Rock the boat Cruise with Baltic Queen

15th February 2018 was our friend Anders Nilsson Birthday. He called me a week before asking if Lars and I would be interested to join them on Rock the Boat Cruise with his Sambo Åsa. First and foremost I am totally not a big fan of Rock Concert. Somehow Åsa was not either and we then said we could hang around together while the boys went to see the concert.

They picked up at 10:15 in the morning and we drove to town where the bus will pick us up to the cruise ship in Stockholm. Upon arrival we checked in and we invited them to our room for some wine.

Later we head off to a buffet dinner with free flow of wine and beer. The food spread was amazing. 

 Even though I may not be with the boys most of the time during the concert, I had a great time on the cruise.

 Anders turning 49, Thursday 15th February 2018.

Getting around in Vietnam

Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City)

We traveled to Vietnam on the 21st December 2017. Since none of us have been there before, we decided to venture into the new country. Vietnam is a very fascinating country. I have the combination of  mixed love and hate about that place just like when I used to live in Egypt. Somehow people in Vietnam are very polite and welcoming. They have many beautiful amazing rooftop bars. 

This trip was not plan to be ending up in a big group which it does eventually. My daughter Ellie had booked the tickets with her boyfriend, Emil together with Emil's cousins and friend. So coincident when we said we have booked our tickets to Vietnam on this particular date and this flight. We end up laughing as not only had we travel on the same datebut we end up on the same flight to Vietnam. The next coincident thing was when I booked my hotel and told her, we end up laughing again as we booked the same hotel in Vietnam. So which mean we are going to be in a big group. Somehow it was fun. We spent hours by the pool after breakfast and went out together at night.

 We trying to take photo together but Emil is just appearing behind us.

 This is the rooftop terrace in the hotel that we staying in Sunland Vietnam. Amazing I felt more in Sweden than in Vietnam as most of the guests we met either by the pool, restaurants and elevators are speaking Swedish. 

 They are having the competition of who can go from one end to another fastest.

 We booked a tour guide who picked us up from the hotel to see the life back during the Vietnam war. It is so amazing just to see how they survive in the small tiny dark tunnel months after months.

 We are missing two guys in our group who end up sick that day.

 Every single one of us get the experience to shot with AK47. It was an experience and I totally enjoyed it.

below is my darling taking his shot.

Few days in Hanoi is enough for us since it is such a busy streets with thousands of cars, motorcycles and the honking of cars and bikes makes it more fascinating knowing and seeing how they can manage to go so smoothly on the road. There are no proper walking pavement which makes me feel so stress when walking out in the city.

We then moved on to Phu Quoc island in Vietnam. The flight was smooth and Phu Quoc was much quieter on the road and bearable to walk on the pavement.  There are so many tourist there and plenty of restaurants by the beach.

 Us enjoying our day walks sight seeing and nights together in different places.

 This is an amazing experience, we both had. We decided to booked a couple massage nearby the hotel and was recommended to this hotel which has a nice spa to use after. After our massage, we got the whole spa bath to our self. 

 Our next fun experience was to visit the pepper farm. We had a guide who does not speak so good English but he is really trying. We came to a place where he showed us just one small area where he pointed to us, there are all the red pepper, black pepper, green pepper and white pepper where it are grown. That about it about the pepper farm tour guide we got from our tour guide. It is a big joke :) 

 Coming back to Hanoi after our Phu Quoc we stayed at a very nice hotel with we got our own roof top private Jacuzzi. 

 We spent a night in this famour roof top bar one night. This place is happening and full of people.

Istanbul 2017

When I told people that we will be going to Istanbul, everyone told us to be careful especially after the terrorists attacks and bombing. I was a bit sceptical at first but I know if it is dangerous, I am sure the Swedish government will stop us from travelling there. So we decided to take that chances. Furthermore in Stockholm Sweden itself there have been attacked twice by terrorists. I am not sure where in the world is safe right now.

Anyway our trip to Istanbul turn out to be a very nice one. It was not as I expected. People are friendly and we have so much to see and do while we were there. The only thing which irritate us was the carpets dealers. They are everywhere and really bothering us. I can guarantee that with their approach on tourist into luring them into their shops will not help them in any sales. At least not from us. Tourist will just get irritated and will try to avoid them as far as possible.

My partner turns 55 this year in June and I have decided to give him a nice treats to Istanbul instead. Since we both have not been there before, we decided that Istanbul would be a great place to see.

We visited many popular and famous places there. Such as the mosque and the castles. Since we stayed in the European side of Istanbul and right in the center of the town, it is just walking distance to all different attractions. There are also plenty of good restaurants and bars around the area itself.

Travelling by tram is so convenient there. It is not expensive at all either. I strongly would recommend anyone visiting Istanbul to take the tram. It goes to the Asian side too. We met a very lady with her 2 children from the States there. I regretted not taking her contact number so we could keep in touch. She helped us one night when we were stranded after the train and tram are closed. Taxi tried to cheat us and she helped us to alternative shorter ways and send us back to the hotel that night. There was a guy who have lived there who negotiate the taxi fare for us. We are blessed to have met nice people along the way.

 A beautiful park where the popular Touristic Mosque on the European side of Istanbul.

 I would strongly recommended this hotel should you visit Istanbul. Sura Haga Sophia Hotel on the European side. The location is one of the best as it surrounded by plenty of restaurants, bars, park, and all the tourist attraction all in that area. 

My young darling turn 55 that day and we had a Turkish birthday dinner just next to our hotel. 

Weekend in Örebro, Sweden

After coming back to Sweden this summer and staying with my younger daughter Vel, my eldest daughter, El invited us to stay a few days in Örebro with her.  Since Ellie's boyfriend is staying in Stockholm weekdays, he offered us to go back with him to Örebro in his car. 

The weekend in örebro was indeed very nice, fun and relaxing. 

We were lucky on Saturday as the weather was very sunny and nice. We woke up have breakfast and decided to take a walk. 

Ellie and her boyfriend are living right in the middle of the city with nice surrounding.

Right in front of her house there is a big park wth several outdoor restaurants, cafes, and plenty of beautiful growing colourful spring flowers.

While walking along the water, I spotted several big beautiful houses.

Gabriel and sis El :)

Those colourful flowers just blooming.

I love these nicely shaped sculpture trees. They are so beautiful.

In the evening, we decided to barbeque since the weather is shining and its a clear blue sky.

This sweet couple went to get all the meat, etc and we invited Emil's mom and brother to join us.

This is Emil's mom. Really like her and we click the first time we met. She is very friendly, easy to be with and we laugh a lot that night. 

As the evening gets, it was a little bit chill to be sitting long outdoor. Emil's took his winter jacket for Gabriel as it started to be a bit cold.

We went inside the house after our dinner and Emil's younger brother Denise, who had a fantastic voice of a solid strong vocal, sang for us some songs of his choice. It was amazing to hear his voice.

Then came the 2 brothers showing off their golf movement. 

It was a lovely weekend in Örebro and we will go there again next time together with Vel and her boyfriend too.