People & their Socks
Let's talk about Socks...
On my journey through Europe, I started the funny project "People and their Socks" in May 2022. In fact, it was my boyfriend who, holding a totally punctured sock in his hand and said to me, "What would these socks say if they could talk?" (Maybe better they can't) ...and so we started by asking different people along the way on our journey the question... "Would you like to tell me something about your socks?"
Their stories, ideas or memories were as different as the people itself.
Let those wonderful people and their sock stories inspire you or just make you smile :)
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Laura, Yanko, Nael & Yaro
...I met the small VW bus full of German "joie de vivre" and thirst for adventure at a campsite in Albania.
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About her socks...
Laura borrowed her socks from her cousin for Christmas about 6 years ago... whoops... they're still on Laura's feet :)
Yanko bought new socks on Tenerife for the first time in 8 years. New sock stories can arise there!
The two little Nael & Yaro received their "lucky" mushroom socks for birth and Easter. Yaro prefers to take his socks off though :)
Tina
...Tina is traveling through the Balkans with her 4-legged companion, whom she rescued from her homeland of the heart, Turkey. Our paths crossed in Albania.
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Here's what she says about her socks...
Their particularly cozy woolen socks (called vunene carape) are from Bosnia. You and your friends will be delighted with the socks, of course not without a small gift as an energy balance...
Henrik & Thorsten
...the two from Germany are fulfilling a big dream....on their Simson they are traveling through the Balkans (of course packed with lots of tools...!!!). Again and again you look for stops, put your Simsons under for a while and then start the new stage on the next holiday...
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...and the socks?
Apparently it's easier to get going than the Simson :)
Thorsten says about Hendrik's socks that he has definitely put more energy and money into his life than into any of his socks...
Thorsten would prefer not to take his socks off at all because they have already been through and experienced so much with him.
Noor
...we met the fun-loving Noor on the beach in Albania
...and here's Noor's insider tip...definitely take socks with you to the beach because it gets really hot in the middle of the day!!! Very smart!
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His socks...
are also made of merino wool and super comfortable!
His wife says: darling...have you seen my socks??...they are here...!!! :)
Domenico
...runs the recently opened in Albania
Eco camp "Emozione" in Albania.
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About his socks he says...
"Sbinga Sbadinga!!!"...which means a lot of motivation. In Italy, Domenico got this pair of new striped socks to amuse his class as a teacher. Unfortunately, a student probably told him that she thinks the socks are stupid...
Pierre & Lotte
...my two faithful companions in our mobile home.
The "founder" of the sock story has to take even better care of his socks because they are the favorite toy of our adopted Albanian four-legged friend...
Laura, Julian & Bud
...we met our 4-wheeled (ex-)van neighbors with their shaggy four-legged friends in Albania. Bud has become Lotte's best playing partner!
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The socks are definitely the only ones that Laura and Julian have been wearing for a long time because in Albania it is definitely too warm for foot coverings at the moment!!!
Incidentally, in this case, obviously also a wonderful "no-go combination" :)
Jackie & Mark
...are from England and travel the world with their 4 little friends Rosie, Ruby, Kai & Lani. They all love their huge mobile home, a converted truck. We met her at the beautiful Lake Ohrid in Albania.
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About her socks:
Jackie uses everything multifunctionally in your mobile home, so the socks are also intended for your feet or as glass protection. However, the socks have to be careful of the little sock monster Lani, because she loves to run away with her socks and bite holes in them...
Magda & Adam
The two adventurers from Poland spent a few days sweating with us and walking their feet sore on the "Peaks-of-the-Balkans" long-distance hiking trail.
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The socks have also been to the Himalayas and the two have now carried the 190 km through the Balkans. I have observed a good technique with you: the so-called "double sock" against sweaty feet & blisters while hiking :)
Margie & Robert
The two funny and fun-loving "Dutchies" with their company "Orange Mind" tormented themselves a few kilometers through the Balkan Mountains with us. Robert secretly fell in love with our four-legged friend Lotte, but doesn't want to admit it... :)
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About her socks...
They are definitely super happy because they carried them through the world together with their feet and now also the 10 days through the Balkans, of course thanks to super hiking socks also blister-free!
She found Margie's Salomom wool socks at a bargain sale in Chamonix at the foot of Mont Blanc last year. Since then they have survived countless adventures such as: Solcava valley in Slovenia, Una River in Bosnia, the levadas of Madeira, Pico de Vera peak in the Azores, the Ardennes in Belgium, Netherlands, Viña Verde region in Portugal, Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, Durmitor in Montenegro and Tuli Block Wilderness in Botswana. (a particularly great trip after COViD).
Robert's Falke socks are from an online bargain hunt made especially for the 'Peaks-of-the-Balkans' this summer. In keeping with the company, he is wearing the "Ogange Mind" version here. But he also has the model in blue and red, depending on the shape of the day :)
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Morgane, Dominik & Tiphaine with Cleo
A funny and colorful mix of the two travel enthusiasts French Morgane & Tiphaine and the Swiss Dominik as well as the sweet Greek street dog Cleo. There is even a blind cat on board (although it overslept the photo shoot).
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And the socks?
...probably lead a single life at home of Morgane & Dominik, because they have already collected a 20-liter sack full of single socks. I asked where the socks went, various theories were put forward: maybe they disappeared into a black hole, the washing machine eats some socks or the two have a sock dwarf???
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Luckily her dog Cleo has never lost her white socks, but some days they change their color to brown :)
Tiphaine is the travel companio of Morgane and Dominik for 2 weeks . Searching for book inspiration in her favorite bookstore in Boston, after an unsuccessful search, she finally discovered her future favorite pair of socks.
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Eva & Yannick with Akira
...are also on the road with their camper van including their beloved 4-legged friend Akira and lovingly welcomed us as neighbors for one night in Bulgaria. So of course I had to take the opportunity to ask the sporty German couple (or trio) about their socks:
Yannick just doesn`t know anymore how the socks found him... Where others socks just disappear, they appear for him...what luck :) In any case, they have become his absolutely favorite travel socks and even him have already accompanied on Costa Rica
Here Eva is wearing her favorite sports socks for jogging. Once she was jogging in the woods with Akira and tripped over a branch. In the affect she did one of those super cool forward rolls that you only know from the stunt people in the movies and just kept jogging. Real stunt woman socks, so to speak... where do you get them from??
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Hanna & Jeroen
...a Dutch couple, are treating their socks quite harsh, as they travel through Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus, while living in a small van named the CaddyCad.
I met the two adventurers the first time in Serbia and after a few month again in Cappadocia, Turkey.
They told me about:
'The broken lovestory of the lost socks'
Socks; dry, wet, with holes or dusty, these small feet-sweaters are uinmissable for almost every normal human being that likes to walk softly and stay warm. Walked, stinking, washed or drying in the wind; our socks experience the world in a different way.
The lovestory of our socks starts in Utrecht, where we set off from April 2022 in our search for adventure. Travelling through Italy and the Balkan brought our socks closer together, as we hiked many km's during the most beautiful hikes. After a short break in Croatia however, the first cracks in the love story of our socks begun as the washingmachine created many holes, a potentially beautiful metaphor but in this story nothing less than the harsh result of bad washing equipment. After travelling through many more countries, landscapes and hikes, fate had finally come up to the decision that our socks couldnt be together and decided to separate them again during an act of using a bad washing machine again. While we are sad to see the socks separated, we are happy that we have another pair.
And so ends the lovestory of both our pair of socks. The story of being stinky, walked and worn down finally ends for both of them in a washdryer, one in Croatia and one in Eastern-Turkey. If we would try to ask them how they feel about their loss, we could only imagine one answer: 'well.. it socks''