I arrived in Stockholm without any problems, took the express train into town and got settled in the apartment.  Then all of a sudden, I felt out of my comfort zone.  I didn’t understand why, since I had been to Stockholm numerous times, and at one point had actually lived there.  However, I wasn’t deterred.  I put on something cute and my comfortable, ugly-ass sandals and hit the streets.  However, I had forgotten that on Sundays most stores are closed and the ones that are open, close early.  So, when I found an open grocery store, I stocked up on the essentials I’d need for the week, and went back to the apartment to make a plan for the next day.

See…that’s the secret.  You have to have a plan.  Know what you want to see.  Even if you just want to meander around, know where you want to go.  This will give you a sense of purpose.  So every day, I made a plan to do something.  I visited every site I wanted, without compromise.  I left the apartment when I wanted.  I came back when I wanted.  I toured subway stations, I visited their world heritage site, and it was all on my terms.  It was awesome.

Another trick I did was to not view it as a foreign city.  I viewed it as if I were just hanging out, like I’d do at home.  And, that’s really how we do it.  Most people run their errands around the city they live in, alone, without giving it a second thought.

So, what did I learn about myself during this vacation?  I learned that I stayed in the background a lot when it came to interacting with the locals; if I were unsure, I’d push Roland out front to take care of it.  In “real life” I’m not this person.  I’m outgoing and not afraid of people.  However, I didn’t realize that I actually became shy and somewhat timid when I traveled.  I love that I discovered that, so I could change it. Now, I don’t do that anymore

Even though I prefer to have a partner-in-crime, I’d absolutely do a solo trip again.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much, that what started out as a 10 day vacation turned into a 2 week getaway.

Having Fun During My Solo Trip: Me on Lions In Kungsträdgården

Prior to leaving for Thailand in 2006 I decided I needed some comfy walking sandals that could also get wet.  Our departure date was creeping closer and closer and I still hadn’t found anything cute that I really liked.  While going through Nordstrom’s for the umpteenth time, I came across a pair of leather Tevas.  They weren’t cute, but when I tried them on; oh-my-gaaawd, they were the most comfortable sandals everrrrr!!  So even though they were $86, which is way too much to pay for an ugly shoe, I took them.  That was almost 6 years ago!!

These shoes go with me everywhere, I never leave home without them.

What is your one “must go with you everywhere” item?

My Ugly Sandals in Lisbon, Portugal 2009

My Ugly Sandals Going the Movies with my Mom in Bangkok 2006

My Ugly Sandals on Margarita Island 2007

My Ugly Sandals in St Vincent 2007

My Ugly Sandals - Today

 

 

DMM > AMS > SEA > SAN > SEA > LAS > SAN > SEA > SAN > LAS > SAN > SEA > STR > KON > LAX > SAN > SEA > AMS > DMM > AMS > ARN > AMS > DMM > AMS > ARN > AMS > DMM > AMS > SEA > SAN > SEA > JFK > SAN > SEA > AMS > DMM

Amsterdam is always a layover stop for me when I travel from Saudi Arabia.   This year, it wins as my most visited city.  Even though I’m only there for 8 hours at a time.  I always go into town for some sightseeing.  When it comes to the layout and the architecture (I love those canal side houses) Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities.

Amsterdam Canal Houses

San Diego is my hometown, born and raised.  I love San Diego.  For me, it’s like that friend who has known you since childhood, and you know them.  However, even with knowing the friend so well… people change; as do cities.    The thing is I have not actually lived in San Diego for any length of time since 1999.  When I come to San Diego, it’s all about family for me, and free room and board.  LOL  My family is pretty much the only thing happening for me in this town.  I have love for my hometown, but as far as cities go I think it’s kinda boring.  The vibe of this town is beach and sun.  Other than that, there isn’t much of a “culture.”  But, that’s okay because I still got love, and I’m proud to call myself a San Diegan.

Mission Beach in San Diego

Seattle is my adopted hometown.  I lived in Seattle from 2000 to 2008.  I LOVE Seattle.  From the time I moved to there the vibe was good, it was easy for me to get in, make friends, and start a life.  I have my favorite neighborhood (West Seattle), my favorite happy hour spots (Bahama Breeze and The Black Bottle), my favorite food spots (Chaco Canyon), along with my favorite grocery stores (Marlene’s Natural Market and Metropolitan Market), and all my favorite friends (who I won’t name ).   I headquarter myself out of San Diego, however, whenever I come back to the States, I always spend time in Seattle.  I fly in and out of the States via SEA.  Besides the fact that it’s cheaper than flying directly into San Diego or Los Angeles, it gives me the opportunity to lay over for a couple of days; which is what I typically will do.  Before I leave to go back to Saudi Arabia, I always spend at least 3 days in Seattle.  If I had a house in Seattle, I would make it my home base.  The only problem I have with Seattle is the weather.  OMG.  The weather sucks!!!  But, you can’t have everything.

Pikes Place Market Sign

Veeeeeeeeeeegaaaaaaaassssssss!!!     I Love Vegas!!!   This year, I went to Las Vegas 3 times. I have totally rediscovered this town.  I went in January for a wedding, then I went back again with a girlfriend in April to check out Janet Jackson at Ceasar’s (she was fabulous), then Rolle and I went back again a month later for the Billboard Music Awards (I love going to award shows!!).  The only gripe I have about Las Vegas is them trying to turn this town into a “family” destination. I view Las Vegas as a playground for adults.

At The Billboard Music Awards

The Wynn Hotel's Room with a View

I made my first solo vacation trip this year.  Even though I’ve traveled alone numerous times, I’ve never traveled to a city and stayed for an extended period of time by myself.  I kinda had to be talked into it, but once I made my decision to go I was excited and nervous.  Stockholm was the perfect city for me to have my first solo experience.  I lived there for a short period (1999/2000), so I knew the city and felt comfortable there.  My intention was to stay for 10 days, I ended up staying for 2 weeks.  Stockholmers can be a little “not friendly,” but the trick is to not try to speak Swedish, don’t expect to make “new friends (or acquaintances), they only speak to people they know (which begs to ask, how do you meet people?) .  If you go in just doing your thing, you’ll do fine in this beautiful, easy to navigate city.

Stockholm - StrandVagen from Water

Along with those oldies, I visited some new cities this year as well.

It started with Santa Rosa, CA.  It’s located smack dab in the middle of Sonoma Valley’s wine country and farm land.  This didn’t do me much good considering that I was there for a 10 day stay at a health retreat.  I did a 7-day water fast.  Yes, people, that means for 7 days I only ingested water.  While at the facility, I was not allowed to leave the grounds as they couldn’t have me passing out on the streets.  LOL.  However, the last 3 days we were able to get out and see a little bit of Santa Rosa.  I actually wish I could have spent more time here but Hawaii was calling.

Landing in Santa Rosa

This wasn’t my first trip to Hawaii, however it was my first time to The Big Island.  We headquartered ourselves out of Waikoloa Beach, but spent most of our time in Kona-Kailua or Hilo.  I blame the fact that I hadn’t eaten in several days as the reason for me booking myself in a planned resort community with a Macy’s across the street (ughhhh).  If I had done the research that I typical do before booking a trip I would have had us staying in Kona.  All and all it didn’t matter; we had a blast.  We discovered our favorite healthy restaurant, we zip lined, we circumnavigated the island, and we witness smoke plumes at National Volcano Park.  What’s not to love about Hawaii?

Halema'uma'u Crater, Hawaii Volcano National Park

Last but certainly not least is, New York Baby!!

OMG  I Love New York.  It appears I love all the cities I went to this year, but seriously I loved none more that New York.  It was nothing like I expected.  I thought it would be overrun, overcrowded, I expected the people to be harsh and rude, and Central park to be a deep dark cavern of a park in which I could get raped, robbed or maimed at any corner.  Well…for once, I’m glad none of my expectations were true.  We had a nice apartment on the Upper West Side, right on 72nd Street.  I felt like a local, and at one point I had someone tell me they thought I was from there.  I considered that a major compliment considering I was trying my best not to look like a tourist, which is hard when you’re carry around a big ass camera, which is why I left it in the apartment 50% of the time.

City View from Empire State Building

Times Square

And, in between all of this were quite a few day trips to Bahrain and to Los Angeles.  What can I say?  2011 has been a fabulous travel year for me, and I’m already looking forward to where I may go in 2012.

I’ve made this trip 7 times in the past 3 years and it hasn’t gotten any easier.  I’ve done the working out when you arrive, the melatonin, the “pushing it through the day” hopped up on double espressos and Red Bull, and I’ve tried doing nothing.  It doesn’t matter.  And, just when I think I’ve gotten it beat, I pass out at 4:30PM and I’m up all night.

So this is what it looks like:

I came from Arabian Standard Time (AST) and I’m now on Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)

I woke up this morning at 11:00AM (9:00PM AST), after going to bed at about 4:30AM (2:30PM AST) that same morning. At 3:30PM PDT (1:30AM AST) I was fighting to stay awake.  On my way home, I stopped at Starbucks and grabbed a tall bold drip with 4 raw sugars, hoping to stay up until at least 9:00PM.  The plan was to edit some photos and work my way through it.

Well…at 9:00PM (7:00AM AST) I woke up.  I don’t know what happened.  It’s like I have narcolepsy.  I have no control.  I don’t even really remember laying down.

So, there I was, fixing a breakfast of hash browns, vegan sausage patties and applesauce and it’s was 12:45AM PDT (10:45AM AST).  Because this thing called jet lag does not only affect your sleep cycle, it affects your food cycle.  I’m hungry when I should be sleeping and I go all day without feeling hungry or wanting to eat.  Of course that always leads to a 5 pound weight gain whenever I go back to the States from this alone.

Well…

It’s now 3:30AM (1:30PM AST).  I know I have about two more hours max, before I’m going to have to make a decision whether to turn the TV off and try to get some sleep, or to say “eff it” and let daybreak hit my eyes.  Either way, my day is screwed.  Screwed in the sense that, regardless if I stay up or go to sleep, today will be a day of not having that “refreshed after a good night’s sleep” feeling.  I am assured that today will be a low energy day, and I’ll be hoping that today will be the day that I turn it around.

A few days back, it was 5:30AM (3:30PM AST), when I headed out for Coronado in the hopes of getting some nice sunrise photos of the Coronado bridge.  Well…it was overcast and foggy, but I got a few decent shots. 

Overcast and Foggy Downtown San Diego at Dawn

Coronado Bridge at Dawn

Early Morning Dawn on Coronado

About 25 years ago, I started a foreign currency collection. I had money from all over; Japan, Philippines, Jamaica, China, Mexico, etc.  Some of the currencies came from my own travels, but lot of it came from other people.  I still have this collection, somewhere, in some box in our storage lockers in the garage.  That was the beginning.

Then I started collecting Starbucks Big City coffee mugs.  It started out innocently enough.  It was 1996 and I was at a neighborhood Starbucks with my boyfriend (who’s now my husband), and I made a comment about the San Diego Big City mug.  It went something like, “that’s a big ass mug,” next thing I know, he has purchased it.  I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but 26 mugs and 23 cities later, I have a Big City mug collection.  At one point, I even called Starbucks to ask them about the mugs and which cities had them.  The deal was this, in order for a city to have a big city mug they had to have at least 20 Starbuck locations.  It was with this collection that I started to make up rules.  The rule was I had to actually have touched ground in that city, and an airport layover was good enough.  I’ve had people offer to pick up a mug here and there, but no-can-do.  I actually had to have gone there.  Due to a variety of reasons, I have duplicates of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London.  I’m no longer actively collecting Big City mugs.  Starbucks discontined  the 20 ounce mugs and there was a redesign.    But, every once in a while I will find one.  The last one I purchased that was actually one of the 20 ounce mugs was in 2006 while in Bangkok.

Starbucks Big City Mugs

At about the same time I started the Starbucks collection, I inadvertinely started another collection.  Well, technically it’s not my collection.  It’s my mother’s.  I was doing a lot of business travel, so I would get a magnet for my mom.   That was 34 magnets ago.  Since then I’ve added a new rule to the collecting of the magnets.  The rule is: even if we’re traveling together, she is not allowed to purchase her own magnet. I purchase the magnets!  I think rules to collecting makes it fun

My Mama's Magnets

Now, I’m on to the KLM Delft Blue porcelain houses filled with Bois Jenever (dutch gin).  These houses are awesome!  The houses are handed out at the end of the flight to their business class passengers.  It’s like a final farewell drink, but it comes in a cute porcelain house.  Each house is an exact replica of a real dutch house.  There’s even an app that you can download that tells you exactly where the house is located in Holland, and it’s linked to google maps should you want to go and check out the real deal.  I’m still in the beginning phases of this collection, and I haven’t come up with firm rules yet.  The thing with this collection is that in order for me to get the houses I have to fly KLM, and I have to be traveling  in the business class cabin, so this collection is building slowly.  I currently have eight houses with two being duplicates.  I recently found out that you can purchase the houses.   Can I purchase them and still keep my collection “a travel collection?”  I don’t know.  If I just purchased them all, it will take the fun out of finding ways to collect them.  Obviously, I’m still working out the rules for this collection.

KLM Blue Delft Dutch Houses

Do you have a travel collection?  What do you collect?  Do you make up rules as to how and when you can add to the collection?  Let me know.

*  The men are mostly cute and in good physical shape.  This is NOT a criterion for me to love a city.  I’m a married woman. LOL But, not a dead one, so, having good eye candy to look at while spending time on the Tunnelbana (Metro), grabbing some coffee or while out having drinks is an added bonus.  The men also seem to have a greater sense of fashion than the women.  It’s almost as if they’re peacocks showing their feathers.  What else can explain the red pants? (BTW:  These guys didn’t know each other)  :)

Guys in Red Pants

*  They speak English.  This is huge.  Don’t underestimate its ability to ease you into a place.  Some will say that you should always know a few phrases in the local language.  And, I agree.  However, Stockholm is one of those cities in which I find I get better reception and service when I speak “American” right off the bat.  When I do this, I find all my transactions go smoothly.  It’s almost as if I’m forgiven for being a foreigner.  So, if you want to appear courteous you could ask in English, “Do you speak English?” and you will get the standard reply, “Of Course.”

*  The Public Transportation System.   Sweden’s transportation system really cannot be beat.  This system winds its way up and down into the most obscure of locations throughout out Sweden, and conveniently connect to T-Centralen (the main subway/train station in Stockholm).  You’re almost always no more than a 5 minute walk from a metro station when in the city center.  Your pass for the Tunnelbana works for the buses as well.  Unless you’re going into the outlying areas, you will probably never need to get on the bus, and will use the Tunnelbana exclusively.

Fridhemsplan - People Walking with Train

* Simply Put: It’s Beautiful.  Stockholm is set on a series of 14 islands, connected by 57 bridges.  A third of its land is dedicated to green spaces and parks. Its proximity to water, beautiful buildings and lots of green space makes Stockholm one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals.  The architecture is  a mix of 19th century elegance with simple forms, and 20th century functionalism, and it all works together.  The colors of the buildings are vibrant and pleasing; such as in this photo of Jakobs Kyrka  in Kungsträgården.

Jakobs Kyrka in Kungsträgården

Sveriges Riksdag (Swedish Parliament Building)

* The Candy Stores!  There I’ve said it.  I love the GodisCenters, and my favorite candy store is in Hötorget  Metro station.   All over Stockholm there are candy stores.  And they all serve candy packaged and in bulk.  You walk through the door, grab a big plastic spoon and a bag.  I don’t know what it is.  I’ve been in similar “candy” stores in other cities, but the ones in Sweden are the best.  My favs are the chewy caramel Rollo’s in the red and gold wrapping, the sweet and sour pacifiers, the chocolate covered raisins, and the chocolate covered marshmallows.  I usually team these up with some, “I wonder how these taste?” samples.

During this trip I’m going to write and post daily to this blog, and share some of my photos.  I plan on participating in enough interesting activities to write about.  Let’s hope this plan comes to fruition.

When we got home, I put some photos on Facebook, but just a few teaser shots, as I wanted to save the best for my videos.  Then one day, the weirdest thing happened, I went to turn on my 10-month new MacBook Pro, and I got this flashing folder symbol, and my computer wouldn’t boot up.  After calling Apple Care and going through all of the troubleshooting we could do over the phone, I was told I would need to take it into a Mac Store.  Since I’m currently residing in Saudi Arabia, I decided to wait until I returned back to the states in November.  Up until that time, I tried not to think about my computer.  Because every time I did, I felt somewhat nauseous.   Immediately upon arrival in the states, that same day, about 3 hours after landing, I take it to the Apple store.  And, they tell me the dreaded words, that I was hoping for the past two months I would not hear, “your hard drive has to be replaced”.  ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (that’s me screaming)

They replaced the hard drive, and the ethernet port (this also had died about 2 days before the hard drive), and gave me back the computer along with the damaged hard drive.  I still thought there was some hope.  They gave me a card and told me to call Drive Savers.  It’s a company located in Northern California that is one of the better known companies for this sort of thing and I was told that they may be able to forensically remove the data, however it was expensive.  Well what’s considered “expensive?”  It’s all relative, so I make the call.  Of course, they can not give me a quote over the phone, they need to see the hard drive, they sent me a box to send them the hard drive, and if they couldn’t fix it, they would also send it back and it will have cost me nothing.  So, I send it in.  The next day, I receive a call.  The quote I received  was a range from $1700 – $2400.  Sh*t!! That is expensive.   After a few conversations back in forth (over a few days), they offered a price of $1000.  I was willing to pay $1000.00 to get my stuff off of this hard drive.  I told them the photos were the most important thing. About a week goes by, and I receive the dreaded phone call that they could not recover anything from the drive.  I was pretty much devastated all over again.  Because, even though I was trying not to get my hopes up, inside I was hoping.

The only photos I have from this vacation are the few (about 10 – 20 pics per city) are on FB.  And, since I’ve upload them to FB, they are so compressed that I couldn’t pull them off to make a slide show because it would look horrible.  The obvious lesson here is to back up your photos!!  I now back up my hard drive to an external and I burn photos to a CD and file.  It doesn’t matter if you have a new computer or not.  Trust me, after saving and spending dang near $2500 for my Mac, to have the hard drive crash beyond repair at 10 months in, is horrible. I never would have thought it.   So, remember to “Back Dat Thang Up!”

Just writing this, I’m still filled with disappointment.  It’s a hard lesson.  If you wanna check out the few photos I have from this vacation, you can click on the links and view the pics from FB (even if you don’t have an FB account).

London, England: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82812&id=544363929&l=f938a3ad56

London2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82812&id=544363929&l=f938a3ad56

Vigo, Spain: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82818&id=544363929&l=dead38f400

Lisbon, Portugal: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82823&id=544363929&l=e0cc9b9a8c

Gibraltar, UK: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82825&id=544363929&l=79ce6bfedc

BTW:  Crusing into Gibraltar was awesome, we saw the northern coast of Africa and a pod of dolphins.  This stop was a pleasant surprise.

Cagliari, Sardinia: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82826&id=544363929&l=41b29efb0c

Rome, Italy: We LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Rome: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82842&id=544363929&l=106d4170c2

Pisa & Florence, Italy: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82845&id=544363929&l=73d4a26188

Barcelona, Spain: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82871&id=544363929&l=4ca7059693

Following is one of the only 2 photos I have from being at the Cannes Film Festival:

I’ll keep you posted.