Author Archives: mrsselfish

A Day Trip to Sonoma

17 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in California, Food & Drinks, North America, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I timed it, and it took us 45 minutes to get from SF to the first winery in Sonoma. That’s right – 45 minutes. Indeed, we will be taking many more trips to wine country during our stay in SF. This post will go over our first day trip to Sonoma, which was on a Tuesday to take advantage of the Sonoma night farmer’s market.

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After doing a great deal of tasting in Australia and New Zealand, I was surprised to discover that most of the wineries in Sonoma and Napa charge a tasting fee, which can vary from $5 to even $20 per person. Being the budget conscious person I am, I researched the wineries that were either free or had lower tasting fees.

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Visiting the Legion of Honor for Free

10 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in California, North America, San Francisco, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I try to avoid paying for museums when possible. One of the first Google searches I performed while settling down in SF was free museum days. I discovered that during the first Tuesday and Wednesday of every month, certain museums are free. Moreover, if you are a Bank of America customer like we are, there is one weekend a month where certain museums are free. We are slowly but surely going to hit up these museums during the free days. We started with the Legion of Honor.

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My Obsession with the Golden Gate Bridge – Part 3 (Lands End)

28 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in California, North America, San Francisco, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I have been taking advantage of the amazing sunny weather we’ve been having in SF. People keep telling me that it is not typical, so every time, it’s even remotely sunny I drag Mr. Selfish somewhere outside to view my current obsession – the Golden Gate Bridge. I may have mentioned this obsession previously (Part 1 and Part 2). During one particularly nice and sunny day, we went to Lands End to walk along the Coastal Trail, which has quite a new view of the Bridge.

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Hiking Along Tomales Point in Point Reyes

26 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by in California, North America, San Francisco, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I are enjoying how close SF is to so many easy and fun day trips. One of our first day trips was to the Point Reyes National Seashore, which is located north in the westernmost tip of Marin. I browsed the various trails and decided on the Tomales Point Trailhead, which is about 10 miles round trip. Tomales Point boasts of coastal trails and an abundance of tule elk.

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Since it is in the most western part of Point Reyes, the drive from SF took about an hour and 20 minutes. On our way, we stopped at Tomales Bay Foods to visit the original creamery and store for Cowgirl Creamery. We picked up some provisions for a picnic during our hike.

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Walking to the Ferry Building for Roli Roti’s Porchetta Sandwiches

21 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in California, North America, San Francisco, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I love living in cities where you can walk. Not only is it great exercise, but you don’t have to look for parking. Being in Nob Hill, we have taken to walking to the Ferry Building on the weekends. The walk is about 1.5 miles one-way and takes about half an hour at a leisurely pace through Chinatown. We usually go on Saturdays because we enjoy browsing the farmer’s market and tasting all of the delicious samples.

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Russian Hill: Are there Russians on the hill?

19 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by in California, North America, San Francisco, United States

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As I’ve mentioned previously, Mr. Selfish and I are currently living in the Nob Hill area of SF. We are right next door to Russian Hill and have been exploring the area.

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As you can see, we’ve been fortunate to have amazing weather as we face those steep hills.  This post is dedicated to Russian Hill.

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SF Chinatown: Groceries, Walking Tours, and the Cable Car Museum

14 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in California, North America, San Francisco, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I are enjoying our neighborhood in SF. We recently learned that although we officially live in Nob Hill (a/k/a Snob Hill), we are quite close to Russian Hill and Chinatown. We’re having a grand ol’ time exploring these areas, but Mr. Selfish has particularly taken to our new quest for the best baked pork buns in Chinatown. It’s a difficult task but someone needs to blog about the best buns in SF, which will be a post as soon as we have tried a few more places.

This post is dedicated to Chinatown. Mr. Selfish and I just enjoy meandering around. It almost feels like we’re in China especially when the little old Chinese women shove me and I instinctively shove them back.

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My Obsession with the Golden Gate Bridge – Part 2 (Battery Spencer & Battery Wagner)

12 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by in California, North America, San Francisco, United States

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In my previous post, I went over my obsession with the Golden Gate Bridge, specifically the day that I dragged Mr. Selfish to Crissy Field, Fort Point, and onto the bridge itself. This post will continue with my obsession and go over another day during which I forced Mr. Selfish to view the bridge from the Marin side.

We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and luckily snagged one of the few parking spots at Battery Spencer. Then, we walked up a little way and wow, the view was amazing.

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My Obsession with the Golden Gate Bridge – Part 1 (Crissy Field & Fort Point)

06 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in California, North America, San Francisco, United States

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Since we’ve been in San Francisco, the first I do when I get out of bed in the morning is to check on our view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Most of the time, it’s sunny and glorious. There have been a few times when it has been foggy, and I’m sure I can expect the frequency of that view to increase. In any case, I adore the view and look forward to seeing how the bridge looks at the beginning of every day.

Here’s the view from our window on various days:

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The Selfish Guides to Asia are Finally Complete!

09 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Asia, China, General, Japan, South Korea

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It took me a while but I’ve finally completed the Selfish Guides to Seoul, China, and Japan, which completes the rest of Asia. Considering that Mr. Selfish and I spent 33 days in China and 43 days in Japan, I don’t think that it was that long. Okay, so we did leave Asia about four months ago. I promise that I’ll finish the Selfish Guides to Australia, New Zealand, and Bora Bora in a much shorter time.

Here are a few pics from the new Selfish Guides:

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If you would like to see the Selfish Guides in their entirety, please click here.

A Selfish Year in Pictures

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in Africa, Asia, Best Of, Europe, Living Abroad, Oceania

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Mr. Selfish and I are starting to settle down in San Francisco and are happy to be here for the next few months. It’s odd being in one place and being able to fully unpack our suitcases. We are definitely enjoying SF life thus far, especially our new view:

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We can’t believe how fast this past selfish year went by and are truly grateful for all of the wonderful experiences we had.

Here are our top 60 photos of the past year.  Enjoy!

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The Selfish Guide to Photography – Part 2

29 Sunday Sep 2013

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As I went over yesterday, Mr. Selfish and I took over 50,000 photos during this past year. Although we weren’t in each of these photos, we were in plenty of them and definitely learned a thing or two about posing for photos.

Although the photographer is very important, a model should also know what he/she is doing. Here are our posing tips.

1.  Know your angles.

Some people look good face on. Others look good from one side. Whatever it is, know your angles and pose that way.

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2.  Wear bright colors.

I never realized how important it was to wear bright color clothes in photos until this selfish year. Just look at the difference between the two photos below. In the first, I’m wearing a tan jacket and completely blend in with the background. In the latter, I’m wearing my bright orange coat, and you can easily spot me.

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The Selfish Guide to Photography – Part 1

28 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by in General

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Mr. Selfish and I took over 50,000 photos during our selfish trip, which is approximately 135 photos per day.  Although we are nowhere close to being professionals, we have figured out a thing or two about photography. After all, practice makes perfect, and we’ve had a lot of practice!

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Other than our iPhones and iPad, which we never used for photos, Mr. Selfish and I had two cameras on our trip. Mr. Selfish has a Canon EOS REBEL T3i, which is a starter DSLR. For the majority of the trip, he was using the starter kit lens. It wasn’t until we reached Tasmania, Australia that Mr. Selfish upgraded his lens.

I, on the other hand, used a point and click the entire time – the Canon PowerShot S95. Apparently, my point and click now has much newer models but I found that mine worked fine for the vast majority of our photos. While I carried my camera with me at all times, Mr. Selfish only brought his DSLR out on what we thought would be scenic days.

Today, we’ll go over our amateur tips on how to take photos.

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Heading West: Last Stop at Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

21 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by in Cross Country, North America, United States

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Our last stop before our destination in San Francisco was Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe. After spending a little time at Yellowstone, I figured that Lake Tahoe would also be a bit rustic and out of the way. To my surprise, it was quite developed. Nevertheless, it was still quite beautiful.

We only had a couple of hours in Lake Tahoe, so based on my minimal research, we decided to do a short hike in Emerald Bay State Park.

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Heading West: Jenny Lake at Grand Teton National Park

20 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by in Cross Country, North America, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I enjoyed our 1.5 days in Yellowstone immensely. As we were plotting our way to our next destination, which was Salt Lake City, we decided to take a detour and drive through the Grand Teton National Park, which is only 10 miles south of Yellowstone. It tacked on an extra four hours or so, but it was worth it.

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