The lack of chronicling from our recently wrapped three-week roadtrip through 3500 miles of magnificient US countryside and cities isn’t from lack of wanting to bore you to death with the details; but between a whirlwind trip to see various parts of the family trees and a waterlanding of a ‘back to work’ start, in which I managed to get the cold before lunch was served, time and energy has taken a toll.
Tag Archive for 'travel'
Spielberg, Hemmingway, Einstein, any number of presidents not named Bush, that guy at the gas station, the gal at the drive-in, you and of course, me. We’re all connected in that great human struggle: Our inability to chose books for travels.
Or so I like to believe.
It’s one of those things I spend the most time on when going traveling, and I often find myself skimming through and reading passages of about 10 – 15 books, stacking them this way; that. Trying to insure myself against that harshest of human realizations; the 80-page-in realization of “shit dude, this book sucks”.
Currently I’m leaning towards bringing a single previously unread book, which is currently Alastair Reynolds Absolution Gap, though Cryptonomicon has been drawing me for some time, it having been 8 years or so since I last read it. Also, I’ve got World War Z just sitting there, staring at me, begging me to prepare for the coming Zombie apocalypse…
Now, had I owned a Kindle, this wouldn’t be a problem, but this is Denmark, a country so small and cozy that Amazon wouldn’t touch it with a stick tied to another stick.
Ugh.
Spent the last few evenings glued to the screen, bouncing from hotel to hotel, trying to find the right fit between price and location for our stays in LA, SF and Vegas. Maybe I’m picky, but that stuff is draining. I don’t know what I’d do without Trip Advisor to be honest.
Originally we had planned to stay wherever, but as our plans started crystalizing, we decided for peace of mind, to book places while in the cities, rather than trying to find something in the stress of it all.
Bjørn and Chloë‘s wedding was a truly fantastic day in the arms of friends and friends of friends, regrettable only for lasting a mere single day, not nearly enough under such circumstances.
Now, coming back from the mid-lands, we’ve stopped in London for the weekend, figuring it would be a waste to not lay down our hard-earned cash here, when we passed so close by. As it happens, I’m typing this on my brand-new 13” MacBook Pro, which marked a good ending to a great first day.
View Westcoast Roadtrip ’09 in a larger map
The whole company was sent packing for their annual summer vacation today (as per tradition, a thunderstorm over Copenhagen is welcoming them). I’ll be working throughout most of the next three weeks, with the exception of a short stint to England, for a friend’s wedding, as Rikke and I have finally manned up and gone ahead with our plan for a roadtrip through California (and parts of Arizona).
For our trip to Paris, I booked a room at the Little Palace Hotel.
It was a quite pleasant stay, though a bit on the expensive side for our tastes. The bathroom however almost made up for it. Unfortunately I don’t have any shots of the bathroom itself, but I did manage to cover the rest of the hotel quite well.
Check out the flickr set.
I’ve been smitten with Adobe Lightroom.
Over the weekend I spent a lot of hours working in Aperture, and while I got a lot of work done, I always felt a bit awkward with the whole thing. Like bringing a kitchen sink to a knife fight.
And so I turned to its closest competitor, Lightroom. And literally in minutes I was sold.
It’s faster, easier and out of my way in just about all respects. The cropping tool alone beats Aperture to a pulp, while laughing manically.
Anyway, hop on over and check out the first batch of photos from our Paris trip, most of which has been through Lightroom.
Rikke and I are off to Paris in a short while. Thank you so much for all your advice on where to go and what to see (and thank you Google Earth for letting us explore Paris well before we even get there).
Our stay there will be rather short, so we’ve decided not make any appointments while we’re there. But, I doubt this will be our last stay in Paris.
We’ve got wireless at the hotel, so depending on how late we get in and how tired we are, maybe I’ll drop some shots from my new camera on flickr.
Yes, new camera. The old trusty Canon Ixus 500 has been left in the drawer, and my brand-spanking-new Sony A100 is joining us in its place. I was planning on buying a Canon EOS 400D, but then the guy in the shop managed to convince me otherwise (the Sony comes with a better stock lense as well as anti-shake for the same price).
So far I’m very impressed, and lovin’ it. It takes some damn nice shots even when its quite dark.
Anyhoo, must be off, take care now.
They aren’t riveting, but they probably interest some of you, I know they do me, so here is a bunch of photos from Inside Pixar.
Having spent monday cruising around Santa Monica and Beverly Hills (shopping at the Apple store and literally being dragged to Hooters for lunch, a quintessential American experience apparently), we were well spent that evening. Nonetheless we had to get up early in the morning to catch our flight to San Francisco. Destination: Emeryville, Pixar.