jonkb's VirtualTourist Home Page

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Radioactive sign

A litle about myself

For some reason you've clicked on my membername. I'd take it you're interested in finding something about me.

My real name is Jon Behring. I'm a Norwegian, but I'm living in Malmö (southern Sweden), and working in Denmark, so I guess my member name should have been GreatScandinavian. I didn't know that when I signed up on VT so many years ago. I'll forgive you for mistaking me for a Swede or a Dane, but only if you're a non-Scandinavian. Scandinavians should know better than to insult a Norwegian.

I'm employed at the Danish Emergency Management Agency working with the emergency preparedeness for nuclear accidents.

Languages
Languages I speak:
Norwegian (My native toungue. This means that I also understand Swedish and Danish)
English
German (to a certain extent)

Because all Scandinavian languages are so similar they are commonly understood all over Scandinavia (some words has to be exchanged). NB: Scandinavia is ONLY Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Finland and Iceland is in what is commonly known as the Nordic countries. Finnish and Islandic are not understood by the general Scandinavian, thus if a finnish was to say something too me he had to speak Swedish (they learn that in school) or english.

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Norway

Where I've been, and what am I doing about it

I've lived in Norway most of my life:
I was born and raised at Skedsmokorset outside Oslo. All that changed when I did my military service (compulsory for all men in Norway, but hardly none do it now becuse of the costs). I did my compulsory military service in Lofoten (or actually Vesterålen). I studied for four years in Trondheim, before getting a job in Bergen. After that I studied further in Lund, Sweden and Malmö, Sweden. I still live in Malmö, but I work in Birkerød, Denmark.

I've been lots of places i Europe, particulary Scandinavia (No wonder eh).

Visited the United States only once, but were several places, including Hawaii.

Was in Beijing with my choir in 2006, and in Portugal in 2007. This year we're going to Toronto and New York.

I haven't been to the southern hemisphere - yet. Hoping to go there some day (of course)

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Pasport photo

Another pasport photo

Going to my first VT-meeting in Copenhagen, I got the tip about setting up a picture of myself other than the one in my passport photo. It's easier to recognize me when going to meetings. Have in mind that the picture is from 1994, and thus quite old. My looks haven't changed that much though.

The pasport photo (my memberphoto) was taken with a fisheye converter on my digital camera. The lens was stolen together with some other lenses while I was looking for a place to stay here in Malmö, so it will be a while before you see images like that from me again.

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Building pages

I'm trying to be consistent when building pages, but I've been a member for a long time. Not all pages are consistent with my own "rules".

Where's the tips
Tips applicable for whole countries I try to leave on the country pages, with extra tips where you'd most probably run into the "problem". Thus it can be an idea to go through for example the Norway page to find tips applicable for Oslo or Bergen.

What do I write
I try to stick to facts, since I don't like reading tips that are too much colored by the authors. It leaves me thinking about what else he might think, and not the place itself.

Categories:
Must see Activities: Anything within walking distance of the place, and that it's possible to see.
Restaurants: Don't write about restaurants I haven't been to. Don't write about all the restaurants I've been to eighter, exept the best of them. It can happend that I write about general cousine here.
Hotels & Accommodations: I try to write about the places I've stayed.
Nightlife: My weakest point. I don't really enjoy clubbing. Don't think its nice not to be able to speak with the person next to you because of the music.
Off the beaten path: Anything close to the place, but not within walking distance.
Tourist Traps: Speaks for itself.
Warnings or dangers: Like tourist traps, but not only for tourists.
Transportation: Anything having to do with getting yourselves from A to B
Local Customs: Festivals, politeness etc.
Packing List:: What to bring, and what not to bring
Shopping: What to look for and where to look for it.
Sports Travel: What to do or watch.
General Tips: Any tip that doesn't really fit in with the above mentioned tips will end up here.

Another thing
I do what every other VT's are doing. My pages are under constant change, so don't expect the pages to be static. I'm writing tips as I o along. If I remember something from a particular place, I write it.

Photos
I used to take digital photos with my Nikon Coolpix 990. An old camera I bought in Bergen and that I always had with me. That camera was destroyed when a bicykle ran into me. I have a new digital camera now. The pictures are adjusted in Photoshop (levels, cropping, resizing) before being put here on VT.

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Other things

So what else do I do.

Music I sing in a choir called Malmö akademiska kör. You'll find our webpage here: www.mah.se/musik (swedish only). I generally like almost all kinds of music except techno, but if you have a look at my CD collection you'd find mostly classic music.

Geocaching I'm a geocacher, meaning that I run around the countryside with a receiver connected with satellites to give me my exact position. I do this to look for hidden trasures that others have hidden (not burried). It's an international community just like VT, but with another goal.

History I'm interested in history. About half of my bookshelfs at home are filled with books about history or biographies. The chapters about history are the first thing I read when reading a guidebook (I've read a lot of them over the years)

Dogs Love dogs (Cats are OK, but don't come up to dogs). Had a flatcoated retriever (or flat for short). Can't have a dog right now because of where I live, but think that I'll get one if I move to a place where I can have one.

Religion I'm a Lutheran protestant, but please don't conect me with the right wing american politics. It has nothing to do with that.

Politics Am interested in world politics., and don't get angry with people of a different oppinion. Different oppinions just make it more interesting. And yes it is possible to discuss both politics and religion without getting angry or mad. It's just a matter of respect. Some have it, some don't

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How do I tip

I do rate tips, because I think it's important that good tips are read by as many people as possible and it's nice to know that someone has taken time to read my tips and rate them.

I'll give you some hints about how I rate.
1. Tips with only a picture and little or no text I always rate lowest possible, regardless of wherther or not I've been there. I think pictures alone belong in travelogues, not as tips.
2. I tip on places I have been.
3. I tend to rate tips that are informative better than tips that are subjective. I don't mind that people are subjective, so don't let this stop you from writing tips, but put some usefull information in it as well.
4. A tip doesn't have to have a picture for me to rate it well, but it does capture my eye more. A good picture is a good ad for the tip. It can also act as part of the tip (showing the fasade of a building for example)
5. Playing with fonts and colors should be to emphasize the text and make it more readable and easier to find information. I tend to rate well on pages that look organized. Tips that look like they've been drenched in a bucket of paint doesn't do well for me, even if some of them are pretty or artistic.
6. A comment on the page is very nice, and much aprechiated. Whenever I get a comment on one of my pages I read the homepage of the commentator, and some of his/her travelpages to get a glimpse of who just commented me.

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Photos

If you ever met me, you'll know that I like taking photos.

I don't really like the way VT handles photos from VT meetings and the like. Thus I'm a member of Webshots.com and will in the future post most of my photos there. If you would like photos from a meeting email me and I'll send you an URL.

The pictures on private albums in Webshots will not show up on any search engine, but they are not passwordprotected. I'm doing this because I'we experienced that not everyone likes having they're photos on the net when it's open for everyone.

If anyone knows about a photo hosting service that letts you have lots of photos for free, generate passwords for albums (or photos) at your own delight, and where you actually own your own pictures (NO FACEBOOK), let me know.