Tag Archives: travel

Summer without stress

24 June 2013

13 Comments

I’m off! Today is the day I have been longing for – for months – the first day of the summer holiday!

I am off to spend 3 delicious weeks in a summer-house by the sea.

I can hardly wait.

Summer

Summer

I am so excited and at the same time I know it’s important to plan ahead, so that we make the most of it. Successful holidays don’t just happen. Holidays can be disappointing! We all have expectations and dreams and they may not turn out the way we wished, hoped and longed for. Unfulfilled expectations cause stress and disappointment!

The time leading up to the holidays can be particularly stressful.

We all need our holidays – to recharge, rejuvenate and fill ourselves with new energy.

So how can we increase our chances of fulfilling it …

This is “my” plan for a stress-free summer:

  • Unplug. Actually turn of all electronics and be out of reach. Yes, no need to check emails, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs etc.
  • Mindfulness – live in the moment. Practice mindfulness, breathe, and be in the moment.
  • Meditate – to reconnect with myself through daily mediations
  • Read books – instead of computers and internet, I want to read great books, in the shade …..
  • No plans – be spontaneous. No schedules, just feel the flow and be part of it.
  • Play – God yes, be crazy, play let go, have fun, look silly
  • Bare feet – connect to the earth and the ground -lots of research on this …. great idea.
  • Go slow – nothing I need to do or nothing I need to get to – just inhale the moment – remember to stop and smell the roses.
Smell the roses

Smell the roses

“Every Sweet-scented rose tells from it’s heart the secrets of heaven and earth” –Rumi

Bare feet in the sand

Bare feet in the sand

Beach

Beach

I know this will not be easy and I am sure I will have withdrawal issues for a while 🙂 But I also know how vital, how crucial, it is to disconnect to reconnect – and recharge.

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” And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”

Khalil Gibran 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

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Cycling in Wonderful Copenhagen

4 May 2013

26 Comments

Nyhavn Copenhagen

Nyhavn Copenhagen

Hi from Copenhagen – my favourite city! I am visiting and loving every minute!

One of the first things you will notice when you come to Copenhagen is that there are bikes everywhere – people on bikes everywhere. Everyone

bikes!

Bikes everywhere

Bikes everywhere

You see men in business suits, polished shoes, briefcase and all, snipping through the streets. You see women in high heels, skirts and shades, moms and dads on cargo bikes with little ones comfortably placed in the front. No matter the weather – come rain or shine – even in the coldest winter, people bike.  All ages, dressed up, dressed down, all going somewhere, pedalling through the streets.

Happy cyclist

Happy cyclist

It all adds to the charm and vibrance of Copenhagen.

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Yesterday I saw a very handsome gentleman biking trough the streets of Copenhagen. No hands on the handlebars and casually texting away on his cell as he rode.

Unfortunately I wasn’t fast enough on the camera to catch him.

This bike outside the Supreme Court – perhaps parked there by a lawyer or judge…..

An old guy

An old guy

We Danes are crazy about biking – we don’t bike to stay fit, primarily. We bike because it is much more convenient, much easier to get from point A to B, and easier to park. Perhaps a basic reason is that parking a car in Copenhagen is a nightmare – it’s almost impossible to find parking and it’s terribly expensive.

April last year opened a super highway for cyclists –

To encourage long distance commuters to take the bike and thereby

  • Reduce CO2 emission
  •  Promote Health
  • And Happiness

The highway is 11 miles long and runs from the suburb into the centre of CPH.  If you drive 12 miles pr hr during rush hour, you are guaranteed a green light.

The plan is to make 26 super bike highways like this – a total of 186 miles. Super effective bike highways – a haven for cyclistst!

Read and see more about the SUPER HIGHWAY for bikes in a great article from New York Times.

Bike lanes of course

Bike lanes of course

Denmark aim at being carbon nutral by 2025 .

Many Danes simply give up their cars because biking is SO much easier, faster and safer – in the city!

On the bike lane there are airpumps every mile, footrests for bikers, handlebars to hold onto at traffic lights, even tilted wastepaper baskets to make it easier for cyclists to throw away garbage…… Ren KĹ“rlighed til København – Clean Love to Copenhagen.

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1/3 of all trips in Copenhagen are made by bike.

Its faster and more convenient – on top of that, it makes you healthier and ……. happier – maybe this is one of the reasons why the Danes are considered the happiest people in the world?

Nyhavn

Nyhavn

Copenhagenize – is a concept and a very cool organization that promotes safer, faster and better biking infrastructures in the cities. They travel the world to spread the message ” Copenhagenize is possible everywhere” 

This month is National Bike Month check it out here

  

To Travel is to Live

26 October 2012

17 Comments

Packing and getting ready for my flight tonight to Copenhagen.

“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, to gain all while you give, to roam the roads of lands remote: To Travel is to Live” Hans Christian Andersen

I am overly exited and really looking forward to seing family and old friends again!

Email, skype, Viber and texting is all very good – but nothing in the world, takes the place of a real hug,  real conversation and real actual time spend together!

I will be posting on the 1st of November and be part of the amazing Vegan Virtual Potluck – so stay tuned.

A Morning Run in Copenhagen

29 April 2012

216 Comments

I grabbed the opportunity to join in the fun by running the 5k wordpress run. A brilliant idea by WordPress – you simply run/walk/skip/dance/jog/skate/ 5k wherever you are in this world and then you blog about it.

As some of you may know I am visiting Copenhagen, and what better way to breathe in my old city than by running through its beautiful streets? I long to see  the little mermaid again – to give her a good morning kiss. I’m up and out by 7am – the only thing I forgot while planning this – a terrible jet-lag.

So off I go and this just proves that as soon as you get yourself out there it is amazing!! It’s absolutely fabulous – I have Copenhagen all to myself and the sun is rising, the air is fresh and not a person in the streets.

Right away, I meet this lovely little family:

I continue out to Langelinje and pass Gefion springvandet – revisiting my childhood.

Copenhagen is the “city of towers” and when I turn around I see the tower of the old stone English church where I was married and behind its steeple, the magnificent dome of the Marble church right next to where we live when we are here in Copenhagen.

I continue my run along Langelinje enjoying the fresh sea breeze and my solitude on the path.

Suddenly I see her sitting there in the morning sun. The little mermaid – I love her – and either my jet-lag or the sea breeze is suddenly making my eyes moisty.

I turn around and run back towards the city center – wanting to enjoy more of the city in the early morning sun.

Past Amalienborg, where Queen Margrethe lives – a beautiful palace in the center of Copenhagen with the Marble Church in the background. Past the small dock where the royal family, kids, grandchildren, and 2 dachshunds embark on their way to other parts of Denmark – we are in the land of the vikings remember, so by ship of course.

Run, run, run – I am honestly enjoying this run through Wonderful Copenhagen that holds so much  history, culture, architecture and beauty. An adventure through my own city and I mindfully see things that I just took for granted when I lived here. I am loving every minute.

I reach the old harbour – Nyhavn – a romantic place from the seafaring days but  today is full of restaurants and cafes. The place where everyone longs to sit outside in the sunshine and well into the long light summer nights.

This morning it is still quiet but later today it will be packed full of people enjoying life in the sunny side of the street!

And the quiet side of Nyhavn on the other side

Round the corner from Nyhavn I almost fall into a pile of bikes! Copenhagen is a paradise for many things among them cycling. And there are many bicycles!

How about this cute “bike-dress”!

I fell in love with this old lamp on my way home

And this adorable door

I love running – I can explore, I can experience, I can inhale life, I can do it anytime,  it’s cheap, I don’t have to book or reserve – I just do it, anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

On the way home I run into “Joe and the Juice” and get a big glass of Arth Away – a glass of green juice made from fresh spinach, apples and pineapple – I’m off to enjoy the rest of the day! Wishing you all a beautiful Sunday.