquarium (76.000 litres,
behind the reception of the Mirage) and the highest number of
Elvis imitators (officially 73). And, totally incidentally, the
city’s catholic archbishopric is also the fastest-growing
one in the world – thanks to the multitudes of Mexican dishwashers
and chambermaids. The fact that casino chips account for about
ten percent of the contents of the collection bags does not surprise
anyone anymore. “This is not a good town for psychadelic
drugs”, wrote Hunter S.Thompson in “Fear and Loathing
in Las Vegas”, adding, “reality is already screwed-up
enough.”...”
(from: “Planet Las Vegas”)
... and there’s even
more!
These stories are also already available in English:
Australia: Top End – The Great Wide Open
Thailand: Bangkok – The Sound of Silence
India: Bollywood – Celluloid Dreams
The Seychelles: Images of Paradise
USA/South Carolina: In Search of Dr.Buzzard
USA/Austin: Home of Real Country Music
... and all the other stuff?
If you are interested in any of the stories from the big archives,
please sent me a note. I will get in touch with you immediately,
wherever I happen to be. Summaries in English can be written on
the spot in most cases; translations are available within a short
period of time. Please contact
me for terms and conditions.
... and are there pictures?
Yep. Almost all stories have been produced together with professional
photographers. If you want to see their material, please let me
know – I will bring you together immediately.
... getting in touch:
Stefan Nink
Bauerngasse 1
55116 Mainz
Germany
Fon: +49-(0)171-2850909
E-Mail: nink[at]stefannink.com
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