Check it out: ARTVIEW

On the left are paintings (some more famous than others) and on the right the place where they were painted (or at least the place they were intended to depict). Some locations are almost untouched while others are almost unrecognisable. It’s interesting to think these interpretive paintings used to be the only way to view a place you’d never been to, and now with a couple of clicks we can transport ourselves to all sorts of grungy corners of the world.

Amoungst all the Valley VS Alley banter some commentators are saying the US needs to move over because this is London’s time for the tech scene to explode. Here are a bunch of things that I’m super excited to sign up for, that New Zealand won’t be getting anytime soon.

As I was packing my two and a half suitcases I was really dreading the hour long tube + bus ride to Shoreditch – after a 24 hour flight. And then I remembered, I’m going to a city that has Uber! Yup I’m going to have a private chauffeur pick me up from Heathrow in a fancy Lincoln Town car… and it’s going to cost less than a taxi. Amazing. And if I get sick of being driven around I’m going to sign up for ZipCar, because London has car-sharing too.

The basic premise of The Amazings is “Classes, courses and wisdom from elders with amazing life experience”. It reminds me of something I used run years ago where every Tuesday we would get someone’s mum to teach a bunch of us (then teenagers) basic life skills like making a perfect soup or growing herbs.

A few people have asked me if I’ll start up Nerd Soiree in London. My answer is probably not, because there are so many other things worldwide that fill that need. One such thing is She Says! Only 3% of the world’s Creative Directors are female and She Says aims to change this through education and regular events. So excited to attend my first one!

I’m also quite excited about meeting the YCC kids. I get emails intermittently from students asking for feedback on their work or how to get a job in New Zealand, so will be nice to actually meet the people sending them.

I love the concept of Code Club – volunteers teach school kids how to code after school. It’s the kind of thing I’ve been wanting to get involved in for ages. Of course I need to get my own skills up A LOT before I can teach, but maybe after a few months of Code Academy I will sign up.

Speaking of volunteering, Casserole Club is a great initiative to share meals with people in your neighbourhood who can’t always cook for themselves. Some how I think I’m going to be more on the “needing” end, but I love it never-the-less and might sign up when it reaches Hackney (or wherever I end up living).

I’m giving serious thought to becoming a Tate Member. The first exhibition I’ll be going to is Lichtenstein: A Retrospective. So excited to be in London for this one!

And if I somehow manage to run out of things to do, at least I know The Fetch is going to be sending me weekly updates on events around town! Don’t worry this is the one thing on my list which you can also get in Auckland if you want to sign up.

The Fish Shack will be at various Auckland beaches over the next few weeks so grab some kai if you see it.

Something I wanted to add to this mix was a way to store interesting places that you might like to visit someday. I constantly open links about art galleries, restaurants and hotels that look amazing – but are in cities I have no plans to travel to. Early last year when planning my trip to USA I really wanted a service like this – “I’m sure there was something I wanted to see in Boston what was it?”. I ended up planning my four-city trip on Pinterest boards and explored making an app. I briefed a student developer to help me and we got as far as a bookmarklet prototype before I started a new job and the project was put to one side.

When Trippy beat me to it late last year I was equalled annoyed and pleased. They’ve drastically improved their service so it’s no longer another meaningless social trip planner and now properly accommodates travel wish-lists. There are still a few things I think they should be doing a lot better, and rather than trying to beat them at a game they’re winning I’m sharing a couple of my thoughts here.

- They’ve added an incredibly helpful bookmarklet – although it seems to be borrowed straight from Pinterest. It scans websites for images, when really it should be scanning for addresses. That’s what our one did, because where something is far outweighs what is looks like when you’re actually planning a trip.

- Speaking of Pinterest, the whole layout of the new site looks like Pinterest, where’s the map?

- The mobile app is still pants, trying to do the social travel thing. It would be great if this functioned like Geoloqi to remind you of places you’d wish-listed as your come into a 5km radius of them. Once in Rome I had to run for cover from the rain, and in doing so ended up in a park with a secret door that I’d read all about a couple of years ago. I’d completely forgotten about the door and the park. If it wasn’t for the rain (and me leaving my umbrella in a mob-run resturant the night before) I would’ve never gone there. It was such delight and I want to be able to leave surprises like that for myself all over the planet.

So there are just a couple of thoughts. Hopefully someone from Trippy will read this and get in touch to tell me they are adding a bunch of great features like this!

You can find of her stuff here >