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How Do You Afford Your Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle?
Someone asked me “How can you afford to travel so much?” It’s not the first time I got that question. People must think I’m a millionaire. So I figured I might use that as a blog topic today. Doesn’t really fit in an e-mail anyway. :)
I think that many people forget that traveling is not as expensive today as it was maybe ten years ago. And small changes in your everyday life, make all the difference. Gigs and travel – those are my greatest passions in life and I do whatever it takes to make it happen. I think many people can, they just don’t know it. Unless you’re unemployed, a student, or have a low salary, you can travel – even if it’s just shorter trips.
Let’s take a few examples. I’ll have to assume Swedish conditions when listing these examples, but you can of course use it as a sample guide and translate it into you own currency and your country’s prices.
Assume that a roundtrip ticket Copenhagen-London costs around 1500 SEK. It depends of course on when you travel, what airline, and how long you’re going to be away, but just as a basic example.
Then say you’re a smoker and you smoke a pack of Marlboro a day. A pack of Marlboro costs, on average, around 50 SEK.
If you quit smoking, you’ll be saving 1500 SEK a month. Oh, what do you know, That equals a roundtrip ticket to London.
Cut the smoke for two months and you’ve got 3000 SEK in your hand right there. You could be traveling anywhere in the world within a few months, just for quitting smoking. Trade something that you’re blowing straight out in the air, for memories that last forever.
Or say you go out for lunch every day. Depending on the restaurant and where in Sweden you go for lunch, that’s going to cost you at least 50 SEK – each time. That’s 350 SEK a week, take that times four, and in four weeks you will have spent 1400 SEK. That’s pretty much a roundtrip ticket to London or Germany (from Denmark) as well.
Make your own lunchbox and save money!
Lots of people love to have “a few beers”. It’s cheaper in most countries than it is in Sweden, but a beer, if you go to a club, it will cost you around 50 SEK. Most people don’t just have ONE beer. Say you go out “for a beer” every week, and you drink a modest amount of 3 beers, that’s 150 x 4… Equals at least 1800 SEK for something that you just went straight to the toilet and pissed out a few minutes later.
[Change the name of it to “Travel fund” – and you’re all set to go!]
Or – the last example, assume you want to go to a club for a night out. The rock club KB here in Malmo starts charging you 40 SEK for hanging your jacket in the wardrobe (they make you do it, saying it’s for “safety reasons”). Then you go for a few beers or maybe a few glasses of wine. Assume you have 3 or 4 glasses of that – let’s call it the civilized type of night out.
Then, before you go home, you want to go for that “drunk fast food” and get a burger or a kebab, and lastly, you finish the evening by taking a cab home. Well, unless you live within crawling distance.
THAT evening is going to cost you 40x240x50x100=430 SEK and that’s the CHEAP version! The more wine, beer, and hangover-food you add to it, the closer you are to a flight ticket if you party at home or not party at all.
If you go out partying once a week for a month, that’s 1720 SEK, if you go out twice a week, that’s 3440 SEK!
That equals a roundtrip ticket to NEW YORK from Copenhagen!
I measure everything in flight tickets. I’ve been needing a new couch for years actually. But every time I go looking for one, I stop because a couch will cost be maybe 4000 SEK, if it’s a cheap IKEA version- and that is a ticket to the States, pretty much. Next thing you know, some band or artist will announce tour dates and the couch can wait!
Back in 1999 I even SOLD a few pieces of furniture to afford a trip to the UK to see Whitesnake. I don’t care much about “things”. I don’t buy gadgets, I don’t need to impress people with a fancy home or the latest huge movie-theater style flat-smartTV… I don’t buy the latest fashion, I even stopped driving just to save money on gas and car insurance. I take the bus or the train, works just fine.
If I can’t afford a trip and I REALLY want to go, I look around the house for stuff to sell online. There’s always something that you haven’t used for ages that somebody would be willing to pay for. A few sales like that and there you go.
I think a lot of it has to do with priorities. It’s quite common that people buy “stuff”, as we live in a consumption society, and they don’t think much about how much they’re actually spending.
[Do you want to watch that spectacular sunset on TV, or actually go there and experience it for yourself? :-) ]
Everything you save on is a step closer to that flight ticket or that gig. I’ve had a bunch of expenses the past few months, which means that the food budget is down to zero. I grab whatever I can find in the freezer or the pantry and get creative with it.
There are sites online where you can fill out what ingredients you’ve got (or want to use) and it will give you a number of recipes that includes that. Fast, easy, and cheap.
Sometimes I’ve had oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s cheap, lasts for ages, keeps you full for hours and it’s nutritious. And you can vary it. Milk, cinnamon, jam, berries, fruit… costs pretty much nothing.
Frozen veggies can be used in a creamy soup – just add a stock cube, bring to a boil and use the hand mixer for a soup that you can eat for days.
Basically, I can live on almost nothing, choose not to buy things, or fix things, just to be able to travel.
Plus, there are a million ways to save on travel and hotels as well. After all these years, I know a few tricks that are of great help, and I’ve shared them in this blog before. I’ve already redeemed 3 flight tickets this year for my frequent flyer miles. And that’s only because I use SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) credit card that gives me 20 points for every 100 SEK I shop for.
So, grocery shopping, or getting creative (use the card when buying something for friends, then they can just pay you back in cash) quickly adds up to a ticket. And you’re just doing what you would be doing anyway. A smart way of collecting miles.
If I know that there’s a gig this summer in Italy for instance, I will buy a single ticket this month and the return ticket with my next salary. And the hotel can usually be paid when you arrive, so there’s plenty of time to save up for that. You barely notice the expense when you spread it out over a period of time.
If you have a regular job, not too many necessary expenses (loans to pay back, kids or whatever) you should be able to travel with a bit of planning and effort.
I know, however, that many people are definitely not in a position to do anything other than survive, because of a tough financial situation, so I’m not saying that it’s a piece of cake or that everybody can do this. I’m just saying that if you have the right conditions and you make a few changes here and there, you’re all set.
Over a period of time, those small things will equal a ticket to ride. :)
Visiting the land of fire and ice – Iceland
The trip to Iceland had very little to do with rock’n’roll, which is very unusual for me – but I don’t regret going for one second! What a magical country.
My friend Henny’s boyfriend is from Iceland, but this time he stayed in Sweden while us girls went on our own trip to the land of the Vikings and the volcanos!
We were picked up by his parents at Reykjavik airport and went straight to their impressive, stylish home to enjoy a home-cooked icelandic meal.
We had lamb and veggies and I tried a drink that I don’t know if it’s something people there usually drink there or if it was just in their household, but it was good! A type of beer that derives from old viking recipes, mixed up with a bit of orange soda.
We got a ride to our apartment-hotel, right in the city center. Absolutely perfect – two rooms, kitchen with everything – fridge, microwave, dishwasher, cuttlery….
Two beds and a sofabed in the other room. Couldn’t have been better as Henny and I have totally different sleeping-habits (she’s up early, I’m up late…) so this way we could just close the door and not get on eachother’s nerves. I think that might have been a good reason why this whole trip went so well! :)
That first day we just chilled. Bought some Icelandic-style breakfast items, like the high-protein yoghurt Skyr, a type of flatbread that’s baked on hot stones and a few different kinds of cheeses, juice….
The next morning, we went to check out Reykjavik city center. It’s not quite like other cities I’ve been to. The Icelanders are very particular about preserving the old, even when modernising or building new houses.
I was told that they are not allowed to tear down old houses. Instead, they are “built in” the new and restored, just fixed up. So – there were no skyscrapers there, just cool colorful houses, no house looked like the one next to it.
And it was CLEAN. Not as much as a stomped in old chewing-gum that you always see everywhere else. Not even a dogshit. Nothing. Clean as a whistle.
Headed to the restaurant/cafe “Perlan” – read more about it here: http://www.viator.com/Reykjavik-attractions/The-Pearl-Perlan/d905-a2053
From the top, you get a view over the whole city. And – the other reason why we went to Perlan was that the owner of the apartment-hotel told us that if we were looking for a great dessert, we HAD to try Perlan’s cheesecake.
“There is a woman there who bakes it from scratch, it’s home made and the best cheesecake in town!”
He wasn’t exaggerating. My god! Not a good day to diet. ;)
It was cold and windy and I was tired from all the walking, but I had to go out on the deck and take a few pics and film a few clips now that I had the city of Reykjavik right at my feet, pretty much! :)
Bought a few small souvenirs on the way back to the hotel/apartment.
A few hours of relaxing, then we went to this absolutely amazing restaurant in the heart of the city, that I wish I could have taken home to Sweden in my carry-on! With staff and everything!
The not-particularly-Icelandic-sounding name “Tapas” actually offered a fantastic menu consisting of some pretty exotic dishes – at least to a Swede they are exotic.
WHALE
Even before I left I had decided that I had to try whale. There will most likely never be another opportunity to try something like that. And after checking first, I knew it wouldn’t taste like fish (because I don’t eat anything that swims or crawls in water…).
I also wanted to know if it was ethical to order whale, cause I only see horrifying pictures in my head of whales being hunted and tortured to death. But I was told that the Icelandic people are very particular about how they treat animals and there are strict rules for how to hunt whale. They are only allowed to hunt 5 whales a year and they use EVERYTHING. Felt okay to try it.
Was like a cross between pork tenderloin and beef. But the dish itself was a flavor-sensation. I really have no idea what the salad consisted of or how they prepared what I think was ginger that was also on the plate next to the marinated whale-meat, but THAT was, without a doubt, the most amazing dish I’ve ever tried in my life! (I had to go back the next day and order the same thing once more)
PUFFIN
Beautiful little bird that I didn’t want to try at first, because I heard that they were almost extinct. But then it was explained to me that it wasn’t because of humans that these little birdies had problems surviving (I’m sure it has on some level though…).
The reason was that there wasn’t enough food for hem, so the amount of puffins had to be kept down. That way there was enough food for those who survived. And the rest… ended up on a plate.
I can eat venison with a clear conscience because these animals have lived a good life and they haven’t been kept in cages like our chicken for instance. It’s more natural.
Well, it was dark meat and tasted a little bit like deer, salty and chewy. Worked well with the blueberry sauce.
KANGAROO
Had absolutely nothing to do with Iceland, but since it’s not exactly something I will find in my regular grocery store, I decided to try that too. Very lean, very tender. Everything at that restaurant was to die for!
I felt like I had eaten a WHOLE whale when we finally decided to leave. Went back to the apartment again to change and get ready for the next plan on our schedule – meet up with our friends and go to the rock pub Dillon – also right in the heart of Reykjavik.
Anton has been to Sweden several times, if for no other reason, than for Sweden Rock Festival. And Bjarni lived here in Malmö for a while, so we know these boys well from years back.
Funny how they are now playing in the same band (Diamond Thunder – a parody of the 80´s, but not as crazy as Steel Panther) and it’s going really well for them. Local rock stars – how about that! ;)
Anton (bass):
…and Bjarni (drums) & me – from a wild party at Sin city a few years ago:
Rock clubs – anywhere in the world – are like… coming home. They are all pretty much the same. One (or more) crowded bar/s, lots of beer, lots of noise, loud music and long lines to the toilets – and a live band crammed into some corner somewhere, getting people in the party mood.
It was nice, the perfect way to end an evening. However – we had a long day ahead of us the next morning so… no time to get all wasted (would have been the PERFECT opportunity as I wasn’t driving for a change!).
Henny and I left around 2 am I think, the guys stayed.
Sunday was sightseeing day. We were picked up by Henny’s “almost parents-in-law” early in the morning. It was time to see Iceland – the way you’ve seen in pictures…
It was cold and they felt it was a shame that we came this time of year as it was much more spectacular in the spring and the summer with all the colors. But I thought that the winter-landscape was pretty amazing too.
We drove up this single-lane steep road up a mountain that was supposedly closed (we just “didn’t see” that sign….). Not a soul up there. It was SO cold, thank god we could just run back to the van after taking our pictures. The view was absolutely fantastic – and the stillness is something that a city-girl like me never experiences.
I don’t know the names of all the places we went to, except Gullfoss, which was this mighty waterfall that totally took my breath away.
Then it was Geysir, the geothermal area that looks like something from a movie with special effects…! Like little pots in the ground with boiling water in it, you can literally boil an egg in one of those things. And another one that has eruptions every 8 to 10 minutes. Hot water straight up in the air, it’s unbelievable!
Þingvellir – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Eingvellir
Another piece of the “Golden Circle” that you call this route that we took that day. It took all day to see all of this, but my god was it worth it.
Þingvellir was almost magical, it was totally, 100% quiet, like a sound-proof booth almost – when the tourists had passed of course. I can only imagine what a sensation it must be to visit that place at a time when there are no people around.
You only hear the sounds of silence, you don’t even hear the wind. We said it a few times while we drove around to see all those things – it’s like something from the Lord of The Rings. You’re almost expecting Sméagol to crawl out from somewhere going “my precioussss…..!!”
After that day I was speechless. The beauty of Iceland is just unbelievable. You’ve seen it in photos, but we could establish one thing – it was simply impossible to do it justice with a little snapshot-camera.
I would have needed a bigass camera with ten special lenses to capture that magic, and not even then…. I mean, just the feeling of standing there, looking over these miracles of nature, it’s like nothing you’ll ever experience anywhere else.
When we got back to the hotel, we just relaxed for a few before going back to town to grab a bite. We had a reservation at this really fancy restaurant that we had been recommended to visit, but they had some kind of trouble with their booking system so we would have to wait for our table. It didn’t take us long to decide where to go – back to Tapas!!
What a great place. Loved it. If I had been a Reykjavik-er, I would have been a regular there, for sure!
Once again we dined like queens. The best wine, the greatest food, the nicest staff, man!
On the way back, Henny was freezing her ass off so she took the room key and ran off like she had rocket fuel up her ass, lol! I just took a stroll through town. Another thing that hit me was how safe it felt. According to the US department of state, the bureau of consular affairs (man what a name…!) it actually IS a very safe country:
Iceland has a low crime rate with rare instances of violent crime. Most crimes involve the theft of personal property from cars in public areas or residences.
You could actually feel it, I wasn’t nervous to walk alone eventhough it was getting late.
Monday morning – our last day on Iceland – we were once again picked up by our lovely, sweet hosts, who drove us to see the magnificent Blue Lagoon.
From Wikipedia:
The Blue Lagoon (Icelandic: Bláa lónið) geothermal spa is one of the most visited attractions in Iceland. The steamy waters are part of a lava formation. The warm waters are rich in minerals like silica and sulphur and bathing in the Blue Lagoon is reputed to help some people suffering from skin diseases such as psoriasis. The water temperature in the bathing and swimming area of the lagoon averages 37–39 °C (98–102 °F). The Blue Lagoon also operates a Research and Development facility to help find cures for other skin ailments using the mineral-rich water.
The water was neon-green in some places and super-blue in others. It looks like I Photoshopped the pictures, but it actually looked like that!
We left Iceland with big smiles on our faces, it was an experience to remember. Very different from anywhere I’ve been before. But I think I will go back whenever I get a chance. Henny is talking about getting a few friends together and go back next year. Sounds like a plan to me. :)
If you haven’t been there, put it on your “Things to do before I die”-list right away!
Happy New 2013! Blog moving.
Happy New Year 2013! I guess it’s just another day, but at the same time I’m very excited about everything that lies ahead this year! When I checked my calendar yesterday, it’s already filled with all kinds of things, so lots of stuff to look forward to 2013. :-)
One bad thing though, is that Posterous, where I’ve been hosting this blog for the past year and more, is about to close down. It’s been aquired by Twitter and now they are offering users a possibility to download and backup all their blogs – which kind of signals that this won’t be around much longer.
No date has been set as “the death of posterous” but I’m pretty sure it’s coming. So, not to be taken too much by surprise, I’ve moved to an easier URL, it’s pretty much the same – but without the “posterous”: www.lita77777.com
The Firewind-blog will get its own new domain as well. If you like this blog and it just disappears one day, check my Twitter and Facebook-pages to get the latest updates, or just e-mail me:
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/lita77777
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror
E-MAIL: intherearviewmirror@ymail.com
So, it’s business as usual but elsewhere. I will be using Posterous for as long as I can though, as it’s the best and easiest blog-interface I’ve ever used. I just wish somebody could steal it, rename it and just continue… No need for any video-embedding, it does that automatically, you just press a button and it creates a photo-gallery where you can quickly and easily rearrange everything…
All that WordPress crap is nowhere near as easy. Every other blog-interface has a million functions that takes forever to figure out. This has been a “plug and play” thing, absolutely brilliant.
It’s a pain in the ass when good stuff disappears and there’s nothing better offered to take its place. :-( I’m bummed about it, especially after spending so much time and effort marketing the blog and its location. But hey – it’s like the death of MySpace and we all survived that as well. :)
Anyway – I’ll be here for as long as I can, so see you soon and hope you all had a great New Years Eve. :)
Buckle up, the ride continues!
Christmas is almost over and before you know it, we’ve rocketed ourselves into a brand new year, 2013. For many people it’s an absolute anti-climax to hit January. All the pre-Christmas activities and festivities, the decorations and the anticipation (or even just the stress) keeps people busy. Then in January – there’s not much to look forward to for many people, Everything kind of dies out for a few months.
I for one can’t wait for 2013 though, because there are already gigs planned, concert tickets bought, hotels booked, trips being planned…! And new tours being announced.
Yesterday Love/Hate announced a UK-tour in March/April. I certainly know what I’ll be doing in March/April then. It won’t be the same as in the 90’s, but the music is still great. I remember the first time I heard of Love/Hate, they were opening for Skid Row.
I liked their music, but honestly thought they were just another poser-band. There were tons of them back in those days. Nice to look at, sometimes they even had a decent song or two, but most of them were better at looking good than sounding good.
Then I did an interview with singer Jizzy Pearl in Copenhagen, and he totally blew me away. He was anything but some stupid rocker-idiot. His answers were well thought through, he was a very intelligent guy in many ways. I wish I knew where I had that interview, would have loved to listen to it again now.
That’s a whole other story, every interview I’ve ever done the past 20-something years, is on some old cassette here somewhere… But after I had used them for either an article or the radio, I just put them in a box somewhere, without as much as labelling the tape. Never thought I would need it again. You live and you learn. ;)
Then in May there’s the Whitesnake/Journey/Thunder tour that I’ll be attending (of COURSE!) and let’s not forget the summer festivals. Sweden Rock Festival – this year being visited by one of my absolute favorite live-acts Firewind among others. Or Graspop in Belgium, which unfortunately is a bit TOO good this year, as Iron Maiden and King Diamond will be playing right after eachother, on two different stages, so you have to choose which show you want to hang in the front row for… But then again, I’ll get to enjoy Iron Maiden – one of the best live bands in the world for sure – at the stadium in my home town Malmo.
And inbetween all those BIG BANDS, there will be all the smaller bands that I still love to see, that I admire for their passion. You really need to be passionate about what you’re doing when you’re in the music business nowadays, cause as we all know, people don’t get rich playing music anymore. Those who do, who sacrifice so much to play their music, definitely have that fire in them and I can relate to it as much as I respect and admire it.
The concert year of 2013 begins with a festival, mostly because a friend is part of the package and it’s nice to meet up with people you know. Might also go check out one of the dates of Visions of Atlantis in the spring. Their singer Maxi Nil guested Firewind at their anniversary shows in Greece recently, and she was also a cool chick to talk to, so I’m curious to hear more of their stuff.
Basically, I’m excited to meet the new year. There’s already so much to look forward to and that’s the most important thing. So many people get depressed in Sweden in January and February because of the gloomy weather, the dark, and summer being so far away. But I think it’s all about a change of attitude. Why wait until summer to do something?! Start off your year right away – then keep the ball rolling!
Guitar lamp – from idea to reality!
This would be the first time I’m blogging about a LAMP, but it’s also the first time I’ve been able to present an idea – and see it actually become reality!
My old halogen ceiling-spot from IKEA, broke about a year ago. I was searching everywhere for something new and cool, and just couldn’t find anything that I liked. I’ve always been a sucker for “tacky” things, stuff that nobody else has.
And the idea that I had, was a ceiling lamp in the shape of a guitar – and a few details such as a LED-strip that lit up the back of the guitar (=the ceiling) and smaller lights in the guitar neck. And a few other things.
No matter how much I Googled or searched on eBay, there just was nothihng there quite as I imagined it.So I started sketching on it instead.
[The first sketch….]
Last winter I went with my friends to Manchester to see the Steel Panther/Motley Crue/Def Leppard show at MAN arena. On the train to Manchester, I showed my drawing to Hemmi and Christoffer – both of them electricians. I explained what I wanted the lamp to look like and what features I would hope for it to have. I wanted to know if it was even possible.
They got so excited and so involved in the whole thing, that they decided to give it a go.
It was explained to me that I would only be able to use LED-lights as those were the only kind of light-source that didn’t produce heat. Otherwise it would be a problem as the guitar is made of wood.
As soon as we got back to Sweden, I started looking for a cool guitar to transform into a lamp – and finally found a piece of crap guitar for a bargain price. It was probably not playable, but it suited my purposes perfectly. It was a flames-guitar, great for the visual effect even when it wasn’t on.
Then I intended to go to a carpenter with the lamp to have holes, the exact size, drilled for the spotlights without risking to ruin the guitar.
But one of the guys’ dad had a special drill that they could borrow, so they told me they could do that too.
Then there was the problem with the truss rod – in the guitar neck. There is this metal thing in there to prevent the wood from bending, and that was another thing that had to be solved.
I remember we were browsing videos on YouTube one evening to find a tutorial on how to get that thing out. Some of the home-made tutorials were quite amusing. :)
Well – I’m not sure HOW they did it in the end, but they got the truss thing out – and the guitar was ready for the smaller LED-lights.
The cool thing was that all the electronics that were in the guitar for…well – guitarplaying, could be taken out and replaced by the electronics needed for the lamp.
[In the making…]
Small holes were drilled in the neck for the mini-LED’s (it was hell trying to find small Christmas lights in the spring, when the project had progressed to THAT) the 3 spotlights were already mounted and the “icing on the cake” was the LED-strip on the back that could change colors, programming to static or blinking lights that would give this really cool effect if you operated the lamp without the spotlights on.
The whole thing is hanging from black chains that I got in a hardware store.
Well, everything was pretty easy to find – spotlights, Christmas lights (okay, that was tricky but only because it was out of season) LED strip, chains, screws, guitar….
But none of this would have been possible without the knowledge of an electrician (or two – in this case) and the time and effort that they put into it.
Without THAT, this lamp would have remained an IDEA. This time I was lucky to know somebody who could make the idea come true.
And a year later – here it is! It’s now hanging from my ceiling like a religious symbol for a music nerd – it just couldn’t have been more perfect!!
A HUGE thank you to the guys for making this possible! I love my guitar lamp!
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 