Dopplr.com, ‘an online service for smarter travel’, has given its members their own personal travel report for 2008, in the form of a nicely designed pdf-file.

I like Dopplr because it looks pretty and it keeps track of my trips for me, but it’s double book keeping really as I can do the same in my calendar (Google). Without the pretty graphics. It would be nice if I could synch the two.

Leersum (December)
Boxing Day at my parents’. Cooked Indonesian meal.

Paris (December)
It’s hard to pick favourites in a year of many highs, but I did like this one a lot. A bit of family. A lot of G. Everything was small and intimate. Saw ‘Handsomest Drowned Man’ again and it worked so much better than in Brighton.

London (November)
Saw Scott Walker’s Drifting and Tilting twice. Lovely time with Hg, Pixeldiva, B. and R. Traveled by Eurolines coach. Really, surprisingly comfortable. And cheap.

Galway (October)
Didn’t like staying in a hostel (hell very definitely being other people), but other than that it was good to get away and I think I shot my best picture of 2008.

Dublin (October)
The Dublin/Galway trip was my ’summer holiday’. It was freezing, of course, but sunny anyway when the rest of Europe was awash with rain. Had an amazing time in Killiney filming G. and listening to his new songs.

Antwerp (August)
Unplanned trip to compensate for not getting the Lowlands festival photo gig I’d been promised. Bad karma… nearly got my head kicked in taking pictures in this Belgian city. And that’s no joke.

London (July)
Rogue’s Gallery at the Barbican. Only got photo access to the soundcheck. Light was bad, vibe a little dull, but the gig was good. Really enjoyed staying around Brick Lane. Quiet lunch with G. at morose Italian place.

Dublin (July)
Rogue’s Gallery in the Dublin Docklands. Fa-bu-lous experience. Great access all day, fab to hang with Davey, Gugs and G., lovely vibe in the photo pit, nearly killed myself shooting with the 70-200 for four hours.

Paris (July)
Quick trip to see the deafening My Bloody Valentine. Loved it.

Paris (May)
Became my nephew Louis Gustave’s godmother. Pretended to be Catholic. Everything in French of course. Lovely, but strenous.

Brighton (May)
Brighton was relaxed, just enjoying sea, sand and sun. The gig (‘The Handsomest Man in the World’) was unremarkable.

London (May)
Rather fraught and confused start as I was given the wrong medication hours before my flight and I felt poorly and disoriented. Fire alarm at Gatwick on my return.

Cologne (April)
Birthday trip. Didn’t enjoy this much. Party town, stag nights, large groups. No fun on your own. Crap weather too.

Dublin (Feb/Mar)
Sick as a dog, but I went anyway and coughed and sneezed and dripped through a Marc Almond gig (meeting Gini Ball backstage) and lovely dinner with G. at Eden. Also… Bambi!

Dublin (Jan)
No particular reason. Scouted some photo locations. Saw 30 seconds from Mars on a whim.

I don’t think I will be travelling quite this often in 2009.

Cranes in the Antwerp docklands

I nearly got my head kicked in taking pictures this weekend in Antwerp. I escaped with a few bruises, mainly to my ego. I don’t want to go into the whole sordid tale, but the moral of the story is: ask people’s permission before you take their picture in the street.

Or, you know, stick to lovely, peaceful cranes.

Morning, beautiful, originally uploaded by Caroline.

Although my hotel on Osborne Street in London gets bad reviews on travel sites, I didn’t have a problem with it at all. Yes it’s a little run down and I’m sure some people may not find the area attractive. But I like Brick Lane with its vintage clothing shops, cool record store (Rough Trade), Bangla Deshi restaurants, ‘beigel’ bakeries and photo opportunities. Plus some excellent coffee at Coffee@.

Some photos taken in the Tower Hamlets area.

Next week I’ll be travelling to Gent (Ghent? I never know whether or not to slot an ‘h’ in in English) for a two-day stay (we’ll be going to this event, do come too if you like Shakespeare and don’t mind listening to some utterly depressing music) and I’ve been trying to research good places to eat, but personal recommendations are always best.

The last time I was in Gent was November 27, 1995. I can’t remember where I ate that time, but it may have been the café at Vooruit. So… if anyone can recommend a good eatery in Gent, perhaps Italian, perhaps not, let’s hear it!

Oh, and if you happen to have a copy of this week’s Focus Knack magazine… check out the four-page interview with the man and a full page photograph + smaller one both taken by me. I haven’t seen it yet myself. You can see a preview on the Focus Knack website, but I don’t have access to the larger pdf files.

… just having started a new job, I’m not going to be doing a lot of travelling any time soon. So I’ll be gnashing my teeth watching other people’s journeys.

Lemme know if you want in.

If I ever go again, I’ll skip Nice. I should have remembered that from 2004. I don’t really like the place very much. I could have spent a lot more time in Marseille, somewhere I feel quite at home. I wish I had. I could have spent more time relaxing too.

It wasn’t until the final days that I started to be not so stressed. Maybe I was a little too active. Up at the crack of dawn to take pictures. Walking everywhere, even if the locals said where I was going was too far to walk. It never was.

I’ll remember the stunning Cocteau church in Villefranche and the evening boat trip off the coast of Marseille where, for a short while, I befriended a Parisian English-teacher who said ‘actually’ every other sentence. The teacher, the  Polish lecturer with the weirdest speech impediment – imagine the Welsh LL-sound, every other word – and I drank our complimentary wine while the sun set slowly behind the Frioul Islands.

Perhaps the best part was the 1st class train ride back to Paris and from there to Brussels. Will absolutely choose to do that again over flying, if time permits. Trains are good.

But now I have started my new job. I am soaking in a new environment and new tasks to do. It doesn’t quite feel like I have a shorter commute just yet, the extra hours sleep are needed for my brain and body to recover.

It looks like I’ll want to be in Dublin about three weeks from now, it’s that time of year again. I haven’t got the date yet, but unless it’s on a weekend, I’ve no chance of going. I’ll be there in spirit.