Rugby is a rather fascinating sport. A number of big guys without padding trying to beat the shit out of each other with the excuse of transporting a ball past the opponent’s goal line. Sometimes running, sometimes passing, sometimes kicking the ball. But more often stuck in a huddle that is moving with the speed of ketchup. Sometimes the huddle breaks up, only to re-form a few meters away the next minute. For a rugby lover, Edinburgh is the ideal city to visit. Not because the teams from the city are extraordinarily good, or because the Scottish are outstanding. It’s because [View Full Entry]

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All my life I’ve been fascinated by whales. Not sure what is the attraction of these majestic mammals, but I suspect my interest begun way back in the days at the Natural History Museum, in their Blue Zone gallery. For a 6-year old, a room full of natural-sized whale models can be quite exciting. Now, when people have realized that whale safaris are a rather lucrative business, luckily they are worth as much alive as they are dead, killed by modern whalers. One great spot for watching whales is Iceland. Their cold waters inhabit a large number of various species of [View Full Entry]

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Swedish Midsummer tradition suggests that anyone in the search for romance and true love performs a certain ritual on the Midsummer night. The ritual consists in jumping over seven fences/walls, pick seven different kinds of flowers, then put the flowers under the pillow, and you will dream about the person you will marry. Apparently this tradition is also known in Iceland. Randomly meeting a group of young girls after a night out on Midsummer, me and my travel companion half-heartedly pick up on the tradition. We jump two walls, but don’t bother to pick any flowers. The next night - [View Full Entry]

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Midsummer. The longest day of the year. Not widely celebrated, except for in the Nordic countries. What turned out to be a great way to celebrate it was in northern Iceland. Starting with a bath in the hot springs near Myvatn, followed by a short sauna session. Thereafter a trip to one of the mightiest waterfalls on the island - Detifoss. A not so well known dirt road with a landscape that might as well have been the moon (and indeed, the astronauts did actually train for their missions to the moon here) leads up to this impressive waterfall. The roar [View Full Entry]

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How about a last-minute Elton John concert? Usually going to a concert requires some planning, not the least in the aspect of acquiring tickets. A bit surprisingly though, the concert is not sold out, so we get tickets only a couple of hours before the concert. An artist in this league, the highest of them all, should guarantee a great show, but due to the short notice I haven’t had the time to build up any expectations. Turns out that was for the best. Elton starts the concert with a number of to me unknown songs. If I was in charge [View Full Entry]

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Financial crisis, recession, bad times. Reality in 2009. But it wasn’t always like that. Only a couple of years ago companies had money to spend on their employees. And they did. Gather the troops from across Europe in on the beach for an all-day event. Put them in a luxury hotel. Let them wake up to boring meetings in the morning. Let them play the teambuilding game in the afternoon. Let them party at night. Afternoon in Noordwijk, and time for the teambuilding event; a treasure hunt by bike. Divide them up into teams, give them a GPS handheld device, hand [View Full Entry]

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Christmas time is not only a time for spending time with your family, spending money, eating good food, exchanging gifts, watch classic movies on television. It is also a time for travel. For most people, this means traveling “home”. Also for myself this was the reason for making a short stop at Malmö central station; in transit between Amsterdam and my hometown in Sweden. Screening the main board for my connecting train, I feel a tap on my shoulder and hear someone speaking English with a strong eastern European accent. “Which train do I need to take to Landskrona?”. I [View Full Entry]

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Probably very few tourists who visited Berlin left the city disappointed. The city offers more sights and activities than most other cities in Europe. Its history, culture, size, affordability, accessibility, and atmosphere make it a great destination for anyone who wants a little bit of everything in a short amount of time. A short weekend with the family is my reason to visit. After having seen the main sights, the family takes off for Sweden, and I’m left to explore the city for a day before the flight back to Amsterdam. Fortunately, an old friend lives there and knows the ins [View Full Entry]

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Pretty much every single song ever written has a meaning. Some songs have deeper meanings than other songs. Actually, considering the massive output of songs throughout the years, most songs ever written probably mean very little to the vast majority. Personally, I’ve only taken the time to analyze no more than a dozen or so songs to find the true meaning and apply to my own situation. Most of them in association with romantic situations. In fact, all but one. But it took two. By coincidence on a Saturday night out, Mr. M and me started singing on one of the [View Full Entry]

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When you’re traveling alone and check in for a flight you never know who you’re going to end up next to. That’s why I always check in early and choose the window seat. If nothing else, you can look out the window, admire the view. Sometimes you get lucky and end up to someone who can keep you nice company during the flight, making the time goes faster. However, the short - one hour - flight between Amsterdam and Copenhagen isn’t exactly the ideal trip to make long term friends with strangers, so a lot of people try to use the [View Full Entry]

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