Old school Hong Kong style cafe (aka. "cha chaan teng") serving local Western breakfast, lunch and snacks. Ultra-smooth milk tea, fluffy toast and buns, plus the best flaky crust egg tarts in town.

Best Underground music store in Barcelona, with local artist and labels.

At the end of tramline 7 and 14 there is a huge bridge on concrete pillars. These pillars are one of the few places in Amsterdam where it’s legal to spray graffiti. My work is very much influenced by graffiti, so I love to come here and see what’s going on. It’s a very dynamic place, so one day it can be awful and the next day amazing but it’s never boring.

Salton Sea is not technically LA, but is a by-product of its history and my first-choice escape from the city: one of the world's largest inland seas and lowest spots on earth, a man-made lake in the midst of the Colorado desert, a resort area in the twenties turned in one of the worst ecological disaster of the past century.

I only recommend walking around the Barceloneta beach at sunset, there are fewer people and in the fall and spring seasons is very nice to sit on a terrace watching the sea and entertaining yourself with the activities of the area.

The „Kirche am Steinhof“  church is located off the beaten tourist path in the 14th district in the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital (yes, you heard it right). The interior of the church is beautiful and designed to the tiniest detail by the famous Jugendstil architect Otto Wagner. He used new construction techniques and combined them with the necessities of the patients. For example the seating was designed so that there were no sharp edges.  The bus 48A takes you there directly.

The Melville Koppies East is quite spectacular, with almost a 360 degree view of the city's canopying tree tops and urban outcrops. This small nature reserve in the city is a public space where traditional worshipers gather every sunset, pet owners walk their socialised dogs and enjoy the views. The protected natural vegetation of shrubs, rocky outcrops and grasses are something to behold. As a dog owner myself, I love to walk here. It is best to go at a busy time, which is usually in the afternoon and to be on the safer side, to leave valuables at home.

Specialising in photography & fashion books and magazines, this independent shop can be a goldmine for rare and out of print books. Also if you’re lucky you’ll meet Otis, the lovely pug-cross resident.

Full circle is a hidden gem which is just 5 minutes from the Leeds City Centre. This eccentric space is an open plan two floor studio, where you can go enjoy a good food, look at art, purchase clothes, watch films and also where you can go for a cracking night out. Make sure you look out for Mono_Cult events which are hosted there, as they are certainly some of the best nights out I have had in Leeds.

My favourite place to have a great cup of coffee. CROOKED NOSE & COFFEE STORIES are coffee enthusiasts and coffee product creators based in Vilnius. At their coffee house they freshly roast micro batches of different world beans and invite to taste them with various tools in their brew bar.

Having the experience of owning and running a coral reef aquarium (and frequenting this particular shop about once a week) - I was sad to hear it closed it's doors. Their reef display tank was always amazing. These pictures were taken from PetCo at Union Square (I also used to go there for my saltwater needs).

As a dog owner, naturalist, and freelance illustrator, escaping my home office and exploring beautiful (and dog-friendly) hiking trails is high on my list. I’m lucky to live in an area surrounded by incredible, diverse landscapes that I can get to in under 20 minutes. One of my favorites is the Serpentine Prairie Trail in the Redwood Regional Park. I love going an hour or two before sunset when the light is golden and the prairie practically glows. In April, I visited at this golden hour and was delighted to see an explosion of California poppies. The view here is spectacular--in one direction, I can see the tops of the coastal redwoods, mixed evergreen forest, chaparral, and grassland. In the other direction, where the sun is setting, is the bustling city of Oakland down below, but all I can hear is the wind through the grass and the croaking of ravens.