Sentosa Island {Photo Blog}

The Cockroach Dance

Some people fear snakes, others fear heights or spiders. I am deathly afraid of cockroaches (but don't get me wrong, I'm scared of big hairy spiders too). In saying that, I’d rather have a spider on my face, than a cockroach anywhere near me.

So you’re probably wondering what the cockroach dance is. It basically consists of hopping around on your tip-toes, alternating from one foot to the other, while trying not to touch the ground at all so that cockroaches can not run over your feet.

And this was my first experience of Singapore. In my head, this was my rationalization of Singapore thus far:

One Night in Bangkok

I felt the heat creep up on me slowly as I walked off the airplane. Even inside the airport terminal, I could feel the oppressiveness of it. The closer I got to the exit, the more the heat engulfed me and the more my reality set in. And then the sliding doors opened and here I was, in the middle of hundreds of people, and a suffocating heat that made every pore in my body scream. Hello, Bangkok.

We had just about 24 hours to explore the bustling city before heading to Singapore, so after checking into the hotel, we hit the streets to find our first meal. A restaurant wouldn’t do. We were hungry for more than that; a cart by the side of the road, filled with mysterious delicacies only seemed appropriate. After all, we were in Bangkok.

"Life is a Journey"

The other day I put up this map of the world right next to my mirror where I get ready every morning. Even though I spend my work days thinking and talking about travel, I wanted to have this in-my-face reminder every morning so that I don't let my personal travel goals get pushed to the far recesses of my mind. I want to actively create new trip ideas, and plan future getaways.

So here's to wherever the wind blows me.

~C

Harvest Hell {Guest Post}

I've always wanted to do a series of guest posts written by friends and family, but I just haven't gotten around to bugging enough people to write something for me. Luckily for me, someone actually wrote something for me without too much pestering on my end! 

Below is a post written by my good friend Dustin who recently spent a few months harvesting wine in Oregon.
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We are all familiar with the idiom “this is when we separate the men from the boys”. Well, the harvest season in any wine producing region across the world is truly an example of the men proving that they are men, and the boys falling to pieces.  

Wednesday: Where In The World Am I?

Oh no! I was super busy yesterday and didn't get around to posting this. So let's pretend it's Wednesday today ;)

Where in the world am I...this Wednesday? 

This city will always have a special place in my heart. I lived there for a year while I was in college, and loved every minute of it. It's in Europe, and has played a significant role in the history of cinema due to one of it's countrymen.

Any guesses?

Thanks again to Jeremy at Budget Travel Adventures for this weekly segment.

~C

Wednesday: Where In The World Am I?

I'm going to try doing a weekly travel photo feature called Where In The World Am I?. It's just for fun, but I think it's a great way to share some of my travel photos with anyone reading my blog. So enjoy it with me by playing along and guessing where the photo was taken.

Let's start off with an easy one. But as they get harder, I'll post more hints and maybe even tweet a few throughout the day.

Here goes...

Hint: I live in this city. This is one of the bridges that connects to it. What bridge am I on?

Inspired by Jeremy at Budget Travel Adventures.

~C

 Update: Good guesses, guys! Yep, that's the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. Thanks for playing :)

SFO -> PDX

The Willamette River and Burnside Bridge

Portland was not somewhere I had envisioned myself visiting. It had never registered on my internal map of places to see, I had no reason to go to Portland, and I couldn’t imagine what I would do once I got there. But recently, I had a spontaneous choice to make: go to Portland for the weekend or not. I thought about it and figured, “When the hell else am I going to have the chance to go to Portland…why not?” So I booked a flight and landed in Portland a few days later.

Having done a quick Google search (and rewatched half an episode of No Reservations in Portland), I realized Portland is a foodie’s paradise. So, being a big fan of food myself, I decided this was going to be a weekend long search for anything delicious…and boy, was I right.

My fellow Portland newbie (and foodie extrodinaire) and I spent the weekend voraciously eating our way through the city, with the one exception of Powell's City of Books – where I could have happily found a cozy corner to curl up in and read book after book.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Portland was that everyone had tattoos. Tattoo parlors were aplenty, and I saw more than one freshly inked arm in my short time there. The atmosphere was definitely not what I'm used to: totally down-to-earth in a I-wear-tshirts-and-jeans-listen-to-rock-music-and-dye-my-hair-funky-colors kind of way. But despite the tough-guy appearances, no one was rude or pretentious, everyone wanted to share with us their favorite places to eat and everyone was genuinely friendly.

Every place we found was delicious. Portland may have a relaxed vibe to it, but Portlanders are very serious about their food and beers. 

Around The World in 5 Stops

A friend of mine asked me the other day: "If someone gave you an around-the-world ticket and you were allowed five stops, what would be your destinations?"

That's a hard question to answer since there are so many places I'd like to visit, especially places that are off the beaten path like the Azores. But I narrowed it down to 5 countries - well, more like 5 regions of the planet - that I'd like to visit:

1. Cuba - Central America  
2. Argentina- South America 
3. South Africa  
4. India - South East Asia 
5. Vietnam- Asia

As I thought of the question again, I realized that I would get 5 stops on an airplane, but that doesn't mean I have to arrive and depart from the same city or even country that I landed in. 

For example, I could use the first leg of my journey to stop in Vietnam, and then travel by land to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. The second leg would leave from Thailand and land in India - where I could either stay in the south and explore Sri Lanka, or go to the north and check out Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. From there, I could fly to South Africa and explore as much of Africa as I could. The fourth leg of the trip, I'd leave from Africa to Argentina, where I could travel over to Brazil or Chile. After that, I would fly up to Cuba, or Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.

Where would you go if you got a 5-stop ticket around the world?

~C 

Cover Letter

Dear Travel Industry,

Let me first start off by saying that I'm obsessed with traveling. I think about it all day long. I stalk it on Twitter. I fantasize about the places I could go and the people I could meet.

I am the kind of person you want to hire. I will work for you day and night, think about you when I'm not in the office and crawl out of bed at 4 a.m. when you desperately need me. I am dedicated and passionate and all those other adjectives that cover letters tend to include.

I will come to work with a smile on my face and leave with that same smile.

I will (and already do) encourage everyone to travel, to see the world, to experience a new culture.

Most importantly, I offer a history of results, as evidenced by the following travel-related activities I have accomplished:

• Born in Sweden (I'm already an EU citizen!)
• Lived in Stockholm, Arles, Nice, Los Angeles, Lyon and San Francisco.
• Speak French...fluently!
• Traveled to 5 out of 7 continents (and have high hopes to visit the other 2).

From what I know about myself, I believe I have the potential to make a great contribution to The Travel Industry.

Thank you very much for considering my application. I look forward to the opportunity to meet with you and further discuss my qualifications.

...Well, actually, just give me the job. I cross my heart that I'll be amazing at it.

Sincerely,

Cat

What I Saw

It's always a little strange coming back to Sweden. One part of me feels like it's very familiar, my old home, while another part of me feels like a foreigner here. While the sounds and tastes remind me of past times, the sights still seem new to me. Here are some images from around Stockholm:

~C

What I Ate

Not so typical foods from my travels to Sweden:

 Fresh picked raspberries

Champagne, raspberries and watermelon

Greek yogurt and raspberries, a pistachio cinnamon roll and pear cider

Homemade blueberry pie

Pear popsicles

Diam ice cream

Instead of sour cream & onion, they have dill chips

Fancy cakes

Assortment of delicious Swedish cookies

Swedish desserts

Homemade salmon sashimi and sake

~C

On Returning to Sweden

In just 4 days, I'll be traveling to Stockholm once again. I was born there, I grew up there, but I never got to spend my young adult life there. Yes, I've seen the tourist attractions, the famous sites, eaten the typical Swedish meatballs, but I've never experienced it as a young adult. Where do the cool twenty-five year olds hang out? What do they listen to? What do they drink?

So what should I do in Stockholm?

I want to go here! The Icebar in the Nordic Sea Hotel

~C

An Un-Memorial Weekend

I've been trying to update this blog every week since I started it back up about a month ago, but this weekend caught me off guard. I was doing so well; it had been months since I last got sick. And this weekend I just got knocked down. Almost an entire long weekend wasted...grrr!

At least it started off well. B came down from Sacramento again this weekend to celebrate Roomie Ryan's (aka IllestRated) graduation at Sugar Cafe. The roommates and I had been waiting to meet the parents for a while now, and we finally got to meet them that evening. They were super sweet and so proud of him! His dad even stuck around a while later to hang out with us!

Ah, then Saturday came around. Saturday had such great potential. We had planned to go to Santa Cruz for the day, but our excitement was somewhat sullied when B got a speeding ticket halfway there. The cop was nice enough to warn us that there was a huge crash ahead, and gave us an alternate route. But I'm pretty sure B would have taken the traffic to the ticket.

"I'd be happy to sign that ticket, Officer" - B

It wasn't too bad once we got to Santa Cruz. We got to hang out at quality places like a very windy beach where we were covered in sand, a smelly beach cove full of dead seaweed and dogs, a bar full of smokers and a Mexican restaurant with horrible service...ya, it was just one of those days. Did I mention that it started raining too? Cattywompus! (Aussie slang for wow-what-a-shit-show.)

Although, between these small disasters, there were definitely some really fun and interesting moments...like getting to draw on this chalk board car!

Awesome chalk car we got to doodle on.

And we also took advantage of the free crayons and children's menus to document our day in neon crayon. Can you figure out what else we got up to that day?

The events of our day. In crayon.

The rest of my weekend ended with me huddled in bed/couch, blowing my nose and taking shots of Nyquil so I could get some undisturbed rest. Roomie Mike was sweet enough to make me a (what I assume was delicious since I couldn't breathe or taste much) Memorial Day bbq meal. That did help to make Monday bearable, so thanks Roomie Mike!

Roasted corn, baked potato and steak with sauteed mushrooms.

 So, how was your weekend? Better than mine I hope!

~C

G'Day Mate

Well, hello blogosphere! I'm finally back from my year long life-got-complicated hiatus. Oh, how I've missed ... oh, hold on, there's a huge bug flying around my room -- and I lost it. Great.

Anyway, I've missed blogging. Being an aspiring writer (don't laugh!), blogging helped inspired me, and I lost that inspiration for some time. BUT I'm happy to say that I'm back!

Besides from getting a real grown-up job in social media marketing during my blogging hiatus, I took a little trip down to Australia. My home-base during the trip was in Melbourne, but I fell in love with Sydney during the few days I spent there. It. Was. Gorgeous. I think I'd like to live there one day soon.

Here are some pictures from my travels:

Sydney Opera House

Melbourne at sunset

Melbourne at night

Luna Park - Melbourne

 

Bondi Beach - Sydney

The Three Sisters - The Blue Mountains, Sydney

That's all for now -- see you soon!

~C