Update: Where is Iceland? I’ve just returned from the trip. See my mini Iceland travel guide for tips for your next trip to this country.
“There aren’t many places on the planet where u can walk behind waterfall, climb onto a glacier, explore a lava cave, marvel at an erupting volcano, sail among iceberg on a glacial lake, watch water erupting into the air from a geyser and scuba dive along the rift between 2 continental plates, all in one weekend” – Frommer travel guide
It’s obvious where Ricky Gervais gets his props.
When you hear the following lines, you’d think the unapologetic comedian is at it again.
In 1995 he asked a Scottish driving instructor in Oban: “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?”
And on another trip to Australia in 2002, he asked a group of Aborigines: “Do you still throw spears at each other?”
I’d never heard of him until the day he made Johny Depp and Angelina Jolie ‘cry’ trasing the film ‘The Tourist’ at the Oscar.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWaeBTgsbdw
I’m not sure if my first trip to London can be considered a visit given I had only half a day to see the city.
I didn’t remember anything except for the arrival at the busy Victoria train station. Then I hauled my over-packed backpack from street to street around the station looking for accommodation. Everything was booked out. The available ones were too expensive for a student who had just return from an internship in … Eastern Europe. I had vague images of the Thames and the London Eye. I might even ride it without remembering anything. I remembered joining a group of Malaysian businesspeople to walk around the red-light district and then ditching them later not having enough energy and mood to socialize with complete strangers.
Finally, I’m having my first photo exhibition on Monday 6th. It is a one-day event only, starting at 5 p.m. and runs until around 8 or 9. This is very cool given getting a real gallery to exhibit your photos is not something you can do by flicking the fingers. In the last exhibition, I visited, I learned that you have to pay to showcase your photos in the form of renting a spot at the gallery. If you are part of a school, then they will arrange an exhibition for you.
I’m telling you. It’s all connection and timing. I happened to randomly pick a teacher who knows the owner of the gallery.
I tried an experiment last week: working from ‘home’ without actually being at home. A friend of mine, Vladka, whom I had not met in six years was working in Hamburg and suggested I come and see her. Couldn’t afford to lose any more holiday due to my long list of traveling plan for the year but wanted to see Vladka longer than just a weekend trip, I combined work and pleasure. I spent a week in Hamburg, working during the day and sight-seeing in the evening and weekend.
Some ideas on this list are taken from the Couchsurfing website, under the Hamburg section. Some come from my friend Vladka.
I went to the opera yesterday to see “Othello”, a play by Shakespeare later transformed into an opera by Verdi. I completely forgot the entire plot and remembered only the detail when Othello strangled his wife on their bed; listening to the Italian singing and reading the German sub-title obviously didn’t help one bit. Plus, I sat in in a corner balcony on the top floor where a quarter of my view was block by the balcony in front of me. It was a refreshing experience nonetheless, a complete change of routine in my travel.
httpvp://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D845619739A0CCBD
| 1. Azerbaijan – Running scared | |
| 2. Italy – Madness in Love | |
| 3. Sweden – Popular | |
| 4. Ukraine – Angel | The singer reminds me of Ukraine’s first female priminister Yulia Tymoshenko. |
| 5. Denmark – New tomorrow | |
| 6. Bosnia – Love in rewind | |
| 7. Greece – Watch my dance | |
| 8. Ireland – Lipstick | This is Eurovision’s Winkelvoss twin. Great hype for a win, but didn’t. |
| 9. Georgia – One more day | |
| 10. Germany – Taken by a stranger |
“You should come to Vienna to see Chris. It’s only 2 hours by train from Bratislava,” said Rick after hearing about my plan to visit Kosice, Slovakia and from there taking a train to Bratislava. It was not a bad idea even though I had literally no time to add another destination to my trip. On the other hand, this was my first trip to Europe, and I wanted to see ‘everything’ and believe that I could see ‘everything,’ I squeezed in Vienna on my last day before taking an early morning flight out from Bratislava to London.
I teamed up with a Slovenian couple and an English guy whom I met at Velania guest-house for a trip to Peja. I didn’t know at the time how important Peja was, but I learned to trust people who traveled with a guidebook. Without much planning on where to go other than Pristinia, I feel relieved to find someone who would lead me during my remaining days in Kosovo. We arrived in Peja early in the morning, had a burek breakfast and a round of espresso before setting out to explore the city. Peja is a small town; we didn’t break a sweat finding our way. All we needed to do was following the main street from the bus station toward the mountain which dominated the city landscape, passing small shops, car parks and street cigarette vendors until we arrived at the entrance to Peja’s bazaar.
My name is Cindy, also rhymes with travel junkie. A friend said I was probably a gipsy in my previous life. One of my many secret missions in life is to convert you to run off every once in awhile.
