My favourite animals ...

are donkeys. Donkeys are so smart and cute.

This picture was taken in Aruba in May 2006.

This former dutch colony is a small island in front of the coast of Venezuela. There are still some wild donkeys who manage to survive in the dry climate. But there is also the Donkey sanctuary , a place where volunteers are taking in wild donkeys and give them food, water and a place to live. You can visit the place for free but you can ake little donations. i bought some carrots that i fead the donkeys and but some stuff from their shop. And what a coiincidence... The woman who volunteered that day was the wife of a member of the dutch marines who still have a naval base in Aruba. She told me that she spent all her childhod vacations in a little village in my country. The world is so small (ok Holland and Luxembourg are not that ar away but to meet someone at the other side of the globe is fun). Aruba was definetely one of my alltime favourite places. I loved it.

You can even adopt a donkey and elp the organization. I will do that one day....

Prague

I visited Prague in November 2004, small but lots to see. What i will recall the most about this city are the warm colors of fall, golden leaves everywhere, really pretty, i can onl suggest to visit in automn!

THE

GOLDEN CITY

Polaroid your pictures

So, since i am too stressed and confused to work i decided to be totally unproductive this afternoon and after checking my mails i found this fun and totally awesome tool that allows you to convert your digital pictures into Polaroids. Check out the Poladroid tool here!

This is me in Lisbon (Portugal) last January.

That was a crazy day too, but in a good way (not like today).

I had to go there for a meeting and only had to spend one night. Here at home we left at 7 in the morning with a private plane (3 crew members for 2 persons, a huge breakfast with fresh juice, fruit salad and tons of pasteries and newspapers to read). The temperature outside was below 0 and it was snowing and freezing.

Two hours later we stepped out at Lisbon airport, clear blue skies, 16 degrees. It felt so good to leave that coat in the car and walk around in just a shirt in the sunshine, to just escape for a few hours into the summer...

I only had 2 hours inbetween 2 meetings to explore the city and i did my best. So i asked a taxi-driver to drop me at the top of the city. There were amazing views of the blue sea and the whole city. Then i made my way down to the city center, to the sea front, walked to the Monument of Columbus (i think?? or some other continent explorers...) and went back to a really boooooooooooooring meeting.

But those 2 hours just felt so good. It made me realize again how much i hate to live where i live and to spend at least 6 months every year in gloomy weather, rain, fog, snow, ice, winds .... !!! Someday i am going to move south, seriously :-)

The saddest part was to get back home and to remove the snow and ice from my car and to wear that heavy coat again.

Riga - Latvia (August 2008)

Back to my travel memories...

Before Cuba, i spent 4 days in Riga the capital of Latvia. I went there with a couple of friends and we where hosted and shown around by Latvians that we had met beforehand at home.

I didn't like the city that much. It is not one of these places where you just get out and are in awe all the time. Yes it has got a nice old town with some cute shops and i think they are doing a lot there to open trendy western style bars and restaurants, but there was this special something that was missing... We also spent a day by the seaside in Jurmala, a town located a 30 minutes train ride outside of Riga on the Baltic Sea. It reminded e a lot of the places i have been to in the North of Germany or on the Dutch and Belgian Seaside. But it was pretty, just not a place to spend a whole week. But all in all we had tons of fun and laughs and brought back a couple of inside jokes that are still running a year later....

Dont miss the bar at Hotel Latvia, it is located on the top floor and you have an amazing view of the whole city and if your lucky of the Blatic Sea. The decoration is uninspired - your typical fancy lounge style type of bar with highly overpriced cocktails.

If you prefer a more special and fun nightlife spot i can recommend the Shot Cafe. As it name already states they have a menu full of shots at reasonable prices and you can order fun stuff like a "monkey brain" :-) The decoration is fun and lovely, like a 30'3 inspired café and you could tell that the people where having fun. everyone was dancing to a very good mix (not as the crowd in hotel Latvia who thought they where better than anyone else and where just lying in their sofas like dead sacks...). This place even madeit to the top ten list of the weirdest travel attractions of the travel review website IgoUgo.com. See the article here.

Another highlight was our visit to the Lativan Open Air Museum, where ou can wander around a rebuilt typical old Latvian town with little huts and lakes, they even have employees in episode costumes to make the thing more real. It is all located in a refreshing forest at a gorgeous lakem a short tram ride out of the city center. We spent te whole afternoon there fooling around like children.

Almost there

This is what our road trip will probably look like, but there are certain long drives where we need to plan sleepovers and we wil do so most probably when we get there, when we find a place we like or where the other is nice.

But the event of the summer will of course be the Pearl Jam concert on August 21 at Toronto's Molson Amphitheater. Seems like we got bad seats, but whatever. These guys played the tunes of my youth and i am thrilled to se them perform ... I also want to check out the very new Woodstock museum. Anyone been there, any thoughts?? And also any suggestion for the road we mapped out would be more then welcome...

Can't believe i will leave on wednesday, meaning that i have to do my most hated task: suitcase packing - grrrrrr..... i always overpack, take 5 pairs of shoes in case it would be really hot, cold, wet, heels, coblesgones and would prefer to take my chucks in all 3 colors i own a pair of, etc. the same goes with jackets, and then i have this obsession with scarves and purses, i can't decide. This time i swore to myself to leave as much as possible at home, we are not going to a third world country and you can buy lots of nice stuff that you won't find here.... I can already picture myself on the return check in with 300 Euro to pay as extra weight and carrying around a supplementary huge handluggage full of unuseful souvvenirs...

Fighting wih boyfriend guaranteed "I told you so, blablabla"

xoxo


Update: so i never wetn on this roadtrip. I was supposed to board on wednesday morning. monday morning at the office i got a call: my dad had pased away during the night, unexpectedly. He was to be uried on Thursday and thus i cancelled my trip. i wish i could just have flown there for the PJ gig and yell "I'm still alive"! But one day i will fly wherever i have to to make y dream come true...

Cuba

There are not enough words to describe how I feel about this country. I think it was my all-time favourite destination. I spent a whole month there in November/Decemebr 2008 (yes, i escaped again from our sad winter). We toured the whole island from West to East and I enjoyed every single bit of it (except the roads and the lack of street signs and direction signs maybe ...).

Madrid

I travelled to Madrid in March 2009. My friend and I wanted to do a long weekend trip because we were sick with the weather in our hometown. The winter this year has been particularly harsh and I have been sick all the time. So a break was much needed and we were looking for a place not too far away where we could spend 4 days in the sun. We were checking out the weather of various possible destinations and came to the conclusion that Madrid would be perfect. On the Internet they predicted 10 days of sunshine and 25°. Luckily we found a cheap promotion including flight tickets and 4 nights in a gorgeous design hotel in the center of the city.

I have never been very keen on going to Madrid. i have been to Spain a lot of times - 3 times in Barcelona. I liked Barcelona so much, it still is one of my favourite cities in the world. I alwyas thought Madrid would be dull in comparison to Barcelona because it wasn't located on the coast and I almost didn't know anyone who went there and shared his experience with me.

But I was surprised. The city was full of life night and day, there was a lot to see, street art and nightlife... I can only recommend it.

Here is a set of my photos from Corsica

My travels

Since i started to work i literally used almost all of my income to travel. I have been visitng most of the capitals of Europe, partially on a personal basis, sometimes also for work (but even then i tried to use all the time i had left to visit as much as i could). I hate our long and gloomy autumns and winters here in Europe, which is the main reason why I tried to "escape" at least once a year to warmer and sunnier areas of the world.

So far my favourite region remains the Carribean. I have become a "fan" when i had the chance to go on a cruise with my parents when i was 15. I got the opportunity to get a glimpse of a couple of islands and now that I live on my own I try to visit every single island in the Carribean. I am fascinated by the easy going way of live going on there "Take it easy", just relax, by the lovely people, the beautiful nature, the beaches and the pristine clear waters.

So far I have been to: Aruba, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Cozumel, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Maarten, St Thomas. My next trip will probably be to Barbados.

I have visited the whole west coast of the United States from Seattle, to Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles and i have been to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and Brice Canyon.

My absolute favourite place on this continent must be New York, where i got to spend a week in April 2000.

I have only been once to the African continent (Tunesia) and I plan to head to South Africa during the next couple of years.

I also had a lovely, but short time in Thailand.

But right now I am obsessed with Australia. I plan to travel to Oz at the end of the year, I am even considering moving there, for a while or on a permant basis. I have never been there, but my instincts are telling me that i will ove it. The accents of the Australians is like music in my ears and i can't get enough of it.

But enough talking, I will try to post one single picture of every place I traveled to in the pas 20 years.

My first one will be from Corsica, my most recent trip (June/July 2009). This is an island in the Mediterranean and from all the places I have visited i can say that in my opinion it is the most diversified island. There is something for everyone: beaches, mountains, lakes, forest, trekking, beautiful old cities, lots of nice little shops and restaurants.... You will not be disappointed.

Boston

In a couple of weeks i'll be visitng Boston, part of a road trip i have been wanting to do for 2-3 years at least, starting from Toronto - Montreal - Quebec - Bar Harbor - Boston - Cape Code - New Haven - (maybe NY City if there is enough time) - up the Hudson river - Niagara Falls and back to Toronto.

Anyway, how lucky i stumbled upon this little guide that will most certainly come in handy :

• I love a bargain. i'm also a huge fan of spending an afternoon digging through racks of clothes to find unique things to love. and last but not least, i like being kind to the environment. (reduce, reuse, recycle!)
  so, here is my list of the best vintage, thrift and secondhand boutiques in boston. if you're ever in the area, don't miss these fabulous places.

• poor little rich girl (somerville)
  this cute store, in the heart of davis square, sells both consignment and vintage apparel. it has a welcoming layout with clothes organized by size, fun knick knacks and retro decor. don't miss their selection of vintage gloves, earrings and hats.
  
• raspberry beret (cambridge)
  this semi-new shop (which also has a wakefield location) has great prices, quality vintage clothing and staff that are so helpful and friendly you'll want to be their friends. what more could a girl ask for?
  urban renewals (allston)
  i am always blown away by how organized and well-run this secondhand store is. it's also huge, (think warehouse) so you have to be patient and determined but the pieces are organized by color, so that helps. only con: no dressing rooms.
  
• the garment district (cambridge)
  this place is practically a boston/cambridge institution. they have a nice selection of vintage clothing, but can also be a great place to find a halloween costume. don't miss their dollar-a-pound downstairs but be prepared to dig.
  
• cafe society (brookline)
  this is an absolutely delightful store. the owner is a doll, the dresses are to die for, and the prices aren't too unreasonable. don't miss it.
  i hope this is helpful, and let me know if you have anything to add.
  stay tuned for next week: my guide to boston {bakeries, pâtisseries, and desserts}.
  
  

Thanks to the blog of "Naturally Nina"

If you got any other suggestions of places to visit in the cities i will be visiting you are welcome to drop me a line. I will also appreciate your tips about where to stop on my between Toronto and Montreal (thought about Wellington....), between Bar Harbor and Boston and between New Haven and the Niagara Falls.

Thanks in advance...