solo travel Archives - Page 4 of 37

Asia Laos Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Vientiane to Luang Prabang by train

There are two main ways to get from Vientiane to Luang Prabang: train and plane. The express train is about two hours (others are not express and are much longer) and the plane is about half of that. Both are inexpensive. Usually, I am all for saving time, but I love a train ride and going that way also allowed me to skip all of the airport check-in and security hassle. Easy decision.

Taking the train in Laos, at least on this route, is not something you want to book last minute as it sells out. Allegedly you should be able to buy it online through the railway, but that was not functional, so I booked my ticket through the 12GO website. Booking was easy and I received my ticket by email. (You can book though the railway’s app, but you need a local phone number.)

I took a taxi to the train station, which was huge and modern. It didn’t have a lot of amenities, but it had extremely high ceilings and one big open area. I queued up and ended up chatting with an American guy who was traveling for a bit during his tenure in China as an English teacher. Nice guy. I forget his name. I’ll call him ‘Chains.’ (Chains and I would meet up a day or two later to visit a waterfall outside Luang Prabang.)

The train ride was lovely. Very comfortable. The thing that made it great was the scenery. We raced past scenes verdant and pastoral. Rice fields, small villages, and then dramatically steep emerald mountains, pushing up through the clouds. Just stunning. Of course I took some pictures through the windows.

At Luang Prabang, the train station is quite a way out the city and taxis are hovering to pick up the arriving passengers. I met up with Chains (he had been in a different class on the train), and we shared a taxi into town.

I was immediately impressed with Luang Prabang. Quaint and pretty with lots of temples, and picturesque streets leading to the Mekong.

I was staying at the Khemkhong Guesthouse, a little inn in an old house. No breakfast, but charming rooms and a great location. I picked the one room with a balcony facing the river. It was wonderful. Cozy and well-appointed with a balcony perfect for cigar smoking. The fact that this room was $40 CDN a night was amazing. Southeast Asia is a bargain traveler’s dream.

I spent the next two days exploring Luang Prabang, visiting temples, hiking hills, smoking cigars, and spying on monks. More on that in the next post.

Asia Laos Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Impressions of Vientiane, Laos

I flew direct from Ho Chi Minh City to Vientiane. Vientiane is the capital of Laos. I arrived in the morning and took a taxi to my hotel after routine passport stamping at the airport. Sailomyen Cafe & Hostel (aka Sokdee Residence) wasn’t quite as central as I would have liked, but I didn’t find anything that was more central that was in my price range. This hostel was good though I had a private room and it had a nice café with a good free breakfast. It wasn’t a fun, social hostel though. The people that were staying there seem to really keep to themselves no matter. I had what I needed.

Sightseeing

Vientiane doesn’t really have much in the way of exciting things to do. It is sleepy and small and doesn’t feel like a capital city. Usually capital cities are bustling, or they at least have national museums or impressive art galleries. Vientiane has none of these things, but it does have a nice vibe. It’s pleasant for walking. It wasn’t too hot.

Laos is primarily a Buddhist country. Every few steps there was a glittering stupa, temple, or statue. Laos is a Buddhist country, and they seem to have made an effort to cram in as many gilded religious sites as possible into the capital. I have an astonishing number of photos of palaces and Buddhas and their glittering detailed interiors, but after an afternoon of popping into various temples, I kind of felt like I had seen enough.

The city itself also sort of lacks inviting restaurants or shops. I did find a couple of nice cafés that were good for a visit, but that took a bit of looking. There was good food, but I did not feel spoilt for choices.

I visited the night market, which had a nice energy with lots of people stretched out along the waterfront along the Mekong with rows of booths selling…mostly junk, but it was still fun to browse, and then there were food tents and a ferris wheel. It was fun for an evening wander, but it wasn’t extraordinary.

Really, if it weren’t for the Buddha Park and the COPE Visitor Centre, both of which I’ll get to you momentarily, I think Vientiane would be kind of skippable. I feel bad saying that, but it’s true for my perspective. On the plus side, it does feel like a real city; not at all touristy and fully authentic.

That said the two things that I liked, I really liked. I’m going to write about the amazing Buddha Park is a separate post.

COPE

The COPE Visitors Centre is a small museum and fundraising endeavour for the victims of land mines and unexploded bombs in Laos. It is located at the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation. And if I took away only one thing from Laos, I think it is this: the sheer numbers of people that were killed and named from land minds. It’s something that I was aware of already but as with many things, it doesn’t resonate unless you have some in person experience with it.

To put it in perspective, about 270 million sub-munitions from cluster bombs (aka ‘bombies’ – how cute for something so terrible) were dropped over Laos between 1964 and 1973 in between and they estimate that about 80 million of those failed to explode. It is estimated that about 50,000 people have been injured or killed since that time from these unexploded bombs. About 40 people are still injured or killed every year by happening upon them.

The museum is very small and relies on donations. It is free to enter, but they invite you to donate some money, which, of course I did once at the beginning and once at the end. It has films and information about the land mines and Laos, but it also has these arresting visual displays of bombs and rudimentary prosthetics that are made for these people who have lost their limbs or appendages. There were displays of objects that people have made out of munitions that they find in the fields, often with disastrous results.

I’ll say now that Laos is very poor and was devastated during the 1960s and 1970s by war and bombing, but it is also landlocked and communist and faces other challenges. That’s why Vientiane isn’t a Bangkok or a Ho Chi Minh. So the COPE centre raises money to help people with prosthetics and support after they’ve lost limbs due to bombs and land mines. How poor do you have to be to risk your life to try to salvage scrap metal from a live munition. It is upsetting but at least there is some help.

And now for the most awkward of transitions…

Smoking Cigars in Vientiane

Surprisingly, for a city as sleepy and smallest Vientiane, there were two cigar lounges. There was a newish one called “K2” owned by a foreigner whom I chatted with a bit. It was a decent little spot. It had a decent bar and some seating inside and on the patio. He also sold some cigars, but honestly, the quality was very poor and the selection limited. I smoked my own cigar and had a coffee. No one else was there when I visited, but I could imagine it being a nice spot when it’s busy if it’s busy. [2025 Update: According to Google maps it has closed.]

The other cigar room was the Smoke & Oak Cigar Lounge at “The Beer House”. They had a little side entrance with a decent cabinet humidor that was well stocked, and you went upstairs to a couple of small adjoining rooms that were decorated with local art and pictures of cinematic tough guys and leather sofas. They basically left you up there to smoke your cigars in peace, but you could press a little button and request some assistance if needed. It was kind of an odd place, but I was the only one there again and it allowed me to at least get some work done.

There was another one called Club DPlus, which is just an objectively terrible name for anything. This was in a building that was either a mall or a casino very near the COPE visitor centre. I approached its opulent looking entrance but didn’t go inside as there was a sign that stated that it was strictly for members. I don’t know what one has to do to be a member but I’m certain I didn’t qualify.

*a cigar and a lemonade at a local restaurant*

That’s largely how I spent my two and half days in Laos, just walking around aimlessly and exploring and then doing my little day trip to the Buddha Park, which I will write about in the next post. It was a bit underwhelming, but decent for a short time. Fortunately, there was lots to look forward to in Laos, starting with the weird and wonderful Buddha Park.

*That Dam Stupa, a* *16th-century Buddhist stupa*

Asia Vietnam Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Return to Ho Chi Minh City

I wanted to go to Laos. It was the second-to-last country in Southeast Asia that I had not visited (apart from East Timor), and it was sitting as on my map as a hole that needed to be filled; however, to get to Laos from Vancouver I would have to fly through somewhere else in Southeast Asia. I decided to fly through Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a place I had been to before, but was happy to revisit.

I would only have a little bit more than 24 hours in Ho Chi Minh, but that was more than enough to soak up a bit of atmosphere and food since my last trip to Vietnam in 2013.

I flew direct Ho Chi Minh from Vancouver and landed late morning. Things had changed since I was last there; last time I had to send my passport away to the embassy in Ottawa to get a visa. This time, I had to only do an e-visa online, which was quick and painless. It was not painless in terms of the giant queues at the airport for people with their e-visas, but I paid a little bit extra to have somebody walk me to the front of the queue. When they first approached me about this, I thought it was a scam, but it was well worth it as it probably shaved about an hour off my airport time.

I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel. I was staying at Little Saigon Boutique Hotel. It was small and located in the interior of one of those dense city blocks in Ho Chi Minh where if you can penetrate the perimeter buildings to get to the centre of the block, there’s a reasonably pleasant network of alleyways, hidden coffee shops, residences, and small hotels. This place was great. It was walking distance to pretty much everything that I wanted to do, it had free Wi-Fi, comfortable beds, an astonishingly good free breakfast, and I had my own room and a private bathroom. It was about $50 CDN per night. There were cheaper options, but after such a long flight I didn’t want to bother with hostels or staying further out of the city centre. I thought this place was ideal and was a welcome change from the egregiously overpriced hostel dorms in Barcelona and Stockholm that I had experienced on my last trip abroad.

I had an agenda visiting Ho Chi Minh City this time. There were no touristy things that I hadn’t done that I felt like I needed to do, and while I wanted to casually revisit a couple of sites, the main thing was I wanted to check out was Ho Chi Minh’s cigar lounges. Last time I went to Ho Chi Minh I did smoke, however, I was traveling with my mother and I did not visit any cigar lounges. Since then I’ve heard tales of an opulent and impressive La Casa Del Habano in Ho Chi Minh and I wanted to check it out.

I left my small hotel and went for a bit of a walk around the neighbourhood, passing some familiar buildings and squares. The city felt a little bit different than I remembered it. My memories of Ho Chi Minh were of a city that felt very exotic and where the streets were so thick with humming scooters, that one could barely cross the street. It didn’t feel that way this time. I must acknowledge it in the last 12 years since I was there, I’ve been to many more places in the world and perhaps it just didn’t seem as different to me as it did before. However, it’s also possible that the city too has changed. In talking to some locals, they said that there are fewer motorcycles now and more cars and that the city is more affluent. Whatever the change, it felt good, if less exciting.

I stopped by the market for a bowl of vegetarian pho with some murderous chili peppers in it and it cost me a couple of dollars for this exquisite dish. I say murderous chili peppers because while I am someone who can usually eat and indefinite amount of extra hot chili peppers without any reaction, I put several of these raw chili peppers into my soup and when the liquid splashed on my face and hands, I felt like it was on fire.

I was walking around the city and looking for a place to grab a cup of coffee and found on my map a place on an upper floor of a tall building. I decided to go up. As I was walking up the stairs I passed on the second floor a cigar store and lounge called “Siqar Lounge”. I thought I’d done my research and pinned all the cigar stores on my maps but apparently, I had missed this one. It was small and secluded, but very stylishly decorated and had big old windows that opened up and allowed me to look out onto the street where I watched a couple of scantily clad girls engaging in a photo shoot. [2025 Update: this lounge is currently closed according to Google maps.]

I walked around a little more before finally deciding to have something else to eat. I’m not even sure if I was hungry, but it was so hot outside I just wanted to escape for a little bit. I went to a restaurant called Nhau Nhau; i just stumbled across it, but it was excellent. I had some kind of a small curry and a refreshing beverage that was both citrusy and gelatinous.

But I was on a mission, I headed to the La Casa Del Habano that I had heard so much about, but first, just around the corner I found another spot. Bakolan. A dark and romantic little cocktail bar that was virtually empty, and had cigar ashtrays on the table. I went in and had a cigar feeling incredibly sophisticated and relaxed. In doing some reading after the fact, apparently it is a “hostess bar”, but none of the young ladies gave me any attention.

Finally, I went to the La Casa Del Habano. La Casas are an international chain of cigar stores that are effectively all controlled by a cigar consortium in Cuba. Unless you happen to find yourself at an entirely counterfeit La Casa Del Habano, which I have encountered twice, in Colombia and in Iraq, La Casas are reliable for having excellent stock and good product and sophisticated lounges.

A friend of mine, Stripes, with whom I had visited Cuba for a cigar festival about 10 years prior, had recently visited this lounge and recommended it to me as one of the best he had ever visited. It was everything you’d expect a normal La Casa except it had extra touches. The walk-in humidor was two or three stories high, with cigars piled high in storage on the shelves accessible only by a tall library ladder. Once you bought your cigar and moved up to the second floor, which was a well-appointed cocktail lounge, you could look through the glass window and watch the tobacconists scurrying up and down the ladder, fetching boxes of cigars. I bought a Punch Double Corona and a vodka martini and sat there for about an hour or so relaxing. I will say that of all the things that were cheap in Vietnam, the cigars at this store were not it. This little venture cost me about $130.00 CDN for the cigar and the martini. It was worth it, but I wouldn’t make it a regular hangout. (On the upper floors of the La Casa that I did not visit there is a supper club with live music.)

I walked back to my hotel, which was only about a 5-minute walk away, and went to bed. The next day my flight was at 4:00pm and I wanted to leave myself enough time to get through the airport, so I really only had the morning. I went back to the market for some local, exotic fruits and wandered around the city.

I found three more cigar lounges or stores that I didn’t know anything about but due to the early hour both of them were closed. (The Saigon Cigar Club, Habanos Specialist, and the cigar lounge at the Rex Hotel – and these are just the ones near my hotel. There are so many more in Ho Chi Minh.)

I thoroughly enjoyed my walk around the city and thought that I would be happy to return, even if just for the food and cigars. But I was Laos bound on the 4:10pm flight to Vientiane.

Memphis long weekend 2024 North America USA

Long Layover – 10 Hours in Charlotte, NC

Coming back from my excellent long weekend in Memphis, I was going to have to change planes somewhere on my way back home to Vancouver. I could have gone for shorter layovers in any one of several cities that I have been to before, but I saw an opportunity for a 10 hour layover in is city that was new to me: Charlotte, North Carolina. It seemed like a great opportunity to check out a new place.

I’ve never given Charlotte, North Carolina a moment’s thought. I didn’t know anything about it, so this was a perfect opportunity to see something of it during a layover. I landed at about 10:00 in the morning and took a taxi from the airport into the city centre and asked the driver to drop me off somewhere in the middle.

Charlotte is the biggest city in North Carolina with a population of almost one million people. It’s named after the former queen of England who was married to King George the third (and not after The Cure song “Charlotte Sometimes”). It’s not really famous for much. It has a lot of banking and industry and sports teams.

The centre of Charlotte is a business district, and it was Monday morning so everything was busy. I went to a coffee shop and had a bite to eat before walking the streets of the central area and seeing what there was to see. It wasn’t much but it was nice for a walk. There were a few nice buildings and some public art, some green spaces and fountains.

I went to the Bechtler Museum of Art, which was also in the centre and just across the street from the Mint Museum. The Mint was closed that day but the Bechtler was open. It was a small museum but worth visiting and had some nice pieces.

I took a stroll down luminous lane, a public art project in which a back alley street was covered with and surrounded by colourful murals.

After that, I decided to take the light rail public transportation system out of the city centre and to the Optimist Hall. The train was easy to navigate. There is only one route going in two directions and affairs were very reasonable.

The Optimist Hall is a former industrial textile mill from the 1800s that has been converted into a building full of fancy food halls and some cute shops. It was nice train ride from downtown to the Parkwood Station, from where I walked to the Optimist Hall and had a delicious vegan lunch. (Lots of non-vegan foods there as well.)

Following that, I decided to go back downtown but to a different area, the South End. I got off at the East/West Station and walked around a bit, having a coffee at a cute little doughnut shop and exploring a little.

I felt like I had seen everything that I wanted to see, so I decided to spend my last hour or so at a local cigar lounge. There are a few in Charlotte, but the one that was most convenient to my location was call the Vintage Whiskey and Cigar Bar. It was a really nice space with friendly staff. I went in, bought two cigars, and sat there comfortably smoking until it was time to get an Uber back to the airport.

I can’t say that I would recommend going to Charlotte on a holiday, but having a layover with time to kill there was an enjoyable experience. I’m sure this would be true of just about everywhere; anywhere is interesting for a few hours.

And that was the end of my long weekend in Memphis. In a month I would be off to Laos via Vietnam.

Memphis long weekend 2024 North America USA

Graceland

I’m an Elvis fan. Not the sort of Elvis fan that has a house decorated in memorabilia or Elvis tshirts, but the sort of Elvis fan that owns all his music and has attended Elvis impersonation festivals more than once, and has seriously considered getting an Elvis tattoo. I love his music, I think he’s cool, and probably the best looking man ever. Going to Graceland was not a question of if I would go, but a question of when. It was the thing I was most excited to do when I went to Memphis.

*me with various Elvis tribute artists & DJ Fontana, Elvis’ drummer for 14 years*

I don’t need to explain who Elvis is or why he’s important or iconic because I think that’s understood. If you’re reading this and you don’t understand that, please go listen to some music.

Graceland is the mansion that Elvis bought in 1957 in Memphis TN for himself, his parents, and his grandmother. The house was built in 1939 on farmlands, and it was a fairly rural property when Elvis bought it, but since that time it has become more surrounded by neighbourhoods, so it’s properly a part of Memphis now. After Elvis died there in 1977, his grandmother and other members of the family continued to live there. It opened to the public as an attraction in 1982.

Visiting Graceland can be a little bit overwhelming because there are so many options for tickets and experiences. There are the regular tickets, VIP tickets, and other special package tickets. You can even stay at a hotel on the grounds if you want to. I didn’t want to go crazy with all the luxury add-ons, but I did want a good package. I went with the ultimate VIP package. It was a little over $200 US and gave access to pretty much everything. I don’t regret a penny of it.

I took an Uber from my hotel to Graceland. (As a side note this was the first time I had taken Uber. In 2024. I was a late adopter.) Graceland is busy and the tickets are timed. You want to plan and not miss your time slot. I bought the earliest ticket that I could get to give myself lots of time and avoid some of the crowds. It was definitely more crowded when I left them when I arrived.

Arriving at the gates of Graceland I felt very excited. I went inside and picked up my commemorative badge, lanyard, and map and was taken on a little trolley over to the back of the Graceland mansion. We went into a small room that contained memorabilia, and we first watched a short movie about Elvis. Maybe ten minutes or so. By the end of the movie, I was already fighting back tears.

From there we were allowed to walk through Graceland mansion. This wasn’t a guided tour, this was just walking through at your own pace, which was perfect. There are options to take guided tours but that didn’t appeal to me.

The upstairs was off limits, but the main floor and the basement were open to us. The mansion is surprisingly small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in garish opulence. It’s incredible. It is ostentatious and tacky and over the top and amazing. I took a million photos. I just kept looking at these rooms thinking, oh this is the kitchen where Elvis would have made a sandwich, and this is the sofa where he sat and used that ashtray to smoke his tiny cigars, and this is the piano that he played, and on and on and on. It was incredible.

From the mansion you walk outside, and you see the fields where there are still a couple of horses. You go into his private racquetball court building and walk past the graves where he is buried alongside his parents and grandmother and, most recently his daughter.

And then, if you have the right ticket, you can also visit his private planes. There are two of them on the grounds and you get to go inside. They are the height of 1970s private jet opulence and still smell vaguely of stale cigarette smoke.

All of this alone would have been enough, but once you’re finished with the mansion, you go back to the complex where there are seemingly endless excellent high quality exhibits of Elvis’ clothing, his cars, his movie memorabilia, his gold records, bizarre artifacts like badges that he got from police forces across the country, the TV that he shot a bullet into, his jewellery, his karate gear… It’s a lot. And yet it didn’t seem like enough.

When that was over there was lots of time for exploring the many many Elvis themed gift shops. There are also Elvis themed diners and snack shops on the grounds. I bought my mom’s boyfriends a couple of T-shirts and myself a pair of socks because I’m not one for souvenirs, but I wanted something to remember the day.

I’m not going to say that going Graceland was the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but it absolutely lived up to my expectations and exceeded them. I can’t explain why I got emotional multiple times on the visit. I fought back tears and I had a lump in my throat. I was just genuinely moved and amazed by everything that this person accomplished and brought to music and culture in his relatively short life. It really hit home as I was in Graceland that I’m older than Elvis ever got to be.

I feel like even if you’re not an Elvis fan, Graceland is worth visiting because it’s such a unique, American, pop culture attraction.

If I ever go back to Memphis, without hesitation, I will return to Graceland for another homage to the King.

After Graceland, I still had another day or so in Memphis. I’ve written about my trip to Memphis in a different post. After Memphis, I flew home and had a brief visit to Charlotte, NC.

Memphis long weekend 2024 North America USA

8 things I loved about Memphis (and 2 I didn’t)

Down in Memphis

I had a long weekend at the end of June. It came about a month after my trip to Europe that took me to Andorra and Lithuania, amongst other places. I wasn’t supposed to go away, but I had the yearning to travel. I didn’t think that I could wait until my next planned trip at the end of July, so I looked for a cheap trip for the long weekend. An inexpensive flight to Memphis, Tennessee was the winner and with about a week’s planning, I was Memphis bound.

I had not been to Tennessee before, but I wanted to go. I wanted to see Graceland and I was generally curious.

The flight to Memphis was cheap, but the hotels were not so. Hotels in the centre were all pricey (especially when paying with my meagre Canadian dollars) but I would only be there for three nights, so I booked the best of the lower-priced options (and dismissing from contention and of the budget motels the reviews of which were full of stories of late night parking lot gun play). A funky little Moxy Marriot that had pinball machines, was walkable to everything, and had a trolley stop out front.

I took the Friday off work and left Thursday night, which meant that I arrived in Memphis Friday morning and I left early Monday morning. Three terrific days. I haven’t stopped talking about how much I loved Memphis. Here’s why…

Music

If my Memphis famous for anything, it’s for music. It has a pretty convincing claim to being the “birthplace of rock’n’roll and the home of the blues.” Even aside from the fact that Elvis is from Tupelo, Mississippi, not far away ,and built Graceland in Memphis, it seems that pretty much every early rock performer got their start in Memphis. The town is filled with monuments and memorials and markers for these early rock pioneers.

As someone who grew up loving 1950s rock music I was very excited about this. Of course I went to Graceland (more about that later), but I was very excited to visit Sun Records (aka Sun Studio), the original record label and recording studio where artists including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison recorded. You can visit the actual recording studio which is connected to a building next to it that has a good collection of memorabilia and information. It’s not possible to visit Sun Records without a tour, and you need to book ahead, but the tour is excellent. Even if you don’t know a lot about early rock music, it gives you a lot of context, and it ends in the place where all these amazing records were made. I’m not going to lie; I got a little emotional standing in the place where Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and the like recorded their early records.

You could also do a similar tour of Stax Records which recorded more of the soul artists from Memphis, including personal favourite Otis Redding. I didn’t have enough time to get to Stax, which is just one of the reasons why I wish that I had had four days in Memphis instead of three.

But the music is not just in the history books and museums in Memphis, it is alive and well in the city today. Beale Street, which calls itself the Home of the Blues, is a pedestrianized street lined with live music venues and bars. You need to show ID to enter the street, as police control either end, but once you’re in, you can get a drink and wander around from venue to venue, and each venue has terrific music. Mostly blues with some R&B and funk. It’s just terrific. Most of the places didn’t even have a cover so you could just wander in and order a drink and watch for a bit. Best of all for me, many of the places allowed smoking. Some of them only allowed smoking of cigarettes not cigars, but that’s OK, I still managed to smoke a cigar indoors in a couple of places on the patio or a couple of others, but the idea that I could smoke a cigar while watching excellent live Blues music was incredible.

And it wasn’t just on Beale Street; there was live music throughout the city, with buskers and music at lots of other scattered venues.

On Sundays, you can take in a service at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church and, if you are lucky, the founder of the church, none other than soul legend Al Green will be there preaching and singing.

If that isn’t enough proof of Memphis’ musical importance, there are over 1000 recorded songs with lyrics about Memphis.

Cigars

Memphis was a tremendous cigar city. There aren’t an abundance of cigar stores and lounges, but there are good cigar stores and lounges. What makes it a great cigar city is the combination of people in the lounges and the loose smoking laws. I already mentioned how I was able to smoke indoors at one place while watching live music (incredible), but I spent a lot of time smoking at lounges. On my first day I went to the Tinderbox on South Main Street, which had a great selection of cigars. I bought a bunch and chatted with the guys working there before taking a seat in the lounge. It was one of those lounges that wasn’t super fancy but was comfortable and had a collection of guys who were all regulars. Sometimes in those situations you can feel like the outsider, but in this place, everybody was chatting with me and were so friendly. One of them even asked me what I was doing later. I said I didn’t have any definitive plans, and he said, well why don’t you come back in the evening because when the store closes they bring their chairs and sit out in front of the Tinderbox smoking and drinking. I did go back later that night and I hung out with them; some of the guys had met earlier in the day and some new guys. They had folding chairs and rocking chairs, a portable speaker playing music, and bottles and bottles of whiskey and bourbon. They were so welcoming. I felt like I instantly had a group of buddies to smoke with.

Cigar prices were very good in Memphis. Much cheaper than in many other states. Of course there are no Cubans, but there is an excellent selection of non-Cubans.

I also went to another lounge called the Havana Mix, which was a fancier lounge, but at the time that I went it was a little bit quiet so I didn’t chat with anyone, but it was still a comfortable place to smoke cigar and have a drink.

And just generally in the city you could smoke on most patios and in some of the restaurants and bars. It just felt very free.

Trolleys

By far one of the most charming public transit systems I have encountered is the network of trolleys in Memphis. They don’t have the broadest range, but they do go to some useful places. What makes them charming however is the fact that they are 100-year-old refurbished trolleys. Right down to carved wooden interiors and antique light fixtures, they are unbelievably charming. Even if you’re not taking them to go from point A to point B, a ride on one is a must. There’s even one route that takes you on a scenic journey through downtown Memphis and along the Mississippi river. Best of all, a ride is only $1.00, or you pay $2.00 for unlimited rides for the entire day.

Even better, on the last Friday of the month during the summer they have what’s called Trolley Night. On Trolley Night, all the trolleys are free and all along the routes there is sort of a street party. The businesses all stay open late and provide live music and cocktails and special arts events. It’s terrific. I was just lucky that I happened to be arriving on the last weekend of the month, so when I read about Trolley Night, I made sure to arrive on Friday morning as opposed to Saturday morning so I could enjoy the evening. I rode the trolleys, stopped off at various galleries and shops, and hung out smoking cigars in front of the Tinderbox.

Civil Rights Museum

I wouldn’t tell people what to do when they go to a city, but I think that if you’re going to Memphis you must visit the National Civil Rights Museum. Yes, I know about the civil rights movement, but I don’t know about everything. And this museum does such a good job of not only giving you the overview of what happened but giving you very specific stories about people that you may have not heard of. And seeing all of the photos, and spending time with it, was very moving. There were several times where I put sunglasses on in the museum just to hide the fact that I was starting to cry.

The museum is attached onto The Lorraine Motel, which is where Martin Luther King was assassinated on 4 April 1968. The motel looks as it did in the day, but there is a small monument in front of the balcony where he was killed. In the museum, your journey takes you to the exhibit about the Memphis sanitation workers protests, which brought Martin Luther King to Memphis in April 1968. You then walk to his motel room where the wall has been replaced with a window, and you can look in and see it as it was. It is a very moving experience.

Lucky Ducks

The “South’s Grand Hotel,” The Peabody, was built in 1869, and it’s an impressive building. It is probably lovely to stay in, but it was well out of my price range. But the reason that you need to know about the Peabody is because of the ducks. In the 1930s, the manager of the hotel and a friend had been hunting and they were drunk and they thought it would be funny to put their live duck decoys in the fountain in the middle of the lobby. This started a tradition that carries on to today.

From the 1940s to 1991 bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal worker, provided ducks to the fountain every day until he retired in 1991. Since then, there is still a Duck Master who is in charge of ensuring that there are ducks in the lobby from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day. That’s a bit quirky and fun right? It gets even better.

In 2008, the hotel spent $200,000 US to build a “duck palace” on the roof of the hotel. I didn’t view the duck palace myself, but I understand that it includes a replica of the hotel and a swimming pool. Each day at 11:00 AM, the Duck Master, who wears an elaborate outfit with tails, a top hat, and a black cane with a silver duck head on it, walks the ducks from the roof into the elevator and on a red carpet to the fountain in the middle of the lobby and does so to Sousa march. At 5:00 PM, the Duck Master escorts the ducks back to the rooftop.

If you plan accordingly, you can be there to witness the duck procession. And I think you can make some special arrangements to view the ducks on the roof. I arrived at the hotel just after the ducks were brought to the lobby, but I saw the Duck Master in the lobby talking to some families. I stayed and had a cocktail and watched the ducks splashing about. This is one of the most charming and whimsical things I’ve ever heard of. And it’s in Memphis.

*the luckiest ducks in the their fountain*

Cooper-Young

I’m sure Memphis has a lot of cool areas outside of downtown, but I didn’t have time to visit a lot of them. But I did visit Cooper-Young. It was a short bus or taxi ride. I went first to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, which was in a park just outside of Cooper-Young. It was good museum with excellent permanent exhibits and, when I was there, it had a really cool fashion exhibit.

From there I walked down the street into Cooper-Young. The neighbourhood is just kind of a funky, hipster-y, historic neighbourhood with lots of cool independent bars and restaurants, book and gift shops, and beautiful houses. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours looking around. It made me curious what other neighbourhoods of Memphis there were that I didn’t have time to get to.

People

Without a doubt, the people that I met in Memphis were some of the friendliest people that I’ve met anywhere. From the cigar people who felt like instant friends, to the trolley drivers who chatted with me, to people I met in bars and restaurants, everyone was so friendly. This isn’t a place where people are minding their own business; people are engaging in conversation, they’re curious and talkative, and they are polite. I’m not always someone who wants to talk to other people, and truth be told, when I’m at home in Vancouver, I have my headphones on constantly, but the people in Memphis were just so charming and genuine that I was won over and couldn’t help but engage in conversation.

Atmosphere

Memphis is interesting. It’s not polished and perfect. It’s not a Charleston, for example. It feels like a city that’s been through some rough times. Parts of the downtown feel a little rough around the edges. While I never felt unsafe, I understand that it’s not a good place to be out late at night. (The latest I was out was about 11:30 PM and I didn’t have any problems but I can’t necessarily recommend it.) It’s not super beautiful, although it does have some nice old buildings and great street art, and away from places like Beale street, this streets don’t feel necessarily lively and welcoming. And parts of Memphis, like when I walked to Sun Records, felt quite economically depressed. But it is very interesting and I feel like it’s a city that is on the rise, economically. I feel like in 20 years, Memphis could be one of those places that everyone is going, like Nashville. But right now, it feels like a place that is kind of an insider destination. I’m not saying Memphis is a secret; clearly, millions of people go there, drawn by the music and Elvis and history, but it still feels a little like you’re getting in early on something that’s going to be great again. I like that about it.

The two things I didn’t like about Memphis

Not everything is perfect and I wouldn’t want it to be. There were two things that I did not like about Memphis.

The Heat. I was there in the middle of summer, and it was fucking hot. I’m used to heat. I traveled to some of the hottest countries in the world and I used to live in Miami, so I usually deal with that thing that sort of thing okay, but something about the heat in Memphis at the time that I went was insufferable. Even the locals couldn’t stop talking about how hot it was. It was over 100° and really humid. Walking around, I had to buy a handkerchief just so I had something to mop the sweat off my face. Even at midnight, there was no relief. This might have contributed to the streets feeling kind of empty during the day as nobody wanted to be sitting outside. It didn’t stop me from walking everywhere, but it did mean that I was constantly overheated and uncomfortable.

The Food. If you like BBQ, you’re all set. But I don’t eat meat or fish or fried things, so Memphis was kind of a disaster for eating. There was one restaurant I found in Cooper young that was a vegan restaurant, and I had some vegan collard greens and cornbread, which was delicious, and there was a Caribbean restaurant downtown that had a vegetarian curry that was very good. But other than that, there were not a lot of options. I went to this one classic diner, The Arcade, for breakfast and there was really nothing on the menu that I would eat apart from a very lacklustre veggie burger. (I also don’t eat pancakes or waffles or eggs. I know, annoying…) I kind of expected this, so I’m not really complaining, but I have said so many glowing things about Memphis I just wanted knowledge the couple of things that weren’t the best.

Summing up

I loved Memphis. I want to go back. I want to smoke more cigars and see more music. I want to revisit Graceland. I want to do the things that I didn’t have time to do and just generally hang out. This is high praise from me because I don’t usually want to go back to places, but Memphis was a good vibe and close enough to Vancouver that I think it’s worth a revisit.

This post is really long, so I have put Graceland in a separate post. Read on here…

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia Switzerland

Zürich Layover

My flight from Barcelona to Vancouver had a layover in Zürich about five and a half hours. This time could be easily spent at the airport given that you need time for boarding and whatnot, but that’s not really my thing. Anytime I have an opportunity to leave an area and visit or revisit a city, I am going to take it. I think this is the fourth time that I was in Zürich. I had been to Zürich on a proper vacation before, and since then I have been into the city of Zürich once or twice on layovers, so this was something I was familiar with. Before I knew it I was on the train heading into the city.

Zürich is one of those places that is excellent for a short layover because, with Swiss efficiency, the trains are quick and on time and they deliver you right from the airport right into the centre of one of Europe’s most pleasant cities. Even if all you have time for is to go in and have a short walk, I think it is worth it. My layover was rather short, so I didn’t even stop to check my backpack into a left luggage office, I just trained into the city and walked into the centre and decided to have a stroll and a coffee.

It was quite early when I arrived, and many things weren’t open yet so I just walked through the quiet streets taking in the fresh air and morning sunlight playing off of the charming buildings and streets.

I walked down to the river and to a hotel: the Storchen Zürich. The Storchen is located on the Limmat River and is a short walk from the train station. I’ve never stayed at the hotel, but I’m familiar with it because it has a lovely cigar lounge inside. It was far too early for the cigar lounge to be open, but the cafe was. I went to the cafe and I sat on the patio one of the tables ordered a coffee and a croissant and lit up a breakfast cigar. Notwithstanding that I looked a bit haggard from my near red eye flight, and I was walking around with a big backpack, I received a polite greeting; and when the well-dressed and waiter saw that I had lit a cigar, he immediately brought out a proper cigar ashtray to swap for the cigarette ashtray that had been on the table. I felt very welcome. At the next table a man and woman sat having a breakfast and they made a point of telling me how nice my cigar smelled. I never expect people to say that sort of thing to me and I understand that many people do not like the smell of cigars, but it just made me feel happy (and this was a nice contract to the rude tobacconist in Stockholm a couple days prior). I felt like I had found the right place.

I sat there along the river looking out at rowers gliding through the water and listening to the church bells ringing out and I thought, what a wonderful city; so beautiful and calm and polite. How fortunate to be able to just zip in for a few hours and enjoy a bit of this lovely atmosphere before heading back to the airplane. But I did have to head back to the airplane because my flight home was drawing near, and I hate to be rushed.

It was a perfect end to a wonderful trip that took me through Barcelona, Andorra, Lithuania, Latvia, Stockholm, and finally a little snippet of Zürich. I was exhausted but satisfied.

My next trip would be to Memphis, Tennessee.

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia Spain

Back in Barcelona, briefly

I arrived back in Barcelona from Stockholm mid-morning on Sunday. The journey home had begun. I would only be in Barcelona for a little less than 24 hours before flying to Vancouver via Zurich. I didn’t mind being back in Barcelona even if my impression the first time around was lukewarm. I decided to stay in a different neighbourhood than I did last time; rather than staying near the centre I stayed at the Generator Hostel which was in the Gràcia District. This neighbourhood felt less touristy than the central area, but I liked the hostel that I stayed at the first time better. The Generator Hostels have very nice facilities, but little to no extras. No towels, free coffee, or privacy curtains. I mean, seriously, if I’m going to stay in a dorm is it too much to ask to have a little curtain around my bunk so that I can have a modicum of privacy while sleeping, or wake up early without disturbing everyone? I don’t know the reason behind not having the curtains, but I think it sucks. (Actually, I’ve always assumed that the reason that some hostels don’t have these curtains is that they’re concerned about people having sex in the bunks. I understand that, but I think that if you are really committed to having sex in a public place the lack of a curtain is not going to be a factor.)

Generator hostel & bunk

One thing this hostel did have was a terrific rooftop patio with a view over the city, including of the Sagrada Família.

I liked the little neighbourhood that I stayed in because it felt more ordinary and it was nice to walk the streets and see little restaurants and cafes and people just going about their daily lives, but I was still drawn back to the centre, which was a very pleasant walk.

I didn’t have much of an agenda, but I did want to go to the Moco (modern and contemporary art museum, Barcelona). It was great. It has lots of art by the likes of Damien Hirst and Basquiat, and Kehinde Wiley.

I had a pleasant visit, and at that point I felt like I had nothing else I needed to do, so I just went for a pleasant walk and a long lunch and had a cigar. When the evening came, I decided to go back to the El Ravel and hit up a couple more appealing bars. I didn’t go back to the excellent Two Schmucks I had visited before but went to their brother bar Lucky Schmucks where they had a ridiculously cheap happy hour in a dive bar environment. I then walked over to a nearby bar that caught my eye called La Cobra. It had the most wonderful decor with dim lighting, red and black everything, and on display a menagerie of gothic satanic and creepy carnival artifacts. I felt quite at home. It looked like a place you go to have your fortune told. I had a drink and made a long walk back to my hostel.

Early the next morning (another hideous 6am flight, which seemed like a good idea when I booked it but not such a good idea when I woke up at 3am), I would fly back to Vancouver but not before having a pleasant morning in Zürich.

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia Sweden

Solo in Stockholm Day 2

Day one in Stockholm had been success and I was excited for day two. The first day I did everything that I had wanted to do in my initial planning, but on the second day I did the things that weren’t on my A-List. I think I might have had it backwards, because everything I did on the second day was excellent.

Stockholm by Sea

I got up early and headed to the harbour. While everything in Stockholm is expensive, one of the best tourism things that you can do on a budget is take the commuter ferry. Sweden has an astonishing 267,570 islands and Stockholm sits on several islands in an archipelago. There is a network of commuter ferries set up to take people around Stockholm’s islands. I’m sure they’re all great, but I decided to take the ferry for line 80. It was such a good idea, I wish I left myself more time to see more of the stops along the way. Line 80 travels through and stops at many of the islands in the archipelago and would make for a great day trip in of itself. Better yet you can get a ticket for a single journey for 43 SEK (about $6 CDN). The boats are comfortable, but basic, but who cares because you’re looking at this spectacular Swedish coastline and heading off to stops on route.

I went to Nacka Strand and got off the boat there and went for a bit of a walk. It was very early and so the businesses that were there that might have been nice to stop and have a coffee at were closed. But I loved the walk. The views were gorgeous and there were little miniature sculptures built into the rocks along the path.

*me and some miniature art at Nacka Strand*

As I said, I wish I could have seen more stops en route, but I had other things that I wanted to do. One of the things I didn’t even know I wanted to do until I was on the boat, which was visiting Stockholm’s amusement park.

Rollercoasters Actual

Gröna Lund is Sweden’s oldest amusement park, dating back to about 1883. Of course the rides are new, but it has old world charm. It is a small amusement park set on Djurgården Island. I love an amusement park, and there was no way I was going to miss this one. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I wanted to at least experience it. I bought a wristband and headed in. I don’t even know what it cost but it was worth it. I went on a couple of roller coasters which were excellent and into a haunted house. There’s something about going to an amusement park as a grown up by yourself that is a little bit odd. Standing in line for the haunted house I was the only adult who wasn’t there with small children, and I was slightly worried that people thought I was a pervert or weirdo. Oh well. The haunted house was good fun and towards the end something in the seat poked me in the back and I shrieked and then started laughing like a maniac. Good fun.

The Vasa

From the amusement park I walked in the direction of a couple of more museums. I know that there is an ABBA museum in Stockholm and I hear it is quite popular. I like ABBA as much as the next person, but I wasn’t that excited about seeing an entire museum about them. I decided instead to go to the Vasa Museum, which was one of the best decisions that I made.

The Vasa is a Swedish warship that was built in the early 1600s and sank on its first journey in 1628. It lay at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Sweden until 1961 when it was salvaged. Remarkably, the ship is intact and you can go visit it at the museum bearing its name in Stockholm. It is astonishing. One of the best museums I’ve ever been to. I know that may sound hard to believe, because what’s so exciting about seeing a ship? Even I was a bit skeptical before going to it. But there i something so haunting and beautiful about it. The ship is enormous and adorned with carvings and decoration. It is fascinating to take in it’s spectacle. The haunting part is that you were staring at a ship that is almost 400 years old and looks almost as it did the day it sank. The museum is filled with all kinds of information about the ship how it was built, how it was salvaged and, most interestingly, it includes information about many of the people who were on board the ship. It is just a fascinating link to a historical time.

Rollercoasters Emotional (and where to smoke cigars in Stockholm)

After visiting the Vasa, I walked back more towards central Stockholm and decided to visit some of the cigar stores in the city. Stockholm is a terrible place for cigar smoking. Smoking indoors is banned, as are cigar lounges unless they are truly private cigar lounges. I did find a private cigar lounge but was unable to bribe my way in. Smoking on patios is banned as well. It is still a little bit less restrictive than Vancouver, as you can smoke in parks and squares. Anyway, I was excited to check out some of the stores.

Highest on my list, was to visit Broberg’s, an historic cigar and accessories store in Stockholm dating back to 1881. I found the store, snapped a little photo before I went inside, and walked inside and greeted the people working there as I walked into the humidor. I’m not going to get into the specifics of what happened because I don’t think it would make for a very interesting story, but I’ll just suffice it to say that the fellow working there was quite rude to me. He seemed to think that maybe I was a thief or something the way he treated me, and I really tried to remain calm, but I think that a week of travelling and having only about four hours of sleep at night had left me a little emotionally vulnerable. I started to cry. The stoic Swede appeared a bit taken aback. I told the man defiantly through my tears that I had been looking forward to visiting his store and buying cigars there, and he was so rude to me that it had just ruined the entire experience and my day. I still bought a cigar, because I wanted him to know that I wasn’t a thief or a fraud. And I walked away.

But the thing is, I couldn’t stop crying. I was just walking down the street in Stockholm sobbing. I tried to get it together as I approached another cigar store, but I got there just as it was closing, just as well because I was still in. tears. I kept walking down the same street and went to Cigarrummet. At this point I had stopped crying. I walked into the store, and it was beautiful. It had an impressively well-stocked humidor and the man working there was very friendly. I walked towards the humidor and the man asked me how I was. And I started sobbing again. This man was also taken aback, understandably so. I tried to explain to him that I had just had an unfortunate experience at the other cigar store but also that I was fine. An assurance that I don’t think he took much stock in since I said it through tears. Again, I managed to pull myself together and I bought a nice assortment of cigars. I walked away from the store feeling embarrassed and went and sat in a little square across the way.

Recharging

My mood improved as I sat in this beautiful small square surrounded by pink blossoms and had a cigar. Cigars serve many purposes for me; sometimes they are meditative, sometimes they are social, and sometimes they are calming.

I always like to say that the gruelling schedules that I make for myself on trips with very little sleep and endless walking do not have any effect on me, but clearly they can, because while the guy at the first cigar store was a real jerk, normal me wouldn’t have cried. I think that reaction was exhaustion. I’m sharing this story because I think it’s important to document the travel experiences that aren’t great. Not everything is happiness and bliss. Sometimes things kind of suck. But then they’re better again.

And while I sat there in this square on this bench, I noticed something amazing. Or at least it was amazing to me. The bench had a little insignia on it that looked like a phone charging symbol. I examined the bench a little closer and then noticed that along the front edge of the seat there was a little button, and if you push the little button, a tiny little piece pops out with charging ports in it. It was a solar powered phone charging station built into the bench and cleverly hidden away to protect it from the elements. I was so impressed by this, not only because my phone desperately needed a charge, but because this is the sort of practical, clever design that I expect from Scandinavia and that should be ubiquitous. This discovery, along with the cigar, completely washed away the bitterness and humiliation of the unfortunate Broberg’s experience.

Winding up Stockholm

From there I went on a long aimless walk through the city. It was a beautiful sunny day turning into evening, and everyone seemed to be out. I was so impressed with Stockholm, but it also had enough of the outdoors, so when I saw a sign to an underground tiki bar (Tiki Room), I had to pay a visit. I descended into the depths and enjoyed a fruity, sugary, boozy concoction while listening to kitschy music. Content.

I wandered slowly back to my hostel, getting there a bit late and went to sleep. It would be another short slumber, as I had a hideously early flight to Barcelona, where I would have a day and a night before returning to Vancouver.

I was very happy with having two days in Stockholm, but I easily could have filled more days. There is so much more to do. I would be happy to return, but also with Stockholm prices, maybe a short visit is for the best. [Next Post: Back to Barcelona]

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia Sweden

Solo in Stockholm Day 1

I arrived in Stockholm from Riga. My second visit to Sweden. My first time had been half a day in Malmö when I took the train over from Copenhagen. It counted, but barely. I was excited to see the capital. One of those perfect Scandinavian cities where everyone is beautiful and the quality of life is high. Of course, all that perfection comes at a price. I had heard that Sweden was very expensive, and I’ve already written in my first post from this trip about how I paid approximately $250 per night for a basic dorm bed in a central hostel in Stockholm. It was the weekend of a trio of Taylor Swift concerts and accommodations were expensive than usual.

I would have two days and two nights there, which is normally enough, but honestly I could have done with the third day. There’s a lot to see.

I got started early. I took the Arlanda Express train in from the airport, which was super easy and took only 18 minutes – but you pay for that ease and efficiency. It was about $48 CDN each way.

I arrived at my hostel, a Generator Hostel in the centre, which I recommend because it was very well located and quite a bit cheaper than any other central option, but as far as hostels go it was only OK. For the price, it didn’t include many extras; all I really wanting a hostel dorm is a privacy curtain on my bunk, and this did not have that luxury. Every single person staying at the hostel other than me seemed to be going to the concert and the place was buzzing with excitement of a thousand Swifties on concert day. I went out to see the city.

I spent the majority of that first day just walking around and soaking up the atmosphere. Stockholm is a gorgeous city with lots of greenery and waterways. I live in Vancouver, another city with lots of greenery and waterways, but that’s about all Vancouver has. Stockholm also has gorgeous historical architecture an abundance of arts and culture and cinnamon buns. So many cinnamon buns.

The most picturesque neighbourhood in Stockholm is Gamla Stan. This is the historic centre, set on a small island. This neighbourhood dates back to about 1300. The buildings are old, colourful, and full of character. This is the area of the city that feels the most touristy, but it’s worth every moment because it’s ridiculously picturesque.

*Stortorget: the* *Square in Gamla Stan*

I walked around taking pictures of the buildings and narrow foot paths and stopping for a cinnamon bun and coffee. Fika. The Swedish practice of taking a coffee break from the day with a sweet treat; usually a cinnamon bun. When in Stockholm…

Sweden, like its neighbours has charming words to describe relaxing and cozy practices. Denmark has hygge, Sweden has lagom, a concept meaning moderation; not too much or too little of anything. They also have mys, which is a word for coziness and comfort. These are appealing concepts. I could imagine how nice it would be to be in Stockholm in the winter when it is dark most of the day, cozying up with a warm beverage in a cinnamon bun. But I was there in May, and it was hot and sunny and perfect for exploring.

Generally a fan of historical churches, I wanted to visit Storkyrkan, the oldest church in Stockholm. It was consecrated in 1306 and, aside from its age, it is famous for having a notable statue of Saint George and the dragon inside, which was apparently unmissable. I found the church and hesitated before I went in because it was 120 Swedish kroner to go inside. That’s about $17 CDN. I don’t want paying to go into a church but $17.00 just to have a look around seemed quite steep. But I couldn’t walk away not having seen it because what if it was the most amazing statue or church interior ever? So I reluctantly paid my money and went inside. I’m only mentioning this because if you’re on the fence about going into this church and you happen to be reading my blog post, I’m here to tell you to skip it. The interior of the church is unremarkable if you’ve seen other churches from that period. And the statue? Yeah it’s nice, but I would have been OK not seeing it as well.

$17.00 later, I continued my visit of Stockholm.

I walked over to the modern art museum Moderna Museet, which was free that day (normally it is 150 SEK), and was excellent. It had some really weird art with social commentary and I loved it. There also happened to be some sort of cocktail reception when I was there and so it felt like I had stumbled across a really happening spot.

I also visited the National Museum, which was also excellent. Beautiful paintings and some examples of wonderful Swedish design. 160 SEK for admission and well worth it.

National Museum

I wandered outside to a bench near the water and had a cigar. Nearby, a lovely patio of a hotel was filled with people drinking Aperol spritzes and looking gorgeous. An older couple came and asked if they could sit with me and I obliged, a bit surprised because often people don’t want to sit near cigar smokers. They were a local couple out for a stroll and we ended up talking for the better part of an hour. They had lived in various places around the world but Stockholm was their favourite. And in that moment sitting there surrounded by beautiful buildings and beautiful people and looking out at the sparkling water, I could see why.

I spent most of the evening wandering aimlessly and looking for the perfect place to eat, which didn’t exist but I ended up going for Indian food near my hostel. And I went to bed at a reasonable hour. I had another full day in Stockholm and I had plans that included taking a boat ride, visiting an amusement park, checking out a sunken ship, and hitting up some of the local cigar stores. [Read Day 2 in Stockholm…]

Wandering North

Tag: solo travel

Vientiane to Luang Prabang by train

Impressions of Vientiane, Laos

Sightseeing

COPE

Smoking Cigars in Vientiane

Return to Ho Chi Minh City

Long Layover – 10 Hours in Charlotte, NC

Graceland

8 things I loved about Memphis (and 2 I didn’t)

Down in Memphis

Music

Cigars

Trolleys

Civil Rights Museum

Lucky Ducks

Cooper-Young

People

Atmosphere

The two things I didn’t like about Memphis

Summing up

Zürich Layover

Back in Barcelona, briefly

Solo in Stockholm Day 2

Stockholm by Sea

Rollercoasters Actual

The Vasa

Rollercoasters Emotional (and where to smoke cigars in Stockholm)

Recharging

Winding up Stockholm

Solo in Stockholm Day 1