The Answers, Part 2: Going Places.

Let's continue with the answers from the Q&A-session! (Part 1 can be found here.)

Barbados bikini girl!

Part 2
To travel or not to travel

What is your favourite city/country in the world (outside of Sweden)?
(Asked by rehane)

I absolutely adore Berlin, especially Kreuzberg where Ronnie and I lived for a while (we still have an apartment there, that we share with a group of other writers). Other cities that have given me that peculiar feeling of belonging are Rome and New York, though I think I've been to those places for too short of a time to truly know what it would be like to live there. Haha, I know that's not what you asked, but I just love to get a sense of home when I visit a city!


I wanted to ask which countries, cities or places you want to visit the most? And would you maybe someday want to visit Lithuania? :)
(Asked by Ieva Jankauskaitė)

In Shanghai, I lived for a couple of months with a really sweet and beautiful girl who came from a small village outside of Vilnius. She introduced me to a group of lovely people from Lithuania and Latvia, and I would absolutely love to go there one day!

To be completely honest, though, I'm not the biggest fan of traveling. I know it sounds terrible, and of course I adore visiting new places and learning about different cultures and lifestyles, but I get extremely stressed out from the whole experience of, well, going somewhere. And when I get stressed, my body reacts instantly - which means that every single time I go anywhere, I get sick. Trust me - these last couple of years, I've been really sick (almost unable to get out of bed) in Paris, Berlin, Thailand, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Barcelona, Barbados and probably some more places that I was too sick to even remember visiting (haha). Gosh, I even get sick while travling to other places in Sweden.

But it's a lot worse the farther I go: I'm scared to death of flying, I get awful jetlag complications even when the time difference is only a few hours, and I can't stop thinking about all the things that could go wrong at home ("what if someone breaks into our house? What if we have a water leak again and the whole house is ruined when we come back? What if there's a fire? Maybe I forgot to pay one of our bills, or the cats get sick and the people who are watching them don't take them to the vet and then die! What am I doing here?!").

In other words, I do travel a lot and I love parts of it, but it's also somewhat wasted on me. Luckily I've learned how to appreciate cities even when sick, but still... I'm so tired of people asking me "How was *insert any cool travel destination here*?!", and having to answer "it was great, though, well, I was mostly in bed (and not for any of the fun reasons)".

One happy Annika in Rome.

Sorry about the rant, I'll get back to the question now! I would really, really love to go to Italy again. Ronnie and I visited Rome our first summer together, and it was one of my most amazing experiences ever - I wasn't even sick! (No rules without exceptions, you know.) So I'm very excited to see more parts of the country. Venice would be incredible, and Ronnie and I are thinking of going to either Sicily or Sardinia early next year to celebrate our four years together.

Cousin weirdness in Seattle.

What's your favourite travel destination? 
Asked by Bella Stephens)

I was in Seattle for only a couple of days back in April, and I want to go back there so bad! My dear cousins and my aunt live in the area, and it would be wonderful to get to spend more time with them. I didn't have time to see nearly as much of the city as I would have liked to, obviously (and yes, I was terribly sick while I was there), but from what I saw it's such an incredible place. It's sort of like a mix between Stockholm and New York, and so full of cultural happenings and awesome places to eat!

(Oh, and I thought New York was quite spectacular.)

What do you like about Berlin? Or, what do you not like about Berlin or Germans?
(Asked by Nastassja)

Haha, there's nothing I don't like about Berlin! And I'm sure there are idiots in Germany just like in every other country on this planet, but luckily I haven't met many of them.


Berlin is one of my favorite cities in the world, for sure. We mostly hang out in Kreuzberg - Ronnie and I used to live on Wrangelstrasse, close to Schlesisches Tor, and now we share an apartment with some friends on Eisenbahnstrasse, near Lausitzer Platz/Görlitzer Park. Of course I've been to lots of different areas, but I don't feel like any of them can live up to Kreuzberg! My second favorite part is Prenzlauer Berg.

What I love about Kreuzberg is that it's so cheap to eat and drink, I love all the cafés, bars and restaurants, and most of all the friendly and laid-back atmosphere. I never feel better about the way I look than when I'm there - not because people don't look good, gosh no, but because I don't feel like you're judged on your appearance nearly as much as I'm used to. People seem so comfortable with themselves, there are cute dogs everywhere and something fun is always happening on every block - an art exhibition, a band playing, a movie showing, whatever.




I'm from Estonia and I'm interested in knowing what neighboring countries you've visited?
(Asked by Liisi)

Well, I've been to Tallinn a few times, and I think it's a really interesting city! And of course I've been to Finland and Denmark, but Estonia is the only Eastern European country I've visited. I'd like to change that in the future. (I was in Romania and Bulgaria with my mom when I was a kid, but that was, like, twenty-three years ago... so I don't remember that much.)



Which countries have you been to and where would you really, really like to go?
(Asked by Piia)

I travelled a lot with my mom when I was little, so I can honestly say that I don't know what countries I've been to (again, my memory from back than isn't the most accurate!). To name a few: Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Czech Republic, USA, Mexico, Barbados, Thailand, China, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and Morocco.

I would really love to go to San Francisco! I have a feeling I would fall head over heels in love with that city.