ROAD TRIP Around the world
JUNE 2013 ₤ 3,00
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Road Trip
Content FEATURES
22 Forget Route 66 On the road in America
34 So different, but still the same Scandinavia 66 More than wine and pizza Italy not just for foodies 72 A guys trip
GUIDES 14 20 30 70
Best of summer How to pack Four trips Tips on the way What car to pick for this trip
FOOD
50 Favourite snacks 52 Best diners in the United States 56 Food on the road
CULTURE
16 MUSIC More than the Blues 18 Road trip playlist of the month 62 Sights, landmarks and concerts on the road
HISTORY
32 HISTORY In Greece 58 History of road trips
REGULAR PAGES 7 8 10 42 44 46 48 76 77
Editors letter Editorial pages Hello Favourite car Favourite trip Favourite products New on the market On the road Woman On the road Male
Let’s roll
Editor’s Letter
W
e start a new adventure with this magazine. Road Trip is the magazine for road trip enthusiasts, who’s looking for tips from all over the world. And if you’re just a traveller you’re just as
welcome to read. Road trips are easy access vacations and that is why we love it. If you hate the planning part of vacation, road trip is the ideal vacation. Whether you’re at home, at a friends house or maybe you’re already on vacation, you can make a road trip happen. All you need is a car and you’re ready to go. Travelling by car Road Trip want’s to inspire the travellers of the world. We want to show you how you can get a different and exciting trip by travelling by car. As the interest in road trips reach new highs, we give you the highs of road trips.
”Road trips are easy access vacations and that’s why we love it.”
In this first edition we take you through different continents on different rolling adventures. North America and the United States, through the three countries of Scandinavia – Norway, Sweden and Denmark, as well as taking a break from the beach vacation in Greece.
Take a seat in the back as we give you our favourite snacks on the road, history to teach your kids. A taste of nature and music. And the ride of your life with adrenaline rushes through Arizona, Nevada and California. Let Road Trip be your escape from everyday life, and when vacation comes along you can escape for real.
Camilla Jorddal 5
Road Trip CULTURE
Turn up the music Some might call it over the top. Even ridiculous. I just call it the home of performers, or California. I rolled through the streets, from Venice Beach to Coachella, with old and new hits.
Photo credit: Camilla Jorddal, Erin Bernard, Jennifer Boyer
By: Camilla Jorddal
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ome might say that the United States only care about mainstream music and that the music died with Michael Jackson, that we would never see a musician like him again and that the music as we have known it, is now gone. But I think that as long as we keep our old heroes alive by listening to them, we can also enjoy a new era. And my era is on the road. Fast car Driving through the streets of California I listen to my old road trip favourites whilst in the car and experience new, popular music out on the streets. Or in a club, pub or at a festival – it depends. But no matter how new and popular the music is, I can always climb back in my bubble when I drive home.
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The streets have no name I start out at Venice Beach. Here, you can experience the true art of street performance. You have no idea who you just passed, but the guy looking like he’s thrown on some garbage, literally, is good. The tunes floating out of the saxophone are divine. It’s like walking on pink, airy, bubblegum clouds while a feather touches your cheek. A soft pillow of music. These artists might not have the name of a famous Hollywood star, but they play and sing better than all play- and singbacks in the world. Too bad I have to leave this to experience what youngsters call ’real music’. From the beach to the city, nothing feels more right than The Beach Boys and the original ’California Girls’, before Katy Perry
elegantly stole the name and showed her dessert boobs. Down in the mainstream The most famous people of music have their stars at Hollywood Boulevard. You can see their homes in Hollywood Hills if you travel by car on a guided tourist open vehicle tour. Or, you can cruise around by yourself like I do, not knowing whose houses you actually see, but knowing it’s most likely someone famous. Old and new, mixed together in a bowl of glitz and glam. One thing is for sure, in these hills you drive in the same rutting as Elvis once did. And as Weezer sings ’Beverly Hills, that’s where I want to be’ you totally agree. Mainstream is here to stay, even though it’s gone from
spicing up your life with Spice Girl’s and saying your name like Destiny’s Child did in the 90’s, to not worry because you’re behaving like a child in Sweden as Swedish House Mafia are or hanging out with scary monsters together with Skrillex. All by myself Driving around on my own is peaceful, and time flies as I drive out of L.A to get to Riverside County. Singing along to every song from the stereo is much easier on your own as well. The Riverside County has been the place where people like Amy Lee from Evanescence, Etta James and Heather Myles were born, have lived and have died. Wide roads to roll on, the typical beige, sandy buildings and houses, and palms telling you that you’re still in California, even though you’re driving away from the coast. The cities, all smaller than L.A, make you feel alone on the road, even though you’re not. If you’re a festival head Approaching the destination of one of the world’s most famous festivals I turn the music down and listen carefully to the annoying GPS-voice. In front of me the sign with ’Indio’ appears. The city of Indio has been the home of singers and musicians like Alan O’Day and Oscar Loya. It’s also the home of Coachella. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival started off as an October festival in 1999, three months after Woodstock 99. Coachella was then changed to the month of April in 2001 to avoid the heat of the desert. Today hundreds of thousands visit Coachella
and the valley becomes a concert arena surrounded by the red mountains. Palms reaching for the sky, the crowd circling around to find the right stage to look at as the Californian sun shines. People walking around in festival uniforms – a loose top, oversized cardigan or jacket, sunglasses, shorts and boots. Not to forget the hat. This is an iconic place. A place where you wear iconic pieces, where celebrities strut their stuff and the best voices of the world are shown off. There’s nothing like a ride to festival land. Just sit back, step on the pedal and let the memories go through your head as ’Memory of a free festival’ plays from the speakers.
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FORGET ROUTE 66
Enjoy America on your own with a readymade road trip through the red, sandy desert of Arizona and Nevada, before you lower your body temperature with water sports in the mountains of California.
Photo credit: Camilla Jorddal
By: Camilla Jorddal
Accelerating through the steamy desert, with the cool breeze from the air-conditioner keeping the sweat away, you can feel the excitement. Longing for one of the most famous bridges in the world, the Grand Canyon Skywalk, we do not know what to expect and when we try to think about it our minds get disturbed by a large bump. Arms, legs, bottles and leftovers flying around inside the car, as well as the content of every handbag. The West Rim Rocky landscape in sandy grey and yellow, huge red cliffs and minor mountains, the sky covered with clouds trying to steal some of the beauty from this awe-inspiring nature. Arriving at the West Rim of Grand Canyon, on the Hualapai Indian Reservation we are happy to place our feet on solid ground after bumping up and down for 15 miles on the unpaved and deeply rutted road. From the Grand Cany-
on West Welcome Center we change our dollars in for a Day Tour package, which gives us a hop-on-hop-off shuttle to the three viewpoints of the private land of the Hualapai Tribe; Hualapai Ranch, Guano Point and the home of the skywalk – Eagle Point. Just Glass Surrounded by the red cliffs this massive construction of a glass bridge appears, hanging on the edge of Grand Canyon, 4,000 feet above the Colorado River. Walking around Eagle Point through the Native American Village with authentic Native American dwellings, live performances demonstrated continuously all day, and creations by Native hands; jewellery and crafts. At the edge we pull the coolest patterned sock-slipper covers over our shoes. Our feet must treat this 40 million dollar structure gently. With trembling legs our right foot touches the glass, the first step. Looking
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Road Trip FEATURE
Photo credit: Camilla Jorddal, Jared Swafford
down into the Grand Canyon is breath taking when just looking over the edge, now it is under us. It feels like an out-of-body experience. The feeling of achievement, fear and happiness takes over, sending us into an adrenaline rush combined with a bit of vertigo. Slowly returning to the earth the view hits us. The red coloured jewel of nature, steep cliffs carved from running water. A dried-up, bare desert without cactus. The floating boats on the river far bellow us, the rock squirrel running from rock to rock, and then the sound of hawks. It is like a constructed scene in a Hollywood movie. Enormous, silent and delicate. The canyon tells a story, exposed in the layers of the rocks. Two billion years old.
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8,800 Stepping off you are longing for more of this inspiring, mighty canyon. At Guano Point the panoramic view of Grand Canyon is not all, the remnants
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of the historic tram to a guano mine that stretched 8,800 feet across the canyon and the possibility to interact with Tribal members is worth our time. Our next stop is Hualapai Ranch. Western hospitality at its best. Stay overnight to make S’mores and tell stories around an open fire or just stay for an hour or two for the daily experiences. Like cowboy entertainment, wagon rides, the chance to learn how to rope, quick draw and tomahawk toss the cowboy way. Or take a tour of the canyon like a real cowboy would. Guided in a saddle, on the back of a big, single-toed animal. Horseback riding in Grand Canyon is peaceful. The sound of the hooves touching the sandy plains; click-clackclick-clack. Our body’s swaying back and forth as we move through the paths of the desert. Reaching the rim, the ride is even more relaxing. But so exciting at the same time. You and the horse. Joining forces with nature.
Controlled water Waking up in Vegas bursts out of the stereo, much more living than where we are. A grey, bumpy line divided in two, the sky just as grey and the never-ending horizon. Left or right does not matter. Everything is sandy grey or brownred and rocky. Closing in on our next adventure we feel the urge to stop, after a day with dry air and rocky grounds it is nice to feel fresher air going into your lungs. All sorts of vehicles are driving by, cars, busses, motorcycles, trailers, and even some on bikes. The concrete arch-gravity dam is 220 meters high and rock solid. It was made in to avoid flooding and inundation in the Colorado River. The river is now considered one of the most controlled in the world, all because of Hoover Dam. In addition to avoiding flooding Hoover Dam produces electricity to numerous of people, as well as being the main source of water for large parts of California, Nevada and Arizona. Staring out as you stand on the top of the dam the view makes your eyes wanna pop out. Even though it is mainly rocks and water it is still amazing. Because of the long wait we decide to drop the tour and continue our adventure. Quite a ride There it is, the famous words in blue and red, framed with light bulbs and yellow, Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. The dream city for every spontaneous person in the world, the city where marriage is as common as eating dinner and where partying know no limits. We pass Mandalay Bay and
the massive pyramid of Luxor on our left and Tropicana on our right. Then we suddenly have landed in New York on our left, while we are in Paris on our right. Our final destination is Bellagio, our sweet , gigantic home. Finding your way through the hotels in Las Vegas is like walking a huge labyrinth, there are a hundred ways to get to where you want but you can not find one of those hundreds, you just end up everywhere else. So after being guided to our room and back out again, we are ready to hit the stars. In the air Glancing out the window you see the tall white pole shooting up from the ground with, what looks like, a glass hat on. It stretches 1,149 feet into
the Las Vegas skyline with its 108th floor. The iconic Stratosphere Tower at the north end of the Strip house rides like Insanity and Big Shot, the two highest rides in the world. As a little warm up for the rides we step inside the elevator, it takes us from the ground to the top in 30 seconds. 360 degrees of fun is what we see when we reach the observation deck, looking through the viewfinders are for wimps, we are here for the thrill. We buckle up in the red and white chair, and as the guard checks that we are tightly trapped to our insane idea we realize that when you thought you could not go higher, you actually can. Big Shot takes you up another 160 feet from where you are standing. The heart beats faster, you try to guess when they will hit the
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Photo credit: Camilla Jorddal, Peter Livingstone
button to send you up. Before your body can react your brain and voice does. The screams turns in to laughter, the butterflies have settled. You feel at ease while being taken up and down the huge mast. The Las Vegas skyline looks even more beautiful from this moving, hanging chair. The colours pop out and the massive hotels in all shapes and forms feels just as alive as you do. Insanity is something else, with Big Shot you have solid ground beneath you, now you hang in a mechanical arm extending out 64 feet over the edge of the tower, 900 feet above the ground, voluntarily. It propels to an angle of 70 degrees, tilts your body into one position – straight down. I am sure the view of downtown Las Vegas at sunset was great, but I was to scared to keep my eyes open. The Strip shines bright like a diamond in the evening, just like Rihanna. The Fountains of Bellagio light up the city with their dancing water fountain, synchronized to music. It is a captivating vision, and apparently the other hundreds of
people around us think that too. Especially those clapping and whistling, and the screaming, over-excited kids that is up way past their bedtime. Time for us to leave these crazy people behind with their flashing cameras, safari shorts and sandals stuffed with white tennis socks. Now we get why they call it Sin City. So now it is our time to go crazy. Fingers crossed for not ending up like it did in The Hangover movie.
Fahrenheit (50º Celsius). You know there is still a long way by car, but the car feels like the best place on earth. Water and air-condition.
Appreciate the grass As if last night was not the death of us, we are on our way to Death Valley. All you see around is desert. Sand, rocks and dried out plants if you pay real good attention to the ditch as the wheels spin you forward. From seeing just dry land everywhere, on the horizon sand dunes appears. Plain, white sand that runs softly through your fingers. The lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, Death Valley. Bone-dry. Even though you breath in, it does not seem like you get any air in. Gasping for air, you start to feel the heat. Just under 122º
Beaches in the wilds Surrounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range lies the azure, freshwater lake along the border between California and Nevada. Here we do not even need air-condition. Rolling down the window is enough. It is so nice after a couple of days in the desert. From afar, cobalt blue. Closer to shore, bright turquoise. Crystal clear reflecting sunset reds and cold purple. For a creative writer Lake Tahoe is the dream location; striking landscape soaked in colour, a protective feel from the mountains and the laid-back feeling
About six hours to go. Driving out of the desert and closing in on the mountains. The climate shifts from dry to full of life. Trees everywhere, running water, looking like the natural scenes in Brokeback Mountain.
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Road Trip FEATURE the snowboarders leaves every winter. All the ingredients you need for an unpretentious creative centre.
Photo credit: Camilla Jorddal, Takis Kolokotronis
Stepping out we breath in the fresh, mountain air and feel the sun heat up our body. We hear kids laughter as we come closer. White, sandy beaches for the summer tourists looking for relaxation, or excitement. The thrill of water sports is what has gotten us here. Standup paddle lessons for strength, water skiing for the new beginners, wake-boarding for the playful X-games enthusiast and the rental of a boat for a sunset cruise with the opportunity to act like a fool and play the plague of 2009 “I’m on a Boat”.
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Like Frank And Dean South Lake Tahoe is a playground. As we board the boat the ease of the water hits our feet. The boat moves, the wind grabbing every hair strand attached to our heads. While the preparation of skis and wake-board is taking place we get the chance to really look around at this mighty place. The colossal rock collection around this lake reminds of the mountain in Norway. High as skyscrapers, masculine like cave men and filled with dark green trees shining like emerald stones in the sun. Then the water, its visibility is impressive, as much as 75 feet below the surface. Fishing here is supposed to be amazing. Seeing the possible dinner item while towing it in, inspiring for any first time fisher. Lying in the water ready to be towed after a floating watercraft driven by horsepower,
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there is a helicopter whirring in the sky, as well as a fire-driven balloon. Hot-air balloon rides here must be nice whispers the jelly inside the skull before the captain’s voice yells ”Ready!” The skis with the tip up as the weight of the boat pulls hard. Water is splashing around. A bit rusty these skills. Floundering around like a whale on land. The boat pulls the skis with the attached body right up. Heavy for the arms, but so much fun. Gliding the blue mirror and its waves. Water decorating the air as the skis tears it apart from the huge pond. ”Lost at sea”, shouts the observer every time a skier falls. Boat humour. One by one we get to test our imagined skills. One worse
than the other. On the way to land the sun goes down, painting the sky in shades of red, pinks and orange. Even though our day at the lake is over, we still have some hours to kill. Burned out after an active day, most people would head right to one of the spa resorts for a soothing massage. But we decide to gamble our way through the night, just like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin did back in the days.