Join my journey to the corners of this world
Being 47 – I’ve decided to start collecting all the absolutely “musts” that I had the pleasure of experiencing throughout my adult life (at my age one can never know what a new day will bring, or take)
This is the first of them.
“The hills are alive with the sound of music”.
In our case, it’s a live concerto for six cylinders and collection of some of
the loudest exhaust music modern EU regulations allow. As we race our Boxters and supercharged F-Types from one bend to the other, the symphony that echoes from the surrounding mountains is as grand as that old Disney classic.
Continue reading “The complete driver’s guide to the Austrian Alps”
“Use the Force Luke!”
That’s all I could think about when I took a picture of this grand vista during Christmas 2016. It was almost dusk and clouds slowly started to dot the sky. A day later these would grow into a fully-fledged desert storm, but right then the whole thing was just pure magic. It was like a scene taken directly from the original Star Wars movie.
Continue reading “Finding Tatooine”
We’ve got a full tank of gas, brand new semi-slick racing tires, a converted former WWII RAF airfield, seven different race-tuned cars, it’s cloudy and we’re wearing crash helmets.
Let’s hit it!
Continue reading “Some say it’s the best corporate day in the world”
The hell with mystery, romance & myth. Shangri-La is officially real!
Forget ancient maps, decaying centuries-old scriptures, wise Shamans in decrypted temples, and Indiana Jones-styled adventurers closing rotten deals in dark speakeasies. Ignore history and the inconvenient fact that the whole name was made up less than 80 years ago in a forgettable utopian novel called “Lost Horizons”. The book has died long ago. The fortunes of Shangri-La, however, took a whole different twist.
Continue reading “Shangri-la is officially found!”
Living in Estonia for the past few years, I’ve been fascinated with the 
Scandinavian countries on the other side of the Baltic sea, and particularly
Norway. So one day I packed up the car, grabbed the girlfriend and went on a journey north.
I’m writing this to share some lessons learned through my travels to Norway. Tips on how to travel, where to go, and how to do so without going bankrupt. In case you didn’t know, Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world.
Continue reading “10 essential tips for traveling Norway”
Choose a room with a view. Choose a booking site with lots of annoying popups. Choose a hotel in the center of a corny-looking picturesque Italian town. Choose an overpriced and under-furnished room with a tiny window looking down at an obscure square you’ve never heard about. Choose a continental breakfast featuring yesterday’s leftovers, lukewarm filtered coffee, and a soft, plastic-wrapped croissants. Choose a pair of matching nights chocolates and a welcome bouquet. Choose a room with a view.
I chose not to choose a room with a view.
I chose something else.
Have you ever been disoriented?
I was.
I took this picture in Southern Peru while hiking the down the Colca Canyon. We walked down a dirt trail snaking its way through this common-looking desert ravine, thinking there wasn’t anything special about it. Nothing worth the arduous five hours drive from Arequipa. After all, what’s so unique about another dry gorge, surrounded by average looking desert hills.
Only there was nothing average about the place.
Initially, I thought this guy was nuts. I was entirely new to the city – fresh out of the airport – when I took this picture. A day later, I found out that in this place, five kids and a driver on one small Honda scooter is actually rather tame.
Flying to Japan is like buying the cheapest ticket to Mars. Yep, you can quote me on that one. From Shibuya to Ginza, everything about Tokyo seems as alien to the average “Gaijin” as the Martian plains were to Mark Whitney. Don’t get me wrong; I love Tokyo and wish every distant planet was as nice as this amazing metropolis.
The thing is, it can wear you down after a while.
Want to see how “real” Japan looks like?
Continue reading “Would you like to see how “real” Japan looks like?”
