Fang is from China. She is fan of Beijing, Tokyo, Madrid, Sevilla, San Sebastián , mountains, and cold weather.

What she likes most about traveling is you can just look and think into deep silence, without any noise and what fang likes least about traveling is sometimes the weather just doesn’t back you up.

Take a bite out of Beijing by sampling these top-ten local eats! Try not to drool as our insider takes you on a fantastic culinary tour of the best foods Beijing has to offer. There’s something for everyone here as the dishes range from purely vegetarian to totally carnivorous.

Hot Pot, Xiehuang tofu, Beijing duck,  Ganguochashugu and much more!

Top 10 dishes in Beijing is an Iwanna Guide posted by fang

Delicious indian sweets! is an Iwanna Guide by susanna-alaitz

Most Indians will confess to having a sweet-tooth. Can you blame them? The delicious variety available is too much to resist.

Indian tradition demands that neighbors exchange platters of sweets and snacks with each other, this makes it really special in their culture.

Kajoo barfi, Kalakand, Rabdi-rasgulla, Kulfi, Sesame laddoo, Shahi falooda and much more!

Delicious indian sweets! is an Iwanna Guide by susanna-alaitz

Welcome to Adriii’s film and TV shooting locations tours! Now it’s time to travel to an Island with the show everyone is talking about these days: LOST. Enjoy!

Lost just premiered its sixth and last season just a few weeks ago so I thought the timing was perfect for a location tour of this show that has so many fans all over the planet. I’m sure you already know that Lost is filmed in Hawaii. Some people thing they get of the island to shoot some “flashback” scenes but they don’t. Everything is set in Hawaii so doing this tour is great not just because of the Lost stuff :P

First of all I have to warn you. If you haven’t watched every season of Lost including episode 4 of season 6, don’t keep reading if you care about being spoiled.

Let’s start on the beaches. The first beach to visit is the Plane crash beach. It was the one where the plane crashed and it’s also a famous surfing beach. But the plane’s tail crashed on a different part of the island. This was shot on Mokuleia Beach.

Eventually, the survivors begin to build a camp in the beach. This is shot in Papai’loa beach. Do you remember when we meet The Others for the first time in season 2? They used Waiale’e Beach for these shots and other beach moments on the series, like Jin fishing.

A very picturesque beach is the China walls coastline. Though it does not look like a beach, it is one… but there is rock instead of sand. We’ve seen this beach several times, usually when the losties are heading somewhere.

Moving inside the island, a recommendable place is the Kapena Falls. It’s a beautiful place in the forest where we’ve seen the losties several times in different episodes and seasons. Also in the woods we have the YMCA Erdman Camp, also known as “The Others Village”. Every scene involving the village, even some interiors, is shot here. There’s other recognizable place for the others and it’s the bunker and the cages where they locked Kate, Sawyer and Jack. This is shot in Paradise Park.

There is a ranch called Moli’i Gardens. This place has forest, great lawns and a lake so it’s been the set for several Lost scenes like Juliet’s arrival to the island or Jin’s father fishing pier. Talking about pier, I’m sure you remember second season finale, with the losties kidnapped by the others and Michael escaping with Walt. This was at Waikane Pier.

Let’s end with some houses and urban spaces. The first one that comes to my mind is the Byodo-inn Temple. This appeared in some Sun and Jin flashbacks and it’s a gorgeous place. You can also visit Yemi’s Church, Hurley’s mental institute and the building Locke fell down and cracked his spine or the Bishop Museum where Desmond and Penny took their famous picture.

There’re also some sixth (and last) season locations like the school where Locke meets Ben or the parking lot where he meets Hurley.

But, again, this is just some things I pointed out so you know what to expect, but you can check every spot at the actual guide. There are 35 different places (beaches, houses, forests, restaurants…) waiting for you!

Lost location tour

What should you do if you only have 24 hours to spend in a city? Where should you go?
How can you find the best spots to discover the soul of a place in 24 hours?
Follow us to Sintra! We only have 24 hours there! :)

Sintra is not that big to require more than a whole day to be visited but it certainly has some very recommendable places that you’d enjoy. You can get there easily and cheaply taking a train at Lisbon. Get up early and choose a sunny day for your trip to Sintra.

10:00am

Outside Sintra train station there’s a bus stop. I’ll cost you 4€ to get a bus ticket for the whole day. It’s totally worth it. There’re several ways to organize when you visit what so I’d tell you how I did it.

10:10 am.

Get off the bus on the first stop: Downtown Sintra. There you’ll find a couple of museums, a church, great view of the mountains and some places to eat. However, the main attraction there is Sintra National Palace. This 16^th century palace has a mix of architectonic styles (Gothic, medieval, renaissance…) . It’s not the most interesting palace of Sintra but the ticket’s price is fair and it’s worth the visit.

11:15 am.

Time for one of my favorites. I’ll take you 10 minutes walking to get to Quinta Da Regaleira. This is a huge royal garden with lots of little places and corners to visit. Don’t miss the little sanctuary and The Well. There are several towers you can climb to get amazing views of the area. Also don’t forget to use the underground passages, it is spooky fun.  This Royal beautiful place has its own Palace. The whole place has a mystical aura and you’ll appreciate inside the Palace too: Masonic groups used to perform alchemist practices there.

12:45 pm.

You’ll be tired of climbing towers and walking caves at this point so it’s time to relax and have something to eat. Back in downtown Sintra, you’ll find several places but I recommend you Tulhas Restaurant. They  have variety of Portuguese traditional food and, also, they have the menu of the day: two plates, drink, dessert and coffee for just 9,50€. And it’s pretty good food!

14:30 pm.

It’s time to go on with the visit. Go back to the bus stop and get to Palacio da Pena. It’s the most gorgeous thing to visit at Sintra: beautiful on the outside and so much interesting in the inside. Take your time to visit this palace. The gardens don’t worth it that much so go straight to the grand door. First go to every spot on the outside: the towers, the surveillance walls, the decoration, the views… everything.  Then it’s time to enjoy the inside, they have every room decorated as it was back when royalty live there in the 19^th century.

18:30 pm.

You’ll be pretty tired at this point so it’s up to you if you have some energy left to visit the rest of the palaces on Sintra. The most important ones left are the Castelo dos mouros, a Castle on ruins and the Sesteais Palace, an old palace turned into a very expensive hotel. Another pretty good option is the Queluz Palace, the so-called Portuguese Versalles.  The touristic bus will take you to all those places.

20:30 pm.

There’s not much of a night life on Sintra so get back to train station, in 30 minutes you’ll be back in Lisbon, where there’re a lot of places to sit down, have some drinks and talk about how beautiful was Sintra ;)

Have you been to Sintra… Where would you go in 24 hours that we didn’t mention?

Record Store Route in New York is a customized guide by goose

Record stores in New York and beyond.  All places have used vinyl and all the descriptions include their timetable or phone number.

Gimme gimme records
One of those places where genres be damned, they’ve got a little bit of everything, or maybe I should say you never know what you’ll find.

Hospital productions record store
If you like your metal with corpse paint this shop is the place to go. Hospital specializes in black metal and extreme noise records, but they’ve also got anything that tends towards the rough and tumble excesses of punk, hardcore, and rock. You can check out their website to get an idea of what they carry.

Academy records annex
Academy Records owns three different record shops in New York, this one, in Williamsburgh, is the best bet for vinyl of absolutely any genre.

The friendly folks there challenge both the record store employee and new yorker stereotypes by being pretty damn helpful.

Mercer st books & records
Used book shop with a large selection of out of print and hard to find books that also has some vinyl records. They also have new books.

Record Store Route in New York is a customized guide by goose

South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festivals will happen next March in Austin (Texas).

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW is the premier destination for discovery.

Have a look to our SXSW travel guide! Record stores, cheap and tasty places to eat, lodging and other miscellanea.

Are you going to the SXSW?
Iwannagothere will be there! Drop us a line we would love to have a coffee with you :)

SXSW travel guide

Welcome to Adriii’s film and TV shooting locations tours! We started with The Sopranos so we go all along to the other side of the country to visit Dexter’s locations. Enjoy!

Dexter Location Tour

Everyone is talking about Dexter. Its fourth season ended a few weeks ago and a lot of viewers agree in this to be the best one so far. Also, Michael C. Hall announced prior to the Golden Globes that he has cancer. It was a shock but it’s great to know the illness is in remission and he’ll be fine… He has his whole career ahead of him. And he’s finally being awarded for his role at the show: a golden globe, a SGA…

So what would be a better time for us to make a Filming Location Tour of Dexter? First of all, you know the show is supposed to be set in Miami but, apart from the first episode, everything is filmed in California, mostly in Long Beach where probably 80% of the scenes are shot.

We have to start somewhere so, why don’t we visit some of the characters’ houses. Dexter’s apartment exterior is actually in Miami. However, Rita’s Home, The house where Angel used to live and Dexter’s childhood home are in Long Beach, California. Eventually, Rita and Dex move in together so you can also visit the new home.

Season two and three introduced us to Lila and Miguel Prado. The first one has a great artist loft and Miguel, well; his house is pretty and big. Fourth season gave us the best villain so far, Arthur Mitchell; you can visit his house too.  Also you could say that “Slice of Life”, Dex’s boat, is like a home to him… you can visit the deck where he has it “parked”.

Now it’s the turn of murder scenes. Lots of show’s deaths occur on the outside so that give us a lot of filming locations to visit.  ¿Do you remember the Ice Truck Killer? You can visit the Seven Seas Motel where Miami Metro found the first drained-chopped victim.  His second victim was found at the Pepper Fountain at an amusement park.

The skinner was another serial killer hunted by Miami Police, one of his victims was found in this shoreline park, which is right next to the Aquarium of the Pacific, where Lila and Dexter met on second season’s finale.  Another bloody scenario is the one Dexter couldn’t stand at Marina View Hotel.

One of my favorite moments is when Dexter finds out that someone created The Dark Defender, a superhero comic based on his life; well, on Bay Harbor Butcher. He finds out at a murder scene at a comic store which is at the Melodrama Theatre on Shoreline Village.

Cafes and restaurants are used pretty often too for those conversations, usually intense. Lila and Dexter bond for the first time at Edie’s, a 50’s restaurant. Dexter has a really awkward moment at Mosher Gourmet Restaurant when Arthur Mitchell’s behavior starts to be erratic.  He had better times were his self-called friend Miguel Prado playing golf and having drinks with the ladies at Pacific Palms Resort. Debra and his brother usually have some fraternal moments having coffee; one of those happened at Kayak Café.

I was going to end this compilation but then I decided to dedicate a paragraph to the Trinity Killer. He deserves it. We witness how he forces a woman to kill herself from this warehouse. He goes to B&B Hardware store to get a hammer for his third victim. A killer also has to eat and he does so in Babe’s Kitchen. Agent Lundy meets the killer he’s being studying for years at the Oceangate Center. We see Dexter going there afterwards and Trinity committing one of his many murders.

I just pointed out some of the film locations but you can find many more in the guide. This is the end of Dexter’s filming location tour but be ready for the next one… I’ll be talking about the show that soon everyone will be talking about.

Dexter Location Tour

At iwannagothere.com you can find the best tips to plan your trips.
Create your guide! Start saving places to create customized guides that travel with you.

Share your opinion about Dexter on Partigi

San Francisco Dark Side is a customized guide by goose

Goose loves the great outdoors, but also drawn to the life and culture of big cities and their used record shops, used bookstores and flea markets.

Did you know about the Golden dragon restaurant massacre?

What could be the dark side for the San francisco City Hall?

A guide of places where creepy, terrible, strange and sad things have taken place in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Are you ready for this guide? ;)

San Francisco Dark Side is a customized guide by goose

Create your guide!

What should you do if you only have 24 hours to spend in a city? Where should you go?
How can you find the best spots to discover the soul of a place in 24 hours?
Follow us to Lisbon! We only have 24 hours there! :)

10:00 am. Castelo San Jorge
Take the 28th tram to the highest point of the Alfama neighborhood and visit the Castle.
Don’t miss the views and pay attention at the corners, they place is full of peacocks.

10:40 am. Baixa-Chiado
Walk down the hill there the castle is and just enjoy downtown.
The buildings, the streets, the plazas… even the metro station building is worth to visit.
Don’t miss the Lisbon Cathedral and the Santa Luzia Viewpoint on your way down.

12:45am. Lunch at Belem
Go to the Plaza do comercio, in the Baixa area, next to the river, and take the 15th tram.
Close to the tram’s stop, there is the Adega do Belem, where you can take a rest while having the typical Lisbon plate for lunch: Bacalao.
I’d recommend the “Bacalao a la paja”. Delicious.

2:00pm. Belem
First, go to the Monasterio dos Jeronimos.
Don’t miss the Padrao dos Descubrimientos and the Belem Tower.
Don’t leave the Belem area without buying some Pastéis do Belem. You won’t regret it, they are delicious and a great souvenir for your close ones.

4:00pm. Santa Justa Elevator
Take the tram back to the Baixa and take the Santa Justa Elevator.
Enjoy the views and then, from Chiado, go to Barrio Alto.
Good area for shopping, visiting some churches, parks and the views from the higher neighborhood of the city, as its name says .

6.00pm . Marques de Pombal
Walk from Barrio alto to the Plaza do Marques de Pompal, that way you’ll be walking through  a different area of downtown. Once you’ve walk by the park and take some amathing pics, take the metro to Baixa stop.

6.50pm. Italian Diner
Rua das Portas de Santo Antão it’s a lively area full of restaurants. You have pretty different ones to choose but I recommend you the Locanda Italiana. Look for the house specials.

8.00pm. Live Music at Barrio Alto
You can get to Barrio alto using the elevator again, but the chiado metro station will do the trick. Once at barrio alto, explore the area full of pubs with hugh drinking bargains.
At the Travessa dos fiels de Deus there are three bars in a row with live music. All three great to go for dancing, singing and feel connected with everyone else there who is enjoying the music.

Have you been to Lisbon… Where would you go in 24 hours that we didn’t mention?

I wanna go to Lisbon! »

Fang is from China. She is fan of Beijing, Tokyo, Madrid, Sevilla, San Sebastián , mountains, and cold weather.

What she likes most about traveling is you can just look and think into deep silence, without any noise and what fang likes least about traveling is sometimes the weather just doesn’t back you up.

People say that the Chinese people work so hard but that they never enjoy themselves, always saving their money for a rainy day. This is wrong! The Chinese people don’t save money for rainy days; instead they save it for the Chinese Shopping Festival at the end of the year! Why? Let’s see…

We don’t have many festivals or summer vacation in China, but from December to February starting with Christmas Day and the New Year through the Spring Festival is the best time for us, and also for the shopping mall bosses.

Almost every commercial center begins to push tempting promotions at Christmas, like ‘buy 100RMB return 50RMB coupons’. Early in the season people are a little shy yet so they don’t spend too much; you can just see the right color in their eyes. Christmas Day is a foreign festival and not a holiday in China. We just like to peruse the fashions of the world, 3 or 4 friends get together to have dinner in Mr. Pizza or Maxim, then go to the Happy Valley Amusement Park spending the night screaming.

5 days later is the New Year. We have 3 days holiday starting January 1st. People usually spend the first day with their family, going to visit parents or grandparents. In the morning many people choose to go mountain climbing indicating a higher starting point in the New Year. Then we have dinner together, sitting around a round table talking about how to celebrate the Spring Festival, whether we should eat out or at home. Large families usually choose to eat at home because it’s hard to reserve a large room or it’s not convenient to move the grandparents. The last two days the young people always have activities with friends; shopping, skiing or singing, they never stop! And the parents choose to relax at home quietly to saving energy for the New Year.

We have a 7 day holiday during the Spring Festival. During this time is Spring Festical Day which is the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving Day. It’s a holiday to communicate with the whole family as well as the time to express the gratitude to all who have ever helped you. That means you have to spend at least 3 days going shopping, buying gifts and red envelopes. However, honestly speaking, before you step into the shopping mall you’d better buy a personal insurance policy first for you just can’t imagine how many dear sisters and brothers will be there if “buy 100RMB return 100RMB coupons” is going on!

Actually the shopping day has already begun before the Spring Festival. People begin to buy all kinds of food like snacks, candies, meat, etc, and decorations for the house two weeks beforehand. Everyone seems to be worker bees immersing themselves in the gaiety of shopping.

Generally speaking, we have a fixed schedule to celebrate the Spring Festival. It begins in the evening of the Spring Festival Eve. Everyone sits in the front of the television waiting for the central channel’s evening party around 8 o’clock. During the TV party, mothers prepare the New Year dumplings; once the New Year bell rings we begin to eat dumplings and that indicates good luck in this year. Meanwhile, everyone is busy calling each other sending and receiving good wishes. Then we go outside to launch firecrackers. The sound and the light can bring you a successful year.

Undoubtedly this is the happiest time for the children, not only for the delicious food and the chance of playing with firecrackers, but also for the red envelopes! They receive them from parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, other relatives, friends of parents… After this, children dream beautiful dreams the night of the Spring Festival Eve with plenty of money under their pillows.

The next morning people usually get up early to prepare the meal. For you know we have a saying that “people regard food as their prime want”; eating is the most important part of our life. After 10 people’s hard work, you can see more than 20 dishes on the table. You’re smiling because you just don’t know what to eat first. After the meal, the whole family sits around playing Mahjong, which makes the old men happy.

The following days of the vacation we visit friends, teachers, relatives, etc. When you look into your pocket and there is no money left, get prepared to go to work tomorrow!

People may wonder why Chinese people don’t travel during the holiday, I have to say it’s because we get tired just thinking about how many people there are on the road… On the other hand, we prefer to stay with our family to enjoy the happiness of reunion because family is everything to us.