Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Another day, another year: part 1

Or so the song goes – wait, what song is that?

Well anyway, 2011 has come to a close, but yet I can't help thinking; umm, where did the time go? Mind-boggling how time just seems to fly by eh? Honestly though, I can’t begin to describe just what an incredible, intense, insane year it’s been for me. As I have reiterated time and again, thank God for the blog that I was able to record and keep track of it all!

When I started this blog and the round the world travel trek, I was 38. I’ve turned 40 this year and I think to myself; holy crap I’m 40!! Then once I get over that I think; my God I’ve been so lucky to have travelled and experienced so many places over the past 2 years. I’ve learned a lot of lessons, picked up on interesting facts as well as the odd informative tidbit here and there (i. e. did you know that Iceland and Vietnam are practically the only countries on the planet that do NOT have McDonalds? Yup it’s true although Vietnam has a ton of KFCs – go figure?). I’ve been privileged to meet some fantastic, unforgettable people and make new friends, something I didn’t think could happen at this stage in my life, but the best part? I’ve cooked and eaten my way around this crazy planet – VERY well too I might add and picked up a few pointers, new tips/techniques and some damn tasty recipes. Without a doubt, it’s been a year of life altering adventures yet on the same token it’s like nothing has changed.

I have no clue what’s going to happen next and maybe that’s the way it should be. Sure it scares me a bit but I think I’m pretty calm about it. You get used to calming yourself down after travelling around the world – you just roll with the punches. I don’t want to predict or make resolution for the new year but I will say that during the past year of ‘just living’, has helped me become a little less afraid to embrace whatever may come - it’ll be ok.

So instead of endless writing (too late!), I decided to highlight the year in a series of pictures based on all the countries I’ve visited and that I haven’t posted before. I wish I had taken more but a photographer I'm not. Still, please enjoy and have a Happy New Year!!!

Iceland


United Kingdom

Germany


Italy


Coming up: Part 2!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The Final Stop: A San Francisco state of mind


The view from my hotel room – San Francisco 2011

Before I ramble about my visit to San Fran (SF) and conclude my travels for 2011 (wow, that seems sad in retrospect now that I’ve written it down), I just want to get a story off my chest.

Now this blog has (mostly) been about eating and adventures. Everything written has been (mostly) positive because this trip is/was so amazing, and I was very lucky to have gone around the world without much incident. Rarely have I mentioned the other side of travelling - meaning the unpleasant bu necessary part of having to go though so many different airports and their varying degrees of customs, security and general crap, exacerbated when your travelling on your own.

The blog also includes the many people I’ve come in contact with on this trip, both positive AND negative (rare) experiences. The interactions with people are usually the most amusing, to me anyway, and I've had a few interesting ones including the rather snarky lady on my flight to New Zealand who informed her husband as he stared at my Kindle “he only has a Kindle honey; it’s nothing to get excited about.” This was said in a rather snotty, dismissive tone. I’m thinking "What? Well I certainly don’t see YOU with one so go sit yourself down back in coach!" Yeah, I know, not the most mature handling of the situation, but I’m human so it’s excused – this time. Besides, it was what I was thinking. I didn't say it out loud and besides, it’s an eight hour flight; did I really want to get into a pissing match with someone I don’t even know over a Kindle?

One incident, however, stood out for me the most, and that was when I flew Virgin Airlines to get to San Francisco via LAX. Now I like Virgin, and the business class section is very nice indeed, and since I was on my way to San Fran it had a disproportionate number of gays on the flight. Now gay people as a rule are amazing (being gay myself I should know haha), but like most groups, when too many are clustered together it can sometimes get a bit, well – testy (no pun intended). So I get on the plane, find my seat and inadvertently blocked this guy from getting to his seat as I was hoisting my heavy bag into the cabin bin above. As I struggled with the bag, I was VERY rudely informed I was blocking his seat. Violence is not my thing but if anyone deserved a good smack across the face it was this sunglass wearing (yes he was wearing them on the plane) smug, fashion -victim bitch. I of course apologize for blocking his highnesses' way, and proceed to inform him that I would be out of his way in a minute. I guess a minute was too long as he exhaled noisily in that impatient way people can be right? So what do I do in response? I move slower. I ever so carefully took my time to stuff my bag into the bin, then slowly moved to my seat and took out my Kindle (sidebar: Amazon really should pay me for the amount of plugging I’m doing for the Kindle!). Thought the story was over? Nope. Oh I do love Karma because he got his later when he was told by the flight attendant he was sitting in the wrong seat and had to move not once but twice – HA!! Oh, how I loved it as he grumpily moved his belongings not once but twice. Justice is awesome sometimes eh?

OK, digression over and back to the post at hand which is San Francisco!


Now it must be said that this was my first visit, and I absolutely love the city! No, not for stereotypical reasons (it is not for nothing SF is known as a gay Mecca) but for very simple reasons: it is a beautiful city; the weather was perfect, and the people are very friendly. It has areas that take your breath away – both in a good and bad way. Good as in the aforementioned beauty of the city, bad because there are sketchy areas; seriously sketchy areas, and just plain alarming areas. You’re taking it in thinking, "Wow, these sketchy parts are so very close to the nicer parts, yet no one seems to care." An uncomfortable relationship I’m sure, but hey ho if no one else seems to get all uptight about it, no reason I should either.


I was very lucky to have met up some with some great friends which made the time there even better (thanks and shout-outs to John and Tim). Unlike LA, I actually did leave the confines of my beautiful hotel and walked around the city, with John acting as my unofficial guide for the first two days and Tim taking over on my third day. I really got the chance to explore the city, and I was all over the place! Visted City Hall, The Museum of Modern Art, hell - I even contemplated taking the trolley but the lines were just too long. I even walked around the overly-touristy fisherman wharf district, and really wanted to go to Alcatraz but again crowds prevented that from happening. At night, John, knowing my love for dive bars, took me to the Tenderloin district which apparently isn’t very safe, but I honestly wasn’t alarmed or even noticed that we were in one of the most notorious and dangerous parts of the city. Hey, it was so worth the possibly of being mugged because there are some seriously fantastic dive bars around there! The next day I met up with Tim and we made our way to Buena Vista Park in Haight-Ashbury which was a very tough hike uphill, maybe not so much for those who are in great shape! We walked over to The Castro, had dinner, then made our way over to the Toranado bar (I think I was on a dive bar tour in SF). I found the place while "researching" places to have a drink, and convinced Tim to check it out. Well he loved it as much as I did. Honestly, the Toronado was just awesome, probably one of the best pubs I've ever been to. Believe me the place is nothing to look at, but the incredible selection of beers, the atmosphere and the fact that right next door serves perhaps the best sausages on a bun ever, helps make this one unforgettable establishment!).

So yup, I really did leave my heart in San Francisco. I can hear the groaning there and yeah, yeah, cliché but it’s true! SF is yet another addition to my list of “I’ll be back again” places if just to go back to the Toranado!

Next: Happy New Year!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Hello LA, Goodbye

Ok, so I will admit to being a complete New York City boy. I love everything about New York and having visited the city too many times to count. I would seriously consider living there. It is with that attitude that I knew coming to LA and understanding that much has been made in the States about the rivalries between these two cities whether it’s the culture, attitude, food, weather, the people, everything, would be a treat – or at least I hoped that would happen. Now having said how much I love New York, I may have - ok, I did go to LA with some biases already in place BUT I was still ready and in fact very excited to finally be here. So what’s the verdict?

Well, I place it just slightly above Singapore in that I was decidedly ho-hum about it. Sure the weather was great – sunny in fact and warmer than San Diego; lots of palm trees; the LA train station - when I arrived from San Diego, is absolutely beautiful, and I did get to see the giant Hollywood sign on the way to my hotel. But. It’s surprisingly dead at night (I wonder, did that depend on the neighbourhood you were in? I wasn’t sure? I was in West Hollywood, did that make a difference? These aren’t rhetorical questions, I mean I really want to know). You really do have to drive just about everywhere to get anywhere as it’s so sprawled so I didn’t get out much, and; frankly I just wasn’t getting into it the visit altogether. As for the rivalries? Who knows. If I had stayed longer, would I have liked it more? I ended up leaving the city with more questions than answers. A question remains though: would I go back? With Singapore I said no, but with LA, I’m not quite ready to close the door yet.

Ah well, at least I can say that my room at the London West Hollywood Hotel was awesome; my dinner at Gordon Ramsay’s At The West Hollywood restaurant was good (really wasn't that memorable to write anything significant other than the restaurant itself is beautiful - yeah I'm shocked too) and I had a pretty great view of the city. Oh and did I mention that I arrived right in the middle of LA Pride? I didn’t? Well I did. Not much else to add there.



Next: San Francisco!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

On my way to Californ-i-a

I admit that I like to play around with the post headings – some work, some don’t. This didn’t. It’s ok though, because I know that eventually I will get to the point of the post and in this case it’s about my trip to California. Now admittedly, this holiday happened a few months ago but ever since the end of my world trip I’ve (clearly) fallen behind when it comes to keeping up with the postings. Come to think of it, as I look back at the blog it was around this time last year I was getting closer to leaving Germany and heading to Italy. Wow did I really do that? Uh yeah Steve, you did and the proof is right here on the blog. I’ve said it once I’ll say it again – thank God for this blog! Anyway before go off track into nostalgiaville, I’d at least like to (finally) mention my time in Cali.

I’ve always wanted to go to California, to see if the image shaped by songs, TV and movies matched reality. Blondes in bikinis, surfer boys, the Valley in LA, you know what I mean. Meeting up with the great people of Global Basecamps, who planned my entire world trip and are based in California gave me the perfect excuse to see for myself. So I packed my bags, flew to San Diego and met up with Basecampers Meg, Sebastian and Mike and proceeded to have a very memorable and awesome trip. And since I was out there I figured what the hell; why only stop in San Diego? Why not visit LA and San Francisco too. So I did and this is pretty much what happened.

What was my first impression of the golden state as the plane was about to land at the San Diego airport? Holy Crap we are WAY too close to these buildings (the airport is pretty much right in the downtown core of the city so if you’re a nervous flyer be prepared for a double beating of the heart when you’re landing!). Second impression? Holy crap it’s not warm and definitely not sunny at all - damn! Mind that can be blamed on the season but it was a bit of a letdown. Ah well. The driver collected me from the airport and I headed out to Del Mar. I checked in to the lovely L’Auberge Del Mar hotel and then what started as amazing and hilarious, ended as a drunken, crazy but still incredibly fun and funny evening.

Pic 1: view from my room of pacific ocean – pic2: the lovely Meg of Global Basecamps – always working!!

I met Meg at my hotel and we headed over to the Del Mar Plaza and had cocktails at Enoteca del Fornaio. Then we walked down the street and ate at Prep Kitchen, a neighbourhood restaurant with a somewhat hipster vibe which could bring to mind budget eats but it does turn serious and quite tasty food at reasonable prices. I didn’t know it was part of a chain (there are three other PK locations in the southern California area) but that shouldn’t deter anyone from eating there. Chain doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad word in the culinary world right? Just means youre doing something right as far as I’m concerned. Anyway after dinner we grabbed a taxi and headed up to Encinitas, where we met with Sebastian, Mike and a few other guys at Union Kitchen & Tap for some drinks. Then we walked across the street and had some late night munchies and drinks at Third Corner Wine Shop & Bistro – excellent munchies I might add but sadly it was at this point in the evening where things fell apart and became blurry as they do when you’ve had a little too much i.e thankfully nothing gross happened it was all great fun and I’m allowed back at these establishments so I know I was still on my best behavior!

The following day I was just too hungover to do anything so I didn’t. I stayed at the hotel (it was too cold to lounge by the pool and too much a walk to go down to the beach yeah I know holy lazy) I ordered room service and either slept or watched TV, man I do love lazy days like that.

After a good day of rest and thanks to a mix up at the hotel (I thought I was supposed to check out but I was booked an extra day)I had an extra day to spend in San Diego so I met up with Meg and we went to the Tidewater Tavern Bar for drinks- a true dive bar which I LOVE going to. We were joined by later by Basecamp staffers Mike and JJ. We then drove up to Encinitas to eat dinner at Blue Ribbon Pizza, and then we went back to Union. That was a much tamer evening but still fun. Woke up the next day was driven to the train station and was on my way to LA – yes there IS public transport in California not everything is by car and the train provided an awesome opportunity to view the coastline of California - highly recommended.

Next stop? LA.