New Year´s celebration in southern Spain. Every country has its own ways of celebrating. One of the beauties of travel is to come to different sites and take part of local customs and traditions. In many countries it is customary to make a pilgrimage just before the stroke of midnight to where everybody else is making the same pilgrimage. Usually it’s a natural gathering place, such as the main square. This is also the case in Fuengirola. People gather at Placa de la Constitution. They have brought the necessities, champagne and grapes. Champagne is a rather international occurrence. Th [View Full Entry]

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With all due respect to honest work, the profession as a toll booth collector must clearly be the least glamorous and rewarding imaginable. Seriously, what are the requirements for this position? The ability to sit and count to 1 (coin or token or bill). Although there is some interaction with people, it would be completely wrong to label it as a customer service job. There is some money involved - otherwise the whole concept with a toll road would defeat the purpose - but the bookkeeping cannot possibly be more advanced than the simplest calculus. The advancement opportunities also appear ver [View Full Entry]

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Anyone out there a Stephen King fan? Then you should know his piece “The Langoliers”, which also made it to the big screen. For those of you who don’t: Big airplane with destination somewhere on the US mainland. All of a sudden most of the people on the flight have vanished, with a few “lucky” ones left to their destiny. Manage to land the plane on some mysteriously abandoned airport surrounded by mountains (probably somewhere in Maine, considering it’s Stephen King…). No people, no communications, no other planes, not even any smells or sounds on the [View Full Entry]

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Major, high-profile cities have a tendency to attract odd people. People of supernormal or unconventional behavior roam the streets of these cities, adding to the charm or as a deterrent, depending on who’s behind the camera. Amsterdam in the liberal Netherlands is no exception. The Dam square in the heart of the city is the ideal spot for people-watching. This spot is the gathering point for everyone who visits the city at one point or the other, centrally located between the central train station and the museum quarters. The square is decorated with a huge war monument. The wide ste [View Full Entry]

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Taking the night train home from a party in once city when you live in another city can turn out to be a total drag. May or may not give you a chance to sleep, will most certainly provide some drunken cries and laughs to prevent you from just sleeping, and may result in you finally falling asleep and miss your stop. After a nice night out in Rotterdam, the late train to Utrecht does not promise a lot of entertainment on beforehand. Two factors turned out to change this however. One; the two couples of Aussies/Kiwis sitting in the middle [View Full Entry]

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The Dutch language has a word - Gezelligheid - which translates to “coziness”, and refers to something that is cozy, peaceful, idyllic, cool, quaint, or any combination of a number or all of these descriptions. The word is more of a concept than just an adjective. It might very well originate from this little town I pass with my bicycle on a warm and sunny August day. The little town surely has a name, but the sign announcing this name passes unnoticed. My intention - like probably everyone else’s who doesn’t live there - was to just pass through. However, the [View Full Entry]

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Galgenwaard is the name of the soccer stadium in Utrecht. Pronounced in the local dialect, it sounds like you’re either swallowing or spitting up something non-edible. A rather nice venue, built over half a century ago, but rebuilt to resemble a modern stadium, with a acoustic that is quite impressive. The fans of Utrecht don’t have the greatest of reputations - they are usually put into the trouble-maker category. Not very fond of fans - or players for that matter - from other cities than Utrecht, particularly not Amsterdam. When “Oranje” - the Dutch national team - fo [View Full Entry]

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Late June in 2004 I left my home country Sweden and moved to the Netherlands for work. Found a job just outside of Utrecht, decided to live in the city of Utrecht. Found myself an apartment in the city on the Internet, decided to take it unseen. Had never been to Utrecht before, so an interesting adventure. By coincidence, I happened to arrive the same day that Holland was to play Portugal in the semi-final of the European football championships. Being a football fan, I found the apartment (which turned out to actually be an attic), dumped my bags, and headed [View Full Entry]

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Nya Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden. Largest arena in the country. The arena that back in 1985 literally caved for Bruce Springsteen. The crowd back then got excited and carried away to the extent that they rocked the foundation of the building until it cracked. No injuries or such, but they decided to close the arena for concerts. Nowadays it’s improved and enhanced, and again open for big concerts. Paul McCartney puts on one of those big shows that requires a stadium of this size. The arena is not completely filled despite the big name and a beautiful summer day, but still around [View Full Entry]

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Holland is a great country in many ways. So great that very many people have decided to live there. Apparently it didn’t occur to all these people and all these people that Holland is quite a small country. Nor did it occur to the people who designed all the public places, public transport facilities, streets, etc. that Holland is a country of many people on a small area. This results in a country of crowds. Try shopping on a Saturday in Utrecht. Crowds everywhere. Try finding a seat on pretty much any train in to Amsterdam in rush hour. Crowds who [View Full Entry]

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