16 posts tagged “travel”
Hello my dears!
I have been beyond dreadful in updating this blog, and I apologize. There are many reasons behind this.
1. Up until September 10th when we left for California, I was worn out, tired, stressed, hateful, starving and exhausted. Many a douchebag was getting me down, and when it came to looking at a blank rich text editor, I just didn't know what to say. I've learned that if I want to talk shit about someone, I can't really do it here, plus, I don't want to turn this blog into just a neighborhood only rant.
2. See number 1.
So far on our "vacation" we have:
- Been on a private tour of the Sierra Nevada brewery in Chico
- Been out on my step dad's boat
- Took my mom to an urgent care clinic as she broke her toe when we were out on the boat
- Eaten mini corn dogs, macaroni and cheese, pizza in Davis, In 'n Out, Barq's Rootbeer, all the sourdough toast I can manage, and plan on going to Round Table tonight. (Obviously, I lost weight before I came here so I could eat...everything.)
I also almost have a tan going on, and am amazed my body can still produce one after being in London for the past two years and NEVER SEEING THE SUN. Seriously. I look at the weather forecast for London while sitting in my mom's sun room and nearly cry for my friends over there. 60 degrees and cloudy. It's shit. It really is. All you selfish bastards in California should be ashamed at how much sun you soak up. It's glutonous and shameful.
Also, while the economy may be shitty over here in California at the moment, you poor folks who have been laid off and can't afford the gas for you SUV should really look into bottling sunshine and selling it to the pale schmucks in the UK. Those puppies would sell like hotcakes. You'd be rich beyond your wildest dreams. It must be possible. Someone needs to figure it out.
Anyway.
Other than that, I've just been waking up before 8am every day, drinking a cup of coffee with that glorious Hazelnut Coffee Mate creamer, and working on BitchBuzz.
Last week was pretty exciting as on the 5th I was at Sky News
And on the 4th I was at BBC Radio
And then on the 8th I did an hour and a half's worth of recording for the second series of Generation Sex:
But, now, I'm just enjoying the Californian beer and sunshine...
Hope to see some of you at the BitchBuzz Karaoke Night on Saturday in SF!
Today, Iain and I drove to the sea topless.
Until you've driven around sans top, eating an ice cream and blasting Sugarland, I'm pretty sure you've never known happiness.
(Finally, our decision to buy a convertible in England makes perfect sense!)
I used to point and laugh at the good folks of the UK whenever the sun decided to come out. It could be barely 20 degrees Celsius, and they'll all be outside, drenched in SPF 50 and standing in line at an ice cream van discussing their evening plans for a BBQ.
Me, hailing from a town where it's likely to get up to 110 Fahrenheit in July, would roll my eyes and mock them endlessly.
Now, I am one of the assholes drenched in SPF 50 standing outside a que of 20 or more people, just to get a freakin' Cornetto so I can sit outside under the sun. The first summer I came to the UK I was shocked by how warm it was. Apparently it was the hottest July they've ever had, and I felt right at home.
Sadly, this past summer was the exact opposite. We saw the sun for about two weeks at best, and then all it did was piss down with rain. And be cloudy. And then hail. And then rain some more.
I no longer laugh at how giddy this country gets when the sun is out. I get it. I totally get it.
Therefore, instead of staying at home watching old episodes of Smallville and only leaving the house to walk down to Starbucks this Sunday, Iain and I left the house with one goal: TO GET AS MUCH SUN AS POSSIBLE.
We started the day off by driving to Box Hill, where we stood in a line of 20 or more people, just to buy two Cornettos and a bottle of water. The view at Box Hill is gorgeous, so if you have yet to go there, I suggest you do next time the sun is out.
We sat for a good hour, judging everyone near us and enjoying the view. The woman flying a kite in a really annoying fashion, the gay couple in front of us with the cute puppies who rudely didn't offer us any of their picnic, and all the pasty, sunken-chested men with their shirts off made for excellent conversation and people watching.
Then! Iain surprised me by driving us out to Worthing. The sea was gorgeous, the cocktail I had at a bar by the shore was amazing, but the people we saw...I won't even go into it. All I'm going to say is that they were unique, and we probably will never go back there. (But really it was lovely.)
On another note, things are doing very well over here in The Home Offices Of CupCate. We have some very exciting prospects, which, to say the least, is very comforting. Thank you all again for your encouragement and the birthday wishes.
I'm slowly but surely running out of ways to express how amazing each things have been here in Tokyo.
The time we spent yesterday in Shinjuku Gyoen National Park, sitting under the cherry blossoms was incredible - and I am so pleased to report that today was even better.
Ayako from Six Apart's Tokyo office took us around today, and I have to say, I don't ever think I could ever thank her enough. She not only went with us on a Hato Bus tour of Tokyo Tower (which is 333 meters off the ground - my lucky number and the time I was born) and the Sensoji Temple - but she also took us out for a Kushikatsu lunch, and then on to Roppongi and to the National Art Center.
I cannot tell you what a massive difference it makes to have someone show you around, help you out with the language, and help explain what it is your eating (and how to eat it) makes. Ayako, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. This has been one of the best days, and I will never forget it!
The Sensoji Temple is AMAZING and we're actually thinking of going back again tomorrow afternoon to take some more pictures, and spend some more money on over priced souvenirs. The atmosphere is so amazing that you almost don't even notice how crowded it is, especially on a weekend.
I have so much to tell you, and so any Western tourists to complain about but for now, I think we need some rest. Jet lag, you win. Okay? YOU WIN!
Today was our day in Japan, and I have to say, today has been one of the best days of my life. We didn't try to jam in a whole bunch of touristy things into our schedule, we simply walked through the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, with the simple goal of sitting under the cherry blossoms in Shinjuku Gyoen National Park.
Hanami means "flower viewing" in Japanese, and tons, and tons of families, friends and couples gather in parks, like Shinjuku Gyoen, to picnic, drink, and admire the cherry blossoms.
Now, I had of course heard that this time of year was the best to go to Japan because of the cherry blossoms. I've seen pictures of them. I've seen them in movies. I've read about how the blossoms look like snow when they get caught in the breeze and flutter to the ground.
However, nothing can compare to actually seeing it in person. I was so moved and so taken aback when I stepped foot in Shinjuku Gyoen, that I have to admit I teared up every now and again.
I am forever thankful to whatever ever good karma I sent out in the world to that allowed me to be in Japan this morning. The feeling I had while standing under the cherry blossoms, having those tiny pink and white petals falling gently fall down to the earth around me - catching in my hair, and softly brushing past my skin - I will never forget it.
It's 7:56am on Saturday morning in Tokyo. Here's the view from our hotel room in Shinjuku. All I can say so far is that the Japanese are so kind and polite it makes me want to weep and hug every single person I meet.
PS. OMG I CAN SEE MOUNT FUJI FROM MY WINDOW!!!1!! You can't really see it in this photo because it's sort of hazy, but it's there. IT IS THERE.
Hi all!
We flew into San Francisco last night! I apologize if this post doesn't make much sense, as I think I lost my brain somewhere between London and San Francisco. Maybe it was when we were on a 4 hour domestic flight without any on-flight entertainment, and the only amusement I found was peeking in between the seats in front of us and reading over some bald dude's Word document on Geology, and some pretentious dude in a suit's Forbes and Golf Digest. (Seriously. Who reads Golf Digest?)
(Sorry if you do.)
We'll be in town for a couple days, visiting some friends and meeting up with some girl crushes. We're not on The Tour yet, though, as we're going home for Easter (because I'm so religious) and will be hanging out in Sacramento all week (aka Watch TV on my mom's couch), and then heading up to Lake Tahoe for the weekend. (aka Drinking in the snow.)
Then! We'll be back in San Francisco from March 31st to the 3rd of April before heading off to TOKYO and PARIS! Woot!
I need suggestions of where to go in Paris and Tokyo! Help a pastry out! Where should we go? What should we do?
Also, I'm in the The Guardian today giving terribly authoritative quotes on Dollymix and why women's blogs are better than fashion magazines.
So the whole learning Japanese and French thing is going a whole lot slower than I had hoped for, as I forgot about that whole job thing I have and all the work I have to do. However! I have made time to read the Rough Guide books on Tokyo, San Francisco, and Paris that we bought.
While these aren't necessarily books you can read from cover to cover, I have read through the whole Customs, Etiquette, and the General Pointers section of each book..and I'm not gonna lie. I was a tad bit alarmed by what I read in The Rough Guide To Tokyo:
"In this very male, strictly hierarchal society, men always take precedence over women. so ladies shouldn't expect doors to be held open or for seats to be vacated. Sexual discrimination is wide spread, and foreign working women in Japan can find the predominately male business culture hard going."
Right. Okay. It's fine. I'm going to a different city, a different country, and their culture just happens to be a bit more misogynist than my own. It's fine. I don't need doors opened for me. It's cool....
...And then I read further on:
"The generally low status of women in Japan is reflected in the amount of groping that goes on in the crowded commuter trains - there are even pornographic films and comics aimed at gropers. If you do have the misfortune of being groped, the best solution is to grab the offending hand, yank it high in the air, and embarrass the guy as much as possible. Fortunately, more violent sexual abuse is rare; though most stalking, harassment and rape are seriously underreported...Women should exercise the same caution about being alone with a man as they would anywhere."
So...I know that there's a big problem with men groping women on trains in Tokyo. That's why they have the women only carriages. There's just something about seeing the phrases "low status of women" and "groping" in a guide book about a city you're really excited to go to that is really depressing. I also enjoy the sentiment that, "Hey! It sucks you've had the misfortune of being groped by some sleaze bag on the subway. Fortunately, you weren't raped."
I'm not really sure what to think about that. It, of course, doesn't make me any less excited or happy to be going to Tokyo, it just makes me wonder if any of you who either have lived or have visited Japan have experienced anything like this?
Out of all the 300-something pages in this book, which highlights all of the wonderful things about this city, only about 2 paragraphs touch on the supposed misogynistic, perverted part of Tokyo and the Japanese culture.
On the same token, in the The Rough Guide to Paris book, there's only a short blurb about how, oh by the way, Parisians are sort of RACIST.
"France has a bad reputation for racist attitudes and behavior...there are occasional reports of unpleasant incidents such as restauraunts and hotels claiming to be fully booked, and travelers of north African or Arab maybe unlucky to encounter outright hostility or excessive police interest."
They go on to say that if you are "unlucky" enough to have an "unpleasant" experience like they described, they give you the number of a support line to call as the "police are unlikely to be sympathetic". But! There is good news if you're a woman:
"Full-on sexual harassment is extremely unusual, though female travelers from Anglophone countries may find ordinary male behavior chauvinistic."
Ordinary behavior, huh?
I was pleased to find that the Rough Guide To San Francisco had a whole section on Women Travelers, and they didn't really have one negative thing to say, aside from the fact that if you'd like to carry gas, whistles and pepper spray if you're traveling alone, that that would be a good idea.
"In the West Coast's most politically progressive city, women are treated with respect and courtesy almost everywhere, and commonly hold positions of power and authority."
That sentence just makes me want to lick the city of San Francisco.
While most people who are proud and love the cities they are from and live in don't want to admit that that "they're a tad misogynist" or that "yeah, some of us grope women on trains" or especially that "um, we're definitely a little bit racist", I still appreciate the fact that this information is included in these books....I think.
No city is perfect, no culture is perfect.
If you were coming to London, and I had to write a completely honest, unbiased paragraph on how women are treated here, I would have to mention that, "Yeah, the door won't always be opened for you, and some of my friends have had men grab their ass on the tube." But, on the same token, you also get the lovely British men that will give you their seat if you're struggling with grocery bags in a pair of stilettos on the train, and even a busy Londoner who will happily open the door for you, despite their gender.
Do you think that travel books like Rough Guides accurately depict the culture and the personality of the city their describing?
Advice...I needs it.
We're totally going on the Vox World Tour next month. Does anyone know a good way to learn Japanese and brush up on my French in just over a month?
*squeals*
Dear Fellow Commuters,
Hi! I'm not sure if we've met properly, but I'm sure you must know who I am, seeing as you somehow manage to dry hump me, sneeze on me, slice my flesh open with the corners of your newspaper, and jab your gargantuan handbag into my rib cage every morning on the train.
For the record, my name is Cate.
I know most of the time I dress like a broke college student, but really, I'm not just going to London to shop or to catch my 9am Art History class. I have a job. A real live one. I have emails that I need to answer, phone calls to return, and a boss to fire me if I'm late - just like you!
So, I know how important it is that you get on this train promptly, as I need to, as well.
But the one thing I have that you don't, is consideration.
Ah, yes! Consideration!
Consideration: con·sid·er·a·tion [kuh
n-sid-uh-rey-shuh
1. the act of considering; careful thought; meditation; deliberation: I will give your project full consideration.
2. something that is or is to be kept in mind in making a decision, evaluating facts, etc.: Age was an important consideration in the decision.
3. thoughtful or sympathetic regard or respect; thoughtfulness for others: They showed no consideration for his feelings.
I know this is a difficult concept to grasp, but trust me. It works.
For example, girl with the ugly skirts that are that are the wrong length and cut for your body type that waits for the 8:19 train with me. Look. I'm not sure if you realize this, but every single morning you practically shove me under the train so you can get in the doors before me, so that you can be sure find a seat for your ass and the massive log that's shoved up between your cheeks. And whyyyyy do you need a seat every morning? Because you're too lazy to get up 20 minutes earlier to do your FUCKING makeup at your FUCKING house like the rest of the FUCKING women in the world.
Can you imagine how many lives you would change by doing your makeup in the privacy of your own home? You would change mine, because you wouldn't be raising my blood pressure so early in the morning. You would also change the people that have to sit next to you on the train, by not getting your shitty Wet & Wild eye shadow all over them, and digging your pointy elbows into their love handles, reminding them that they really shouldn't have had that extra helping of risotto last night. See? Right there? That's like 4 lives! Just but having a little consideration.
And the rest of you, well, you're no better. I know you're important. I know you've got somewhere to be. I understand that if you don't get on this train you will more than likely die, but seriously. Let me help. Help me. Help you.
1.) A vagina and a set of ovaries does not entitle you to a seat on the tube/train.
Girlfriends, you are not senior citizens. You are not old. You are not disabled. Look. I know that second X chromosome gets pretty heavy and that sitting down on the tube is lovely privilege, but it's just that, sister. A fucking privilege, not a right. Therefore, do not trample me or shove me on the train just so you can HAVE A FUCKING SEAT.
2.) If you see someone who is pregnant, give them a seat. (Even if part of you thinks that they're just fat.)
Pregnancy sucks. It sucks even more if you have to walk up and down the stairs at a train station, and get shoved on a smelly, stinky train with all the mother fucking media people that work in the West End. If you see a lady with child, offer her your seat. Yes, she may decline, but chances are, she appreciates the kind gesture. Would you rather be the asshole who let a pregnant lady stand for 5 stops, or be the polite gentleman/woman who offered her a seat?
3.) "Would you mind taking your handbag out of my armpit?"
Here's an idea. If you have a massive handbag and you're in a confined space underground with lots of people surrounding you, take your It Bag off your shoulder, and hold it it front of you. No. Not like a baby, like a grocery bag. See? See how much space that just made? Look at you! Your growing up! And that bitchy looking art student has stopped hexing you!
4.) It's not your right to READ on the TRAIN
The Metro, The London Paper, The Financial Times, The
Guardian...they're all fantastic papers, aren't they? And that book
you're reading! It's awesome! However, you may notice that there are
quite a bit of people around you. Therefore, if you just sucked it up,
and put away your book./newspaper, see how much more space you created?
I know all you want to do is stare at pictures of what Girls Aloud did
last night. However, poking the woman standing next to you in the eye
with the corner of London Lite isn't exactly considerate, is it?
5.) If you've been sitting on the train, this doesn't mean you also must get off the train first
How great for you! You've been sitting comfortably for the past half
hour, checking your Facebook page on your Blackberry. However, you see
all those people standing by the doors and in the aisle? Yeah. They're
not so comfortable. They've had some weird guy rubbing his crotch on
their backs for the past 30 minutes. Therefore, when the train stops,
it's rather rude to hop up and shove past everyone, and try to get off
the train first. Let all those suckers who weren't crafty enough to
shove old ladies onto the tracks in order to get a seat off first.
Jesus sees all!
6.) Get off your fucking phone.
You're not funny. No one cares what you did last night, or what you ate for lunch. (Good for you for only eating rice all day.) Your voice is irritating. No one cares how many sales you made at work. No one cares how much you hate your boss. You know what we care about? PEACE AND QUIET. We've been at work all day, too. Therefore, we all just want you to shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP SHUT UP.
7.) "Can you move down, please?"
No. No I can't move down. At least once a day, I'm standing on a packed train, under or over ground, and then some asshole jumps on the train 2 seconds before the doors shut for good and shouts, "Can you MOVE DOWN please?" Here's the thing, love. There ain't no fucking room. NO. WE CAN'T MOVE DOWN. TRY THE NEXT CARRIAGE. Or better yet, THE NEXT TRAIN.
I know these may sound like crazy suggestions, but trust me, they're just basic common sense. I'm writing to you, because I am sick and tired of getting pissed off and angry at every single person who practically shoves me on the escalator shoves me on the tracks so they can get by or get a seat on the tube. Yes. I know I need to center myself and realize that I don't need to get mad at everything.
But after I got hit in the head with the tube doors, last week, when some important jack ass needed to hop on the tube FOR ONE STOP, and not ONE PERSON asked me if I WAS OKAY. I've just had enough.
Therefore, I implore you. I beg of you. Please, next time you're on any form of public transport, try to pull your head out of your ass, and be a little more considerate, eh?
Love,
That angry girl who shouts at everyone and calls them cunts and yells I HATE PEOPLE in the middle of Waterloo Station
xoxo
