It was only two weeks ago, but it feels like a dream already.
Long story short, I was invited to help photograph a friend of a friend’s wedding. What an amazing opportunity considering I’m the poorest girl in the world.
Because our flight was at stupid o’clock [6:30am] and flying out of Stansted Airport, Aric and I decided to pull an all-nighter [instead of trying to get all of 45 minutes sleep]. White wine and Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America were mandatory all-nighter supplies. It was a bit rough, feeling really sleep deprived, but once we arrived, sleep was the last thing on our minds.
The sun was shining. The air smelled sweet.
Benvenuto a Venezia.
This past week has been crazy busy and emotional. It’s been stressful wondering where my rent money was/is going to come from, interjected with moments of totally bliss from all the wonderful things I was lucky enough to experience.
Quick recap:
Interviews, bank account checking, slow emotional breakdown, more interviews, new friends, Birthday BBQ, World Cup football watching by default, trains, cars, buses, planes, boats, VENICE, photos, tons of walking[!!], sooo much wine, wedding, crying, blissing out, more interviews, BBQ, more wine and finally sleep.
This is what it looked like in slow motion:
I met up with Nick, the birthday boy, on the train from London to Whitchurch. It was above 30c and, apparently, I chose THE hottest train car available. We bonded by reading dirty jokes off Nick’s iphone and profusely sweating for the hour long journey. Good times!
The weather was perfect and the BBQ was really fun. I stuffed myself as one should at such events, content to fall asleep smelling like a campfire.
Note: Aric has magical powers. He was asked to photograph his friend’s wedding in Venice and somehow got me invited as well. Not only was this completely spontaneous, but didn’t cost this poor girl a cent. I’m telling you magical powers.
Before we jumped on a bus to London, to catch our flight at exactly stupid o’clock, we took a stroll through Winchester with Nick and Mel.
After what was most likely the worst bus ride on this trip, we arrived in Selçuk. Not only are overnight buses uncomfortable, claustrophobic, soul stealing modes of transportation, but they drop you off at such an awkward time, making it frustrating when checking into the next humble abode. It was very early morning and our hostel (Boomerang Guesthouse) wouldn’t let us check in until 11:00am. We had to, literally, sleep on the roof and wait for our room. Ok, so the roof was a killer hang out lounge, but still.
We checked in, got a few hours of sleep, then headed ‘downtown’ for some food. Once again, we followed our guide book and decided to eat at Ejder Restaurant. Selçuk is a very small town so it was incredibly easy to find.
Efes On Ice
It was great! All the seating was outside and situated right next to the Byzantine Aqueducts.
Stork’s nest on top of the Aqueducts
We ordered our Turkish favourites; veggie kebabs, lentil soup and ice cold beer. Mehmet Ejder served us himself. He was so friendly it made us feel right at home. After finding out how we ended up at his restaurant he asked for our book and excitedly ran to show his wife the review. We made sure to go back.
Always a kitty friend near by
Our whole reason to visit tiny Selcuk was to see Ephesus. Most people just do day trips on huge tour buses, but that’s not our style. We had all the time in the world so we decided to stay a couple days; it gave us time to take in the local culture. However, I wasn’t quite ready for a whole day of walking and site seeing in 35c heat so we decided to hit up Pamucak Beach instead.
Simply stunning. The sand was powder soft. The water was crystal clear and most importantly, there was (almost) NO ONE ON THE BEACH! Heaven. We camped out under one of the many available palm trees and spent the whole day there.
The next day, we did a mini site seeing tour. Right near our hostel was the Isa Bey Mosque (built by the Seljuk Turks) and the Ottoman castle.
Boo!
Puppy!
Pomegranate Tree!
Fig Tree!
We could see the Temple of Artemis from castle so we decided to walk. It was farther than we thought….
Serious Business
After many wrong turns and sweaty pounds shed, we made it! At first, dozens of huge tour buses blocked our view. Then we realized almost no one was actually going down to see it. Most people just stepped one foot off their air conditioned bus, snapped a photo and left. Unbelievable! I admit it wasn’t that impressive looking, but the history behind it was captivating. It’s one of the Seven Wonders of the World; I had to give it a touch.
So much history in such a small town. Tomorrow Ephesus!
One of my favorite pass times, while traveling, is perusing through the aisles of the local grocery store. Neil and I aren’t really big on junk food, but it’s impossible to resist taking pictures of these hilarious products. I’ve highlighted a few of my fav’s here.
Bucharest, Romania-Fruity Balls Cereal
Bucharest, Romania-Krax Bacon Chips
Bucharest, Romania-Burger Beer
Bucharest, Romania-Ice Crap
Bucharest, Romania-Lady Milk
Bangkok, Thailand-Dr. Taco Chips
Bangkok, Thailand-Pirate Ship Dark Chocolate (these are just rad!)
Bangkok, Thailand-Doll Hair Dye (so you can look like a doll?)
Bangkok, Thailand-Pringles (possibly the worst flavoured chips ever)
We decided that one trip to Amsterdam wasn’t enough. We skipped a couple of the major landmarks to have more of a ‘hang out’ day the first time. There was so much to see, honestly, two days wasn’t even close to enough.
Nothing starts the day better than breakfast from a file cabinet full of heated food. I only had a bite or two, but Neil frequented these more than any one person should. Kidding…but not really.
It was recommended to us to visit the Flower Market on the water. We made it one of our first stops of the day. I was expecting loads of flowers blooming everywhere with…oh I don’t know…something spectacular. There were lots of flowers, but the vendors were mostly selling bulbs and planting supplies. I was kind of underwhelmed, but it was still fun to check out. Maybe my expectations were too high or we went at a bad time of year.
As soon as I got to Holland I started reading The Diary of a Young Girl, the Anne Frank story. I picked it up in the 9 year old girl’s room we were staying in (this little girl had books in her room that most teenagers would read). I knew the general story, but I wanted to learn more specifics before visiting the Anne Frank House.
Although it was a tragic piece of history, I was really interested to walk through the annex that she hid in for 2 years.
After waiting in line for almost an hour, we paid the $10 and walked up the narrow creaky stairs behind the famous bookshelf. Photography wasn’t allowed, but since they cleared out all the furniture there wasn’t really anything to take pictures of. None the less, is was still quite interesting to walk through a place with such history behind it. The walls were stenciled with quotes from Anne’s diary, along with pictures of the 7 other people that lived with her in the annex. Various articles owned by Anne were displayed under glass; including her tattered red diary. Video interviews of Mr. Otto Frank and Ms. Miep Gies played on repeat as we slowly shuffled through the crowd. It was sad, but still one of my favorite things we did in Amsterdam. I’d recommend it to anyone that likes taking in a bit of history.
We found, probably, the best flea market I’ve ever seen. They had rad vintage leather coats, old school Adidas, ancient cameras and electronics along with every kind of printed shirt. If I wasn’t carrying everything I owned on my back, I would have spent all my money there.
The rest of the day was spent wandering…
The nicest McDonald’s I’ve ever seen
Clouds started rolling in and it looked like it was going to pour. We took this as a sign from God telling us to go see the Sex Museum. And did we ever…..I’ve never laughed so much. This place was hilarious! Every stupid thing related to sex was displayed, enlarged, rotated and talked. So much fun!!!
After a very enlightening visit to the museum, it was definitely time for a beer…or two.
And what visit to Amsterdam would be complete without a stop at a ‘cafe’ for a little smoke.
The Bulldog is one of the most popular hemp cafes. A few awkward tourist moments later and SUCCESS(!) we bought weed and smoked it legally while drinking a soda.
I’d have to say that Amsterdam is the first city that I visited on the trip that I could honestly call home. The people are friendly, the weather is mild, I LOVE the architecture and everyone speaks English. I had so much fun! Thanks to Sam for making Neil and I feel so welcome! This trip couldn’t have worked out better.
I was sad to leave, but excited to pick up on our adventure to Transylvania.
Although we were staying 45min away from Amsterdam, the city of Leiden was in the perfect location to visit neighboring towns. Neil was especially interested in visiting the town of Gouda. It’s (obviously) where Gouda was invented and Neil is a huge fan of cheese (despite being slightly lactose intolerant). Sam mentioned that is was a cute little town and well worth the short train ride.
The weather was perfect for strolling around. All be it tiny, Gouda was still quite interesting. Most of the buildings were beautiful ornate stone that looked almost untouched by modern day. The town hall was the most impressive. We stopped for lunch in the popular town square and tried the local brew. (Neil’s Note: The local brew was amazing, check it out in my Beer post)
Our only true destination in Gouda was the famous cheese stores. They had a plethora of flavoured cheeses to buy. The most picture worthy was the herbed Gouda. We bought a wheel of original Gouda and the visit was a success!
Little towns like this remind me why I love traveling. When you can dedicate a whole day to buying cheese you know you’re on vacation.
Flying to Holland was a pleasant unexpected change of schedule. Once we had the offer on the table, we crunched some numbers and figured this was an opportunity that we just couldn’t pass up. So, we hopped on a plane to the other side of Europe. We landed in the Schiphol airport a little tired, but I was excited to see my long lost friend and Neil was stoked for a break from hostel life. OK, I was too.
Samantha and I were childhood friends. After high school we went our separate ways; I moved to Vancouver and Sam moved to Holland/England. I was thrilled to meet up with her again in such an exciting place. We took a short train to Leiden station and waited for a cute blond to pick us up.
She showed up right on time and looked exactly like the pretty Sammo I remembered.
We drove to the house, driving over canal after canal, mostly on cobblestone roads, dodging millions (!) of cyclists. I’ve never seen so many cyclists. Coming from Vancouver I thought was used to seeing bikers on the street, but this was ridiculous. I thought that we were going to peg one for sure.
We rolled up to our new home. Holy jeez we hit the jackpot.
This beautiful 4 bedroom, three floor, two bathroom house was sandwiched between two canals. Sam took us on a mini tour and then up to our room on the very top floor. It was amazing! Normally the family’s 9 year old girl lives in the room, but for the next two weeks it’s ours!! There was a king sized bed and a personal sink in our room with a washer/dryer just around our door. Sigh.
After the shock wore off, Neil, Sam and I hung out in the lovely back yard. Guinea pigs included.
Sam and I downed a bottle of white wine and Neil enjoyed the cheapest Heineken on the planet ($5 a 6-pack). We decided to take it ‘easy’ and go into town for a bite to eat.
Shortly after a serenade by a hilariously drunk bachelor party and another bottle of wine under our belt we wandered back to our palace.
Sam surprised me with the all basic ingredients for ceasers (tomato juice instead of Clamato). At this point I haven’t had a ceaser in months; one of my favs.
We finished the evening watching Flight of the Conchords singing every song that came on. It felt like Sam and I didn’t skip a beat. I was so happy we came.
The next day, I woke with ‘bit’ of a hang over. We planned to go to the beach and I wasn’t going to let the troops down. A few moans and groans later we finally got our butts to the beach only to find that the sun was gone and it started to rain. It reminded me of that Alanis Morissette song from high school.
Anyhoo, it was still nice to get our (now) pale Canadian skin to the beach. We were city bound for a while there.
Almost ever night Sam cooked dinner for us. Nice, hey?! We were so used to crappy sandwiches or whatever weird Romanian or Serbian food we could find. It was such a nice change.
One night, Sam’s friend’s Arla and Michel came over for dinner. It was fun just to shoot-the-shit and drink too much wine.
We basically hung out in Leiden for a couple of days taking it easy before making the trip to Amsterdam. Leiden was a very cute picturesque town with all the charm that I expected from Holland. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood riding their bicycles to and from where ever. The whole town was surrounded by canals with beautiful stone buildings for even the most basic stores and shops. It was great just to wander around with not much of an agenda. Where to go for lunch was our greatest concern.
There was a really nice botanical garden just mins away from the house…..
…and a market they set up every Wednesday and Saturday.
It was fun playing house in this story book town.
Next stop AMSTERDAM!!!!
(I dedicate this post to my friend Amanda from Chicago. She is my motivation for updating today)
Spain was kind of a gong show almost from start to finish. Not necessarily bad, but just a gong show.
Our plan was to meet up with my friend Oisin in Pamplona for Running of the Bulls and then head North to his home town, Najera. We only had 2 days to get there from London if we wanted to make the Running of the bulls (which was a huge motivator for going). Our two choices to fly into were Barcelona and Madrid. On the map they both looked about the same distance apart. (little did we know Barcelona was two hours further on bus). Our first mistake. Our second mistake was that we booked a flight that flew into Barcelona (Gerona). Not researching ahead, we figured it was just another section of the same Barcelona airport. Wrong. Gerona is city an hour North of Barcelona and we needed to catch a bus from there to get to Barcelona. We love spending time and money we don’t have to.
We flew Ryanair. Note to self: Never fly Ryanair. It was a brutal. Nothing was served on the flight. Not even water. They constantly tried to sell you things. From shitty overpriced sandwiches to toy airplanes from the 80’s. Blah! Thankfully it was a short flight and the view was amazing.
Ryanair
Ryanair
Once we took the bus over to Barcelona we fumbled our way into a hostel for one night. The first bus to Pamplona was early the next morning. It was about 9:30pm by the time we checked it. Our hostel was really nice and they had 1euro beers in a vending machine in the lobby. We didn’t even take our bags off and we had already cracked a cold beer while checking in. Ahhh!! I love Barcelona already!
We wandered over to a court yard that was lively, full of beautiful trees and smelled of delicious food. As soon as we sat down there were street performers right in front of our section of tables. There were jugglers, Capoeira dancers/singers and an acrobatic act. It so much fun! We probably spent more money than we should have, but it was so nice to just sit and hang out without power walking trying to see tons of sites.
Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona- Capoeira
Our bus ride to Pamplona was long, but was expected (6-7hrs). We had front row seats the whole way. We arrived dirty, stinky and hungry. There were TONS of people wearing all white with red scarfs and sashes. Apparently Pamplona only has a population of approx 20, 000 people normally, but explodes during the week of Running of the Bulls. Approx 2 million people show up every year, all in proper attire, to see this 100 year old tradition. Oisin was lovely enough to come save us from the crowd at the bus station and brought us to an apartment where we met his friends, washed up and left our bags for the evening.
Pamplona-Oisin
Because this small city has an enormous population influx of during this particular week there is obviously no accommodation. Literally none. The small hand full of hostels and hotels are booked well in advance. Most people just sleep at the bus station or in the street. Not even kidding. There are people EVERYWHERE. Our plan was to just drink though the night and sleep the next afternoon in Najera. I can’t even possibly imagine how anything could go wrong with this plan.
Pamplona
Pamplona
Pamplona
The night began around 7:00pm. We (Oisin, his lovely Spanish friends and us Canadian rookies) left the apartment in search of food. We all starting drinking, dancing in really packed smokey clubs, watching the mini parades and drinking and drinking and completely forgot about food.
Pamplona-Litre Beers
Pamplona
It was so surreal. People, people, people, people everywhere. Seeing kids that have been up for days functioning off Redbull and the Spanish drink of choice, cheap red wine mixed with coke. PS: It’s really really good! One of the clubs we hit was the famous Hemingway Bar. Everyone was drinking tons and having such a blast. Especially Neil. Heh!
Long story short.
Neil had a few too many, we had no where to sleep, Oisin and I were also very tired, we all slept in various places in the bus station along with 5,000 of our closest new friends, we woke just in time for the Running of the Bulls (8:00am), dragged our hungover asses to see them, we end up getting a view that only allowed us to see the tops of peoples heads running past, we meet up with Oisin and caught a well needed bus to Najera, the land of king sized beds and roofs over our heads.
We took a 5 hour nap then went to Oisin’s Mother’s house for a home cooked Spanish meal. Yum!! She made Chili Con Carne and we drank white wine until we we’re sleepy again.
The next day, we slept ’til almost noon. Then we wandered around the quaint little town trying all sorts of tapas suggested by Oisin. One of our ’surprise’ tapas was sheep intestine fried in butter and garlic served with bread. I must admit that I probably would not have tried it if I was ordering off the menu, but it is one of their traditional foods so how could one resist. It tasted really salty and garlicky. It almost had no real taste of it’s own.
Najera-Sheep Intestine
Najera
We also went to a restaurant for a full proper lunch. It was three full courses and a bottle of wine for the table for around 10euros each. Everything was amazing and I was so happy!!
Najera-Chorizo and Potato Soup
Next on our agenda was a hike up the local mountain. Along the walk we could see part of the fortress originally built in 1032. Pretty cool. Hot and kind of still full from lunch we make our slow ass way to the top. The view is incredible! We could see the Najerilla river, the whole city and miles past it.
Najera
We end up restaurant hopping a little throughout the evening, trying all sorts of tapas and drinks. I found myself taking to the liquor a bit too much and way too much fun while the boys gamble there money away.
The next day I woke up with a major hangover and unexpectedly had to make our way all the way back to Pamplona because we bought round trips bus tickets Barcelona-Pamplona thinking we were smart travelers. No we’re not. Mistake number three. So we had to get our shit together in mins and made our way to Pamplona only to find out that we have a 12 hour wait for the next bus to Barcelona.
Long story short.
We wait for hours in the park nodding on and off, getting cold, waiting in the bus station, make new English speaking friends, wait longer, pee behind the parked buses because we are in the current state of party apocalypse and there are 2 million people to one bathroom, catch the bus at 4:30am and drive to Barcelona.
Pamplona-Waiting for the bus
Pamplona-Waiting for the bus
Yay!!! Bed!
We sleep, sleep, sleep and then sleep some more.
We wake up to beautiful Barcelona. Amazing architecture (Guadi), beaches, shopping and sandwiches(?). There are sandwiches everywhere. We are hard pressed to find a decent cheap meal for our poor traveling asses. None the less we eat sandwiches for two full days and see the some of the sites, hit the beach, drink beer, sunbathe our Canadian transparent skin and are content. Happy. Warm.
The weekend of May 23rd, Nathan and I ventured over to Victoria to look at a baby. Now, I must admit that I have not spent a lot of time around wee little ones, so I had low expectations to experience any of the following; sleep, adult conversations, sun tanning or any glimpse of a party at all. But, I was beyond impressed with this tiny little dude. My dearest friend, Christa and, husband of the year, Blake, just had a baby boy named Ryder and he was truly a delight to be around.
I left work early on the Friday to grab my Mother’s car, (Thanks Mom!) packed my camping gear in 5 min then headed to the Tsawwassen ferry dock. With music blaring and the car packed with camping adventure goodness, Mr. Litz and I were ready to rock for our weekend camping trip.
A couple moments of ‘I have no clue where we are’ and a quick rescue from Hayley, Blake and Christa, we arrive at Jordan River. The time? 9:30pm. The perfect time to set up a tent in the dark. A few wobbly pops later and we’re ready for action.
Christa and Blake are expert adventurers. They have everything your little heart would desire for a camping trip; including, a trailer. This thing was amazing! A magical $150 score. It was somewhat of a late night tipping a few back and shooting the shit while staring at the baby. Did I mention this baby was perfect?! With 5 old friends singing along to cheesy 90’s hiphop and a million flashing cameras not a peep out of little baby Ryder all night. He was like a cute sleeping center piece on the table.
My comfy soundless sleep passout was rudely awakened by the neighbors screaming children. Grr! A few wipes of the camping face and off to the outhouse inside trailer bathroom(!!) and I was ready to face the morning sun. Unfortunately, most of our morning was spent trying to find the perfect spot to suntan out of the freezing wind. But, alas, Captain Blake to the rescue and we relocate to a little sandy beach hidden from the wind. This turned out to be the best idea of all time and we spent a glorious day laying around drinking cider, taking pictures and soaking up the sun.
Enter Brock and Kaeli.
By the time we roll on back to the camp site the tent was in a little bit of trouble. I’m not a camping expert, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t supposed to be horizontal. Emergency camp site relocation!! We actually carry the bloody thing full of our stuff to another camp site.
We settle down, cook some grub and the sun sets.
Drink. Drink Drink. And the camp site turns into a dance party fully equip with a dance floor. A couple of tent stubbles, laughs so hard they hurt and tinkles in the trees and it was the greatest camping trip of all time.
Late last month I was sent to Chicago for work. I decided to take advantage of the free air fare and stay a couple days longer to visit with my cousin Heather. I have never been to Chicago before so I was pretty stoked about the whole trip.
I arrived early evening on Tuesday, April 21st. [Side note: every time I fly, no matter how long the flight is, I always end up looking like a cat coughed me up and dragged me off the plane] Heather was sweet enough to fight rush hour traffic to pick me up from the airport. This was only the second time that I was to meet my cousin. I was actually kind of worried that we weren’t going to recognize each other. Case in point, she drove right past me twice and I had no idea it was her. Girls change their hair way too often.
We drove straight to pick up my Aunt Rachael, who I only met twice previously. We had dinner at the lovely Las Mananitas Mexican Restaurant (I think) in Boys Town. A couple sleepy jet lagged drinks later and Heather drove me to my hotel, The Whitehall. When I went to check in they informed me that a pipe burst in the hotel and my room was no longer available and they had reserved a room at another hotel for the night. Seriously?! All I wanted to do was face plant on my bed and lie unconscious for 8 hours. Blah! Blah! They drove me to my new hotel and all was well.
The next day I met all the fabulous ladies that worked for my company in the Chicago area. I was so happy that they were so welcoming and friendly ‘cause I was working with some major jet lag. (I know it’s not even that long of a flight) That evening we dined on the company dollar at Fred’s on top of Barney’s. Lovely!
I cautiously went to check into my room after dinner crossing my fingers that I had a place to sleep for the night. “Why yes there is a room available for you” said the front desk attendant “and you’ve been upgraded!”. “I better be” I sarcastically snapped in a ‘Do you know who I am response?’. I took my suitcase upstairs and lo and behold, they DID upgrade me…to the most ballin’ room in the place. Not only did I get a hotel room twice the size of my apartment, but with a balcony like I’ve never seen.
After the greatest sleep EVER (!!) in a king sized bed, I woke and met my co-worker for brunch and then off to a taping of The Oprah Show!! It was so much fun and very surreal to be VIP behind the scenes on one of the most powerful programs in television. I’m not exactly a diehard fan myself, but still cool none the less. No cameras or phones were allowed in as expected. So all I have as proof are these….
By Friday afternoon I was off the clock and had some time to chill with Heather. We chowed on some Chicago style pizza and hit the town. We were both pretty pooped from our work week, but we managed to squeeze in some drunken karaoke at The Bong Café and pints at Charles Ale House.
Saturday was a bit more chill. It was raining and very similar to Vancouver when it rains, it’s hard to sight see. We did our best and hit up Huey’s for Chicago style hotdogs and then the Museum. The pirate exhibit was sold out, but we saw some dinosaur action and then some underground bugs. (My camera died!)
Over all I loved Chicago! It was a city that I could sink my teeth into if I had more time and money. I would definitely go back in the summer time and do some serious shopping and lingering in dark seedy bars in Buck Town.
The nicest McDonald’s I’ve ever seen
