Travel Tips

Istanbul, Turkey

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Feeling rejuvenated and ready for adventure, I hopped on a plane and touched down hours later in Istanbul, Turkey (after another lovely airport overnight in Athens). Before I left Yellowknife, my good friend Mike (more commonly known as Rug) and I had made plans to go on an epic six week adventure together. It started with him joining me in Africa. I had settled on the country Namibia and I still to this day cannot recall how it was I chose Namibia out of all of the countries in Africa, but I believe it was one of those ones that the universe seemed to be sending me subliminal messages about, over and over. Experience has taught me it’s best to listen to the universe, and so, without knowing anything about Namibia, I decided this would be my African destination. I was interested in Turkey as well and he told me his mom and step dad owned a really cool cave hotel there, and that maybe we could check out Turkey together as well!  Jordan had of course been on my wish list from the start and after some planning we figured we could spend a week in Turkey, a week in Jordan and then use the rest of our time down in Africa. Continue reading →

Paris, Ma Chérie

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You should grab yourself a nice steaming cup of coffee, maybe a baguette and some butter, or perhaps a croissant from your local bakery, turn on some Charles Aznavour and enjoy the next few minutes as I take you on a little trip through the romantic streets of sweet, sweet Paris.

When I was in Argentina, I was lucky enough to meet the beautiful soul Stéphanie and we spent the day exploring Igauza falls together with some other lovely friends. We kept in touch, and when I was on my way over to France, she generously invited me to come and stay with her in Paris. She was currently in between jobs so she also offered to show me about the beautiful city herself – how spoiled I am! My plan was to sort of skim through Paris on my way up towards Norway, but I ended up spending four days instead of two because there was simply so much to see, and I was having such a lovely time with Stéphanie! Continue reading →

Road Tripping Through Iceland Part II

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After two nights in the sweet little town of Vik, we thanked our host most graciously for her help, and within minutes of driving away from the coastal town, we left the rain and mist behind us and burst back into bright sunshine. Oh the joys of the open road!  Today we were off to see glacier lagoons, another national park and a river that tore down through a gorge in a valley called Fjathrarglijufur. As we drove, the landscape changed drastically and we suddenly found ourselves amid the largest lava field in the world!  Every which was you looked was a blanket of blackened, cooled lava, which was being taken over by bulbous green moss tufts, creating a strange spectacle. Continue reading →

Road Tripping Through Iceland Part I

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Iceland was never originally on my radar- mostly because I thought it would be far too expensive. But it kept coming up again and again, and I couldn’t ignore the universe trying to send me a message. I was already in Europe, who knew when I would be back next… so why not? I looked at flights and while it was still an expensive flight, I had started dreaming about Iceland and knew I had to visit this place. I knew I made the right decision when my dear friend Emilee from back home in Canada messaged me to tell me her and another friend were heading to Iceland at the same time as me! That settled it. I booked my flights and made plans to meet the girls for an epic week long road trip through Iceland’s Ring Road. Emilee and Caitlyn had two weeks in Iceland, so we were going to start with the most exciting stuff in the South and work our way East then North, and then I would catch a bus from wherever we ended up after a week back to Reykjavik. Continue reading →

How To Not Get Robbed On A Bus, Like I Did…!

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Well this also finally happened… I was robbed. Before you freak out, family and friends, no, I was not held up at gun or knife point and stripped of all my belongings, thank god. It was a more of a ghost robbery, where I was left totally unaware. I  hopped on my bus in Banos heading for Guayaquil to meet up with Anthony, a nice cheap $7 ride for 7 hours. I walked towards the back of the bus where my assigned seat was. There was a man at the back of the bus who looked as if he worked on the bus as he was directing patrons to seats. He motioned for me to take my assigned seat, which I did and then said I could store my backpack up top or below my seat. There were bags under the seat in front of me so I slide my back pack back under my own seat and settled in. Mistake number one. Unnoticed, the man took a seat directly behind me. Continue reading →

When Travel Sickness Strikes – How To Cope

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*Warning* this post is explicit in the shameless details of being ill- if you’re easily disgusted, don’t keep reading! 😛

So it finally happened. I got sick. Real sick.  Two days before I left Guatemala, I came down with mild food poisoning. I got through a bad night of basically trying to sleep while sitting on the toilet, the agonizing cramps making me nearly cry out for my mommy. There’s something about being violently ill that makes you want you mother desperately. I had flashbacks of warm baths, cold cloths on my forehead, four litre ice cream buckets that we dubbed “puke pails”, gingerale, tums, and gentle back rubs from moms comforting hands. Unfortunately all I had was a shared public bathroom with doors that were open on both the top and bottom, allowing all the gastric sounds to escape easily. Continue reading →

Travel Tips For Central America

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Central America is wonderful little collection of tropical countries that separate North from South America. I spent the last three months traveling through Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras and Belize. Three months was no where near enough time and I regrettably missed seeing El Salvador and Panama and only got to see a tiny bit of Honduras. It was my first time backpacking, so I was a bit of a novice at traveling in general, but I learned a lot about travel through Central America in those three short months. I’ve compiled a few of the things that I think would be most helpful to a first time traveler in Central America, however these tips could likely be applied to most places backpackers venture! Continue reading →