It doesn't seem the right time for travel guides. Tourism is idle because of the Corona crisis. Nevertheless, Iris Stemmer-Schiller and her husband Rudolf Schiller have brought out a booklet from Gilching: "Exploring Northern Thailand: Cultural Diversity and Fascinating Landscapes".
Gilching - The couple Iris Stemmer-Schiller and Rudolf Schiller did not return from a trip through Vietnam until March 2. "We didn't notice anything about Corona," says Iris Stemmer-Schiller. On December 30, they left for Vietnam carefree. “We liked that there. The people are wonderful, ”enthuses the 69-year-old, who taught German and Latin at the Christoph-Probst-Gymnasium in Gilching from 1978 to 2015. However, since their return, the whole world has been different.
Iris Stemmer-Schiller and Rudolf Schiller have been traveling around the world since they met in 1997. Almost 170 trips are behind the couple, almost 90 photo albums are now stacked on the bookshelves in the Gilching apartment. Because while the retired teacher is researching and planning, her husband (70) is dedicated to photography. Vacation packages do not come into the bag at all: The couple are traveling on their own, booking everything from their own desk if possible and only going to the travel agency in special cases.
However, when the two wanted to explore the north of Thailand, they found out in their research: “There is nothing, just a travel guide from 1999.” The couple have been to Thailand at least five times. Iris Stemmer-Schiller is particularly fond of the north. "It's just particularly interesting there," she says. Her focus is not so much on nature as on sights and traces of history.
Your guide is also stocked with numerous photos. The focus, however, is on practice: Many maps and tips, precise route descriptions, information on visas, traffic, rental cars and more should make planning easier for travelers. "It is not my goal to list the usual information meticulously and completely," explains Iris Stemmer-Schiller. It is aimed more at tourists who, like them, prefer to go their own way.
The travel guide is available as a BoD, which means Books on Demlmkand: It is printed on request and can be ordered from Amazon, for example. “I was looking for a publisher for my first book,” says Iris Stemmer-Schiller. In the meantime, she is trying "self-publishing" and has published advice on Botswana and Zimbabwe as well as South Africa and Oman. "I don't do that to make big money," she says. "I just enjoy writing down our experiences."
Now, however, the two enterprising travel world champions are also stuck in their apartment in Gilching. But they don't know boredom, because trips to Malaysia and Namibia are planned for 2021, which requires a lot of research. They are confident that travel will be possible again by then. The couple are rather not planning a travel guide about Vietnam. But one about Malaysia. Until then: "We'll wait - like the whole world." However, Iris Stemmer-Schiller celebrates her 70th birthday in August. "We wanted to go to Abu Dhabi." Whether that will be what is really up in the stars.
"Exploring Northern Thailand: Cultural Diversity and Fascinating Landscapes" has been published in-house and is available in bookshops and on the Internet.