About this Website

TourMyCountry.com attracts more than 1,000 visits a day and provides travel advice and tourist information for international visitors of Austria from the viewpoint of a local. That local is me: , from Austria. More specifically, I come from the area north of Salzburg, where I have lived most of my life until I was around 21. I am a biologist and normally don′t like to present myself online. For this website, however, I make an exception - because it is at the very heart of the philosophy behind it to make it personal and subjective.

TourMyCountry.com is your friend!

I had the idea to TourMyCountry.com when I travelled to Portugal in 2006 and did some research online (I went for only a weekend and didn′t want to buy a guidebook). There was plenty of information available, but it was either issued by some local tourism organisation (propaganda) or shallow bits and pieces from the big travel guide sites (not enough depth, too little personal touch).

Then I met locals in Porto and had a hell of a good time there. So what does it take to make a vacation an in-depth experience worth being remembered? Good will and first-hand information from local people.

TourMyCountry.com aims to provide information to international tourists that are curious about a subjective, personal view on Austria. Here you won′t find neutral information (there′s Wikipedia, Switzerland and the Red Cross for neutrality). What you will find is MY Austria, the way I think it is and the things I find interesting about it. Therefore, you have a right to learn a bit more about me.

More on your Host & Tour Guide

I was born in Austria, lived - as stated above - for a long time in the north of Salzburg. This is where I studied biology, before I moved first to Bowling Green in Ohio (US) and later to England for graduate studies in Cambridge. I worked on adaptation of the networks formed by neurons and muscles that perform motion in the fruitfly larva, work that was generously supported by the Cambridge Gates Trust (this website was made using MS FrontPage - and notepad to remove unnecessary code). After finishing my PhD, I worked as a journalist first for the Austrian National Broadcast ORF and Spiegel Online, later for the daily paper "Die Presse" in Vienna.

In my spare time, I love to read (novels and novellas, history and biology); enjoy going to the theatre and opera (being a good Austrian, after all); travel a lot (thanks, Ryanair!); cook, eat and drink; enjoy writing and photography; love fine arts, philosophy and - you might have guessed it - working on websites (which keeps my sense of geekyness stimulated). That much about me.

Is this website made purely out of the goodness of my heart? No. I do this website for a variety of reasons: because I like the idea behind it, because I wanted to learn more about Austria, because I was annoyed by the information available about Austria online ("The hills are…"). But also because I wanted to make some money. You might have noticed the subtle bar with ads on the left hand side of most pages. If you spot anything on this bar that you might fancy, don′t be shy - the ads might provide you with opportunities to learn exciting new things about other people′s products.

A final word: I said that this is subjective information and based on my own interests. If you have travelled Austria and found TourMyCountry.com useful, I would love to hear from you! However, if you found mistekes that I have made, or you think that there is a topic missing that I should really include, drop me a line! I am always open to suggestions and enjoy hearing from my users. Have fun in Austria; I hope I could contribute to a good vacation!

TourMyHelpers: Visiting Authors

Nicole Rabitsch was born in a small village near Judenburg, a town in Upper Styria and has been living in Salzburg for several years now. This is also where she studied French, Italian and Communication Sciences. Her favourite hobbies are reading, travelling and listening to all sorts of music as well as playing the piano herself. Here on TourMyCountry.com, Nicole supplied some articles on off-the-beaten-track destinations such as a thorough review of Austrian theme parks and open-air museums.

Birgit Krista was born in Dornbirn, a city in a part of Austria which you probably are never going to visit: Vorarlberg (You know Vienna? Well, Dornbirn is furthest away from it…). She is currently studying Translation and Interpretation in Innsbruck. Her hobbies are reading, writing, theatre, hiking, swimming and of course travelling. Here on TourMyCountry.com you can inform yourself about the best Alpine huts around the city of Innsbruck in her article about Alpine romance.

Manuel Will was born to German parents and raised mostly in Portugal before he moved to Hallein. He runs a php- and internet service company in Salzburg and is a student of informatics at Salzburg University. Here on TourMyCountry.com, Manuel set up the Austria Travel Link directory and helps with technical issues when they arise."

Horst Herzog is a native of Salzburg, where he works as a graphics designer and web developer. He runs a company called Avanova that offers web design, counselling and other website-related services in Salzburg. For TourMyCountry.com, he created the flash animation that you can see on the homepage of the site.

Imprint, Copyright & Disclaimer

All contents are copyright (c) 2006-2012 by Onreda.com and TourMyCountry.com unless indicated differently. Reproduction of any part or whole of the content of this website in any form by mechanical or electronic means, including information retrieval, is prohibited except by consent of the publisher (me).

Concept, design, code & contents (except indicated otherwise): http://www.TourMyCountry.com/

Important: Note that this website contains a high dose of sarcasm. If you have experienced problems digesting sarcasm in the past, please refrain from consuming the contents of this website.

See also: Traffic: Media Data - Milestones



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