Here are some of my favorite places:
For breakfast:

Eggs Etc
I especially recommend their banana pancakes, which are my little weakness… But beware, they’re huge! I usually order the set menu that includes eggs and bacon but it’s quite impossible to start eating my 2nd pancake (nor to order one). They’re served with maple syrup and salted butter. You can have all the coffee you want, but it doesn’t seem to apply to tea, even if you get a large teapot with your cup and quite a variety of tea.
550 Redondo Ave. Long Beach, Ca 90814 +1 (562) 433-9588
Open 7am-2pm every day
http://www.eggsetclongbeach.com/

For lunch or dinner:

Burgers:
In the U.S., you must eat at least a couple of burgers. Generally speaking, they’re quite good… so enjoy them!

MVP’s
Best burgers EVER! They are huge, delicious and cost less than $6 (€4,50). You can order regular fries or fries covered with cheese (delicious!). And if you want to spice things up a little, I recommend the Cajun Fries.
My favorite burger is the George Foreman V (the one in the picture), with bacon, cheese and avocado. You should know that California is the one and only place where you must eat avocados if you love them. They’re exquisite!
3701 E 4th St Long Beach, CA 90803 +1 (562) 439-0809
Open Mon-Fri 10:30 am – 9 pm //  Sat 10:30 am – 6 pm //  Sun 9 am – 7 pm
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mvps-grill-and-patio-long-beach

Mexican:
South California offers you great Mexican food, since it isn’t far from the border!

Lola’s Mexican food
A very good Mexican restaurant, close to the city center, where you can sit while you eat.
2030 East 4th Street Long Beach, Ca 90814 562.343.5506
Open: 11h30AM – 9h30PM
http://www.lolasmexicancuisine.com
Taqueria La Mexicana
It’s very good, very cheap, but you can’t sit there.  However, why not order some food and eat it on the grass along the beach, 4 streets away?
3270 E 4th St Long Beach, CA 90814 (562) 433-6389
Open 9 am – 9:30 pm, every day
http://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-la-mexicana-long-beach-3

Lebanese:

Open Sesame
I didn’t expect to eat in this restaurant but my friend Alex took me there and it was absolutly exquisite!
It started as a counter and it became so succesful that they opened a first room, then a large terrace and then a 2nd room a 100 yards away. And it’s always full.
5215 East 2nd Street Long Beach, CA 90803 (562) 621-1698
http://www.opensesamegrill.com/

In most countries, you will have the possibility to buy a SIM card as soon as you arrive at the airport. In countries with lower living standards, choosing a SIM card is easy (they’re not really expensive, anyway). Ask the person who sells you the SIM to install it with the credit you bought. Don’t forget to ask him how to check on your account balance. And, of course, make sure that the credit you bought is credited to your account.
For example, when I was in Bali, I didn’t really understand what the operator was telling me but I could see how many minutes I still had on my account balance
In Thailand, I had a 3G SIM.

Here are some solutions for a couple of countries:

Australia:

Optus Prepaid Social is probably the best plan I’ve had in my life! For AUD 30 (€ 23), you get 500MB of data and a credit of 250 minutes that you can use to call 23 countries, including France. With this cray package, I was able to call ALL of my friends on New Year’s Day

USA:

T-Mobile Pay by the day seem to be the only ones who can provide you with a 3G SIM for iPhone in the USA. That’s a good deal: for $3, you get US phone calls and unlimited SMS; also, you get unlimited date for a 2D phone (edge) and 200MB per day for 4G phone. The service sucks a bit, though.

Italia: 

Tim For €5 per week, you get 2 Go of internet, 100 SMS and 100 minutes of national calls.

These offers often change and I just wrote them here as an indication.

If you go as a group and just need the internet, you can go for a  MIFI: a small and portable modem, with a SIM card. You buy only one SIM and everybody can connect to the wifi as long as you’re near the one who’s got the modem.

We went to visit John Thompson House. John Thompson is an architect who has collected traditional houses he went looking around in Thailand. The tour costs 100 baht, if you are under 25, you can take advantage of half price with presentation of your ID. We saw beautiful old Buddha statues. The Chinese-style and Thai style mixed therein. The tour is free and in french. We done it barefoot and it was very pleasant.

Taxis are cheaper than tuk tuk and air conditioning. But the drivers did not know their own city!

Enjoy bar : a brewery runs by a American married to a Thai. The two speak fluent english and are able to adapt dishes to our western palates. Very nice,  good food and pretty cheap.

Wat Suthat temple swing. 20 bath. – Giant Buddhas covered with gold leaf. Monks dressed with the traditional orange dress.

At Chinatown, we came across a covered market with lots of electronics inside, a true treasure island for me! Unbeatable prices and an almost unlimited choice!

The food court has Asok, Terminal 21. Lots of choices. A delicious pad thai for 30bath (0.70 €).

In this giant mall area, there are also lot of funny t shirts, one of Bangkok speciality They cost all the same price, 400 baht (€ 10) but are nice and good quality. Be careful though, the t-shirt sizes really small for European, so take one size bigger.

Chilis being dried

Thais have a poor level of english but they are very nice and polite.

The grand palace is really a “tourist trap”, people trying to rip us everywhere. It drove me crazy and I did a U-turn at the entrance.
Instead, I walked around the market which is near the jetty, with lot of Buddhist pieces and food stands.
My travel buddy’s phone was robbed in the grand palace, so pay attention to your stuff!

Lebua hotel. I did not get there but my friend Steph told me this is a “must see”. Then I will go there if I return to Bangkok because I trust him!
You can have a cocktail at the skybar or breakfast near the pool. You have to be well dressed to get in.

The street food was one of my favorite thing in Bangkok.

You can find extraordinary stuff : skewers, fruit, rice. 10 baht each.

Their energy drinks are very effective. M-150 is not sparkling, a taste of red bull without bubble.

You can use the boat to travel on the Chao Praya River. Chao Phraya is a Thai honorific word, which can be roughly translated as “lord of the waters.”

Small temple on the street

You will discover Bangkok soon? Book your hotel with HRS

Use your networks

In a passive manner: Let your contacts know, by tweeting or via a Facebook status, that you’re going abroad, and that if they know anyone there, they shouldn’t hesitate to let you know. That’s how I recently met Sylvain, a French guy living in Hong Kong, who could host me there. Not only haven’t I spent a thing for this wonderful view, but also he took me on a tour of the town!

In an active manner: you may directly ask your contacts who are the more likely to know people locally, if they can help you. On Facebook, it’s very interesting to subscribe to the main groups dedicated to the place you plan to go. That’s how I met Minseok, a Korean guy who hosted me in Venice and helped me taking one of my best pic with a compact digital camera.

As for Twitter, you can look for people living in the town you’re going to and contact them.

And really, it’s much more fun to go and sleep at a friend of a friend’s, and to bad-mouth the friend in question (nicely) and to share all his or her dirty secrets (nicely we said!) we’ve learned about him/her during this break!

Find an accommodation via des sites specialized websites:

When I go for a trip, most of the time there are 3 options offered to me: 1) I found an accommodation thanks to my networks, 2) I choose free hosting via Couchsurfing, 3) I decide to take a more comfortable accommodation on Airbnb.

- Couchsurfing

If you want to meet people at low cost, and if you don’t need your comfort at all prices, then : www.couchsurging.org

For real, what do I get? Choose someone who looks trustworthy, you ask him or her to host you, he/she agrees, and BINGO! Sometimes it even becomes a true friend, such a shame he/she lives on the other side of the planet…

You need not to be too attached to your comfort, because you can easily find yourself sleeping on a carpet or sharing beds with 2 or 3 other people.

I’ve already met extraordinary people thanks to couchsurfing : for example, Gabriel, who has biked around Africa and has been a model for YSL (and you can tell! That’s him on the picture)

Here are 3 interesting articles about Couchsurfing (in french):

http://partir-en-voyage.info/hebergement-4-bonnes-raisons-de-tester-le-couchsurfing/

http://lesacados.com/le-couchsurfing-quest-ce-que-cest

http://www.iletaitunefaim.com/couchsurfing-profil-couchsurfer-voyage/

And don’t forget: in any case, these people welcome you without any financial compensation, so bring them presents, and do some shopping instead of emptying their fridge!

- Airbnb :

If you want to rent a room in a homestay for little intimacy, or if you want to rent a flat for a lovers’ weekend, here’s my article about the subject:

http://www.juliachou.fr/voyages/airbnb-un-site-de-logement-communautaire.html

Thereupon, whatever it is you’re sleeping on, the corner of a carpet or a warm cosy bed, sweet dreams to you, because as Grand Corps Malade (a French slam poet) would say :

« Le monde appartient à ceux qui rêve trop » (“The world belongs to the ones who dream too much”)

The large marketplace which is now located at Rungis used to be at « Les Halles », in the heart of Paris. In 1960, it has been moved to Rungis.

« Les Halles » now host the idle youth, arriving from suburbs with the RER (Paris’s express commuter rail system), spending the day wandering about, and filthy rich Parisians, living in the surrounding upscale neighborhood, shopping.

http://exploratricedesaveurs.com/2012/03/12/exposition-doisneau-paris-les-halles-ii-parcours-historique-bref-retour-sur-une-longue-histoire/

Pigalle 9th & 18th arrondissements

The story of Pigalle begins around the 1880’s. It is the area of all the mobsters and prostitutes . During the First World War, only brothels remain open after 9pm and lots of smuggled alcohol can be found, as plenty of prostitutes.

From 1960, police raids and closure of short-time hotels make the area calmer. Many sex shops can still be found there but the area is becoming more and more bobo.

Ile de la cité

The « Île de la Cité » is considered as the ancient cradle of Paris, once Lutetia (Gallo-Roman city).

Les Champs Elysées

Often referred to as the most beautiful avenue in the world, I love this avenue. I don’t know if it is actually the most beautiful in the world but I’m very attached to it. When Paris was in black and white, life wasn’t located between the Rond-point des Champs Elysees (Franklin D. Roosevelt Station) and the Place de l’Etoile (Place Charles de Gaulle) like it is today, but more between the Place de la Concorde and the Rond-point.

It’s in this area that circus, theatres, cabarets, restaurants and funfairs first settled. When the shops started to open, all the animation has was moved to the section between the Place de l’Etoile and the Rond-Point.

The oldest pic of Paris

One of the oldest pics of Paris, taken in 1839 by Daguerre, at « Boulevard du temple »

For a snack :

Frosted

Best cupcakes I have eat in my whole life.
They are homemade. Everything is explained on their website : http://www.frostedcupcakery.com/
To absolutely taste but in moderation, of course
4817 E 2nd St Long Beach, CA 90803, United States Phone number : +1 562-987-1080

To take a coffee and surf on the internet :

Viento y Agua

I love this very relax café. We can find some big armchairs, wifi which perfectly works and a very nice staff. We can eat sandwitches and vegetarian slices which are absolutely delicious. I can advise you the Killer Tomato, definitively my favourite. Their Chai Latte is also the best I have drunk ever.
It is opened all days, from 6am to 10pm. There is no alcohol, so you can go there even if you are not under 21 years old.
There is an open mic every thursday, from 8pm to 10pm and live musicians every friday and saturday nights.
Address : 4007 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814, United States Phone number :+1 562-434-1182

Portfollio

I like Portfolio. His advantage over Viento y Agua during the summer it’s air-conditioned. There is a free wifi and electric plugs.
Address : 2300 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814, United States Phone number :+1 562-434-2486
All days opened from 6am to 10pm.
The open mic is wednesday evening at 7:30pm. You have to come at 7pm to suscribe for singing.

To move and see roller derby games

Moxy

To try derby, rent or buy roller-skates, see a game,  Moxi shop is the perfect place. More than a shop, it is where all the rider-girls are squatting. If you are directly or indirectly interested in roller, you have to go there absolutely.
http://www.moxishop.com/
2132 E. 4th Street, Long Beach, CA. 90814

To relax yourself

My friend Alexis (yes it is a girly first name and she is very cute above !) is a great beautician. Go to pet yourself in her beauty salon : http://www.spasidney.com/
Ask to have Alexis when you make an appointment.
3519 E. Broadway St Long Beach, CA 90803

 After Long Beach, it is time to leave to North California by Road Trip ! To be continued…

1. Prepare the stay :

Help him to prepare his luggage :
- What is the forecast temperature during his stay ?
- Should he plan particular clothes for activities who you have planned together (dress/suit, swimsuit, running shoes) ?
- Should he bring a sleeping bag, a towel, an hair dryer, shower gel, plug adapter. Generally, I supply all these things to my guests, so I tell it them in order to they don’t have to take charge of pointlessly.
- What have he planned to do ?
- Has he some questions on the town, activities ?
- Should he buy train or bus tickets for excursion ?Help him to prepare his luggage :

2. Prepare the arrival :

Notice to the guest how to precisely give up until your home. I always suggest the simplest way to my guests noticing them where is the subway change in order to they don’t getting lost. Confirm the arrival hour, the adress, the door code, the floor and the door to knock at.

3. Reception

The reception is very important, it is the first impression which will give the feeling of the stay. Generally, the guest is tired, disoriented and sometimes jetlagged. It will be your role, in a known place, to reassure and make him feel well. Show him where tu put his luggage, where are the restrooms, make hime sat, offer him some water or another drink (it is usual to have a water thirst, or a hot tea if the weather is cold). When he is getting relax, ask him how his trip was and explain to him how the flat “works”, like the key process if you have let a bunch. Generally, I write my adress, the subway station, the door code, my last name and the floor on a paper and I tell them to keep it in their pocket. I had too many guests who had phone batterie problems so a paper is safer.

4. Meals

Your guest will quickly be hungry. The meal is not always included in the accomodation. It is better to make him the first meal of the stay because the first day, we are tired and we need to recover. After that, you are free to suggest them to go shopping with you, or to ask him to cook something for the day after. If you can, go to the supermaket with him if he does not speak the local language. It’s complicated not to be lost in a supermarket in a foreign country.

5. Communicate !

If you speak another language, it makes the communication harder but nevertheless essential. We quickly walk over ourself in a little space, so let your guest know he could improve your sharing (like being tidy, not making noise) and also listen to what he wants to say. All these things have to be done with courtesy and of course, smile.

Offer regularly something to eat or to drink. As easy as it is to snack when you are at home, it is equally to make a tea when you are in a someone else’s home.

6. Respect his privacy

Communicate is good, but not too much. The fact that you know better each other, there is no need to be too intrusive. Let him breathe because after his field days, he should be tired. If he sleeps on your couch, go to your bedroom when you feel he’s starting to be tired. Don’t squat the sofa until the end of the night. There will be sufficient time to go on the conversation during the breakfast.

7. Activities

If you take your host to a party, mainly if he doesn’t speak the language, make you sure he is not sat in the corner gazing at the ceiling when you are telling jokes, he could not understand, to your friends. It is not easy to become integrated in a party where you don’t know anybody and it is more difficult when you don’t control the language.

Take the advantage of his presence to rediscover your city and see something you should not have seen alone.

8. The departure

Check with your guest he doesn’t forgot anything. It will avoid to send it later. Foresee the best initenary for his departure. Does he need you to drop him somewhere.
Help him to get his luggage down until the cab or subway station if he is loaded. Check what he brought to you and thank him. If you want to see him again, tell it

9. Keep in touch

Keep in touch is not always a natural initiative but it is like that I build my network all around the world.

I keep in touch with a nepalese friend by WhatsApp, with a friend who lives in Austin by iMessage (thanks Apple for this beautiful invention), with a balinese friend by Facebook messages and with a filipino friend by mail. I send them some pictures of Paris under the snow and I receive beautiful pictures from where they are. Add someone on Facebook is great but it is often complicated to get back in touch with somebody one or two years later without keeping in touch before.

10. Become someone’s guest in return

Now that you have been an amazing host, one or several times, you have a lot of old guests who are expecting to you in many parts of the world !

This year I decided to spend  my New year’s eve in Sydney, to be the first to wish an happy new year to everybody, to call friends in France where is still only 2pm, and wish them all the happiness in the world.

And to do that, I called the best: my buddy Dan!
We met at the Sydney Opera House, the best place to celebrate this upcoming new year in Sydney.
We participated to a concert with lots of talented artists and beautiful topless DJ, a good deal
I met some great people including Alex, a super hot politician. Well obviously, he’s gay, it was too good to be true… He supports the gay cause, he is smiling, kind and clever. That’s how they manage policy in Australia.

I also met  Kylie Minogue, who wish us lot of  happy things for this new year.
I made ​​new friends, as Brenda, she was very cute, very friendly and very cute (but I already said cute, didn’t I!)

There was also Rob, so fun and nice, who sang “”voulez vous couchez avec moi” loudly in my ears.

There was a first fireworks at 9pm and then the “grand finale” at midnight. It was crazy, it’s like that in Sydney, they do things in hudge for the new year’s eve night. Breathtaking fireworks, parties during all day…

I went to bed (a little), and in the 1st morning of the year, Dan took me to my plane, to have a Sydney > Auckland flight.

On January 1st, 2013 at 4pm, I took off from New Zealand, went over the date line and I landed Dec. 31, 2012 in Tahiti.

La date line or  date change line is represented by the dotted points.
I was greeted by Kevin who has kindly picked me up at the airport. Then we had party with my friend Sam and his family. I wore beautiful flowers necklace and spent time in a hot atmosphere at Paradise.

We made the midnight countdown, 20 hours after my previous countdown in Sydney.

I moved to 2013 ( Tahiti is written on  DJ’sTshirt, hence the photo)

And we are all together again for a wonderful celebration evening!
Here’s how I celebrated New Year two times in the same year!

Thank you to all those without whom this crazy project would not have existed: Florent crazy traveler with who this idea was born, Tom “my kitty” who encouraged me, Dan who made ​​me live my best and my wildest new year’s eve and took me to the airport in the morning on January 1st, Kevin (via Bernard, via Lucille) who picked me up at the airport the 31st evening, Sam who greeted me and took me to the party!

What was your craziest new year’s eve? What is your dreamed new year’s eve ?

Give me some ideas for next year!

Light, color and space are breathtaking! There is a small walk 15-30 minutes to climb to the top (I recommend you go with a GI, because for him it is a breeze, and you, you seem to be an old granny next to him).

We saw a crazy sunset, a game of shadows and colors a little bit crazy. then we finally decided to hit the road.
On the way back, in the middle of nowhere, we came across a completely unreal bar at the roadside: Frontier Outpost.

Dogs played in the bar, which was heated by a large wood stove. People played music on the terrace. Everyone was talking and laughing. Ultra warm atmosphere.

Jake and I alternately took the guitar and jumped on stage. From my first song in French, I had the attention. In the end I played more than a dozen songs with a drummer and another guitarist, it was a magical and very special atmosphere!

Jake asked me “where do you want to sleep?  particular desires?” And then I do not know why, I said “in a hunter cabin.”
This gentleman called all his contacts to find a lovely place. And the result exceeded our hopes!

We stayed in a wooden house, 200 years old, with a fireplace and lots of super kitsch stuff on the wall.
Obviously, I “did my princess” and I insisted on having a fire in the fireplace. So Jake went in search of wood in the middle of the night and turned on me with a good fire. The sound of crackling flames, the smell of wood burns, the warmth, what a joy, a real smooth!
This is our wooden house a few blocks from main street in Fredericksburg and yet surrounded by nature.
The agency who booked it :
Gastehaus Schmidt: 231 West Main, Fredericksburg, TX 78624, United States – +1 866-427-8374 – @ fbglodging – fbglodging.com

For other hotels in Texas you can also watch on Holiday Check.
The next morning we went back on the road to Austin and we saw buffalos! They were really huge! Jake and I were very hungry, we thought the same thing “yum yum buffalo”. Courageous but not foolhardy, we chose to find a restaurant which offered buffalo burgers rather go try to hunt suddenly  only ith our Swiss knife and cigarette lighter.

We stopped at Hut’s in Austin (807 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78703) and we enjoyed delicious buffalo burger.  I took Arnold’s Best Guacamole + Bacon because it’s my favorite combo!

Austin is really a cute town, 6th street in particular. All bars (or most of them) have a rooftop.

In the evening, we went to a concert of The Roosevelts at Lamberts, a nifty place, good cocktails, great music. Austin is really a city where you have to listen live music.

After the concert, we had a walk in the streets, as it was 25C in January, it was quite nice.

A true music celebration in the street and it’s like this every weekend apparently.
We got the great apartment we rented:  https://www.airbnb.fr/rooms/321857
I recommend it, very central and Chris, the owner, is very cool!

The next day we returned to Killeen, the town next to Fort Hood. I disguised IM waiting to visit the largest U.S. military base.

The next day I went to visit this huge base that hosts 65,000 soldiers. Most places are confidential and I was not allowed to take photos (even discreetly, they are military, we do not laugh).

I saw lots of  crazy stuff but I can not talk about it. And  some top secret stories were been told ma… then I have to forget. I loved to visit the museum, with lot of helicopters and tanks!
All streets have fun names like “tank destroyer boulevard” and as you can see from the photo, we are under surveillance.
I can not wait to return to Texas, I had a crush for this place, it was completely unexpected for me!