Travel Talk: Black Atlas In Madrid

This post is really dedictaed to a reader who wanted to know more about life in Madrid... and after a few searches later, I found Black Atlas brilliant website, which takes you all over. I even spotted Afrobella in their youtube videos! If you love travel, please take a look at the website and videos for more inspiration!

Travel Talk: Africans In China

More travel inspiration!

Travel Talk: Top 10 Blogs With Insight On LIfe Abroad!

There are 3 topics that I usually love when reading blogs... natural hair, natural/holistic lifestyle and... insights on life in other countries! These topics are almost guaranteed to get me hooked lol.

Travel is my passion - I LOVE it! I need it lol. So, having first hand insider's thoughts to living/travel in different parts of the world is such am inspiration. I hope to move from the UK and spend more time abroad again... not sure where just yet! I just know that my "itchy feet" are calling out to tread new paths out there...

Choosing just 10 of my regular blogs with great insights to life abroad is very difficult - there are so many out there that I follow.

But, if I had to choose, this list would be it...

My Top 10 Travel Blogs

Running Mommy - Life in Abu Dhabi, Middle East.

My So-Called Life In France - Life in France and Europe.

American Black Chick In Europe - Mixed bag of insights in different parts of Europe.

This Time Now - Life in Seoul, South Korea.

Paris Focus - Life in Paris, France.

Wife. Bride. Life - Life in Scotland.

Nikita The Traveller - Mixed bag of travel insights.

Kiratiana Travels - Mixed bag of travel thoughts.

Afro-Europe - Mixed bag of news on European life.

Urban Travel Girl - Mixed bag

Calling All Euro-Naturals!

Calling all natural women and men who live in UK and Europe. I'd love to hear from you and post up some entries about your natural journey and explorewhere you are living!

Interview = Inner-view

It'll be your space to share!

I look forward to hearing from you ;o)
Email: contact@holisticlocs.com

Dear Life Japan!

One of the many countries on my list of travel is Japan. I can't wait to finally get the chance to get out there, I'm working on it! So, I'm so glad to have come across Alafia and her youtube clips on life out there!

Check out her many videos with great insights on life in Japan!

Africa Day, 25th May - Celebrating Africa In Spain

After doing a recent blog on life in Madrid, Spain, I received an email from a traveller asking about events that were taking place to celebrate Africa in Spain - great timing too! Here are some upcoming events and positive news:

Africa Day 25th May: Africa Vive - English
(Original Website - Spanish)

Casa Africa - English
(Original Spanish Website - Spanish)


African Film Festival
(22 - 31 May 2009)


I will be posting more African culture/awareness events in Europe soon too!
Stay tuned!

Food Talk: Vegie Spots We Love In London!

InSpiral Lounge (website) - Camden Town

I usually travel down to Camden town for some inspiration - there are so many stalls and artists selling their craft! Unfortunately, I feel as though this place has become a little touristy and commercial over the last 10 years and some of the original creative magical energy has gone - One of my favourite vegie spots used to be on the main high street here too and it closed down several years ago which was a huge shame. So, it's lovely to see a newer space to relax in that always has a great energy to it and sells delicious foods!

The Heavenly Cake Company (website) - Various Locations

My partner runs a culture stall in different events in London and this company is always around, with her gorgeous cakes. After winning a raffle, my partner came home one day after a show with a huge carrot cake which didn't last very long in my hands lol. Shameless. It was absolutely divine lol!!!

Pogo Cafe (website) - Hackney

Living in Hackney is an experience lol. Although it has been said by many that Hackney is one of the worst places to live in London, this area of London feels like it's going through a lot of changes. It certainly does provide a lot of African inspired events and places to visit. There are many spaces in this part of town that are not obvious but very rich 'n raw in creative energy! One of these spots can be found in the Pogo cafe, dishing up some great vegan foods and providing regular indie nights to be inspired!

Travel Talk: Napptural In Madrid, Spain

As a Spanish napptural, Madrid is the closest city that I can call my home town. It's a place I often return back to and have many memories in. This is my version and insight of Madrid from the past years... the positives and the negatives...

Vegie Ital Life In Madrid
I think this is an exciting time to explore this city as so many new ideas and ways of life are being much more readily accepted than in the past. Over the years, there have been more and more places that are serving and exploring vegetarian/vegan cooking in Madrid. Spanish food is delicious and healthy, but as a vegetarian I still have to admit there are less options on a regular restaurant menu than in other cities, like London - Spanish people love different meats and fish! If you're not a vegetarian, you will LOVE the traditional foods lol. Even when you think you are about to tuck into a vegie dish (which the waiter recommended as a vegie option), don't be surprised to find some traces of meat/fish or non-vegie products for seasoning. This has happened to me on numerous occasions! Salad choices are also served with dairy or fish. However, if you enjoy eating raw and don't mind doing a bit of shopping, there is always a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in the local supermarkets that taste GREAT. I always miss the fruits/veg from there, I can't quite find the same taste and freshness here in London. I don't feel this issue is unique to this city- living a vegie lifestyle can be testing anywhere lol!

As a Reiki healer, it was good to see this therapy being integrated in health services and hospitals. Video above is a clip on it (in Spanish). Although I still feel the UK has a more advanced approach to holistic health than many other places in Europe, Spain is rapidly catching on to using holistic health in everyday life. I was taking a trip to El Rastro (arty market) with my cousin and found a stall promoting yoga to the people. So I got chatting to the person who was running it and he was saying how yoga and other forms of holistic health are being explored and rapidly growing now. Numerous new spas and holistic spots are growing around Spain, which I hope to explore soon!

African & Napptural
Spain feels so different today than 10 years ago. Immigration from South America and Africa has changed the political and social landscape and remains a hot topic in the news. Even though Spain has deep African history and influences from Africa in the past, there seems to be new challenges, changes and transitions in the way Spain views different races and cultures now. My friend commented that this reminded her of the situation in the UK during the 50's and 60's... Spain is behind and trying to catch up. I found this article written in 1987 - it is interesting to see how and if things have changed since then. I know at that time, I did have issues with racism and was the only dark face in my neighbourhood. There were times that I wouldn't see a non-European face for weeks back then lol. It feels strange saying that now because things have really changed since then and there are many South American, Arab and Black faces in the crowd today. I am confident that there will be more organisations and legal representations to move this issue up-to-date and in line with the rest of Europe, although I feel other countries like France still have similar issues.

There are also many influences and changes in music that the younger generation are listening to - like reggaeton, Spanish roots reggae, jazz and hip hop... there are a growing number of night spots to go if you enjoy a mix of this music. If you love reggae music, Europe has a growing amount of reggae festivals all over the place with top artists. Recently, I have found traditional music (like flamenco) and hip hop fused together, which was an interesting mix lol.

As a Black face, I feel people tend to assume I am either British or American, probably because I speak English often (it's my first language). I would say that attitudes towards a Black-British or Black-American person may be very different than to a Black-African... I think it again comes back down to the whole immigration situation right now and testing racial attitudes - Unfortunately, many people have asked me if Spanish people are racist due to the regular racist incidents in sport news with Black players and Spanish sports audiences/crowds. I won't lie, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done! At the same time, I won't let ignorance put me off from travelling - I haven't experienced any racism since a long time ago.

On natural hair: I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of afros on the streets. As for having locs (or "pelo Rasta" as its called in Spanish), there are hardly any apart from a few Spanish guys (like my cousin lol). People do openly look and stare at my locs, mainly through curiosity I think as they probably hardly ever see it- especially on a woman. My Spanish family LOVE my locs and can't seem to keep their hands off lol.
I ((heart)) the public transport - Unlike London where I have to re-plan my train journey over the weekend and mornings due to the many closures and power failures, Madrid's metro train system is easy to use, reliable, clean and comfortable. It doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to get from point A to point B like in London - a simple system of buying a 10 pass ticket will allow you to travel on the metro or bus by clocking it in when you get in at any time. You won't burn up in a hot annoyed crowd like the London underground in Summer as there is air conditioning and lots of spaaaaaaaace lol. People are also very helpful and willing to answer questions if you get lost or need advice on where to go.

Over all, it is a city with a charm about it... it still feels very traditional, with winding roads that lets you explore non-tourist spots. I like the fact that it doesn't feel crowded, even in rush hour. I love cafe culture where you can spend hours sitting outside and watching the world go by, with homemade food and wine. In London, you almost always feel rushed to get off your seat in the many commercial chains of coffee shops with "plastic foods" lol. There is a rich culture of enjoying life around family and good friends which I feel balances out everything.

It helps to learn basic Spanish - unless you are in a very touristy place. If you wish to go off and see local places in the city, people don't readily speak English. So, a phrase book or a few lines will make all the difference!

Like many places, this is a time of change in attitudes and reflection towards a different future so I feel excited about it.

For more information on Madrid, visit http://www.esmadrid.com/ - To watch their TV channel, go to Media Hopper (Go to the channels for Spain and you will find EsMadrid in the list). Blogs always offer a great insight into other people's lives and travel, visit the Black Planeteer blog for some interesting travel reads on Spain and more!

Travel Inspiration: A Woman's Tale!

I don't mind throwing away old things - but there are some things I will REFUSE to get rid of or re-cycle. My books. My precious books. I still have books on my shelf from my teen days and I still smile when I see the covers on the dusty shelf. My books are precious to me. Mind you, I don't have as many as I thought I did... but each one has a crazy tale or memory attached to it that remains positive to me. So, I keep them and treasure their stories.

One of these books was "The Road Within". I bought this book when I first came to London. I was still pretty much a care-free travel junkie (my travel life has slowed down since but that will soon change lol!). All these years later, I'm enjoying the collection of books from Travelers' Tales . And now I am delighted to see this latest book out from them... "The Best Women's Travel Writing 2009" book, part of a series of books that celebrate women's travel. That will be most definately be on my wishlist of books to buy! Sharing travel through story-teling is so magical to me, it keeps me motivated and reminded that travel will always be a great part of my life - and I need to nurture it!

I feel there is an amazing bond between traveling women. There is a special supprt network that travelling women seem to naturally oversatnd and create between eachother. For this reason, I wanted to share these links that have been so useful to me over the years...

http://www.journeywoman.com

http://www.womentraveltips.com

http://www.solotravel.org

http://travelista.tv

Please do post and share your links and travel nspired resources!

The Grump.

"You Brits just love being miserable!"
Oh YES lol!

The first time I heard about this book title (read about it), I rolled over laughing and got it straight away. I'm not British - but I have lived here for 10+ years and even though I can say many positive things about living in the UK, I can also relate to this in everyday life. Classic.

Take the example of the hit show "Grumpy old women" - I don't get it! And the latest is from this survey. Apparently, Londoners are the most grumpiest in the UK - and the most stressed people in all of Europe. Londoners are also the most lonliest in the UK.

From the article: He says that the character traits of Londoners are now
so amplified and different from those of other regions that it has become almost
like "another country". Mr Rentfrow said: "London is becoming psychologically
separate from the rest of the nation.

I felt it was a good time to bring this up as many nappturals around the world have asked me what it is like to live in London. So, here is my take on *my* experiences here...

If I played "The Grump":

Since everyone seems to be going on about London being grumpy and stressful, I'll join in and share the bad things that I hate about this city first, before ending on a positive note lol!

If I had to look at London through a negative point of view, I would definitely say that there is a lack of balance in daily life. As a natural health activist and empath, it does get difficult to make life focus on something other than the wallet. Everything is so expensive and the quality of life does not give you your money's worth either, compared to other parts of Europe that I have lived in. What I would spend on one night out here would be worth maybe 4 nights out doing the exact same thing in Madrid for example. So everything tends to revolve around money, material and "getting ahead" in that front. There is so much to see creativity-wise but you need to have some steady good income to really go out there and explore/pay for it all.

Travel on the tube is by far one of the worst pars of London for me. Now I'm not saying we all need to be jumping with joy and laughing on the tube, but it can be a pretty miserably cramped and stuffy place to get caught up in, especially in rush hour where we are like canned sardines. With our personal space constantly invaded by others, it's no wonder people put up barrier energy. The London free papers serve as a perfect weapon to shield your Self lol! Think I'm joking?!? ... observe it when you have the chance or travel to this side of the pond. People and the energy does feel miserable sometimes. I don't look forward to using it. In general, I feel London is crammed up and with no breathing space, the tube is just an example.

The subtle divides: Unless you were born and raised in London, I do feel that there will always be a divide in the way people feel about this city Vs people who have come to live in London for whatever reason. As a person who moved to London in '98, I have observed that there are many hidden divides in the way people interact on a daily life. "Outsiders" are more likely to connect and group as friends than with those who lived here all their life who form their own groups. And as for multi-cultural-ism, I feel there is a lot that London has to offer on different cultures but they all pretty much remain completely divided from one another. With that said, I still feel I need to point out that there is certainly more tolerance and diversity than other places I have visited in Europe. The class system and North/South UK divide is also a very dominant factor in society.

So whats the good news - if any lol?!?

London still remains to me one of the most vibrant places I've visited in creative freedom. At its best, it can provide a lot of inspiration if you are looking in the right place. There are numerous events and cultural and creative awareness/activist movements to keep you connected to the creative flow. People come here for so many reasons and one of them is to have the complete freedom to re-invent and explore Self - in their jobs, studies, creating a new business etc. There are so many choices so it can be good if you keep super focused on what it is you truly came to London for. I feel this city is where I found my Self and what it is I wanted in life - and to be honest, I don't think any other city would have taught me all the lessons that London has shown me... so I feel grateful for this city's energy.

London is a very napptural loving city! Over the last few years, I have seen more and more natural hair loving people and businesses popping up. It's great! I hope Adornment comes back soon as this show was one of the best in bringing together all things natural. There are also many hair salons that specialise in natural hair, like Locs 4 Life and Purely Natural. Visit Tyte Curl for UK natural info. There are many other links out there - these are just a few that came to mind now.

So, I guess every city has its good and bad points. As a person who loves to travel, I feel London is a great temporary spot to be in for now- who knows where the next city/town will be!