San Diego is by far one of the coolest cities I have visited. If you have been, you might agree with my list of reasons why. Perhaps you can also add a few? If you have not been, go! Add it to your bucket list and hit the bricks! It is worth it.

I will admit it….I am a summer-lovin’ city girl….but there is something about Tokyo in the winter that makes me smile. It is like no other city, I tell you!

Since we have been together, Johan and I have lived in four different cities, in four different countries and on three different continents. We have almost always lived “away” from our families. Life is exciting, but holidays become a big balancing act. Somewhere along the line, we stopped making everyone else happy and focused on us.

I am not sure exactly what motivated me to add camping to my bucket list…but I can tell you now, now that I have done it. The best reasons to go camping – to be cold and damp, to not sit down once in 72 hours and to come home with pains in places that I never needed to know existed – simply boils down to 3 crazy truths.

In the spirit of taking more time for the two of us….and to see more of this amazing place we live…we put the kids on the school bus and pegged it to a wonderfully tranquil place in the world – just a short hour away from central Tokyo. 

And how 4 mamas pegged it from Tokyo on a girlfriends' day out (read - day with the girls and no kiddos!)

As any busy woman will tell you, planning a day out…just one little day away from it all…is no easy task. But, we four were determined to leave Tokyo for the day, just get out of dodge and see something new.

Over the summer holiday, I looked back at the past fifteen months, living in Japan. I took stock of where I was, what I had done, saw, experienced. And then I made a plan and a promise of what I wanted to do with the next years. I realised that the most important thing for me, personally, was to see as much of Asia as I can. Let the exploration begin!

We have had that little apartment in Klosters for almost eleven years now. We’ve spent each and every winter weekend there, Christmases, New Years Eves, Winter Breaks and every other free day in between….but when you have the chance to see your old home thru the eyes of a tourist, something unexpected happens.

We were ready for a holiday, that was for sure. But we had no idea that the beauty of the land and the Balinese people would have such a lasting affect. 

I believe that we should all have a bucket list, or three. You know the saying that hindsight is always twenty-twenty? In a (very) weird way you are creating that retrospective look into your past.

After visiting Shimoda over the summer, I fell in love. I wrote about this love affair for Discover Out Loud....I know I am a die-hard beach girl, but upon returning last weekend, I just couldn't resist the urge to dream about living there forever and ever. The pictures tell the story. 

When I stand in front of the sea, I have the feeling of smallness - in the most incredible way possible. For me, Kyoto is the same. A city in which the electricity, the history and the culture make me feel little and yet a part of something much bigger. 

My love affair with Amsterdam began in 2002. I had just moved from New York to London, when Johan and I travelled to Holland for a weekend break and the wedding of a friend. We stayed, and still stay, in the centre, on the Prinsengracht. From this landing pad, we are free to walk, cycle and boat around the town…here are my favourites in the neighbourhood.