Tag: Travel

  • Getting ready for Helsinki

    Getting ready for Helsinki

    We’re really excited to announce that in just a couple of weeks we will be travelling to Helsinki to produce a new City Guide in partnership with Visit Helsinki. It will be our first time in Finland and we can’t wait to see what its capital has to offer.

    In anticipation to our trip, we have prepared a list of things we are excited about and look forward to experiencing when we arrive to Helsinki.

    Food

    Food is an essential part of our guides and we can’t wait to try some of Finland’s delicacies. There are so many dishes we want to taste that we’re not sure where to start, but we want to make sure we don’t leave the country without trying Karelian Pies (a traditional pastry made of rye flour and rice), Grillimakkara (sausages made for grilling and served with mustard), Korvapuusti (Cinammon buns) and Leipäjuusto (known in English as Finnish squeaky cheese).

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    Photo by Dan Zelazo via Flickr Creative Commons

    Alvar Aalto’s Architecture

    One of the things we’re most excited about is being able to see the work of Finnish designer and architect Alvar Aalto in person. Aalto’s buildings are spread across the city, including his own house and studio, and we’re looking forward to seeing some of his creations such as the Finlandia Hall, the Academic Bookshop and the Kulttuuritalo.

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    Photo by Ro Rro via Flickr Creative Commons

    The Design District

    Covering 4 different neighbourhoods in the heart of Helsinki, The Design District will definitely be our destination during most of our trip. With a list of almost 200 different shops, galleries and businesses, it will be difficult to see all of them but we’ve already started making our selection of independent designers and cafés to include in our guide!

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    Photo by IK’s World Trip via Flickr Creative Commons

    Kallio

    Kallio is known as Helsinki’s hipster and up-and-coming district. From what we’ve read, this lively area is bursting with designers opening their own stores, artisan cafés (we’re especially interested in Good Life Coffee) and bars where you can enjoy cheaper drinks compared to the rest of the city – sounds like a good plan!

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    Photo by /Kallu via Flickr Creative Commons

    Make sure to check our Instagram profile to follow our trip live in just a couple of weeks!

  • A Book from Lind – Small Wonders of Rome

    A Book from Lind – Small Wonders of Rome

    A Book from Lind is an independent publishing house founded by Jakob Vestergaard and Tine Lind. Jakob, a writer and travel editor at Danish newspaper Information and Tine, an art historian and designer, quit their jobs and sold their house to have more time to spend with their family and friends, and to start their own publishing project.

    Small Wonders of Rome is their first guide to the city where they lived last year, and which will be followed by two additional guides to Italy’s capital and two for Copenhagen later this year. This little guide features a map and 42 carefully selected places to eat, drink, see and pause in three central neighbourhoods, divided into four different categories: Out of the ordinary, On the table, Pause and think, and To your health.

    Printed in Denmark on high-quality FSC certified paper, A book from Lind‘s guides are designed to be small enough to carry with you comfortably on your trips, and can be easily folded to see just one category or the map whilst discovering the city.

    We have two Small Wonders of Rome guides to give away. For a chance to win a copy, you only need to follow A Book from Lind and Future Positive on Twitter, and retweet the tweet below. We will choose two random winners on 18th May.

    www.lindbooks.com

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  • Herb Lester Associates Travel Guides

    Herb Lester Associates Travel Guides

    Since we introduced the City Guide section on Future Positive, we pay a lot of attention to city guides available in bookshops. When travelling, we try to avoid the most touristy spots in the city and always look for places that will let us experience the city as it really is.

    While planning our next trip, we came across Herb Lester Associates illustrated guides. These compact guides present a great curation of places with tried and tested tips on how to get around the city and make the most out of your trip. Each map presents a digestible selection of shops, cafes, places to eat, galleries, museums and parks – perfect for a weekend away.

    We’ve already got our hands on the Barcelona guide. Have a look at their website for a full list of cities across the globe!

    www.herblester.com

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    Images via Herb Lester Associates

  • TOKYOBIKES & ACE HOTEL LONDON BIKE TOURS

    TOKYOBIKES & ACE HOTEL LONDON BIKE TOURS

    On our recent trip to London, we realised that some neighbourhoods are best experienced on two wheels. From the place where we stayed in Wapping, we cycled along the canal to Broadway Market in Hackney for a quick breakfast, then passed some great coffee shops on the way to Angel, from where we cycled up to Camden Town for a quick visit to the food market there.

    One of our favourite London hotels, Ace Hotel, has teamed up with cult bike brand tokyobike and organised a guided tour around the city, highlighting the many fascinating streets of Shoreditch.

    Tours will be led by writer and brand consultant Duncan Riches, who’ll also serve as curator for future ride guides. The Shoreditch tour, on 19th April, will include a visit to Terrece Studios in Dalston to see a light-maker, jewellery-maker and painter at work; a ride down the beautiful Regent’s Canal and a visit to see Denys Lasdun modernist block of flats, Keeling House, in Bethnal Green.

    Easter Saturday Tour

    19th April, 10am-1am

    Meet at Ace Hotel London in the lobby

    www.acehotel.com/london 

  • Travel: Newcastle

    Travel: Newcastle

    Last weekend we decided to leave Edinburgh for a day and travelled south to Newcastle upon Tyne.

    We started our day with a walk around Grainger Market, one of the city’s prominent landmarks. Listed as a Grade I buidling and designed by John Dobson, the market opened its doors in 1835. Although the original use of the market for meat and vegetables have since changed considerably, there are still a number of butchers’ and fish stalls there. The market is also home to world’s smallest branch of Marks & Spencer, a market stall known as Marks and Spencer’s Original Penny Bazaar.

    After our stroll around the city centre and a visit to menswear stores End. and Union, we headed to BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, where paintings by Simon Bill and the work of Sara Barker and Ryder Architecture are currently displayed. We also paid a visit to Side Photographic Gallery where we saw All That Falls exhibition with works by Mark Power, Paul Lowe, Dana Kyndrová and Jindřich Štreit.

    After lunch at Pleased to Meet You, a gin bar located in a Victorian building on High Bridge, just off Grey Street, we visited the up and coming Ouseburn Valley. This neighbourhood is one of the most visually attractive and creatively exciting areas of the city and is home to many design studios and other creative businesses.

    We finished our day in Newcastle with a coffee at The Cycle Hub, a social enterprise that promotes and facilitates cycling. Located beside the river Tyne, we were able to enjoy some moments of sun at their terrace before heading back to Edinburgh.