Had to test

The Traveler IQ challenge ranks your geographic knowledge against 8,841,039 other travelers.

I just had to test this even though I knew it would make me annoyed since the map is to small to really be able to pin the places in the right spot eventhough I know exactly where it is. It also annoyed me that some cities were called capitals although not being capitals. I realise my weakest spots are the North Americas. Sorry, but I am lousy on US and Canadian geography. No good on Australia either…

Football changes everything...

So, the Euro 2012 is over, and Italy did not win the final over Spain. No doubt that Spain was the better team, 4-0 speaks for itself. Of course I would have liked Italy to win, since I am here in the country as a guest, but honestly, since Sweden didn't even make it from the group I don't really, emotionally, care. Somehow, however, I started to think Italy would not make it when I saw how the people here started waving flags and driving around in cars with big flags hanging out and definetly not when I saw a flag-vendor having pasted a obituary over Spain, like the ones you see on walls everywhere here. Then I thought, this is taking it out too much in advance, it can never work out... And it didn't!
However it was an interesting game and Spain played very well!!
It was also quite interesting to see all the flags having been removed when we drove back home and the streets were surprisingly quiet... small things change a lot of things here.

Lovely Italy

I am in Italy for a week. Actually I am here for one a one week course for my work, but since the course is in Rome I came earlier to spend the weekend with my sister who is living just outside Rome. It is always so nice to be here! I just love Italy! It is just so beautiful, has such a nice atmosphere and not to mention the fantastic food! Since the summer in Sweden this far has been very cold and rainy I don't mind it beeing very hot (almost 40 degrees when I arrived) either... Spending time with my family, people who live and work here, I don't only get the romanticised picture of life here. I know life is not always that easy, economy is weak and it is difficult with jobs ect..., but still the country is great!!

And tonight I will have the pleasure of watchin Italy playing Spain in the Euro 2012 final!! We thought about going into Rome and watch the game on big screens in Circo Maximo, but then decided going to an outdoor pizzeria here in Velletri might be more convenient and just as nice. Looking forward!!

Interrail Dreams

I had this idea for what I would like to do on my holiday this year. I would have liked to go on Interrail through Europe! It was one of those things that was really popular in the 80:s and I did it twice, the last time in 1990. It was really nice, but to be honest I think I would like it even more now.

Since I travel a lot nowadays, both professionally and privatly I spend a lot of time on planes and airports, something you easily can get tired of. And often I just stay one or two nights in the same place, spending the day in meetings and the night in some standard international hotel. Therefore I kind of like the idea of letting the travelling take time. Enjoying the feeling of being on the way somewhere and enjoing the travel. Preferably I would not have made much plans in advance but just go where the next train is going to and staying as long as I feel like. I would probably have connected it with a few visits by friends in different places in Europe, but would not let it lead to a social stress trip with a lot of "musts" and "have to". I would have tried to take as little luggage as possibel, but brought some good books. Being a little older and knowing a little more of the world (yes, to all know-it-all-teenagers, you do actually learn more with age, at least some...), having more self confidence and some more money too I think I would have enjoyed it more now than then. Now I would not have to choose everything as cheap as possible but could pick a decent hotel and good restaurants if I wanted to.

Well, since I am writing this you probably understand I am not going to do it. At least not this holiday. I don't really know why or how it happened, but all of a sudden my three weeks of holida were allready planned with other things. But I still like the idea. Maybe next year....

Barcelona

The hotel

Last weekend I went for a short and rather spontaneous trip to Barcelona.



It was the first time for me in Barcelona and I had rather high expectations since everyone who has been there seem to love the place. Even though my visit was very short and I honestly did not see that much of the city I can understand it. It is a very nice city!

La Sagrada Familia

View over the harbour and city

Everything about my weekend there was actually rather fantastic for many reasons...

Routine Travelling

Lately "travelling" has started to have a somewhat different touch. Since I travel somewhere more or less every week. Mostly of course to Brussels, but next week I will go to Barcelona and the week after that to Copenhagen and the first week of July to Italy (and of course a couple of times to Brussels in between). Yesterday, on the flight back from Strasbourg, I was asked to fill in a questionnaire by the airline about my travels and what I thought about this flight etc. One question was about how I feel about flying and one of the alternative answers "flying is nothing special, it is more or less like taking a bus". The I felt that is exactly what it is. Honestly I believe I fly more often than I take a bus, if one excepts airport busses.

Spouse on the house

I have kept a souvenir from South Africa, that I find so funny. It is a beer coaster from the hotel I stayed at in Johannesburg. Ok, it was a cheap hotel by the airport where I only stayed for one night because the transfer to Kruger left too early to make the arrival from Cape Town the same day, but still the text on the coaster: “Free love on the weekend” makes you wonder what kind of hotel it actually was. On the rim of the coaster you can read: “Book a room from Friday to Sunday and qualify for our amazing Spouse-on-the-house rate”.

Have I actually spent a night in a Love Hotel?!? Should I regret I was only there on a Wednesday night? Maybe I would also have gotten a Spouse on the house if I had been there on a weekend?!

Reflections from South Africa (looking back)

Something that quite immediately struck me on arrival in Cape Town was that it did not really “feel like Africa”. Not that I have been that much to Africa before, but compared to Zimbabwe and Ethiopia where I have been, Cape Town felt very much less “African”. And as my friend probably quite correctly stated; you will probably see more black people in southern London than in central Cape Town. However I, honestly, don’t pay much attention to the colour of peoples skin and quite often I don’t even really “see” colour that way. But then all of a sudden something makes you aware of the fact that the colour of the skin can look different, and sometimes it is the strangest things. As for example when you meet a black person with a band aid. The band aid is supposed to be “skin-coloured” not to attract too much attention, but the “skin-colour” is the beige/pink of a Caucasian person, which really do catch attention on a black person. Then it struck me; I have never seen band aids developed for black people. Maybe there are some, just that I have never seen any. Or is our world really still so biased that it has never been developed?!

Kruger Safari

This elephant tried to attack us

 I realise I haven't been writing much here from my southafrican trip although I have seen and experienced a lot, but maybe that is exactly why. However now I have arrived at the Kruger area, although I will only enter the park itself tomorrow. Today I arrived at the Thornhill lodge an had a safari drive in one of the private reserves and I got really lucky!! First I was lucky with the company, two very nice girls from Germany, Tessa and Manuela. They told me about all the animals they had already seen and I got a little worried we would not have the same luck now, but we had. In just three hours we saw all the Big Five!!! Very close up! An elephant even tried to attack us.




leopard cubs

Lioness

 In a way I thought the rangers might have been a little too focused on finding the big five and did not pay much attention to other animals we passed on the way, but I guess that's what people come for. When I asked about some bird, they seemed a little surprised and often did not know, but from what I heard at dinner about tomorrows ranger he knows a lot about everything, even birds. And from what I understood I am going to get a private drive tomorrow so I guess I will be able to see and ask a lot!! Sometime it is good to travel off season! I am so happy! I love safaris!! I

A handsome male giraffe from the Kruger park



Black rhino

Almost at Cape Point...

Yesterday we had planned to drive down to Cape Point. On the way we wanted to stop by at the wineries in Constantia, first Klein Constantia because that's my friend's favourite and then I suggested Buitenverwachting because I had read about it. In my friends opinon this would go very fast "you don't need to stay long at a winery". I was a little sceptic. And I was right!
At Klein Constantia it took us quite a time just to taste the wines and buy some and enjoying the surroundings, but even more so at Buitenverwachting. I had suggested we could have lunch there, but my friend thought we would be there too early. It turned out it was already two o'clock when we got there. They have a really lovely lunch option where you get a delicious picnic basked and get to sit under the trees in the garden. Although this you have to book in advance, which we hadn't done. However yesterday seemed to be our lucky day so there was some people who had booked but did not show up. So we got there picnic for three for the two of us. Absolutely delicious!!



Our lovely picnic!

 Just a pity I could not really drink wine as I had to drive, but maybe that was good too, if I had been drinking wine, we might still have been there.



At least we managed to get to Boulder and see the pinguins and had a nice swim among the pinguins.

Driving around

Today we decided to rent a car. It seemed a little more complicated than expected. The first rentals we asked did not have any car available, but then we found one at a reasonable price. Though only available four hours later, but that was ok to us. We thought we could have lunch, visit the market or maybe even the District six museum first. But that was of course before we knew the administration around the rental would take almost two hours. So the time reduced to lunch and then we decided to revisit the travel agency that we consulted two days ago about safaris as it was nearby. So, now I have booked the three day safari in Krueger. Great!!

Eventually we got our car and started driving. That is I started driving. That was clear from the beginningas my friend Erik does not drive, but it was still quite interesting to see the interaction at the car rental. From the beginning the mainly addressed Erik, because of course renting a car is a men's thing, not?! But after a while they must have understood that it was not him but me that would do the driving. I don't really know what made them realise that because we did not tell them and I did not present them my drivers license before they asked for it, but they must have noticed anyway. It is quite funny to travel together with a man, who is not your boyfriend/husband. Some people simply assume we are married or at least togehter, but some seem to get the signals that we are not. Funny!

Since we now only had the afternoon we just drove a short turn around the city. We went to Kirstenbosch, to Constantia (but unfortunately the wineyards had already closed) then a sundowner on Sandy Beach, dinner in Camps Bay and watching the moon from Signal Hill. A lovely day, all in all! Tomorrow we will go down to the Cape. I was amazed again how easy I get used to drive on the "wrong" side of the street. I had the same experience in Harare too, but that was a while ago. It feels a little awkward, especially in situations like roundabouts etc, but it is quite ok.

Life is good

Enjoying a cappuccino and some fresh orange, carrot and ginger juice (thought that would be good for my cold) on a cafe in Sea Point waiting for my friend to pick me up on the way to Hout Bay and Sandy Beach. Life is good! The only thing I need to sort out now is when and how to arrange my safari trip. Could be worse!

The World of Nose Spray

As I have a tendancy, or maybe even tradition of catching a cold whenever I go on holiday, I have been thinking that I could almost write a guide book over decongesting nose sprays. It seems to be one of the first things I just HAVE to get, and still I always forget to bring it from home. If it wasn't for the fact that they have an expiry date (or that they finish) I could have had quite a decent collection of nose sprays from all over the world.
To be honest I guess the contents of them are probably pretty much the same, but the packing and the way they sell them differ. I can say the strange bottle that did not have a spraying function, that I bought in Rio, was not a hit. It made me feel like drowning. The one I bought here in Cape Town feels very much like the ones you get at home, but the lady selling it was very helpful. She insisted I should try it already in the pharmacy and helped me taking the outer packing off and almost offered to help me spray it too.
Here of course it was very easy to ask for what I wanted, but I have noted that even in countries where they don't speak much English this is a very easy thing to explain, sometimes you don't even have to say anything...

Arrived in Cape Town

So, now I have arrived in Cape Town! And it feels good!!
All the way until now I have not really had much time to think about this trip or make any plans for it and at times it even felt like a bad idea going here. I have been working a lot and neen very busy and tired, which made me somehow feel I really needed holiday, but also thinking maybe I should have choosen a place where I have been before and am familiar with, somehow I didn't really felt ready for a "new" country. However, all the time I kind of knew I would like it once I came here and so it is!
Immediately on arrival I felt good. I was a little surprised how calm and well organised everyting was at the airport and on the way to the guest house. I was also struck by how friendly everyone I have met is. And somehow it feels very "normal". It does not feel like a unknown country. Staying at this guest house feels like staying at home with friends (and dogs!)
Ok, I admit I haven't really seen anything yet. But considering the number of hours I have spent here I have seen quite a lot anyhow. As always I seem to be landing running. Already as we shortly landed in Johannesburg on the way here I got a sms about that today is the day of Cape Town Pride and that we should go there. So I landed, took a shuttle to the guest house, had a shower and changed clothes, then my friend came and we went for lunch and then to the pride party. So, you can say I have seen something. Met a lot of nice people and seen the most fabulous transvestites.  I like this place! Among all, and what firsts struck me and what I have missed since I left Brazil is the colours! Finally I get to see colours again!! I love it!!
Looking forward to see more tomorrow! And the coming two weeks!

Travel Advice

After having come back to home base and not engaged in any more interesting travelling than on and off to Brussels every now and then I have had little reason to write on my travel blog, but I have been thinking about writing about attitudes about travelling and will make an attempt now. It is however connected to upcoming travels.

In a couple of weeks I will go to South Africa for two weeks of holiday. I have never been there before, but feel rather cool about that. It seems like a rather normal country and easy to travel in. The funny thing is however that all of a sudden everyone I know seems to have been there and feel obliged to give me a lot of advice on it. Ok, I know one always tend to pay more attention to the fact that others have done what you yourself are about to or just have done etc.  For example if you have decided to travel somewhere and thought you didn’t know anyone who had been there you will soon discover a lot of people have been there. With South Africa it seems a little different though. I knew that quite a few people I know have been there, but what strikes me is the amount of advice I keep getting, without having asked for it. Everyone seems to have liked it very well and of course it is nice that they want to share their experiences but sometimes it gets a little annoying. Everyone keeps telling me I have to do this and I have to do that. Whereas my feeling is I don’t have to do anything at all, since I will be on holiday and will do whatever I feel like in that moment.

My theory about this is that South Africa is accessible enough for a lot of people, but still exotic enough to really be something to talk about for these people.

Coming Home

It is a strange feeling to be back home again. It is at the same time very familiar and normal and very different and strange. At the same time it feels like I have been away for a very long time and as if I haven't been away at all.

My apartment looks very much the same as I remembered it but at the same times it feels as if I have never lived here. Most of my things are here, but still a lot of things are missing and many of the things that are here are in different places that were I normally keep them. It takes a while to find my ways around the place again. It is funny the way you rememer and forget. I have to find out again which keys goes to which doors and how the dishwasher works and what kind of waste is to be recycled and what not here. Very basic and everyday things.

This morning I woke up by my Swedish phone ringing. While in Brazil I didn't use to answer that one unless I knew how it was that called and if I believed it to be important, so my first reflex was just to switch it off. Then I started to think if it wasn't so that I arrived in Sweden yesterday. After having thought about it for a few seconds I decided that I was really in Sweden and I could answer the phone (the number was withheld). When I answered it turned out that it was a good friend from Brazil that called! Which added more to the confusion!

A Different Brasília

When I came back to Brasília yesterday after my two weeks of travelling, it was a different Brasília that I met. During the two weeks I have been away it had been raining a lot and after months of drought you could really tell the difference. The earth had just soaked the water and the ground was freshly green, the red-brown dust was washed away from the trees and bushes and there was a completely different smell in the air. It might be a little more like the Brasília I first came to in April, it was still green then, but yet different.

I think I am also a somewhat different person now,when I am leaving Brazil. I have learned a lot and every experience you have change you a little. I have also met a lot of nice and interesting people, that changes you too. It has been a good time and I am feeling a little sad to leave. I am really not good at good byes...

Rio Rio

Arrived in Rio yesterday and got a little disappointed.
Well, not because of Rio in itself, I don't think Rio can disappoint me, but because of the weather. Of course I know you can never trust or count on weather here, but I was so hoping to get some sun and beach life here before going back to the Swedish autumn/winter, that's why the heavy rain really disapponted me. I was immediately considering to change my flight and go back one day earlier.

This morning however the sun was shining and I got some lovely hours on Ipanema beach. At lunch time I left the beach to go in to the Centro part of the city, where I haven't really been that much before. From what I have read and seen on pictures I thought I would like that part. And I did! Even more than I thought! It is just lovely!! As everything about Rio. Ok, it is pretty run down in parts and I can imagine it gets rather deserted and seedy at night or on weekends, but it is lovely and for sure has great potential.

I have never been to Barcelona, but from what I hear it is a  great city, everyone seems to love it. And aparently the big hype for Barcelona came after the 1992 Olympics, when the city got a good make-over and was "discovered" by the world. If Rio and Brazil play their cards well, Rio has a chance to beat that by far! I already believe Rio is one of, if not the, coolest city in the world, but of course it also have quite a few obvious (and less obvious) problems and if she can come to terms with at least some of them it will be magic. 

Money, Credit Cards and Bureaucracy

From Sweden and also from Brazil I have gotten very used to paying everything I consume with credit card. Here in Argentina, you can pay a lot by card, but it seems they really prefer to have cash payment. The prefer it that much they will in most places give a 10% discount if you pay cash. However, by cash they are very flexible though, they will gladly except a number of currencies in one and the same payment. So, that's what happened when me and my friend were shopping for leather jackets. After having discussed the price for our three jackets some time (which of course was very long, since at least two of the involved were Brazilians) and agreed on what we thought was a good price we were informed this price would not at all be valid if we were to pay by credit card. As we did not have that amount of pesos required, a new negotiation starts, on what this would be in differnt available currencies. After still some more time we finally paid in a mix of Argentinian pesos, US-dollars, Euros and Brazilian reais. The last missing amount I had to go and get from an ATM. Afterwards I was quite sceptic to whether it was such a good affair in the end, as I feared that the discount we negotiated so hardly for, might have gotten lost in the different exchange rates and finally in the fee for an extra cash withdrawal from the ATM, but my friend was still very positive and optimistic about it.

Another thing that I find a little annoying are those landing cards that some countries in this part of the world insist that you should fill in before entering the country. It just seems so completely useless. You basically just fill in the same information that is already in the passport plus which flight you come with, how long you will stay and where you will stay. I am sure no one really reads what you write on this paper. And I feel absolutely sure that no ones bothers to connect the information on these little paper slips with the electronically read infromation from your passport and also sure that no one ever checks whether the information you give about where you will stay in the country is correct or not. Nowadays most countries have electronically readable passports which means more and more information is allready stored on the entry of the country and if it is really that important I am sure it would be faster and more efficient for everyone if the immigration officers would just ask and add the information directly in the computor on entry. Because I really find it hard to believe they will collect all the little paper slips and enter the information later, most likely those slips will just be stored somewhere for a while and then thrown away.

The strange thing is also that they wont tell you what this slip is for and what you are supposed to do with the part that you get to keep. I have been told that in Brazil it is important that you keep it and leave it on exiting the country, but when I arrived in March i didn't get one and no one asked for it when I re-entered in June. That time I got a slip that I have keept but now, on leaving again in September no one asked for it and even though I had it I did not hand it over as it was not asked for. In Peru however I had to present the slip on checking in at the hote and also at buying some tickets. Just a good fortune I kept it handy. Now, on entering Argentina you had to fill in three papers, one they kept, on I suppose I will have to leave on leaving tomorrow, but the third, that was for the customs, no one asked for, so that one I still have. I am kind of glad they did not ask for that one, because it was very difficult to fill in. One question was whether you carry items purchased outside of Argentina. I mean, as I had never been to Argentina before, it means everything I had was purchased outside of Argentina, but I am not sure they would want me to declare that anyway...

International Table Manners

Travelling is learning. Not only big things, but also the small little details.

Never having really been to South America before of course I had a lot to learn, and still have, but exactly because of this I treasure the small details I have learnt during this time. Like knowing how to tell a Brazilian couple apart from other couples in a restaurant. Well, I have to admit this is not something I have discovered by myself, but it was actually pointed out to me by a Brazilian with international outlook.
He pointed out to me that whereas it for me and for most people I know it is natural that you sit opposite your partner if you go to a restaurant, to be able to see each other's faces, Brazilian couples prefer to sit next to each other (to be able to touch and snog?). At first I thought he was joking, but having paid attention to it I have to say it seems to be a fact. Here in Buenos Aires I have noted it is a safe way to spot Brazilian tourists.