Summer 2015: Scandinavia – Oslo, Norway

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Aug 152015
 

Our next stop on our Scandinavia adventure was Oslo. So, we took the train on a rather wet morning through the countryside and found ourselves in the small capital of Norway.

While people in the touristy areas were friendly enough, no one was overly friendly. We still did a lot of walking and found ourselves seeing a few interesting places within the downtown area. However, when we hit the tram to find our way to Frogenparken and Vigelandsparken, we were amazed by the sculptures and monument created there. It was very moving to walk around seeing the faces and sculptures of people from all walks of life designed as loving in unity.

We also took in the greenery as we do not see much of that in the desert! 😀

Here are the pics:

Overall, aside from the park, it wasn’t a very memorable city as far as sights are concerned. What is memorable is the extremely high cost of just about everything…! 🙁

More to come,

-T 😀

Summer 2015: Scandinavia – Copenhägen, Denmark

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Aug 132015
 

After the couple of days of “work” in London, I flew off to Copenhägen, Denmark to meet my friend, J, for our Scandinavia adventure. We had booked a 12-day ‘tour’ to see the region and I couldn’t wait!

We started with Copenhägen for two nights and fell in love with the sights, people (aka tall men!) and food. Everyone was very friendly to us – perfect strangers – and helped us with ideas for food or things to see. It’s just the right size city that is fairly walkable, but not too small that you’d get tired of it. We did a lot of walking and exploring of the entire city.

Some highlights included the caramelized pork burger smothered with potato salad on a bun and walking through the ‘cannibas’ quarters with its graffiti and liberalism. 😀

Here are the pics!

P.S. I will keep most of these posts fairly short, as I plan to do some travel writing on another site where I have published a few stories before. I’ll update these posts with the links once I get to them. 🙂

More to come,

-T 😀

Spring Break 2015

 General, Going Mental, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Apr 122015
 

My parents have hit the full retirement life and spent the last four months in their ‘winter’ home in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. So, I decided to go for a visit during my spring break this year to see what the fuss is all about.

Well, let me tell you – it was excellent and I definitely see why they chose to live there. There’s tons to do and the weather is fantastic. Besides that, it’s absolutely beautiful with the colors of the mountains, canyons and water all mixed in with desert blends and blue skies. It was a really nice 10-days, even if the 28-hour trip from Abu Dhabi to Dubai to Atlanta to Las Vegas to Lake Havasu was a bit exhausting. 😛

Here are the pics from the holidays!

Lackluster of Traveling…

 Going Mental, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Mar 022015
 

Is it possible to travel too much? Am I just too spoiled in my ‘old age’ that when I go to a new city, it’s not as exciting as it used to be?

I’m in Madrid for a conference (INTED 2015). I was here before about six years ago with my mom and Aunt Sue. It was a short visit before we took off for the south of Spain, but I remembered it being a pretty cool city.

The trip over felt long and tiring. Probably having a flight that leaves at 1:45am is what taints the experience. I came with a colleague and so at least we could have someone to chat with and have pre-flight drinks with. 😉 It was a pretty easy flight for me as I slept the whole way, but had a three-hour layover in Amsterdam before another 2.5 hour flight to our destination. By the time we arrived at the hotel around 1pm, we were fairly wiped.

We did settle in to our rooms and then go for a meal and wander around. I’ll post the pics a bit later as they are in my camera…. Then, we came back with the intent of going back out later for tapas and sangria, both of us ended up crashing and not having the energy to go back out. 🙁

Still, even though it has been good so far and I like the city enough, I think the traveling part is starting to wear on me a bit…Maybe I just need to ensure that my departure times are not so rough so that I can enjoy it more…?

Anyway, will definitely be posting about the conference and the city de Madrid!

More to come,

~T 😀

London – Day 2

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Aug 232014
 

On our second day, we decided to do the Big Bus Tour so that we could see the city and get our bearings.

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We started out on the Red Line, but that line offers a live commentary on the city and my mom had a bit of trouble with the accents. So, we switched to the Blue Line, which has the recorded commentary. 😉 Although it is a hop-on hop-off tour, we just stayed on for the full loop, which was about 3.5 hours. Mom was a bit jet lagged, and it was easy to get the full picture.

2nd Day bus tour of London
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2nd Day bus tour of London23-Jun-2014 10:08, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.4, 2.15mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50
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Harrods
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Harrods23-Jun-2014 10:50, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, ISO 40
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After completing the loop, we decided to ride a bit around again to see Big Ben and the Parliament building. This fulfilled my 8-yr-old dream! It was a very impressive sight and even better than the pyramids! 😀

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Our Bus Tour ticket included a river boat cruise, so we went back in the evening and cruised the river Thames where we also got to see the Tower Bridge in full. It was a full and tiring day, but all good!

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London – Day 1

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Aug 152014
 

**I am going to try on the weekends to update on my summer travels – until the last chapter is submitted. So, here we go!**

The beginning of my summer holidays started with some drama from work as I had to miss the last two official days due to my second-to-last coaching course and then I flew early to meet my mom in the UK for our mother-daughter trip. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but as fate would have it, the students had to cause some trouble at the last minute…. Anyway, with that, I flew away to leave all thoughts of the desert behind me!

Throughout all of my travels I have always avoided having to go through Heathrow as people have always said it is a terrible airport. Although I couldn’t imagine it was all that bad, this was my first time there; and, well, now I fully understand.

Upon arrival, I was completely amazed at the disorder at the luggage belt. People stood right up along the belt and would not get out of the way when my suitcase came by.

Initial impression was not good...Everybody was hoarding around the baggage belt - couldn't grab my suitcase because nobody would move!!!!
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Initial impression was not good...Everybody was hoarding around the baggage belt - couldn't grab my suitcase because nobody would move!!!!22-Jun-2014 16:54, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.042 sec, ISO 320
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So, my first impression of Londoners was not great.

Luckily, I was able to find my mom quite easily and we got ourselves on the train and to our hotel without too much trouble. It was not great to lug our suitcases in the Tube, but I suppose it could have been worse and some people did help, which lightened my initial impression of people. 😉

In the evening, upon recommendation from M, we ventured out to the West End for dinner. We found a really nice Naplese restaurant and had a delicious dinner.

First night's dinner in West End - Napolese restaurant = delish!
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First night's dinner in West End - Napolese restaurant = delish!22-Jun-2014 21:35, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 40
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We explored the area a bit and did a fairly epic walk around for our first afternoon/night. We were off to a good start!!!

First ride on the Tube!
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First ride on the Tube!22-Jun-2014 21:04, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 320
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Piccadilly Circus
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Spring Break 2014: Day 12

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Apr 092014
 

It was back to the real world for the Suzuki household yesterday, so I took the time to actually get some PhD work done. Yep, you heard that right, I worked on my PhD!!! The morning was fairly quiet with that. Then, I headed out to meet J for lunch as our last lunch date for my visit. Of course, before I got on the train I needed to indulge in a little treat….

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Then, we met near E’s school for an organic lunch, which was really tasty and I got to satisfy my curry craving. I think I’ve eaten nearly everything I possibly could here!

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After that, I headed in to Shinjuku, which was not exactly planned before, but as I was meeting a grad school mate and former colleague in Yoyogi, it seemed worthwhile to make a stop. I had waaaaaay too much fun shopping at BicQlo (Bic Camer and Uni Qlo). I got to see the weirdness of Tokyo (see dog pic) Plus, then I went to Isetan’s B2 Beauty Apothecary for the organic health and body care products – wow!

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So, I came back with quite a bit of loot and all caught up with Ro, which was really nice. Overall, a pretty good day survived in the pits of Tokyo central! 😛

Sadly, just one more day left and then it’s back to the Dhabs….

-T 😀

 

Spring Break 2014: Days 9 ~ 11 (Okinawa)

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Apr 082014
 

From Days 9~11 we made a trip to Okinawa. It was mine and J’s second time to visit and E’s first. J found a really nice package that included a car rental, hotel with breakfasts + 1 lunch and a dolphin experience. Although it was still a little chilly for my liking, it was a great time and good to get away from the buzz of Tokyo life for a few days.

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Now we are back in the cooler Tokyo temps with just a couple more days left before I have to return to reality. 😀

-T

Spring Break 2014: Day 8

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Apr 072014
 

It has been a busy few days!

Friday (Day 8) was spent chillaxing at home for a few hours and then heading out for lunch with J.

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We walked around in Tokyo (Omotesando) a bit, reminiscing of the old days when we would go out for a massage or drinks. We had a shocking experience at a Japanese souvenir shop, which rendered J miraculously speechless! Finally, we headed to pick up E from school.

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We had a relaxing afternoon with a surprise delivery of a tasty beverage before my former Kanda student came over for dinner. It was so nice to catch up with her and surprise her with the fact that I speak Japanese. 😉

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-T 😀

 

Spring Break 2014: Day 7

 General, Meanderings Abroad  No Responses »
Apr 042014
 

Back in Tokyo and brought rain with me….WHAT?!

So, I had the morning to myself and managed to actually do some work. I know, shocking! 😉 After a couple of hours of that, I went for a visit to the drugstore. Oh my gosh have I missed them?! I can spend so much time there wandering the aisles looking at what is possible. However, I must admit that going all natural and organic sort of takes away some of the joy….

Despite the rain, I did stop to enjoy the cherry blossoms, briefly.

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In the afternoon, I meet up with J and we did some shopping after a lovely lunch. We went to pick up E at school and hit the grocery store. I saw these amazingly humongo breads!

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03-Apr-2014 16:56, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 40
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Dinner was oden, which I haven’t had in ages, so it was all delish! Followed up by a gab session over a bottle of wine. Ahhhh, life is goood. 😀

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03-Apr-2014 19:35, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.059 sec, ISO 320
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-T 😀

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