MEMORY LANE

Where I stayed in Nice

I’ve been backing up my files and photos since I had an incident with my computer last year (spilled tea on my computer it couldn’t be repaired so I lost everything on my machine). I came across a lot of photos that are just sitting on my phone, unshared and unprinted so I figured might as well share them here. So here is a post with pics of the hotels I stayed in last year.

I stayed in 2 hotels in Nice last year as I had extended my stay, another spanner in the works I guess. “Spanner in the works” was the theme for my 2023.

The first half of my holiday I stayed at the Nice Excelsior which was located perfectly in Vieux Nice (Old Nice) so I was within walking distance from everything the beach,Place Massena & a 2 minute walk from the train station. I hit the jackpot with location of this hotel. Location location location. The hotel itself was cute with quirky decor and the staff were super friendly.

The backyard was also cute.

I extended my time in Nice so I needed to find another place to stay enter the Okko hotel which was not as central but it was a newer hotel and was right by the tram station so getting around was easy.

The Okko hotel has a more corporate feel with a huge common area that they refer to as “the club”. It’s really just a lounging/eating / bar area

Throwback

Honestly speaking 2020 did not go according to plan at all, I started the year making travel plans and even plotting/planning all the great content I planned to post on here. Cut to a few months into friggin 2020 and the world is struck by a pandemic which brings the world to a standstill leaving little old me to have to cancel my travel plans and I’m left spending the following few weeks chasing refunds for plane tickets, concert tickets and accommodation. I’ve since found solace in pictures from past travels they remind me of happier times. Here is a throwback post of my feature in glamafrica.com a couple of years ago.

Sidebar: I really can’t wait till outside opens up again.

Recap of this past decade

As we approach a new decade I felt I should do a bit of a recap of my past 10years. So much growth happened and I also got bit by the travel bug. I started this decade as an agency producer then became an animation producer and I’m ending it as an artist manager and founder of Ofentse Management (shameless plug) but yes I have grown in leaps and bounds. I did a bit of self-searching (not sure if that’s a real phrase) over the years and I have to say travel was actually a huge part of me finding myself. I’m happiest traveling to be honest and I hope the next decade is filled with even more travel (preferably in business class universe *nudge, nudge , wink ,wink).

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you my travels through the years:

2010 London- UK

2011 New York – USA

2012: Dubai- Dubai

2013 New York, Miami, LA- USA

2014- 2015 Were clearly a dark time in my life as there was no travel during those two years LOL. Seriously though those were my transition years when I left the 9to5 grind and that’s when the soul searching began. These proved to be very crucial years for me and I’m grateful for the experience and I haven’t looked back since.

2016: Vienna, Graz- Austria

2017 Inhambane- Mozambique :

2017 Paris – France

2018 Mombasa – Kenya

And this year I returned to my favourite place in the world to celebrate my sister’s 40th birthday: 2019 PARIS once again

Touristy Pics

I didn’t realize it until recently but I take the cheesiest touristy pictures. And for some strange reason I am drawn to buildings, I’m lowkey an architecture groupie(very lowkey). Maybe architecture groupie is the wrong phrase actually just like taking pictures of buildings and interesting structures.

SAM_0171 SAM_0416 Atlantis Hotel in Dubai

SAM_1253 The Kunsthaus Graz or the Graz Art Museum which stands out amongst the red roofs in Graz Austria. SAM_1112 MUMOK (MUseum MOderner Kunst) in Vienna

SAM_1140 My Fave The Schönbrunn Palace (Vienna) SAM_1173 The Belvedere Palace (Vienna)

The Churches in Austria are breathtakingly beautiful

Processed with VSCO with a5 preset This is a ride at a theme-park in Austria, I liked it cause it looked like the cover of Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album

Screen Shot 2017-11-07 at 12.06.07 Flat Iron building in New York

SAM_2637 Walt Disney Theatre in LA

SAM_2504 This was the view from our hotel in LA (Grauman’s Chinese Theatre)

SAM_2528 Screen Shot 2017-11-07 at 13.39.11 These are for my inner rockstar 😉

SAM_2161 View from Empire State building (I told you I was a cheesy tourist)

thumb_SAM_1674_1024 thumb_SAM_1669_1024 thumb_SAM_1668_1024 The Quai Branly Museum, Paris thumb_SAM_1455_1024 Paris Opera thumb_SAM_1467_1024 Palais Royal,Paris

thumb_SAM_1634_1024 Flame of Liberty in Paris which is the unofficial memorial for Princess Diana

Life in Marvelous times

Sometimes in those quiet moments I sit and think to myself what have I done with my life? When do I start living? And in those quiet moments is when all those cliches you’ve heard start making sense. You know those corny “life is what happens when you’re making plans”. Then you have the likes of Facebook with their reminders of what you were up to a couple of years ago, and it reminded me that life aint so bad at all.

I mean I’m not saying I have the coolest life, not by any stretch of the imagination but I’ve done some cool stuff here and there you know.

NIGEL_BATESON

Canopy tours in Magaliesberg

Quad-biking in Mozambique

SAM_0296 SAM_0311 SAM_0326 Desert Safari in Dubai riding camels and 4×4’s over sanddunes

Screen Shot 2017-05-08 at 5.50.47 PM

Getting a star on the Hollywood walk of fame (sort of)

Screen Shot 2017-07-20 at 8.27.14 PM Climbing all these damn steps to get to the top of the Schlossberg and the Clock Tower in Graz Austria.

DSCN4114 Walking through the Kruger National park (Yeah I walked cause I’m badass)

Through my lens

When I was in varsity this one dude asked me “how are you going to enjoy seeing the world with a camera stuck to your face?” that question always confused me. I love taking pictures everywhere I go, its like freezing a single moment and when you look back at that picture you have that same feeling over again. I’m happiest when I’m traveling and the pictures remind me of those happy moments and I honestly cannot wait to capture more happy moments. So I hope this answers old boy’s question.

Here are a few of my immortalized memories:

DUBAI