Category Archives: Travel & Adventure

{Looking out the window of our rental onto Bodega Bay}

Part of the beauty of living in the Bay Area of California is that within a few hours in most any direction is a some unique location filled with natural wonders and pristine landscape. Last weekend, Clay and I ventured to the Sonoma Coast for the weekend. We stayed in Bodega Bay (right near the town of Bodega, where Hitchcock’s The Birds takes place & was filmed), and visited the Bodega Head, Freestone (home of the famous and crazy delicious bakery Wild Flour) and Occidental.

{Bodega Head, along the Sonoma Coast Beach, one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline I have ever visited.}

{Fantastic old signage in the town of Bodega}

{We are huge Hitchcock fans so it’s always a treat to visit St. Teresa’s Church in Bodega to see this site from The Birds, along with the schoolhouse, which sits behind it, below)

{The old schoolhouse site from Hitchcock’s The Birds}

{Inside the Bodega General Store, Hitchcock memorabilia all over the walls}

{More from Bodega Head. California’s rocky coastline never fails to take my breath away. What other beach in California has all five star reviews on Yelp?}

{Clay grabbing her own captures of the breathtaking views}

{Pastoral scene in Freestone.}

{I’ve always loved the pink and white stripes of Patrick’s!}

{Dusk on the beach off Highway 1 north of Bodega Bay. The weather last weekend was spectacular.}

We’re launching into another weekend here, and I hope you all have a wonderful one. I’ll be back Monday with the next Recontructionist.

Portland, Oregon, has been my home away from home for the last 13 years. Around 1999, my younger sister moved here with her husband, and shortly thereafter my parents followed, so I’ve been coming here several times a year since then. Over the last two days, Clay and I drove up to spend the next week with my family, and I could not be happier to be here in this beautiful city with all the people I love so much.

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Meanwhile, I’m finishing up my 365 Days of Hand Lettering project on December 31! And I’m launching a new project (with another blogger) for 2013 on January 3 that I cannot wait to share with you! Stay tuned!

{Icelandic horses on the roadside along the southern coast of Iceland}

I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately from folks want to know about my Nordic Adventure — how I planned it, what my recommendations are after taking it, etc. etc. So I thought I’d write a little post about that today.

The Itinerary
I decided to go to four countries: Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. I also decided not to go to Norway (although I would have loved to), both because I didn’t think I would have time, and because I didn’t think I could afford it (it’s incredibly expensive there). I also decided in Sweden, Finland and Denmark I would visit only capital cities, and in Iceland I’d spend more time and travel around the countryside.

I blocked out three weeks for my trip. I booked my ticket last April to fly in and out of Iceland. I chose to fly in and out of Iceland for a few reasons: a) it’s closest to North America (so was the shortest flight and least time difference) b) it was the cheapest (only $800 RT).

I decided that I would stay in Iceland for three days initially to adjust to the time difference (which is a 7 hour difference from San Francisco) and return for a longer period at the end of my trip. Beyond that, deciding the “order” in which I would visit all the places and how long I would stay in each place was the hard part! My strategy finally was to print out a calendar for September 2012 and begin playing around with blocking out dates in each place. This worked well.

The next step was flight reservations. There are other ways (trains and ferries) to travel between some Nordic countries, but flights are actually unbelievable cheap in Scandinavia (even cheaper than trains!) so I ended up doing a lot of flying (10 airplanes in all!). I decided first to fly from Reykjavik, Iceland to Stockholm, Sweden and stay there for four days. From Stockholm, I’d fly to Helsinki, Finland for three days, and then to Copenhagen for another 4 days. I then flew back to Iceland via Stockholm and stayed there for another 5 days. This may sound like a lot of back and forth, but (aside from my heavy bag), it was incredibly easy. For one thing, Scandinavian airports (including Reykjavik) are fantastically well-organized and easy to navigate. For another, the longest flight I took (aside from my flight from the US to Iceland) was 3 hours. That’s how long it takes to get from Iceland to Stockholm. All the other flights were about an hour!

{At the incredible Finnish apartment I stayed in Helsinki. It was decked out in Marimekko, much to my delight!}

Accommodations
I saved a lot of money for this trip, but I knew early on I wanted to spend my money on shopping and food and tours (in Iceland) and as little money as possibly on accommodations. Hotels in all of the places I visited were incredibly expensive, so I decided to try Airbnb. I had a totally, 100% positive experience. Booking online was easy, the hosts were all wonderful (look for listings with positive reviews), and the apartments were all fantastic. To boot, every place I stayed was $60-$100 a night, much cheaper than you could ever find a decent hotel in Scandinavia. You can cook your own food when you stay in an apartment too, which also helps to save money. I did spend a few nights upon initially arriving in Iceland at Kex Hostel, which was also lovely, though more pricey and a bit loud (lots of young people stay there).

Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen
The bulk of my time was spent visiting these three cities, and I loved them all. I went on this trip specifically for art + design inspiration, and my goal in these three places was to take in as much visual inspiration in the form of art, architecture, pattern & furniture design and history as I could. So my days were pretty packed with walking in different neighborhoods, scoping out awesome design shops, museums and clothing stores and taking lots of pictures. If you are as crazy for the Scandinavian aesthetic as I am, spending time in each of these cities is a must. They are all beautiful in their own way (and also all very different).

Iceland
In Iceland I was more focused on seeing the countryside outside of Reykjavik, though I did spend a lot of time in Reykjavik as well (also a fantastic city, though much smaller than any of the others I visited). It was recommended to me to either a) rent a car to drive myself outside of Reykjavik into the countryside or b) take some of the many tours offered by companies in Iceland. Since I was traveling by myself, I opted for bus tours, though when I go back I think I will rent a car since I am more familiar with the island now. The tour companies in Iceland are fantastic. I took a total of four tours while I was there and used both Reykjavik Excursions and Iceland Excursions. While taking a tour bus as a form of site seeing might seem boring or “just for old folks”, it’s NOT that way in Iceland. The majority of people who travel in Iceland take organized tours, young and old. It’s one of the best ways to see the sites in comfort and learn from the tour guides about the geology and history of the country (which is super fascinating). One of my tours was 14 hours! That day I took a tour to the Glacial Lagoon. Yes, there was a lot of time on the bus going from site to site, but there is nothing ugly in Iceland, so staring out the window as we drove was an absolute treat. Tour companies in Iceland were so well organized and the drivers and guides so friendly. The tours are pricey, but so worth it, especially if you are going to Iceland for the first time. And typically you can book the day before, so planning ahead isn’t necessary. I also got lucky and got a private tour from the cousin of a friend around the South Coast. That was an entirely different and special experience. She even made me dinner at her apartment!

Traveling alone
I loved traveling alone. I got to do what I wanted, when I wanted, and for as long as I wanted. It felt really indulgent. I am used to spending a lot of time by myself, so while I missed my partner, friends and dog, being along wasn’t a shock to my system. I made sure to make plans with people I knew (or knew through the internet) in each city. I kept in touch with friends via Facebook and email and either Skyped and iChatted with my partner every day. The time change made that challenging (Helsinki, for example, is 10 hours different from San Francisco!), but we made it work. Traveling alone is not for everyone. Carrying bags alone and navigating buses and public transportation alone were often stressful for me. But overall, I loved it. Everyone in all the countries I visited spoke excellent English. And I learned to ask for help (which I am not very good at normally). Overall, the time for personal reflection (both on my life overall and on all the amazing stuff I was seeing) was life-changing. I am so glad I took this trip by myself. Now that I’ve got the travel bug, I can see alternating trips by myself with trips with others (my partner or friends).

Specific Recommendations
I am happy to give specific recommendations on specific tours (in Iceland) or shops/museums (in Scandinavian capital cities) if you happen to be traveling to any of these places. Just email me!

Have a lovely weekend, friends.