Burano is the most colourful city in the world. I’m sure of it! This place will instantly bring a smile to your face and uplift your soul. Venice is undoubtedly unique, with its lack of ‘roads’ and cars – all travel is by foot or boat through the renowned water canals. These islands will steal your heart (and your camera battery!). Take a look at some of my favourite shots from one of my favourite places! Continue reading
Greece was never on my radar when I began this journey, but that’s the beauty of travelling without a set itinerary; you find yourself in places you never expected! After two glorious weeks in Italy, I knew I needed to find somewhere to hunker down for the next couple of weeks before meeting Rug in Turkey to begin our six week adventure together. I wanted somewhere close by, somewhere cheap, and somewhere preferably as warm as possible. That narrowed my options down significantly and so I began looking at flights to Greece. The cheapest I could find was to Crete Island, the southernmost island (known for it’s gastronomy!), which suited me just fine! The weather looked great, so I booked my flights and found a hostel with a near 100% rating, a rarity. I was looking for somewhere to settle down for two weeks so I could catch up on my blog as I was nearly two months behind. I had no plans to travel within Greece, or even Crete island; I simply wanted to hole up, throw my headphones in and glue my fingers to my keyboard for the next two weeks. Continue reading
After the three days in Tuscany and some wonderful evenings spent at an Italian Carnival, Travis and I were heading to our last stop in Italy. We drove into Florence to park the car at the train station – we were taking the train to Venice! Travis had never been on a train before and I had only been on my first ever train since I arrived in Europe. Cars were useless in Venice anyhow, so a first class train ticket was in order! Travis wanted to get first class return as well, but I suggested we only buy one way first class to get the experience and save the money (for the record, this was a great decision as there wasn’t much difference between first class and coach!). We drove through the madness that is Florence to find the train station, then decided to park at the airport as it would be cheaper and take the bus into the train station. We left a bunch of our stuff in the car and went with lighter bags as we planned to walk all through Venice. It was a high speed train and we neared 300km/hr cruising through the Italian countryside and before we knew it we were in Venice! Continue reading
With two more beautiful souls along side us, Paul, Patricia, Travis and I cruised out of Rome to start our little road trip. Our first stop was Sorrento, a beautiful costal town humming with people that is a major port for Capri Island, a tourist hot spot. We drove down the narrow winding streets, and may have driven into an alley meant only for mopeds as our side mirrors had to be turned in and even then they nearly hit. Thank god Travis was driving; his skills and confidence behind the wheel have always amazed me! Our hotel, Il Faro, was a beautiful little gem right in the harbour with beautiful views of the ocean and the boats coming and going. The owner acquainted himself with us and gave us lots of tips, including the suggestion to have dinner at his restaurant where we would get 10% off as hotel guests. Sounded great to us! Before dinner, the other three got into a bottle of home brewed wine we picked up from a fruit stand on the side of the road . It was covered in dust and without a label, and looked slightly suspect. But for a dollar how could you complain? When we headed down for dinner, the guys let the manager know they wanted oysters, but the restaurant didn’t have them on their menu. No problem, said the manager. He made a quick call and in speedy Italian, had it set up for us. Soon the massive platter of huge mussels arrived, laid delicately atop a bed of mixed greens, red cabbage, carrot and lemon slices for colour. We squeezed the lemon on and asked if they had tabasco. Continue reading
Ever since I was a little girl I’ve felt the pull of Italy. It may have had something to do with my best friend at the age of seven being half Italian and spending many a evenings at her place, being treated to authentic Italian food that her dad would slave away in the kitchen to make us each night. I definitely didn’t realize back then how incredibly lucky I was to be getting home made Italian food. I even recall the first time he offered me prosciutto (okay, in an Italian household it’s less of an offer and more of a loving, yet forceful ‘eat this! you’ll love it!’). I bit my tongue and swallowed the salty gob down doing my best not to gag. The second he looked away, I held my hand under the table so that their labrador Moses could snatch it from my hands, helping us both out. I feigned fullness when he saw how quickly I had eaten it as he thought I must have loved it and wanted more. I’m happy to say my pallet has improved and I now do enjoy prosciutto! Continue reading
When I was 13 years old, my grade eight teacher, Mr. Taylor, stood at the front of our class, waving a white envelope in his hand and asked the class, “Who wants a penpal?” My hand shot up before he even finished that last word. I looked around wildly, to see who my competition was and to my surprise only two other students had raised their hands. I suppose many looked at it as merely another form of homework. I knew I had had my hand up first and was prepared to advise Mr. Taylor of this is he chose wrongly. “Brittany” his deep voice boomed. “You were first, it’s all yours. It’s a student from Norway!” Continue reading
At first glance, San Pedro can be summed up in a few words: tuk tuks, gallos (roosters), maiz, churches, dogs, coffee, Spanish schools, tiendas, motorcycles, tortillas and music. But it’s so much more than this. I was warned time and again by other travelers prior to arriving in San Pedro that I was walking into a tourist trap- a loud and obnoxious city with nothing but tourists and partiers, no charm and no culture of its own. I was told if I wanted to see authentic Guatemalan life, I should go elsewhere. How wonderfully wrong those people were. Continue reading
I took a shuttle from the quiet city of Antigua for the two hour drive through the mountain country side to reach Lake Atitlan. The drive was captivating and I couldn’t take my eyes from the road, starring out bright eyed as the sights blurred past me: mountains surrounded us on all sides, farms were scattered here and there, hardy crops of maiz perched on steep slopes, the occasional small village, and now and then plumes of smoke from small rubbish fires dotted the distance. As we got closer and closer to the lake the land became more mountainous, the roads became steeper and cliffs began to form as we hugged the hillside, looking over precariously steep drops with no guardrails. Continue reading
Last week I left Yellowknife, my home for the last 22 years, to embark on the adventure of a lifetime- traveling around the world, solo. I spent my last few days in town scampering around in a hectic rush to say goodbye to my friends. For some reason, time decided to start moving in fast forward and I couldn’t slow the clock down enough to drag out my last few weeks, to see everyone I wanted to see, to hug everyone just one more time, have one more heart felt exchange, one more night of belly aching laughter. Continue reading
Where does one begin? As my departure date looms a mere three days away, and I find myself embracing friends in sad goodbyes accompanied by well wishes and promises to meet up abroad, I can’t help but find myself reflecting on the kindness of the people in my life. I am completely overwhelmed with the outpouring of support lately from friends, family, acquaintances and even strangers. Nearly everyone I talk to about my upcoming journey has gone out of their way to lend a hand in some way. I am in absolute awe of the generosity, kindness and helpfulness of all of these wonderful people. I posted the other week about the darker side of this coin- those who tell me I’m crazy, and offer no support at all, but instead tear my dreams down and shake their head at me. It’s time to turn the focus on the positive because it is far outweighing the negative. Continue reading
BorealBlonde 