NAMRASTAN

Me, by Jardin des Plantes - because I love botanical gardens. Most people go to Paris to fall in love. I went to be alone. OK, that wasn't the goal itself, but I did travel solo to Paris. I was very curious about how it would be in the city of love. Would I see couples everywhere? Would I feel lonely? Is Paris a place to travel alone to? Walking in the streets of Paris is truly something special, and I didn't mind exploring alone at all. To be honest I can't even remember ever noticing thousands of (or even a few) couples hopelessly in love, french kissing like they do in the movies - and if I had seen that I would probably just think that it was cute rather than "noooo I'm gonna die alone!". Moving on. There is so much cool artsy stuff to do in Paris. One of the places I visited was Palais de Tokyo, the largest center for contemporary artistic creation in all of Europe, as well as one-of-a-kind exhibition space, as they write on their page . I got ...

For the first time in my life, I’m doing interrail! 2017 and 2018 were my “big travel years”, I travelled solo for the first time, and I travelled to destinations like Japan , Bali , Thailand and USA just to mention a few. There was something extremely liberating about finally visiting the places I’ve been dreaming about going to for ages, not to mention meeting new people all around the world, but after a while I started to feel strange, maybe even guilty. Like I was doing something wrong. I’ve always thought of myself as someone who cares about our planet, and even though I’m no expert I’ve been eager to learn more about how I can make better choices, when it comes to our climate and environment. So after my trip to Bangkok, I realised that flying all the way from Norway to Thailand might not have been the most eco-friendly choice. At that exact moment I decided that fulfilling my dreams weren’t a priority anymore. I would choose to travel more locally, and I wouldn’t trav...

Even though Bali doesn't seem so "cultural" because of all of the Aussie tourists slash travellers searching for meaning of life (#nohate), I get why people love Bali. It's tropical, the beaches are divine, and I can't remember travelling to any place that made me feel so zen and relaxed as Bali (guess Balinese massages must have played a role in that as well). And I wasn't even there on "vacation" - I attended a networking/workshop/retreat thing (House of Notoire) where I got to meet these badass, creative women and work on my own creative projects. That been said, there was time to go sightseeing. And one of my favorite spots was Sundays Beach Club (thanks for bringing us to this place Cynthia!). Like oh my gosh what a beach, and the water was amazing. A fisherman walking back to "land". There were a bunch of monkeys hanging out in the area as well, but they didn't bother us. Just be sure not to leave your valuables out ...

Werkin' it at Niyom's Orchid Farm, photographed by our guide Pook on a very much planned Airbnb-experience. My improv days are over. If there’s anything I learned from my last trip it’s that I need to be planning MORE and EARLIER. Yes, my «everthing’s gonna turn alright» and «when I don’t plan too much unexpected things can happen» was charming for a while - but from which experience was I talking from? Have I ever tried to plan a trip from A to B all the way to Z? This doesn’t mean that planning eeeeverything is good, only that I wanna try and see how that feels like. When I came to Bangkok in Thailand I found out that I wanted to eat at Gaggan, No. 1 in Asia’s 50 best restaurants. Not to mention that chef Gaggan Anand plans to close the restaurant in 2020. Of course he has other plans - but this particular restaurant is closing, and this might have been my only chance to eat there. However, when I tried to make a reservation I quickly realized I was too late. The ...