2013: places

Maui/California road trip/Napa/Las Vegas/Kefalonia

LA/Brixton/Amsterdam/San Francisco/NYC

In pictures: Lake Garda

Four days in Lake Garda and Verona. Gorgeous food, long, wine-filled meals, a little bit of relaxation and quite a lot of lycra-clad cycling around the Italian countryside. There is an excellent reason why there are no photos of me in my cyling ensemble....

24 hours in Prague

Or, more accurately, nine hours in Prague, 12 hours in a field an hour outside Prague, and three hours at the airport.

I flew out for a speedy work trip earlier this week- although my actual Prague-time only involved a very late night dinner and some sleep (not enough - by yesterday I was zombie-lady).

Main things to note: the Czech Republic in September is COLD. It's also very beautiful. And my attempt to ward off the cold mainly involved eating eight meals a day and experimenting with the cappucino machine.

My return journey left me with an enduring hatred of Gatwick - the queues at immigration were ridiculous, and I ended up missing my last train home. Good thing I have to be back there for another stupid o'clock flight in two days' time....

Oh yeah, did I mention I'm off to Italy on Saturday? I didn't? Oops. Well, I am. The prospect of almost three weeks off work is making me a very happy lady right now!

Sunshine and Greek food and All The Talking

Besty A and I have been mulling over our holiday options this year for EVER.

I kind of actually do mean that, with only a smidgen of exaggeration. Because this year marks our 20th friendiversary, or somesuch dodgy word. We were nine when we first met each other. Two decades of non-stop talking, several thousand 2+hour phone conversations and a few hundred in-jokes later, she's still the first person I call with good news. Or bad news. Or no news at all.

Or when I've bought something I'm not sure about. Or when I'm about to make a decision and it might not be a good one. And once, when I forgot my pin number.

So yeah. Anniversary trip. We talked about so many different options: Japan, South America, Cuba, Egypt, Jordan. At one point, when the finances were looking particularly grim, a tent next to a roundabout in Suffolk (to be fair, that would be a recreation of one of our first, actually pretty awesome holidays).

But, after all that, we're going to Greece. To Kefalonia, to be precise.

Because PRETTY.

Photo credit

Because it's in the budget, and it looks, well, like this.

Because we realised that actually, what we want to do on this trip is hang out with each other and eat yummy food and lounge around and read books.

Because neither of us have been to Greece much (A's been for Crete, I've been to Corfu a couple of times) so it's new to us both.

To keep on track for my 50 books a year target, I need to read eight books on this trip. All recommendations welcome!

Amsterdam + blue skies

48 hours in Amsterdam.

Chilled hanging out-time with beautiful Cullock-lady, in the sunshine. With beer and tapas and wandering and ice-cream and lots and lots and lots of talking.

Two days = not long enough.

Flashback

You might remember that back in the spring I went to a bunch of awesome places? Like northern California, and Maui, and Coachella? No?

That's because I went to those places, had an incredible time and then totally failed to write about them, or do anything with the 6,000 (approx.) photos that I took. 

Which kinda totally defeats the purpose of keeping a blog  - you know, generally keeping track of what you've been up to so you can remember it when you're grey and wrinkly. 

So here goes. Sadly, of those 6,000 photos exactly 19 were taken at Coachella. That's because expensive camera + festival + booze = recipe for disaster. So I relied on my phone. And my phone, frankly, is pretty shitty. But anyway, please enjoy the 12 finest of those pictures - I think the blur on stage in the middle left is Nick Cave, but I wouldn't swear my life on it or anything. It could equally be New Order, or even the Stone Roses, although I'm not sure why I would have felt moved to document that set....

This, on the other hand, is definitely (blurry, but still) Nick:

And this flattering picture is me being ridiculously overexcited about that fact:

I totes still these from my friend E. Thanks E!

I know, I know. Guys, form an orderly queue.

Honestly, I'm not sure anyone would benefit from a detailed description of the music we saw - Coachella always has an amazing line-up, and what I loved someone else might bore someone else senseless. But highlights for me included Grimes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, New Order and of course, Nick (I'd like to think we're on first name terms. We're not).

Basically, imagine an English festival. Then take away the mud, add 90 degree heat, toilets that don't induce a  gag reflex, chuck in  a few million palm trees and a ferris wheel, and boom. Best. Festival. Evah.

Benign neglect

It's been a busy old month. Since last we spoke, I've hiked through bamboo forests, swum with turtles, failed to spot celebrities at a rather fancy restaurant, and watched Nick Cave do his thing at Coachella.

I've hung out in 95 degree Californian sunshine - and somehow avoided sunburn. I've reacquainted myself with the Victoria Line, and with shifts that start at 7am. Said goodbye to some of my favourite people, and counted myself lucky that I get to hang out with others on a regular basis now.

I have, fingers crossed, found myself somewhere to live in London. In a whole new area of London that I'm excited to explore.

And hopefully once I've established a new routine, a new blogging routine will come too. It's surprising just how much I miss trawling through photos and trying to find words when I neglect it.

For now, just a few photos from my short (too short) trip to Maui. It's pretty cool. You should go.

24 hours in San Francisco

I'll be back at some point with a bunch more details about our Easter road trip, Napa, wine and the fainting goats that just wouldn't faint.

But for now, here's a peek at our speedy tour of San Francisco.

What happens in Vegas: the neon boneyard

OK people, keep up now. I went to Vegas. I still don't entirely understand Vegas. I did some work. I marvelled at the magical powers of David Copperfield. I did some more work. I marvelled at people's capacity to consume enormous frozen beverages.

And then I found myself with a little window between finishing work and heading to the airport. So I decided to pay a little visit to pretty much the only Vegas tourist attraction I've ever been interested in: the Neon Museum.

What happens in Vegas

I just got back from a short work trip to Las Vegas.

I'm not going to lie - I remain unconvinced. This is my second visit and I just can't seem to get over my impression that the city is overrun by people in bad t-shirts drinking giant slushees.

I stayed at the Paris.

It's like you're in France! Except not.

Things that surprised me about the hotel:

:: The half-hour queue for check-in. I mean, I get it, it's a big hotel. But half an hour? In a 4-star hotel? 

:: The French staff. I can only imagine they were chosen because their general rudeness seemed very stereotypically Parisian...

:: The room. I was in a Premier room - not the cheapest, apparently. The TV didn't turn on (not that I wanted to watch it, but I wanted to check out that way and couldn't), it had a fine view of a parking lot, and well, it was kind of old and tatty.

Not that I'm really in a position to complain about any of this. I wasn't actually paying, the bed was comfortable and I spent approximately zero time in my room or in the casino, so none of it mattered that much.

What would improve the Arc de Triomphe? I know. Gordon Ramsay's head. 

The main reason I spent no time in my room (apart from the whole work thing) was that a big group of us spent our Friday night at the MGM Grand.

First, a big group of Aussies and I grabbed dinner at the hotel's Nobhill Tavern, which was all fine and dandy. 

Then we went, en masse, to see David Copperfield's show. 

I have no pictures of this, sadly. You're not allowed to take them.*

The best thing about the performance? When Steve Carrell came out on stage half-way through. The majority of the audience totally failed to realise it was really him, politely but unenthusiastically applauded, and he ambled off again looking dejected.

Actually, the whole show was pretty interesting. For a few of the tricks I could see that logically, there was only one way to do them. But others? I was baffled. He disappeared a few audience members, magicked a few vehicles on stage and predicted the future. Oh, and he popped some balloons with the power of his mind. As you do.

Then, because I have no idea how to gamble, I had hours of work ahead of me and I was stupidly tired, I left the Aussies at the blackjack tables to gamble the night away, and retreated to my comfortable bed.

So maybe that's the secret to Vegas? The shows are pretty cool (Elton! Seriously. I'm not joking. I would pay good money to see Elton...), there are some great restaurants, and if you've never seen the Eiffel Tower, well. This is a mock-up of it on the Vegas strip. Enjoy.

*I do actually have one picture of me posing with David Copperfield post-show, but I look utterly insane in it, so I feel you can live without that.

Aloha!

Guess where I'm going?

Hawaii, baby!

Or more specifically, Maui.

I have to admit, Hawaii had never particularly appealed to me - I'd envisaged, well, America. But with more than an average amount of tourists, and way more than an acceptable number of honeymooners. It just didn't seem like a great destination for independent travel.

But then I started reading Alex in Wanderland's posts about Hawaii. And by the end of her descriptions of amazing coastlines, hikes, wildlife and general chilling, I was sold.

And luckily, with all the transatlantic to-ing and fro-ing I've been doing over the past few years, I've racked up a few air miles. So my return flights from LA to Maui in April are costing me a grand total of....

Wait for it (it's worth it, I promise)

£3.20.

Imagine my GIANT SMUG SMILE OF PURE JOY when I realised this, if you will.

It's going to be a flying visit - the plan is to be back in time for Coachella, so I only have four days. But I'm pretty sure my friend A and I (and hopefully another friend too) can get some serious exploring/beach-lounging/partying done in that time!

Because, as has been well-documented previously, it's not a proper tropical holiday unless there's a cocktail or two.

Malibu sunset

There are worse places to go for fish and chips...

This country is, like, big.

Really fucking big.

So maybe for an American it's not weird that you can spend Saturday and Sunday on the west coast, with weather like this:

Then by Monday find yourself on the east coast with conditions somewhat less balmy:

But I definitely can't wrap my head around it.

I repeat, people.

From this (somewhere around 27 degrees):

To this (hovering around minus eight):

All this is a very long winded way of saying I just got back from a very brief trip to New York. And it was cold. But also seriously beautiful.

I feel like I'm doomed to see New York in tiny increments - I've been three times now, and not one of those stays has been for much longer than 24 hours. This time around, I had high hopes of paying a little visit to Brooklyn via the East River ferry, but after my return flight got bumped forward a couple of hours, I reluctantly concluded I didn't have enough time between finishing work and heading to the airport.

Plus, to be honest, just stepping out of the hotel made me think my face was about to shatter into thousands of pieces it was so freezing - hanging out on the river didn't sound all that appealing.

Plan B involved hot chocolate.

Serendipity is best known for its frozen hot chocolate. And there were some (clearly deranged) people in there choosing that, flying in the face of outside temperature, but I played it safe and went for the classic option.

Greedy? Yes. But I was bulking up before heading north through Central Park to the Met for an afternoon of culture. What can I say? I'm so freaking cool.

I do really love art galleries (and they're a great place to go when you're in a city on your own, like I was). But the main attraction this time around was the Matisse exhibition that's running until March.

It mainly examines how he used pairs, trios and extensively reworked his paintings as he questioned and re-examined his work - at one point late in his career, he even called in a photographer to take dozens of photos of the various stages he went through in the creation of one painting.

I highly recommend it, if you like Matisse. If you don't, never mind - the Met is ginormous. There's bound to be a room you do like. Armour? African sculpture? Old Masters? Abstract Impressionism? Musical instruments? Cafes? Art galleries always do a good cafe.

NYC, I love you. And maybe one day I'll actually have time for a more leisurely visit...