Here and now

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.

Budget anxiety

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:

or this:

photo: Marcus Carlberg

or this:

photo: Marcus Carlberg

I just have to face it. I am hooked...

Afternoon tea

Last week I decided to somewhat spontaniously go to London to see a couple of friends for the weekend. My favourite thing to do there is to have Afternoon Tea. Thankfully my friend Simon was willing to come with me. On Simons recommendation we ended up at the Wolseley which you can find on the same street at the Ritz where they offer a somewhat more stylish version. I found the Wolseley however to be very good. Five kinds of sandwiches, warm scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream and of course a good selection of cakes. And lots of tea. Mmm.

Since we had to wait for about 3 minutes to be seated we had just enough time to pop over to the bar and pick up a couple of glasses of champagne.

There is hardly a better way to spend an afternoon in London. Love it.

Room with a view no3 - Greenland

A few years ago I did something as exotic as horse back riding in Greenland. We flew in to Narssarssuaq in the southern part of the country and took the ferry to the otherside of the bay where horses and a local guide was waiting for us. The second night, after our first day on horse back, we stayed in a house at the end of the bay with this lovely view from the bedroom. This area is stunningly beautiful and well worth a visit.

Post travel depression

Everyone I have spoken to since I got home from my 3 months holiday have asked me if it is good to be back. I hate this question because I feel like saying: NO! But I can't because I realize myself that this is the best time of the year to be in Sweden, it is summer, it is warm, the days are long. It is really amazing when the sun sets at 10 pm, you are still sitting outside, you don't even have to put on a sweater and there are no mozzies. I am not saying I do not enjoy it. It is lovely to have picknicks by the water with friends at sunset, going for a boat cruise in the archipelago, not having to wear socks and all that.

Despite all this I have what could be called "post travel depression" and I might be the only one that this ever happens to. It is just when I have come back that I want to leave again the most. It usually takes me a while to get used to being at home. I have been back about a month now and I am still waiting for it. I can not remember ever being homesick. But every time I am back from travels I miss it dreadfully, more than I miss home during the trip. I think it is because I know that the travels are time limited and that I will always go back at some point. I also know that if I want to I can just go home at any time. Home is always there. That is kind of the point of it.

Travelling is about total freedom, doing whatever you want whenever you want to. Going from one place to another, discover new things, all the time new experiences. Making new friends is a big part of the fun. I feel like I am leaving a new family behind, people that I would like to get to know better. Maybe I will meet some of them again, maybe not. The maybe not makes me sad. Wouldn't it be weird if I did not miss being out there?

How can I not miss a city skyline at night,














driving on the wrong (yes, it is!) side of the road,














climbing the highest mountain in the country,














hiking hung over in tropical heat, after drinking ridiculous amounts of Bundaberg Rum with new found Aussie friends,














hanging on 5-ish meters watching the life under water (photo: Andy Durrer),














sailing amongst sand fringed islands,


















watching the sun rise on a mountain top.














How can I not miss it?

Room with a view no2 - Thredbo

Thredbo in New South Wales, Australia, looks very much like a ski resort in the European Alps. It is situated at the foot of Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak in Australia with its 2228 meters.
It was late autumn when I was there and it was getting quite chilly. On 2000 meters the wind was very cold and you had to find a sheltered spot if you wanted to stay for a snack. But of course it was worth it because the view were outstanding.

I stayed at the YHA in Thredbo, which was one of my favorite hostels in Australia. It was a hostel where you wanted to hang around the kitchen and the common area. It was actually cozy! The personnel was also lovely and very helpful when I was planning my hikes.

Because of the season the hostel was more or less empty and I got a 4 bed room all to myself. Nice! It was also the favorite room of the receptionists' daughter, a 7 or so year old who also showed me the way. I can see why she liked it and so can you in the picture.

Nai'a

Nai'a means dolphin in Hawaiian and that was the name of the dive boat I spent 7 days on in Fiji. This was the most luxurious liveaboard I have been on (they even offered turn down service). I had my own cabin which was about the same size as the one I share with 3 other girls on the boat in Australia. The crew was great, all were very nice people and they were singing and playing for us in the evenings. Of course they also arranged a kava party which is absolutely necessary when in Fiji. Kava is the local alternative to alcohol which they seem to consume enormous amounts of although no one actually likes it. And it does taste awful.

Kava party.

The boat was very spacious and we were only 13 divers onboard. We were divided into two groups and dove from two skiffs which went to different dive sites. This was very nice compared to the Spirit of Freedom in Australia when 25 divers were dumped in the water at the same spot.

The diving was very similar to diving on the Great Barrier Reef with three exceptions; the colors were more vibrant in Fiji, there were lots of soft corals and the fish were generally smaller (everything in Australia seemed to be on steroids). What I enjoyed the most were the colors, I have never seen anything like it. By the end of the dives I often backed off from the reef a little to just watch the colors and the enormous amounts of small fish on the shallower parts of the reefs.

Lovely soft coral. Photo: Marcus Carlberg.

Kansas. Photo: Marcus Carlberg

We dove in general four times a day (three day dives and one dusk dive) and were fed with the most amazing food in between dives. I easily got used to the second brekkie, what a great thing...

Me! Photo: Marcus Carlberg.

Once again I had great luck with my buddy, Marcus, an instructor with a lot of diving experience and a camera. :-) He was travelling with friends, Hana and Harry, and we had lots of fun during the entire week. Thanks, buddies! All underwater photos posted here are taken by Marcus.

Harry, Hana, me and Marcus

I can really recommend diving on the Nai'a in Fiji. It was definately one of the best diving trips I have made.

Pygme seahorse. This one was ridiculously small, it is much easier to see what it is in the picture than in real life. Photo: Marcus Carlberg.

Photo: Marcus Carlberg.

There were lots of clown fish around. Photo: Marcus Carlberg.

Cool nudibranch. Photo: Marcus Carlberg.