A quick pick-me-up in Vancouver

Is it weird that I will travel thousands of miles, spend the better part of a day on a plane and likely drop a decent wad of cash only to end up in a foreign country to do…nothing? Well, not exactly “nothing” but pretty darned close to it.  No matter where I end up, I like to spend a few hours just sitting in local cafes and absorbing all that goes on around me. I find a good stint in a cafe is one of the best ways to get acclimated to a city after a long trip or to rest after a full day of sight seeing. I also like to use cafes as a common denominator as I travel the globe. The number of cafes I find in a city, the people who frequent them and the things on the menu help me grasp the culture of my new surroundings.

In Sweden, the outdoor cafes provided warm blankets draped welcomingly over the backs of the chairs.  A brisk cold night is no excuse not to enjoy a hot beverage and time with friends.  Cafes are also great places to gawk at all of the extremely good looking men as they go by — no exaggeration there! In France, all café chairs face out to the street so you can sit and watch the city go by almost like a play or a television show. 

I spent hours lounging in cafes in Beirut. The coffee was of course good, but even more than coffee, I enjoyed casually puffing on a hookah pipe with a good book, a Mexican beer and whatever salty snack they had on offer.   In Tokyo, I remember the Renoir coffee shops where you could barely see inside because of all the salarymen sitting and smoking away for hours at a time. And yes, it was almost always salaryMEN. Aside from the waitresses, I rarely saw women partaking (though that was 14 years ago; things may have changed by now).

In Beirut I skip the coffee and go for a Mexican Beer

Right now, I’m on a mission to find a perfect café here at home in Los Angeles. I’m not ashamed to say I like Starbucks coffee and the fact that they are never more than a block away, but that’s not the kind of place I want to go and relax or work for hours. Its more a spot to grab a “cuppa” and a dessert on the way to wherever I’m going. Instead, I’m looking for a place where I want to spend a few hours thinking, writing, working, reading, socializing or whatever. Aside from good coffee and Wifi, my only requirements is a beautiful view of the beach to watch the sunset over the water. In the land of sun and beach, I figured this would be an easy find, but alas most cafes here have a view of concrete, not sand.  The search continues.

Turkish Coffee set up in Southern Lebanon

Needless to say I’m am extremely excited about doing “nothing” in the cafes of Turkey later this year.  Not only for the famed Turkish coffee but also for the chance to drink in the rich culture that I’ve heard so much about. If all goes well this year, many of my future posts will be composed in cafes from Tokyo to Aman, to Istanbul to Vienna.  If you have a similar love for cafes, where are your favorites around the world?