Turkish Memories

It seems like everyone uses the same imaginary checklist for producing a travel video to upload on Vimeo: somber or inspirational classical piano? Check.  Time-lapse photography? Check. Sunrises and sunsets? Check. (Bonus points if you capture a time lapse at night with a starry sky!) Am I right??  Well, I was thrilled to stumble across this video today because it does such a great job of capturing Turkey from a traveler's perspective without any of the aforementioned criteria.  Enjoy :)


Turkish Memories (2013) from Lightyear Studios on Vimeo.

Cape Town's Best Coffeehouses

After I wrote my last post about coffee culture in Cape Town, I realized I should have pointed out how visiting a Vida e Cafè in Cape Town is exactly like visiting an American Starbucks.  The coffee is nice, but when I travel, I look to avoid that kind of experience.  Judging Cape Town cafes based on their coffee and ambiance, here's where this American orders her Americanos:

Truth Coffee - 36 Buitenkant Street

I love the steampunk vibes of this cafe and their coffee is close to perfect - no need for sugar or milk.

Origin Coffee - 28 Hudson Street

Origin is another favorite, and also quite close to what I'd consider perfect.  Their cafe is small and usually quite busy, so food service can be a bit slow. The Nigiro tea room in the back is a nice escape from the crowd (but I'll save tea in Cape Town for a separate post!)

Bean There - 58 Wale Street

A fair trade coffee shop roasting African beans in small batches.  They have a lighter, more airy decor than the other cafes listed here, and they also sell some gadgets like presses.  It's worth a visit if you're planning on brewing at home.

Yourstruly - 175 Long Street

A cozy interior and a rich cup of joe.  This cafe that is always buzzing with activity and is a great place for people/tourist watching on Long Street.

And, here are some of my favorite chain cafes, with more than one location on the Cape:

Knead 
The smell of baking bread always lures me into this restaurant/cafe. With menu items like brioche french toast, breakfast pizza, and bircher muesli, this cafe is always my default for weekend brunch. Try the almond croissant - the filling is just the right amount of sweet to offset the bitterness of their coffee.

Seattle Coffee Company
When I say 'iced latte', they always know what I mean, and I appreciate that.  The tiny Cavendish shop has a small number of seats, but access to Exclusive Books' magazine rack makes it worth lingering longer.

Mugg & Bean

Mugg and Bean is a sit-down restaurant and is usually located within shopping malls.  I'm a fan of their bottomless filter coffee refills, and their oversized, just-out-of-the-oven warm muffins served with a bit of cheddar cheese and jam are out of this world.

Top 5 Useful iPhone Travel Apps

When I think about going on vacation, I think about taking photographs of wild animals, sipping a cold Savanna at sunset, and enjoying the simple pleasures that spending time in nature entails.  The last thing on my mind is using my smartphone, however, I've found traveling with my iPhone can often enhance my travel experience.  Here are the top five apps I frequently refer to on the road:

I once had a point-and-shoot camera stop working on the second day of a two week vacation.  I was devastated.  I was also really glad I had my smartphone as a back-up.  I recommend trying Instagram (Free), Vine (Free) and Adobe Photoshop Express (Free).  Instagram and Photoshop Express offer fun photo filters, while Vine is great for capturing short video memories.

The stars in the Southern Hemisphere always take my breath away.  When I'm camping and curious about what's above, Star Walk ($2.99) tells me what I'm looking at.

Africa: Live (Free) is a must-have for anyone traveling to Kruger National Park.  On an interactive map, you can report your animal sightings in real-time, as well as, see what others have spotted nearby.  This is especially useful for self-drivers like myself who aren't qualified guides.  The app also contains information about each animal, so study up if you want to impress your friends.

Water Advisor (Free) gives advice on the safety of drinking water by individual country, along with tips on how to treat water to make it drinkable.

I struggle to find a reliable weather forecast app, though it's quite possible the weather changes too often for the forecast to be accurate (especially on the Cape!)  I also use weather apps to help decide what I should pack.  I like the user interface of Weather Cube (Free) and the visual aesthetics of Solar ($.99), but when I really just want the nitty gritty forecast details, I use AccuWeather (Free).

Obviously these apps are intended to be used as guidelines, because no app can replace the real advice of parks officials, trained guides, local residents, etc.  While I've selected iPhone apps, many same or similar apps are available on Android.  What apps do you find useful when you travel?

Coffee Culture

CNN Travel recently published an article about coffee culture in South Africa.  After reading, I realized this was perfect evidence of how insight from a local expert can be far more useful than something written for the masses.  There are at least 100 cafes in Cape Town alone, and South Africa's coffee culture is thriving (certainly not 'new', as the article suggests).  I've enjoyed a variety of the richest, nuttiest, boldest espressos - maybe the best I've ever had in my life - in Cape Town.

The truth is, slowly but surely, South Africa's established coffee culture is opening up to the masses.  Thinking about the volume of beans Southern and East Africa exports, I was really surprised to discover coffee, and the accessories required to brew it, is expensive in Africa.  A bag of coffee beans costs around R50 (often more for name brand), whereas a jar of instant is almost always less.  I, too, was guilty of consuming instant at home, until I caved and invested in a filter coffee maker last year.  The difference in price creates a divide between who can afford to drink real coffee at home, and who defaults to drinking instant.

What the Department of Coffee (@Dpmofcoffee) has created in Khayelitsha is fantastic.  They've brought the cafe experience home, to a township location where there is a growing demand but little supply.  They sell real, fresh coffee at a reasonable price point, so aficionados don't have to travel all the way to the CBD for their espresso fix.  They host once-a-month Saturday open days, and MetroRail runs a #coffeemob train at 9:15am to help a wider Cape Town audience access the Dept. of Coffee's cafe.  The next open day is this Saturday, April 20th.  I think that's the real story worth reporting.

Causes to Care About: Travelers Against Plastic

I've just pledged and joined Travelers Against Plastic, a non-profit encouraging travelers to reduce the use of plastic water bottles.  Living along the False Bay coastline, I can't tell you how discouraging it is to see plastic waste wash ashore.  In addition, the plastic bottle creation process is taxing our environment far more than it should.  You can get up to speed with all the reasons why buying and tossing plastic bottles is harmful to our environment and join me with a pledge to reduce your use of plastic water bottles on the Travelers Against Plastic website.

So, how can you stay hydrated while avoiding purchasing plastics? The first option is water purification.  Tablets are the cheapest option to rid local tap water of nasty bacteria.  Personally, I don't like the taste of the water after using them.  Other options are available, like SteriPEN (Google Affiliate Ad), which uses UV light to purify quickly (and it's USB chargeable? Yes, please!)

The second option is to carry a reusable water bottle with you.  I'm a fan of Kleen Kanteen's wide mouth bottles (Google Affiliate Ad) because they're water filter compatible.  Keep the bottle in the refrigerator overnight and a cool, refreshing drink awaits you the next morning.

If the tap water is not safe to drink where you're traveling and you can't purify it, when you arrive at your destination, buy one giant bottle of water (like 3 gallons) as supply.  You can refill your smaller reusable bottle from the big bottle each morning.  It's so easy, you'll never go back to buying plastic bottles while traveling again.

Open Switzerland

Stumbling upon the Open Switzerland project, which creatively questions the country's "openness"to the rest of the world, was such great timing today.  In particular, these images made me smile:

So, why the great timing?  I'm in them midst of planning a special trip to Switzerland with my father, to visit our friends and relatives.  I haven't been to Switzerland since I was little and I was too young to remember a lot about the trip.  What I do remember, I loved: savoring my first croissant with jam, taking the ferry and cog train to ascend Mt. Rigi, and my grandfather's fast walking pace as he zig-zagged between and behind Basel's trams.  My father hasn't traveled to his homeland for over ten years, and I'm really excited to hear his stories, compare and contrast how things have changed, and retrace my roots with him.  Have you ever traveled to trace your family roots?

The Off-Season

This video beautifully captures why I love visiting tourist destinations in their off-season.  Even if you can't go on holiday right now, it's possible to capture quiet, serene moments like this where you live simply by changing your daily routine.  You might try leaving the house an hour earlier, taking a detour by walking down a different street or path, or walking around at twilight to see something familiar in a whole new light.

The Quiet City: Winter in Paris from Andrew Julian on Vimeo.

South African Navy Festival

This weekend, I took the train down to Simon's Town for the South African Navy Festival.  The event ran Friday to Sunday and it was packed with families when I was there on Saturday.  I only got to tour one of the larger support vessels and missed out on touring the combat ship because the queues were so long (bummer!).  Here are some shots from the tour of the SAS Drakensburg:

My Big Announcement!

I'm really excited to announce the opening of my new photograph print shop.  Hooray!!  Why a print shop?  Because I love how photos capture the essence of a place and how places can evoke certain moods and feelings.  I'm most inspired when I'm outdoors, so that will be the primary theme of my shop.  I've carefully selected each photograph based on it's ability to look nice on a your wall, on a card, or on a canvas.  These are real, natural photos from the places I've traveled to.

Don’t know which print will suit your room? If you email me a straight-on, naturally lit photograph of the blank area and surrounding space, I will select three photos from my full collection and create a mock-up of what each might look like (like the examples below). The more clues I have about your taste and style, the better. We can work together to find the best print for your taste.  If you don’t like any of my suggestions, that’s okay, no harm done!  And if you love one (of course you will!), I'll send you the link to purchase.

I'll be refreshing the collection of prints each season, so right now, the theme of the shop is "Spring".  Brace yourself for some bright colors this summer!  Hopefully, you'll enjoy these photos as much as I do.

 (Me, shooting in Namibia / Room 1 / Room 2 / Room 3)

Wind for Days

I can understand if a rain or thunderstorm wakes me up at night, but I never thought it would be the wind that would keep me up.  On Monday night, a gap in the balcony doors started to make a kazoo-like noise every time the gusts reached a certain speed.  Now I can laugh about it, but it was definitely not funny when I was trying to sleep.  The wind also makes the surf look like a soupy mix of sand and seawater.  Here are a few snaps from this weekend's hike up to Muizenberg's cave:

P.S. Speaking of wind, I'm completely mesmerized by this wind map.