Author: Angela

No, I have not been to London or New York. I was in Gothenburg where there is a restaurant / wine bar / café called Soho. It is a really nice place with several sections featuring different styles. You can stop by for a glass of champagne at the bar, cakes in the atrium or dinner in the dining room.

One thing I like about this place is that they have, in several places, printed text directly on the wall. This sentence I particularly like!

Today I went to Systembolaget, the Swedish liquor store. I was going to pick up some wine and beer for the weekend since this was the last chance for me before Sunday when I am cooking for my friends, Hana and Harry, who are visiting Stockholm.
When it was my turn at the counter the sales guy said: So, Miss, do you have id? I gave him a big smile and my id that says that I have been able to buy alcohol for about 15 years. He looked a little embarrassed but I took it as a compliment and left much happier than I was a few minutes earlier. What a sweetheart!

As any Swede would tell you, there is no better place than Sweden on a nice summers day. Last Saturday was one of those perfect days. I was visiting my sister, Helena, and her family close to Gothenburg. It was warm enough to go to the beach, actually swim and lay in the sun all day but without getting sun stroke. When we came back from the beach my brother-in-law, Micke, made us mojitos with fresh herbs from the garden. Perfect day.

Christmas 2008 I spent on Big La Laguna beach in Puerto Galera in the Philippines. The hotel we stayed at (Campbell’s Beach Resort) was at the very end of the beach with a huge terrace outside the room. From there we had a great view of the whole beach. We could watch people snorkeling, swimming, eating and drinking at the beach front restaurants. We saw when people were coming and leaving. The beach was small enough to keep track of everyone staying there. After a week it felt like we were leaving a family.

They say that you should concentrate on where you are and live your life here and now. I totally agree. But I do like when here is changing fast. For example; last year I left from Taiwan to go diving in Mexico. That in itself was a big change in “here”. From work in busy Tainan to the waters outside lazy Cozumel. On the way there however I had a long lay over in San Fransisco. As it happens a colleague and friend, Magnus, lives not very far from the airport and my flight arrived appropriately on a Friday night. He booked us a table not far from the airport and we met at the restaurant. This was by far the best lay over I have ever experienced, good company, good food and lots of great wine which I had been craving in Tainan.

The time difference was to my advantage this time. I left Taiwan late Friday night, arrived 6 hours earlier on the same night in San Fransisco, had a great dinner and then arrived in Mexico around lunch time on Saturday. The problem is that at some point I had to go back. And in this case it took me two days…

I felt very fortunate to experience three very different places during such a short period of time. All places have their special charm and I find it difficult to choose one favorite place in the world.

I am in agony. How much money can one spend on a three week long holiday? There are so many things I would like to do but is it realistic to spend that amount of money? What is really reasonable? The problem is that I want to go diving and do some decent diving as well. This is unfortunately quite expensive. The difference between finding a fairly good hotel and spend the time surfing, sun bathing, visit temples, museums and possible renting a scooter compared to diving two weeks is big! If I chose not to dive I could go on a much longer holiday or several holidays for the same money. However I am not sure my company would allow me to go on 3 month holidays every year so what am I saving it for?

Now I could list a number of things, sensible things, to spend the money on. Like buy a larger apartment maybe which would be an investment for the future and not money just thrown away. But the sum I am talking about would not even upgrade my apartment to include a balcony so why bother? Then again, I have chosen not to have a car, not upgrade the apartment, not buy that flatscreen tv and so on to be able to do exactly this. And I know what I enjoy and what makes me feel alive. That is travelling and not being able to live in a different apartment. Still it feels very hard to decide to make such an expensive trip. Why is that? Have I not just myself answered my question?

I do know myself well enough to know that I will not be able to resist this:

or this:

I just have to face it. I am hooked…