Can’t believe the week is almost over. Time has been passing like crazy lately and I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad about it. I guess I’m happy that we are moving faster towards the weekends and holidays and away from work and stress, but then again sad that time passes too fast and towards other chapters in life. I feel like it’s only been a year since I was 20 and moved to Thailand, but that’s not the case. It’s already been 3!!
Sister love at fuentes del algar <3
Benidorm view
I feel like I’ve had more drinks than I’ve had forever lately and it doesn’t help that I’m not going to the gym. On saturday we started off at the Royal oak with beers, ciders and food, watching Liverpool draw against Tottenham. Then we continued to Robin Hood to watch Chelsea BEAT Aston Villa. Yes, you heard me. Chelsea’s back, hehe. We also ended up having ciders and jäger bombs?! there. The night didn’t end there, but continued at Tuba with a couple of their giant cocktails. If you ever go, their Amaretto sour is the bomb. Only bad side with going to Tuba is that people are allowed to smoke inside.
Following day we had an indian wedding to attend which meant more drinking. Good thing we didn’t go too crazy. We also went to the speakeasy at Muse hotel after. It’s pretty chill.
So I get back to work planning to save my alcohol intake for Halloween, but on Tuesday my boss decided we quit early to go to a sports bar in soi 4 called strikers. I love how it’s totally acceptable to go out during weekdays in Bangkok. I think we all went through two whole bottles of jägermeister for shots and vodka bottle for drinks. I love that Swedes drinks vodka. I mean why does people have to drink Whiskey?! It’s so gross.
That brings me to yesterday when we went to see the Silly fools at Parking Toys. They were really good live by the way. But the Whiskey-Coke-Soda wasn’t. It’s 3 poisons I don’t like. Hehehe, oh complaining Anita.
Anyways, I’m off for work now! Hoping my colleague that’s been sick the whole week is back today, been way to much to do this week.
Amsterdam was shorts and sweet. We had one night and two (almost) full days in the city. I’ve been to Amsterdam before, but this time I really fell in love with the city. It’s such a free place compared to Norway and Thailand, but it’s not in any way more chaotic or less safe for that matter.Actually I felt incredibly safe there even at night time walking around the red light district and dark alleys. I love how they have amazing food EVERYWHERE and how easy accessible it is. You can jump on the bus/tram/ferry and get pretty much anywhere you want for a good price. In Norway it costs me the same amount to take the train to the airport, as it costed me for a full day card in Amsterdam. I ACTUALLY felt like the reason they have public transportation was to save the environment. In Norway it’s actually cheaper to take your own car most places than taking the train…
Enough moaning about my own country. We have decided we will be moving to Amsterdam some time in the future though. Not forever, but at least for half a year or a full year… Can’t wait!
Love my forever travel partner <3
5 things you have to do while you’re in Amsterdam:
Heineken experience, it was so much fun, and you actually learn interesting things about how Heineken been become what we know today.
As you can see I was pretty tipsy already. What a fun tour!
Canal cruise. It was so, so, but it is really nice to go on the canal and learn about the city. You could just go on a little canoe as a couple too, I’m sure that would be nice aswell. My friends went on their own paddle boat once, and apparently this was not a good idea as you have to steer yourself around and between the bigger boats.
Coffee shop. You can’t go to Amsterdam as a youngster and not visit the coffee shops. It’s so weird to see people just sitting there smoking weed like it’s normal. Also their menu’s with herbal tea’s and joints like you were ordering a cappuccino. I’m not saying you should smoke, just have a look. 🙂
Visit the Van Gogh museum. I can’t believe I got to see the beautiful paintings that I learnt and read about in school. Until January you also get to see Edvard Munch’s masterpieces at the museum.
Super yummy, we went for the spicy sauce. Yes… I know I look like a toddler, but I can’t talk about the best fries in the world without showing a photo
Vlaams Friethuis.I don’t even like french fries, but these were crispy, salty and golden. And you get to choose your topping from over a dozen sauces.
Where to stay? We stayed at the Ibis right next to the Amsterdam Centraal station. The hotel wasn’t super fancy but the location was great. We could get pretty much anywhere from our hotel, and it was only one train away from the airport. Don’t expect an early check-in though, the hotel is PACKED.
Pretty much where we lived. Right next to Amsterdam centraal. Of course I was holding food there. Best baguett EVER.
Tips: If you are planning to do the same activities as us, make sure you get anIAMSTERDAMcity card, it includes unlimited train, ferry and tram rides, and also free access to the Van Gogh museum, the lovers canal cruise and more! You’ll save loads of money.
Since I feel there’s no point in me posting every photo from the trip and explaining about everything like I usually do when it comes to pretty much everything… especially when it comes to things nobody cares about but me, hihi I thought I make a list of things you should do, or try, that we did while in the big Apple.
View over New York City from the helicopter
1. Go on a helicopter ride over the city. It only lasts for about 15 minutes or less, but the view is breathtaking. It costs a lot more than the ordinary view you would get from the skyscrapers, but in return you get to so the city from every angle, and also, you get to go in a helicopter, how awesome is that?! We went with Liberty helicopter tours, and from what I see online the price is around 185 USD per. person.
2. Bottomless brunch! If you ever visit New York you have to go for brunch and even better pay a little extra and make it a bottomless brunch with free flow of something fun in your glass. We went to Marc Forgione in Tribeca, and had some eggs benedict and burger sliders with bottomless mimosas. Not the best food I’ve had for brunch, but it was a nice atmosphere and the location fit our plans. Apparently Agave is amazing, but we hadn’t made a booking in advance and read that the lines was normally long, so we didn’t try to go as our schedule was quite tight, and we weren’t up for missing out on anything.
3. I’m not really a sushi person, and when I go for sushi I like it plain and simple, I also don’t like the pieces to be too big so I don’t have to be that idiot that doesn’t eat the sushi in one bite. Sushi of Gariwas none of these, it had lots of different flavours and the pieces was large and filling but I loved it. It was perfection, the rice was like nowhere else and the fish just melted on your tongue. The signature sauce on each piece was also from heaven.
4. Go for a burger. For a fast burger (even though the line was pretty long ehm..) Shake Shack is amazing. Five guys is really good too, I love how you can put so many vegetables and that the spicy sauce is spicy!
5. HALAL GUYS, you have to go visit the stall. Best gyro ever!!! The meat and bread was super soft and nice, and the sauce was delicious. We asked for lots of spicy sauce being used to disappointing spice outside of Asia, but with a few drops of their magic it was perfect.
6. Pizza, for me pretty much everywhere in new york has good pizza. You could pretty much get it anywhere there, and it would still be better than many places back home in Norway and Thailand. I love big and greasy slices filled with pepperoni and cheese and made sure I tried it whenever we passed a place. They have spots with slices for 2 USD, but the best fast pizza slice I picked up was from Liberty pizza next to the Empire state building. We we’re planning to go to Lombardi’s in Nolita or Arturo’s in Soho, but couldn’t fit it into our 4 day schedule but I will definitely go first thing when I go back next. Seeing I couldn’t visit these places, my driver recommended me to go to John’s pizza which was right down the road from our hotel. It was super yummy, and I love how you choose your own topping.
Liberty pizza, street pizza style! mmm
7. Go on a cruise on the river. If you are going to New york during summer time, make sure you book a cruise on the river. We did a wine and cheese tasting cruise, and it was really nice. The weather was perfect, and you get to see a lot of the city while getting tipsy on wine.
Sightseeing and drinking in the sun ain’t bad!
8. BARCADE, gaming, fast food and drinks, do I need to say more? Takes you right back to the games we used to play in primary school.
9. New York Botanical garden. Until November 2015 they have a Frida Kahlo exhibition, it’s a must see.
Us at Casa Azul 💙
10. Go on a private SUV triparound the city. It’s around 2 hours. I went with New York fun tours. Make sure you book the right one so you have both the guide and car for yourself. This way you get to decide where to visit and what detours to take. Make sure you don’t go solo though, as you will need to have someone to take your photo while you’re visiting sites
Get a hotel around times square. It costs a bit more, but makes being a tourist so much more fun and less time-consuming. You can walk pretty much everywhere. It costs quite a bit, but it’s worth it! We stayed at the Sanctuary hotel right next to Times Square, both the service and location was amazing!
Big thanks to Sony for plane tickets, accommodation and daily activities <3
The whole trip started out pretty nice on the blog front, but then I just became too busy trying to do things and agh I just forgot, or couldn’t be bothered. I don’t know which one. I mean… at least I blogged one day! It was super slow writing with the phone. Try travelling in around Europe and the States, get good wifi and write a couple of hundred words on an Iphone 6 and tell me what you think… I swear there was something wrong with my wordpress app which made it even more annoying. Instead I was thinking I’d write you posts from the trip the following days, most likely one from each country.
We had such an amazing time and I think I speak for the both of us when I say we are pretty bummed to be back from our holiday mode. Bangkok is amazing, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes being away from home and not have any responsibility other than exploring and trying new things is pretty awesome and something you don’t want to be over with.
Walking around the streets of Benidorm after a day with paella, tapas and sangria on the beach…
I got got to witness beautiful beaches and waterfalls, walk around in big cities with beautiful architecture , see beautiful paintings from talented artists from the past…many straight from school textbooks and not to mention, had all sorts of delicious food and treats. I think I drank at least 10 bottles of wine. I’m pretty sure unless I was living in Thailand I would be a fattie. Thank god our food is semi healthy.
We went to the Supermarket and Mercado Central in Alicante right before we left Spain and raided the places for both cheese, wine and cold cuts, and doritos and cheese balls… we also have loads of candies and cakes from London, so I’m pretty screwed for a while. I’m Saying I instead of we, as Tom is normally a lot better at controlling his intake of sweets than I am. If feels so good to not care about what I eat right now but I know I’m going to have to pay for it once I start going to the gym again.
We are moving back to our old condo by the end of this month and Tom actually passed it the other day and saw that they are building a brand new gym right next door, and best of all… it’s 24 hours, so we have no excuse. They are opening around the 21st, so I’m just going to chill at home with my cheese until then, THANKS.
We have finally settled in New York and are having an amazing time. I have been and will be blogging from my phone this whole trip so I appologize in advance for bad layouts and photos as I can’t see how it will look on your sceeen.
Times square!
Bratwurst burger and apple strudel shake anyone?
The time different is pretty extreme here so we are trying out hardest to catch up but have been ending up going to bed around 10 and waking up at 6 am. First day we only managed to stroll around in Times square which is pretty much were our hotel is located. Superb location! We also queued up for some delicious burgers at Shake Shack and made sure we tried some of their Octoberfest specials. I feel 2 kilos heavier just thinking about it!
mmmm hotel breakfast…
Our hotel gives out guest passes at Equinox gym so we aren’t complaining!
I’ll write some more info about the places once I get back from our trip in case you guys would like to go but for now it will have to do with only pictures. Yesterday was filled with activities, after we finished breakfast and the gym we went straight to Chelsea pier to go on a Portugese wine and cheese cruise.
It was such a nice and sunny day , perfect for wine!
Of course my glass is empty and of can ourse I am trying to pinch lady liberty…
I guess you can say we became pretty groggy from the cruise so we decided to go on for some drinks at Barcade which was in the area. We love our fun drinks and games. I love the concept. They had so many machines with games we used to play ages ago like rampage, space invaders and pacman. They also had lots of yummy unhealthy food and a wide selection of beers on tap.
So many beers on tap…
Hot wings and mac and cheese from Barcade. Yes please!! Tom was loving the hot sauce, I’m pretty sure I heard him say the word perfection.
Jameson with a chaser. The chaser is called a hopback . It’s pickle juice, so gross, but actually makes you not gag after the shot.
After playing around at the bar we went for even more beers at the football factory. We passed it around 3 times before realized it was the right place. Talk about bad signing.
Ended my night with a burger at Wendy’s. Why can’t we have Wendy’s in Thailand? So much better than Burger king and McDonalds crap.
Today we have a helicopter ride, brunch in Tribeca and shopping on the agenda. I need some new shoes!! Xx
Norwegian nature. If you ever visit Norway make sure you get to see as much nature as possible. The air is so fresh and clears your mind and soul. No kidding.
BEST KEBAB.
Mmm, Norwegian ice cream sandwich makes the summer complete. I’ve tried the Häagen-Dazs one in Thailand, and NO the “bread” is not supposed to be crispy!!
BEST PIZZA.IN.THE.WORLD AT ORION, LEVANGER.
Pepsi Max is best in Norway… just ask ANYONE.
Bye bye Norway it’s time for me to leave and be off to New york! I’m pretty sure I will never settle in Norway, but I always get sad when I have to leave. Lately I’ve only gone for under a week when I’ve headed home but normally I go for 4-7 weeks and I still feel down when I go. I don’t know if it’s because I’ll miss the food, or being able to walk around in fresh air and nature or if it’s simply the tought of not staying at home with my family in my childhood bed where I sometimes feel like I belong. I think it’s the last part.
This trip I’ve been doing most of the things Norways is known for, enjoying the beautiful nature and eating amazing food, candies and other treats…I’m already up by 2 kilos so I’m scared to see what New York brings.
