Iceland

AirB&B: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2753690

Kristin’s studio apartment is just what you need in Iceland IF YOU HAVE A CAR (you should be renting a car in Iceland). It is located just 15 minutes drive from Reykjavik city and 30 minutes from KEF International Airport. The apartment is spacious, clean and well decorated. The neighbourhood is quiet and lovely. I really enjoyed my stay here and I can say it’s one of my favourite AirB&Bs so far! It is very reasonably priced for an expensive country. The place is also A LOT nicer than what you see from the pictures below.

the dining area fully equipped cooking facilities

the bed

toilet that is very spacious

chilling area (great view from the window)

This is a nice studio apartment in a modern house with private entrance and parking. It is located in Garðabær, a quiet town only 8 km from down town Reykjavík. The lava view oversees Bessastaðir, the resident of the president of Iceland.

© all images belong to the rightful AirB&B owner

 

Editing pictures using Instagram

Personally, I find Instagram’s editing tools quite handy when it comes to enhancing my pictures. It is more of a quick fix when you don’t have your laptop with you to use photoshop. Certainly the quality of the pictures will decrease via Instagram but they are useful solely for the purpose of posting onto Instagram.

Here are some of the tools I use on Instagram:

select a photo from your camera roll – here i’ve chosen one from Copenhagen (Denmark)

then I’ll press ‘EDIT’, moving away from the ‘FILTER’ page

you’ll see all the different tools you can use to edit your photos

the first one that I often use is ADJUST – it is hard to take a perfectly straight photo using your hand so most likely you’ll have to adjust the photo in some way to straighten it; there are three tools available and they all adjust the photo in different ways; move from left to right to find out which adjustment makes your photo look best

as you can see, i’ve made some adjustments to my photo and it is straighter now (it also tells you the degree which your photo is straighten)

next, the LUX function is located at the top of the screen; just press on it and it’ll automatically increase lux by 50 – usually it is just the right amount for you photo (this tool brings out the contrast in colours neatly)

then i’ll play with BRIGHTNESS – you can either show to brighten or darken your photo

I’ll use ‘STRUCTURE’ to allow the things (eg. buildings/people) in the photo to look sharper – usually do not use TOO much of it unless you like your photos a certain way

the WARMTH function makes your photo either more blue or more red/orangey; when you increase warmth, it’s like increasing sunlight (this function comes in handy when you’ve a photo with TOO much sunlight and you can decrease the warmth)

the ‘SATURATION’ function brings more colour to your photo but DO NOT use too much of it; if you find your photo too bright in a colourful sense, you may wanna decrease the saturation slightly

FADING allows your photo to look less sharp because the colour gives off a more vintage feel; some people love to edit their photos with this function

HIGHLIGHTS adjusts the colour & brightness to the top part or background of the photo; this is the darkened effect (look at the sky)

and this brightens the sky

SHADOWS on the other hand adjusts the bottom part or foreground of the photo; this brightens the foreground (look at the water)

this however darkens the foreground, making the reflection in the water clearer

finally, TILT SHIFT if you might need will blur specific parts of the photo you want it to; for example, I’ve applied it to blur the bottom part of the photo

There is no perfect formula to edit photos, most of the time is trial and error for the combination that can produce the best effect. I use Lux, Brightness, Structure, Highlights and Shadow for all my photos as I find them working well together. It really depends on how you want your photos to turn out and I hope this is useful! 🙂

here’s the end product with the application of all the above tools I’ve used~the difference is not super huge because I didn’t want to edit too much of the photo as the original colours were already fairly nice

Daunt Books

Daunt Books is an independent bookstore located in Marylebone High St, London W1U 4QW. The nearest tube station is Baker Street.

This bookstore is amazing because of the ways books are arranged. It has arranged the books by countries – not just books about the country, but books that came from the country as well. This is a really friendly arrangement for travelers who register countries in our heads first before anything else.

street view of Daunt Books

interior of the bookstore

Do drop by if you’re in London.

Copenhagen

Hotel: https://www.wakeupcopenhagen.com/#/search

WakeUp Copenhagen is a hotel that is priced reasonably. It is only a 10 minutes walk away from Copenhagen Central Station. Alternatively, you can get a bus (1 stop) which will bring you closer to the hotel and cut the walking time by 5 minutes. A standard room is relatively small but it is still cosy and comfortable. However, the location is really prime as there Bus 66 takes you to almost any and every Copenhagen attractions from the hotel. Lounge areas and dining are also available.

view of the hotel

toilet

a standard room for two

room is reasonably sized

© all images belong to the rightful Hotel owner

Rome

AirB&B: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/5887012

Leslie’s place is extremely lovely. Situated just a 10 minute walk away from Rome’s Central Station, it is located in a nice neighbourhood with many restaurants and shops nearby. It is convenient and the Colosseum is within walking distance. The Metro, Tram and Bus are all available in close proximity to the accommodation.

There will be two rooms in this house, a common dining/living room area as well as a kitchen that is well-equipped for cooking. The room is beautifully decorated with coastal/shellfish theme. Above all, while it is not a studio apartment, you’ll have your own toilet in the room!

the bedroom is beautifully decorated

TV, dresser and plenty of chairs to chill in

ensuite toilet

common dining/living room area

kitchen

This sunny room is located in the last floor in one of the most lively areas of Rome, 10 minutes walking distance from Termini Station and the Colosseum, with a wiew on Vittorio Emanuele Square, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and Santa Maria Maggiore. Very well connected by metro and busses, on the square, and the close railway Termini Station connected with the two airports of Rome. This spacious non-smoking apartment (but you can use the balcony) will welcome you in a warm and restful atmosphere. A multiethnic neighbourhood, with the biggest international food covered market in Rome, with many restaurants and pubs for all budgets and diets, including Vegan and Vegetarian.

© all images belong to the rightful AirB&B owner

 

Florence

AirB&B: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/11624237

David is warm and friendly. He personally met us at the tram stop to bring us to the apartment. It is a studio apartment that has separate bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. It is neatly designed and spacious. It is located 1-2 minutes walk from the tram stop and it takes only 3 stops to reach the Florence Central Station. In addition, he recommends nice family restaurants to have meals at and provides a bottle of wine on the house.

Do note that in Florence, you will be required to pay a tourist tax of 2.50 € per person per day (older than 12) for a maximum of 7 days.

the kitchen is well equipped to cook a meal or more

dining table

the bedroom which is huge as well

neat toilet

New!!! Nice flat newly renovated with excellent materials on the second floor with no elevator. It is 10 minutes from Santa Maria Novella station (with the tramway which is located in 50 meters) and 15 minutes walk from the center. In the district there are all essential services (parking, supermarket, restaurants, bars, etc.)

© all images belong to the rightful AirB&B owner 

Milan

AirB&B: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/1943154

Irina’s house is beautiful, clean and neat! It is in a safe neighbourhood with a brilliant gelato shop just beneath and within walking distance, there is a restaurant that makes beautiful seafood linguine.

This is an apartment with three guest rooms, two bathrooms and 1 kitchen.

one of the three guest rooms

the kitchen

the balcony view

the bathroom

The Guest House is located in the lovely Porta Romana area , 4 minutes walk from the ”Porta Romana” metro station and only 3 stops away from the heart of Milan, ‘Duomo’ the wonderful cathedral and main tourist site of the city. The cathedral is surrounded by famous shopping streets as ‘Montenapoleone’.

© all images belong to the rightful AirB&B owner 

KattenCafe Kopjes

Located on Macropolostraat, this is a cat cafe that opened fairly recently in Amsterdam. Do book your visit in advance because the cafe doesn’t allow drop-ins. Make your reservation @ http://www.kattencafekopjes.nl 🙂

The cats are adorable and the cafe had an amiable atmosphere. There is a reasonable entrance charge of €3.  A variety of drinks, desserts and sandwiches are available to choose from the menu for your brunch/lunch/afternoon tea spent with cats. If you’re a cat enthusiast, do remember to drop by this cafe when you’re planning your trip to Amsterdam.

the cafe’s street view

the interior is really well designed to fit the cats

more of the interior

wall art

the cat that was asleep the whole time i was there

the cutest cat

evidently looking at its own kind

awwwwwww the cat is sitting so nicely

sleepy kitty

sure had a good lick of itself

Madrid

AirB&B: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2162534?eluid=0&euid=199cdb69-422a-63a3-18cf-4cfbcec15f5a

Emilio’s studio apartment is where you want to stay in Madrid. You know an accommodation is really look when you rather stay inside it than go outside because you want to maximise your time inside the beautiful accommodation. It is spacious and comfortable. Furthermore, it is located just 3 minutes away from the Metro and many of the attractions are also within walking distance.

kitchen + living room

it is really spacious and you can cook

a very neat design

the toilet is located inside the door beside the kitchen

Very well located, very close to museums, Puerta del Sol and La Latina. Museo Reina Sofía is 500m away, Museo del Prado is 15min away, Puerta del Sol is at 15min walk (1 metro station away), El Rastro is at 800m, and so on…

© all images belong to the rightful AirB&B owner

Budapest

AirB&B: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2411102?eluid=0&euid=99ef06bc-51ec-c6c9-918e-b20e39e47142

Anna’s place is amazing. It is a studio apartment – very suitable for travelers who want their own space but for cheaper rates than hotel. It is located in a quiet and safe neighbourhood on the Pest side of Budapest. The room is beautifully decorated with a coastal theme.

blue and white themed

tv and guide books are available

mini kitchen where you can at least boil water

toilet

This charming studio is ideally sized, located and equipped for two guests discovering Budapest. Overlooking a beautiful street full of trees from a sunny balcony, it is 10 minutes walking from the Parliament House and the city center, but also very well connected to public transportation.

© all images belong to the rightful AirB&B owner