Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

I´m so excited that TED finally have published the talks from TEDx SoCal in Long Beach, California the 16th July 2011. It was such a thrill and great experience to be there, so I have been waiting for these talks and performances to be published to be able to see them again.
If you want some background information on the different talks – please see previous post from the conference. But be sure to see them all here, thats what I recommend, and be ready to be inspired..

Here they are, in the order they were presented:

THRIVING !

Session 1: Lifelong Learning

Taiko Project, “Transforming Taiko”- Musical performance

 

Kathryn Schultz, “On being wrong” (clip from TED, Long Beach 2011)

 

Dr. Brian Stecher, “Cultivating Thriving Schools”

 

Elizabeth Amini, “Top 10 Tips to Keep Your Brain Young”

 

Daniel Kish, “No Sight, No Limits: the Blind Teach a New Way to See”

 

Ray Ricafort, ”The Power of a Roadtrip and How it Transformed My Story”

 

Tim Carpenter,  ”Thriving As We Age”

 

Adora Svitak,  What adults can learn from kids (clip from TED 2010)

 

Dr. Judy Rosener, If You Aren’t On the Edge, You’re Taking Up Too Much Space”

 

Session 2: Sustainability

Paul Dateh,  ”Adventures in Mashups” – Musical performance

 

Majora Carter, “Greening the Ghetto” (clip from TED 2006)

 

Charles Gandy,  ”Creating Charismatic Communities”

 

Rosie Romo,  ”The Cooking is the Easy Part”

 

Josh Tickell, “Redesigning Society – From Scratch”

 

Hayley Hoverter,  ”Revolutionizing the Sugar Industry”

Darren Saravis, “The Art of Solar Power”

 

Rebecca Harrell Tickell, “Unite!”

 

Dr. Sylvia Earle, ”Sustainable Seas, The Vision, The Reality”

 

WIFE, “The Grey Ones” – Dance performance

 

Derek Sivers, “How to make a movement” (clip from TED 2010)

 

Session 3: Well Being

Robert Nagourney MD, “The Future of Cancer Research Lies Behind Us”

 

Justin Rudd,  ”Life is Good, and Getting Better”

 

Diana Hendel – “Childhood Obesity – Local Solutions to a Global Problem”

 

Anja Garcia,  ”No Excuses. Make it Happen”

 

Lalo Alcaraz, “A Cartoonist’s Guide to Life”

 

Nick Pugh, artist, designer and teacher , “The Future of Painting”

 

Chip Conley, ”Toward a Psychology of Business”

 

Going from Sf I drove out to east end of the city and followed HW1 along the beach down the coast. I guess that stretch is not really the most exciting so you might want to choos a more direct way the Monterey.

I have been to Monterey a few times, and it is a nice small town. The aquarium in the city is definately one of the best and is worth a visit. ypu also have a couple of other tourist attractions on Canary Wharf but when here I would maybe rather spend the time down to the real fishermans wharf where you also can find charter boats for rental. Monterey have a couple of nice restaurants, bars and pubs – mostly located around Alvarado street – and you can easily spend an evening here. I stayed at The Inn at Del Monte which is a small hotel, family owned and driven. The charm of the people there together with the roof terrace helped out on the experience but I’m afraid it is not enough for me to choose them again. Too noicy, too bad bed and pillows, lack of air condition, fridge and safe.

Going from Monterey you can stop my Carmel which is just “next door”. This is a quiet and sweet little town with a lot of art galleries, small cafes and a nice beach . This is the place where Clint Eastwood used to be mayor.

Going further south you get to the most beautiful parts of HW1 in my opinion. This is where the beautiful scenery starts as the road shifts between woods, high cliffs, narrow bridges and sharp turns. Prepare for both breathtaking scenery, shifting weather and to slow down. There are a couple of hotels and B&Bs along this stretch and some cafes and giftshops but nothing too crowdy. There has been some land slides along this route the last couple of years so they are also working on improving parts of the road.

Along the way you will get to whats called Big Sur. Here it is possible to take part of guided tours to the lighthouse etc. Check the web for timetable and arrangements.

Further south you get to San Simeon which is mostly known for the Hearst Castle. This was owned by the former media mogul William Randolph Hearst and is a spectacular view in extravaganza. Search the web for some pictures so you know what I mean, and take a tour there if you want to.

Just a few miles sout of San Simeon is Cambria and Moonstone beach. There are two “musts” here:
1. Eat your dinner while watching the sunset at the Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill.
2. Stay at an hotel within walking distance.
I stayed at Cambria Landing Inn which was decent and where I got a room with a front patio facing the ocean. Wonderful!

Santa Barbara was maybe the only place that on this trip somewhat disappointed me. Both the hotel and the town itself. It might be that I did not stay long enough to see the potential for this town though. The city centre itself is very nice looking, although I felt a discomfort with what appeared to be the towns image as something for the rich and marvelous. The hotel was unfortunately the biggest disappointment. I stayed at the Hotel Oceana and the problems started already at checkin when I had to wait for two hours for my room to be cleaned. When I noticed others getting their room I asked whether I could upgrade to get a room quicker. At that time they suddenly had the room ready after all. It turned out to be a room so big I almost had to step outside to change clothes. Also, no AC, no Safe, no fridge or minibar and a sink with leakage.
Santa Barbara, I might be back but then to a different hotel

San Francisco has long been one of my favorite cities, so to go back here while in California is a “must”. It is also interesting to be able to visit different areas of the surrounding areas . The areas of Napa and Sonoma which I have visited a couple of times before are also great but not to be covered in this post. If anybody want some guidance here, just shout.

There is still a lot of the bay area I haven’t seen of course, but there is a couple of areas I found nice. When meeting Sonya and Mark for lunch in at the University Cafe in Palo Alto I got to see that town which was really quite nice. It is home of university Stanford and seeing the campus site there was also very nice. It also hosts the Apple flagship store (as “senor Esteban Trabajo” lives in this town – that´s a joke stolen from Lalo Alcaraz;)). In closeby Cupertino you will find the Apple Company Store where they really don’t sell much Apple hardware but a lot of Apple gadgets and a lot of add-ons and third-party products.

I already had plans of visiting the town of Point Reyes Station as I had heard about that from before. Sonya and Mark also told me about Muir Woods for the opportunity of seeing the big redwood trees. In addition to that you have the great Muir Beach overlook which gives you a spectacular view of the ocean (there is also whale watching trips held right outside these cliffs so you might be lucky to spot one from the overlook). Going north from here you get to the beautiful Stinson beach which is really something to think about if you stay in SF and want to go to the beach. I also heard that this is a safer place than SF and closest bay area considering sharks. Going further from Stinson you go through some beautiful nature, woods and open areas before you get to the small town of Point Reyes Station where you can stop over for lunch or something. It is not very much to see there other than a couple of cafes, shops and an organic food market (which of course can be nice). At this point I figured I didn’t want to go back the same way I came so by ignoring the gps for a little while I continued throughout Point Reyes and into the countryside to some more beautiful nature. It gave me a very nice trip before it took me back to the 101 for a quick return to SF over the Golden Gate Bridge. I forgot to mention that I started this trip with a short stop in Sausolito which is a small fishing town just on he othet side of the Golden Gate. Ths whole trip is fully feasible in one day and recommended.

If it is your first time in SF you probably want to stop by Fishermans Wharf, which you should. Here you will find a lot of nice hotels, some good restaurants and bars with some live music and a lot of tourist-shops and tourists But there is also other stuff here: you can take a trip to Alcatraz (but booking in advance may be necessary), you can visit the Ferry building which holds a nice farmers market kind of thing where they sell a lot of fresh goods, homemade icecream, truffles, oliveoils etc etc and you can catch both the normal trams and the old historic cable cars from here.

Once you have done this it is time to see the rest of San Francisco. In my opinion does most of the districts deserve a visit. To get around in SF it can be practical to use a car to cover as much as possible but be aware that parking can be difficult and expensive. You can also rent a bike (See the link further down for guided bike-tours), or use the quite good public transportation SF has to offer.

For just seeing the city I would recommend seeing Richmond, Presidio, Pacific Heights, SOMA (South Of MArket) and the areas listed below.

Chinatown is a must. This is from what I hear the largest asian community outside of Asia. Here you can find chinese restaurants that has been passed on in the family since middle of 1800, shops that sell everything from soap, jewelry and chinese swords to cloths, herbs, tea and other food. Of course; here is also the famous chinese fortune cookie factory

North Beach has really no beach but a lot of restaurants, bars, and clubs. Here you can both find great live music and sleezy strip clubs. Check out Caffe Trieste here for a real coffee in one of the original cafe that hosted a lot of the famous thinkers in SF in the great era back in the 60′s and 70′s.
The Saloon is the oldest bar in SF and is still quite packed with people when they daily have great blues and jazz bands playing. Be aware that this is also probably the “brownest” pub in SF.

Union Square is likely the busiest place in SF with the majority of the hotels shops, malls and restaurants in the surrounding area. Of malls you have Westfield with Bloomingdales and Nordstrom on Market street and you have Macy’s on Union Square itself. They are 3 min walking distance from eachother. In addition to the stores in these malls you have all the famous brand stores surrounding Union Square.

Castro is as many know famous for its gay comunity. This is still very much the case here and it is worthwile visiting to get a sense of the community and the historical aspects to it. Stop by Harvey’s (named after Harvey Milk which was the first gay mayor) for a burger or salad and a beer.

Haight and Ashbury is also a district known for its importance from the 60/70s as it was the home of the “hippie movement” in SF. You will still feel this in the area but it is definately also the place for a lot of new and very good shops and restaurants. Also where Haight/Ashbury meets Civic Center district there are some nice trendy shops. Check out Hayes st, and the small park at Octavia and Fell on a saturday.

One of my favourite spots in SF is the Golden Gate Park. This is the biggest park area in SF but also a place for a lot of the great museums. Use a day for a picnic in the park, visit some of the museums, go for a walk, have a look at the Buffalos (GGP has its own buffalo paddock) and visit the Japanese tea garden (if you afford to pay the small entrance fee during normal hours you avoid a lot of people who visit Mon, wed and fri from 9-10 to avoid entrance fee). Outside the japanese tea garden is also a small park often used for meditations, gymnastics etc.

Be aware that SF has an increasing amount of homeless people and beggers on the streets. Most wont cause any problem but be aware. Walking in shady areas late at night is never a good idea in any city.

A couple of links:

http://offthegridsf.com/

(Off The Grid hosts weekly great food events and farmers markets)

http://www.fireflyrestaurant.com/

(recommended restaurant with focus on organic food)

http://www.biscuitsandblues.com/

(great place for blues and jazz concerts with big artists, close to Union Square)

http://www.sosfbiketours.com/

(recommended even by SF residents)

http://samovarlife.com/

(my favourite cafes for tea. I recommend the one on Page st)

http://www.golden-gate-park.com

http://bit.ly/iue9X3

(very good thai restaurant close to Union Square)

http://www.asianart.org/

(asian art museum)

Leaving Los Angeles I decided to start of on Highway 1 from Santa Monica and Malibu. The 1 is a beautiful drive but you can also combine it with some inland driving on the 101 going through some of the great wine districts of California. One of the first areas you get to is the city of Solvang. This is, as the name indicates, an attempt to create a copy of a danish city. This is attempted with architecture, the naming of the restaurants, the hotels and serving of danish pastry everywhere. In my opinion it fails miserably and I wouldn’t spend time here. If any, maybe just a drive-through for amusement.

A place that do justify time spent is Los Olivos: a nice little place (too small to be called a town) where you can enjoy a great lunch or just a glass of wine in the bar at Wine Merchant, or you can visit the many wine tasting rooms this place has to offer.

Leaving Los Olivos I headed for Pismo Beach which was my stop for the night. This is just outside the city of Santa Maria. Pismo Beach at first seemed to be a very old and faded beach town, and I guess it really is. My point is that it still has some nice places and fun left. Many small cafes and restaurants, a few bars and a few stores. I think the best experience I had though, was the hotel. I stayed at the SeaCrest where I got a nice room in the south tower, on the fourth floor with a beautiful ocean view. To sit there, enjoying a nice cold beer and watching the sunset was absolutely astonishing.

The next morning I had the complimentary continental breakfast which wasn’t really very exciting but they also had fresh fruit which is a selling point for a breakfast I think. Breakfast was topped with a nice walk and stretch on the beach before I got back on the road. Leaving Pismo Beach I got on the 101 going inland through some beautiful wine districts, through Paso Robles, and up to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz is a bit bigger town and with some more to offer. The town consists really of two areas; the beach area with the pier and beach promenade, and the downtown area with a wide variety of shops, restaurants, bars and cafes. I stayed at the Pacific Blue Inn which was really a lovely experience and I can highly reccomend to others. A quite small hotel/B&B but very nice. At first I got welcomed by one of the owners showing me the hotel and explaining the city layout. Then I got to see the room which was really one of the best looking hotel rooms I have seen: nice wooden floor, big bed, big tv and a great bathroom with tiles on floor and walls and a big shower room. They topped it the next day wth their complimentary full breakfast; fresh orange juice and real coffee, fresh fruit and berries served at your table, then omelet at your own choice and a great sort of cinnamon pastry I have never seen before; served with home made jelly and strawberry butter….Really a breakfast to dream about but probably a good thing it’s not every day

Knowing that I would do HW1 going back to LA I chose to do parts of the trip going north on the 101 and I don’t regret it. California has some beautiful scenery and beautiful nature and this was a great way to see parts of it.
Next stop San Francisco.

My visit in LA started with a TEDx conference in Long Beach, so I chose to stay at The Westin which is just across the road for the Long Beach Convention Center / Center for performing arts. The hotel was very nice with all facilities needed and good service.

As I have discussed with several others I have trouble finding LA in itself charming or likable because it is just way to big to grasp. But after a couple of visits I have no trouble finding areas and spots in LA likeable and worth a visit. Also, if you are a fan of travelling it is always interesting just to see new places for the experience alone. Going up to Beverly Hills is a nice trip just for the nice scenery ( don’t expect to see the rich and famous because most of them are behind tall gates and fences). A visit to the observatory is nice to get a view of the city from above and it has some nice areas for hiking  too.

The area of West Hollywood is probably a better place go  if you want to see the famous. At nightime some fancy clubs, lounges, bars and restaurants here will be packed. Worth a visit just for fun but not much more

Santa Monica and Venice Beach is  a nice daytrip for both shopping, beachtime and fun . In Santa Monica you will find both shopping center, shopping streets and the pier with both amusement park and restaurants.
At Venice Beach you will find  small booths where you can buy everything from tacky tshirts, henna tattoos, real tattoos, something to smoke (?) , jewelry and other stuff. Here you will also find the famous “muscle beach” where a certain ex-governor made his first appearance..Venice Beach is the more hippie-side of things… You can walk from Venice to Santa Monica.

Going north from Santa Monica you will also find the area of Malibu and the start of the famous stretch of HW1 which is a beautiful trip in itself. Malibu has a lot of great beach houses and other property but you can also go here for a visit to te beach. Just watch out so you don’t get a surfer in the head..

For more shopping you have a big Bloomingdales at Beverly Blvd. A visit to the area called The Grove is also recommended. Not because the stores there are unique but because the outdoor shopping area is quite special. Some people will love it, some will say it is tacky, some will say exclusive and my opinion is that it is a bit over the top fancy with the fountain, music over the speakers and its own train etc, but as I said worth a visit. Just adjacent to The Grove you will also find a Farmers Market (at the end of the train tracks) which is quite nice. Here you can both have your lunch or buy fresh meat, fruit, sweets or other goods.

Some people will also like going to Rodeo Drive for the exclusive stores there, but be prepared to limit yourself to window shopping

LA also has a lot of museums. I recommend looking at that, finding something that suits your interest. I went to the LA County Museum (thanks to Joan Kim for the tip) this time for a special Tim Burton exhibit. The museum area is quite large and you will find a lot of different exhibits there.

As mentioned I stayed in Long Beach this time. I enjoyed the City of Long Beach. It has a nice beach area, amusement park, some nice restaurants and bars.

As any other city LA  county has its areas where you dont want to be walking alone or driving. But don’t be discouraged to find your own areas in LA. It has a lot to offer.

As part of my trip in California this year I’ll write a brief summary of the  areas I cover as follows:
- Los Angeles 
- Pismo Beach, Santa Cruz and the area between
- San Francisco and bay area
- Monterey, HW1 to Santa Barbara
Maybe the pictures will be added later as I am bit limited on the technical side this trip. We’ll see.
Stay tuned..

This easter I needed some “R&R” for myself and headed to Amsterdam. This was a city I had never been to before and many friends recommended it. And so can I from now on. A great city with lots of great spots for both fun, sightseeing and relaxation.

First of all, I got truly lucky with the weather. During the whole stay I had about 25 degrees Celsius and sunny every day. Wonderful! Basically what I did during my 5 day stay was to stroll the town. Some people may have suspected me for doing a “walk slow protest” as I strolled through the city at my lowest gear. But I enjoyed it a lot. I din´t rent a bike. I didn´t even take the canal boats (which I maybe should have but it will have to be next time). I did buy a pass for the trams and buses but used it surprisingly little. Amsterdam is a great city to walk in. No steep hills or freeways going through the city centre.

I know some people go to this place just to visit the coffeeshops or the red light district. After passing a couple of hundred coffeeshops during my stay I probably got a free trip just from that but I am more into having a beer at a pub. The red light district is ok to walk through in daytime as it also holds some sites that can bee cool check out. At nighttime it is more chaos and mayhem and not necessarily what you want.  If you want to go out for a few drinks it is better to take the tram to Leidseplein or Rembrandtplein (plein meaning square).

During day you should check out Nieuwmarkt, the fleamarket at Waterlooplein close to city hall, some of the beautiful churces ( i went to Westerkerk), the rijksmuseum and maybe the planetarium. Visiting Vondelpark is also a must. A great park for relaxing, exercising or having your lunch. My favourite places in Amsterdam was probably around Jordaan and the Western Canal Belt. Areas with wonderful peaceful streets, canals, small shops and cafes.

Other recommendations;Jazz cafe Alto at Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 115, Whiskycafe L&B at Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 82-84 (both close to Leidseplein), The Pancake Bakery at Prinsengracht 191 and breakfast at Cafe Luxembourg at Spui 24.

Enjoy!

This christmas I finally managed to arrange a trip for Thailand. My first trip in that direction, so really a stepping stone for me. And I am glad to say that it gave me a taste for more. Planning this trip I was first of all thinking of all the different countries in Asia aI want to go to, but having just 2 weeks available this time I figured I would have problem enough covering Thailand. So true! I need to book more time for that amazing country, but having been there once I am confident that I managed to learn a few things about what to do next time and what not to do.

First of all; we started with an open agenda. Our flight was to Phuket and back so we had that as a base for start and return. We had also booked hotel for the first two nights. Having been there now, I know that next time I will probably go directly to Bangkok next time, as I thought Phuket was a bit too touristlike. I must say I did not go to Thailand and expect to find an island for myself, but I did not aim for experiences like Tenerife and so on. So something with less tourists but still with sufficent infrastructure, restaurants, hotels etc.  After we spent 3 days in Phuket area (first city and then Karon) we decided to leave for Bangkok. We took a taxi to the airport and booked us on the first flight. Arriving in Bangkok we sat down in an airport cafe and found an hotel. Arriving at the hotel 30 minutes later we got upgraded to junior suites. Pleasant experience!

We spent 3 days in Bangkok, strolling the city and using both taxis, tuk-tuks, ferry and skytrain for transportation. I think Bangkok is a great city that I definately want to spend more time in, but 3 days is enough to start with. The traffic there is so overwhelming so if you have a hotel located a bit inconvienient like ours you will spend a bit too much time in traffic jam. That being said, when you discover how to use the ferries and the skytrain that really helps out. We managed to see a couple of the sights (still a few left that I want to see next time I go), have some good food and good drinks, almost got scammed big time in one of the best organised scams I have ever witnessed (not experienced many though), but managed to get out of there in one piece.  This was just before new years eve and our original plan was to go to Koh Samui. But we had nothing booked so we soon found out that it wasn’t a single flight ticket left. Bad planning. We asked around and got recommended a couple of places, one was the island Koh Chang being 4 hours away by car plus a 25 min ferry trip (just by the border to Cambodia). We went for it, booked hotel for 3 nights and booked a  car with driver at the hotel.

The trip down there went fine and arriving at the island we found something that more met our expectations than what we have seen in Phuket. Koh Chang is quite a large island and very green. Lots of trees and vegetation. It is mainly one road going simply around the island and it is operated by taxi-buses (with room for approx 8 people) going frequently around the island. You just hop on, pay a fare and hop off. We stayed at an ok hotel for the 3 nights we had booked and then booked another one a bit closer to the centre of the island, which was also a small upgrade in standards.  Koh Chang was definately a place I can recommend for people out to relax, lay on the beach or by the pool, have some good food and the occassional party. We stayed there for a full week before we had to start going back to Phuket.  That was arranged with flight from Trat (on the mainland) to Bangkok and from there to Phuket where we found a good hotel just by the airport for the night.  That trip was of course a bit more hazzle than if we had booked our flights from Oslo to Bangkok, and to make the matters worse I got real sick on the airport in Trat and that kind of lasted the whole day

Anyway: This trip was for me a test of a couple of things:

1. How I like Thailand – I must say Thailand passed the test and I want to go back. Next time I probably want a couple of days in Bangkok again, also visiting some of the sights and ancient cities outside of Bangkok, maybe visiting Koh Samui, but likely also going to places like Chiang Mai a bit further up north.
2. How I like Asia – Yes, after this I have a long list of countries I want to look more at; Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan and maybe China.
3. How was it to travel with only your carry-on  bag – and this was really liberating and easy. It of course limited the shopping options a bit, but not having to wait for luggage when you do mutiple domestic flights and not having to worry about a 20kg suitcase but instead a 5-6kg backpack was really nice. I will definately try to follow this on future trips when possible.

All in all – this trip was a great way to spend christmas vacation, a very nice introduction to new cultures, new environments and a nice first meeting with a pleasant people.  More experiences to come !

On my very first trip to Bangkok, Thailand I (together with my pal) ALMOST fell for the best organised tailor scam I have ever seen. That does not necessarily say much as I haven’t experienced any before. But this was organised in a way that almost could have put the best CIA operation in the shadow. I was very surprised of course when I found out this was common knowledge on some travel websites, but that was also what saved us from losing a lot of money. Here is How NOT to get scammed in Bangkok:

DO NOT:

1. believe the guy in front of the Grand Palace telling you that the palace is closed. It is not.
2. believe the tourist-policeman that very helpful tells you about Expo-centers, best tailoring in Thailand and how he can arrange this for you together with a visit to some great sights with a Tuk-tuk where we will not be scammed but pay the proper 40 baht for a couple of hours of driving (any Tuk Tuk driver in Bangkok will charge you a minimum of 100 baht for approx 15-30 min drive)
3. believe he writes notes for you on your map to be helpful
4. get in that Tuk-tuk with the innocent looking tuk-tuk driver
5. believe, on the first sightseeing place they fooled you to go, that well-spoken (fluent english) and well behaved man that asks you wehere you are going, asks to see your map, tells you this is your lucky day, and informs you about the best tailors in town and how you can do the best deal ever.
6. go back to the tuk-tuk which of course is waiting for you
7. go in to the tailor shop (called Glorious, Voglee or other.. They change their names frequently)
8. believe the tailor even though he tells you a celebrity from your country is a customer. Rememeber you told the tourist police where you were from..
9. be impressed by the measuring session and the quality of the fabric they show you. You will never get to wear it.
10. believe that you will get your suits
11. pay them any money or deposit (in advance or later for that matter)

DO:

 

1. insist that you need to go back to the hotel to transfer money
2. on the way back with the tailor employee in the front seat of the taxi, take out your iphone and google “tailor bangkok glorious” etc.
3. find out from various travel forums how many people have been scammed by the EXACT same approach as you fell for
4. feel happy that you are discovering this now before you pay anyone
5. think about your safety and do anything drastic
6. make up a story on why you couldnt transfer money
7. tell this to the tailor employee while standing in public in the reception at your hotel
8. agree to meet them next day around noon to pay
9. get out out of Dodge before then !
10. feel a bit stupid afterwards but not too much