My Travel Treasures: The Reason why I love Backpacking

If you are looking for photos of landscapes, buildings and even souvenirs, for sure you will be disappointed reading this blog. My very first thought of what I will gain when I travel was to visit famous places that I saw in travel books, TV shows and magazines but during my first semi-backpacking travel in China it all changed. I can’t believe that I even got teary eyed leaving Shanghai.

Backpacking (or traveling solo) made me open to the thought of meeting other travelers and spending time with them. Sharing travel tips and experiences over a cup of coffee (or sometimes a bottle of beer or a glass of wine). Walking side by side during free tours and exchanging random thoughts on the building that you just saw and immediately became brothers and sisters from different mothers. I love this feeling and that one hour/one day that you spent together can spark a  life long friendship.

[caption id="attachment_1954" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Ingvild,Me, Felix, Andre in Los Angeles (August 2013)[/caption]

I have been planning to write about my Travel Treasures a few months back but I thought today, writing and posting this cheesy blog is more appropriate because exactly a year ago, I met a group of travelers in Los Angeles who eventually became one of my closest friends to date and the best travel treasures I ever had. (Travel Blog: Day 1 Hollywood Los Angeles California )

After our day trip in Los Angeles we pretty much stayed in touch. The wonders of social media made it easier for us to update one another of the things that are going on with each other. Some of us continued traveling for a few more months while some came back home. It’s amazing how a simple ‘how’s your day?’ goes a long way…and postcards as well. (the power or snail mails!)

This year, I was so happy to visit 3 of my travel best buddies. Felix from Germany and Andre and Ingvild from Norway.  I must say, this has been one of my best travel trips so far  (more about these trips in my future blogs)

[caption id="attachment_1955" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Andre, Me and Ingvild in Bergen City Center (July 2014)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1957" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Andre, Me and Ingvild at the top of Mt.Ulriken, Bergen (July 2014)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1958" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Andre and I at the beautiful cliff known as the Trolltunga, Norway (July 2014)[/caption]

Continuing my little adventure in San Francisco (Travel Blog: I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO!!! An Intro to the City!) we headed off to my friend Clarie’s house in Bay Point. This was our resting stop—our place of refuge (ooh I want them to adopt me). 

With all my stay in the United States, this is the only place where I will be living with an old friend (well,actually the only place where I will not pay to have a roof over my head)—-and it is by far the BEST.

I was transported to the set of Desperate Housewives (Wisteria Lane). The quiet suburbs was really quiet…peaceful and totally different from the city life. As someone who lives in Dubai this place can be considered as a retreat camp site —as what I say initially —- it is a place of refuge ^^.

Aside from that, let us add my friend in the picture! She is the mother of everything creatively hospitable. I remember when we were in college, we always admire her creative skills in making her own invitation and greeting cards cards, table presentations,..arts and crafts —and living in San Francisco only honed her passion and believe it or not (but really believe it) most the pottery works (aside from the white ones from IKEA) she made them all. Whew!! (again—-adopt me please).

We were welcomed with a “thanksgiving-ish” dinner. Truly a great feast with great friends. We just sat around the table and catch up for the whole 7 years that we haven’t seen one another. To top it all, we got a whole set of toiletry basket waiting for us on our bed (whew).

I stayed in the study room while my friend DF took the guest room. Inside my room, you can never deny that an architect is living in this house. I told myself “so this is what an architect’s room should look like”…nothing like my room, that is for sure (for a moment there, I doubted my chosen profession).

As part of our catching up series (^^), on our trip the following day, our first stop was the art school where Clarie took her Masters in Architecture. The California College of Art.

I’ve been dreaming of getting in one of the arts school in San Francisco. When I was in my university, I have a lot of brochures of different academies and programs for the arts (in San Francisco)

This campus is really what I am expecting an art college should be. I think this is what my college (UP College of Architecture) wants to achieve. The moment you stepped inside the campus, you can feel the creativity oozing —— at times very intimidating, but I pretended not intimidated and just keepin’ it cool, well, this is my element after all.  

Several sculptural pieces hanging by the roof surrounded the place, creating a modern museum like environment. There were also a lot of student projects displayed in open areas which made it very interesting. I just imagine how crazy busy the campus can be on a regular day. 

All in all, I was so amazed on how my friend blended in San Francisco. It clearly shows that this city is a city for artists like us. This particular reason made me chose San Francisco as my favorite city in the US. I feel at home here (the weather is terrible though).

This was just the beginning of our San Francisco trip. We’ve gone to a lot of places which I am excited to share to everyone in the next blog.

Travel Blog: San Francisco ARTS And Some Catching Up With FRIENDS

After Orlando, I jumped westward and flew via Delta to San Francisco! Yey.

Although it was sad to leave my newly found friends from Florida, I must say, I was really excited to come to San Francisco. Here, I will be meeting 2 of my long time friends whom I haven’t seen after our graduation (year will not be mentioned).

We have been exchanging emails for months just to polish our itinerary. (I will be posting our itinerary spreadsheet in my next SF post.)

From the scorching sun of Florida, I was welcomed by a chilling breeze of San Francisco. I wasn’t prepared for this, I was advised that it will be cold, but not freezing.

After arriving from the airport, my friends Clarie and DF picked me up. Df came from Virginia and she arrived a few hours earlier than me.

They already ate at a nearby Filipino restaurant and they had a ‘sisig’ takeaway for me. YEY.

Our friend Clarie lives in Bay Point California which a bit of a ride from San Francisco, so we thought of using this time to explore a bit of San Francisco before crashing in to her house.

I love San Francisco, did I already mentioned that this is so far my favorite US city? The architecture is beautiful. If New York gave me the architectural wonders, San Francisco provided the panache that I’ve been searching for. They are not overwhelming like here in Dubai, just the right amount of flare and beauty.

The winding and sloping streets of San Francisco gave me a bit of a scare though, you really need a strong break pads to survive driving in this city.

Our first tourist destination stop was the famous Coit Tower. This tower offers a great 360 view of the city and the bay. You can see the famous Golden Gate Bridge and The Bay Bridge from here.

The line was a bit slow moving because we were only served with one (very vintage) elevator. Once, you made it to the top, you will really enjoy the view.

It was nice that this was our first stop. We got a full view of our playground for the next few days.

The Coit Tower

At The Observation Deck

The Bay Bridge

San Francisco City Skyline

We also took this time to visit another famous attraction here in San Francisco. The Victorian Houses! We went to the Alamo Square. Our  initial goal was to look for the house in the TV show ‘Charmed’ but with no luck,we found ourselves standing in front of a more worthy site, the famous, Painted Ladies, or sometimes called as the Six Sisters.

According to http://www.aviewoncities.com

"For Americans over 30, these magnificent Victorian homes are easily recognizable from the opening moments of the 1990s sitcom, Full House. For other visitors, however, they are simply recognized as exquisite homes painted in colorful hues, incredibly well-preserved and a joy to view. You can find the homes facing the park on Steiner Street."

They are indeed exquisite and beautiful. Aside from these, residential architecture in San Francisco in general represents the thriving art scene of this magnificent city.

Our last stop before we head home and rest, was the world famous crooked road ( Lombard Street). It’s amazing how a street can packed a lot of tourist taking photos of cars trying their luck in maneuvering their way out of this road (needless to say that the traffic here is terrible).

All in all our introduction to this artistic city was very promising. I am excited to share where we’ve been and things we’ve discovered. I spent almost 4 days in San Francisco and I can’t wait to go back and explore the city more.

To know more about San Francisco, check out these websites below:

-An all you need to know guide for San Francisco:

www.sanfrancisco.com/:

-Discount vouchers for all your SF attractions:

www.citypass.com/san-francisco

-A quick overview of what this city can offer:

www.aviewoncities.com/sf

Travel Blog: I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO!!! An Intro to the City!

Mt. Kilimanjaro!!!! One of my dream hike trip. When I got an update from our keeper that "#The Traveling Journal Project is now in Mt. Kilimanjaro" I got so excited!

Here’s the note from Ingvild:

"Endelig var det tid for vår største utfordring på denne fantastiske reisen gjennom verden! Denne historien vil ta dere til Afrikas tak og gir dere vår opplevelse av å bestige Kilimanjaro."

"Finally it was time for our biggest challenge on this amazing journey through the world! This story will take you to Africa’s roof and give you our experience of climbing Kilimanjaro.”

Surat Journals in Mt. Kilimanjaro

#The Traveling Journal Project getting ready to conquer this mountain!

Our 2 wonderful keepers with their Surat Journals, Ingvild and Andre

As I follow the journey of these two travelers, I can say that this one really was an amazing accomplishment. I can only imagine the excitement rushing through their veins as they stepped into Africa’s highest peak!

"Endelig kunne vi juble høyt! Det var ingen tvil om at vi nå befant oss på Uhuru Peak,  5895 m.o.h. Vår drøm om å bestige Afrikas høyeste fjell var nå blitt en virkelighet. Det var en helt spesiell følelse, og vi smilte fra øre til øre da vi tok vårt velfortjente seiersbilde sammen med hele gjengen. På grunn av den tynne luften var det anbefalt å ikke oppholde seg der mer enn 10 minutter. Vi så utover det tørrkledde landskapet som snart skal dekkes av store snømengder når regnsesongen kommer. Mestringsfølelsen var stor, og blide og fornøyde snudde vi etter å ha klart reisens største utfordring.

Endelig var det tid for vår største utfordring på denne fantastiske reisen gjennom verden! Denne historien vil ta dere til Afrikas tak og gir dere vår opplevelse av å bestige Kilimanjaro.”

"Finally we were able to cheer loud! There was no doubt that we now found ourselves at Uhuru Peak, 5895 m Our dream of climbing Africa’s highest mountain was now become a reality. It was a very special feeling and we smiled from ear to ear when we took our well-earned victory picture with the whole gang. Because of the thin air, it was recommended not to stay there more than 10 minutes. We looked beyond the dry-covered landscape that will soon be covered by heavy snowfalls when the rainy season comes. Coping feeling was great, cheerful and happy, we reversed after having managed the journey greatest challenge.

Finally it was time for our biggest challenge on this amazing journey through the world! This story will take you to Africa’s roof and give you our experience of climbing Kilimanjaro.”

I am planning to go to Africa some time very very soon and for sure this will be part of my upcoming adventures.

More updates on #The Traveling Journal Project coming very very soon…

next stop will be INDIA!!!!

The Traveling Journal Project: Mt. Kilimanjaro!!!!

We haven’t really formally announced it yet, but The Traveling Journal Project has a new keeper (He’s been keeping the journal for weeks now, and he shared a few photos already…you’ll see it soon)…and today is his BIRTHDAY! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARC! Thanks for being part of this project!

#TheTravelingJournalProject: Happy Birthday Marc!

The Traveling Journal Project: Happy Birthday Marc!

With the success of The Traveling Journal Project we are coming up with something exciting for all of our globetrotter friends!

Watch out for it…coming very very soon in 2014!

#TheTravelingJournalProject: Watch out for something new coming up!

The Traveling Journal Project: Watch out for something new coming up!