I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes wondering what the frack to write for the ‘ol blog, and I’m drawing a blank. I’ve been working full-time in retail for the holidays on top of freelancing, so lately I hardly have time to shower. My friends avoid me. I don’t know what I was thinking, taking all this on.

So for the time being, I’m switching back to typed post rather than handwritten. It’s that or no blog at all.

Fortunately it’s been a lovely distraction from the ongoing depression that has been sucking the energy out of me since I returned from South America. You know, the ongoing post-trip depression that won’t go away until you have verified other travel plans. So far I have a resort vacation booked for the Dominican Republic in May…but that’s a vacation, the kind of thing where I’m reunited with some old friends for a wedding and we sit on a beach and drink pina coladas and rotate every now and then to sun our backs.

But THESE destinations are on my wishlist for 2012, and with any luck, I’ll get there. It won’t be early in the year, as I have some BIG, BIG life-altering news coming up soon. Don’t wanna count my chickens before they hatch, in the meantime. Or something.

Anyway, these trips all require at least 3 months each, so I better move fast. Good thing I have a handful of housesitting accounts.

Greece

Durr, it’s only what I talk about ALL THE TIME. I can’t even look at pictures posted by fellow bloggers because the envy swallows me up and I want to stab people. And there’s the fact that Visit Greece sends me weekly newsletters being all “YOU in Greece!” and every time I receive one I think it’s an invitation and my heart flutters. Fortunately, Mike Swoden (a fellow Greekophile) and I are hatching some sorta plan. No idea what it is yet, but it’s gonna be sweet.

(Photo: Eustaquio Santimano)

I wanna do western Greece, hit up Thessaloniki and then make my way through the mainland towards the islands. Then I wanna spend a couple of months sailing from island to island, hitting up ancient sites and indulging the Classics geek in me. Even as I write this I get extraordinarily excited. You know, the kind of excited that makes you feel nauseated? ANCIENT TEMPLES OMG.

Ireland

If I’m going to do Ireland again, I’m gonna do it right this time. I’m going to head to Cork and dig up my family history, then jaunt over to Galway to spend some time on the west coast. I think I’d settle in Galway for awhile. I think I’d settle into Irish pubs and fiddle music and explore the connections between there and Newfoundland. I think Irish music is the most beautiful music in the world, and I’m taking dance classes after Christmas.

(Photo: qbik)

Then I might even head up to Belfast, see what Northern Ireland is all about. Thoughts? Should I?

Iceland

Earlier in the year I did a bit of social media work for a company called Mountain Taxi and stayed in close contact ever since. I had to do a lot of Iceland research in the process, and found myself devouring article after article about the country. I haven’t been to Iceland, but it feel it’s a lot like Newfoundland in the way that it’s a world apart from everything else.

(Photo: o palsson)

Waterfalls, fjords, glaciers, and the rockin’ city of Reykjavik… I want to go off-roading, Super Jeeping, hiking, glacier walking. I want to party in a notoriously fun city and chase puffins around. Where else in the world does a Prime Minister invite tourists to have pancakes with him?

That’s it. Three major trips, plus Halifax to visit Cailin and some other great friends. I should probably move fast.

Hey guys, remember a few weeks ago when I left you all dangling by the tantalizing tidbit of information that I had big travel plans coming up? Well here’s the thing. I’m going to Peru tomorrow.

This actually all started two months ago when I found myself hyperventilating over an email from Contiki about having me on their global familiarization trip to South America. They’re just launching their tours there this fall, and I’m one of the lucky handfuls of people attending.

In case the roommate forgets

So this process of preparation has been ongoing for quite some time. I’ve been getting vaccinated, reprimanded by my parents, rushing around to pick up malaria pills and medication in case I get the trots, scrambling to put together visas and passports and stressing out over the looming Air Canada strike.

Real conversation between myself and the pharmacist yesterday:

“Avoid eating spicy foods and drinking coffee or alcohol when you take these.”
“…but I love all those things.”
“I can tell.”

Oh wait, I forgot to mention I’m going to Brazil and Argentina too.

Boom.

Guys, I can’t even wrap my head around the itinerary, it’s so good. Watching the sunrise in Macchu Picchu? Helicopter ride over Iguassu Falls? Tango lessons in Buenos Aires? I CAN’T EVEN BREATHE RIGHT NOW.

It’s a whirlwind 9-day trip, but South America has been in my sights as a prospective travel destination for awhile, so I’m hoping this guided tour will give me a bit of insight into how to travel there safely and confidently.

So armed with Gravol and drowsy medication to knock me out for all the flying I have to do (DID I MENTION I HATE FLYING?), it’s off to South America I go! Stay tuned.

If you follow Cailin O’Neil and I on Twitter, you’ve probably overheard us discussing our grand Trans-Canada adventure plotted for next month. It all started with a Westjet seat sale to Halifax on May 18th.

I’ll be spending some time in Halifax with my very pregnant BFF Jo picking out baby clothes with intermittent trips to my favourite haunts (i.e. The Split Crow Pub) before hopping the train with Cailin to Montreal…a whopping 21-hour trip, economy class. We plan on downing a few beers and sneaking into the dome (just kidding, Via Rail!), but those cramped quarters will be rewarded with a two-night stay at the snazzy Omni Hotel in downtown Montreal. Montreal! Finalement!

Then it’s off to Ottawa to spend two nights with my amazingly awesome family, and THEN we roll into Kingston on the 1st of June to pick up our free ride from HittheRoad.ca before heading to Toronto…where we will celebrate Cailin’s birthday with gusto and glam.

After that…well, we have no itinerary. I’ve never been to Toronto OR Montreal, and I haven’t been further west than Ottawa. We need to be in Vancouver by June 10th (ideally the 9th) for TBEX, which I figured would be enough time for a leisurely drive through the prairies, but wow…Ontario is big. Like, real big. Our ideal route meanders up through Winnipeg > Regina > Moose Jaw > Calgary > Banff > Kamloops or Kelowna > Vancouver, but Cailin is doing most of the driving and we want to spend at least two days in Banff. Does anyone have any suggestions about the quickest way to do this route? We don’t want to necessarily spend 10 hours a day on the road. Seems like it’d be best to go through the USA, but hey, we’re trying to do Canada here.

We also have places to stay in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, and potentially Banff. If you have any suggestions on where to lay our head in between, please let us know! We’re also open to itinerary ideas, including WTF to do in the prairies. Frolic in a wheat field? Skinnydip in a lake like you see in all those awesome Molson commercials? Okay!

Why are we doing this?

Well, as far as I know, I’m the only person representing Newfoundland at TBEX, and Cailin and I simply cannot let the west coast steal all the glory! We’re probably gonna show up haggard and dirty from all the wheat fields, but damn it, we’re gonna bring some east coast pride to Vancouver. I am thrilled to be exploring the west while bringing so much love from my Rock.

Secondly, I’m doing this during the launch of my new social media management business for travel & tourism in Atlantic Canada to prove that I can live a location independent lifestyle while still kicking ass on the employment front. This might be my biggest challenge: not the cramped quarters, not listening to Cailin talk endlessly for hours, not the tedium of driving for days on end. Oh no, it’s the push to get shit done when you’re exploring the second-biggest country on earth, from the Great Lakes to the Rockies to the Pacific.

Oh, the things we do to escape the cubicle.

Unfortunately, I’ve already been thwarted. Via Rail’s economy class doesn’t even have power outlets, who knew? How do people occupy themselves without electricity? Surely they don’t expect us to read books! Never mind, then. I’ll figure it out.

Also, I have no idea how I’m getting back from Vancouver. I may backtrack through Whistler, then Jasper, and fly into Ottawa for Canada Day. By that time, I’ll be broke and getting ready to travel around Newfoundland and (potentially) Labrador for the summer. My god! CAN YOU JUST. FEEL. THE. ENERGY?!! I can barely sit still.

We want you to follow along with Cailin and Candice’s Cross Canada adventure via our blogs and Twitter. We’re gonna have some ridiculous stories to share, and we can’t wait to do it. We probably need a hashtag. Cailin suggested #CCCC, but I don’t think I could remember that one.

I’ve never been to New Zealand and my knowledge of the country extends only as far as the images seen on Lord of the Rings. I bet you Kiwis hate that, don’t you? But there’s this whole Blog4NZ thing going on and I hate missing out on a good party, so I started reading through the blog posts. Dear god! If it didn’t cost more than my entire savings account to get there from Newfoundland, I’d be all over it like stink on a hobo.

But when I do get there someday, here’s what I’d like to do.

Walk Baldwin Street in Dunedin - I got this idea from Andy Hayes, and although it seems like a cop-out compared to the other wicked-awesome things to do in New Zealand, climbing the steepest street in the world would be rad. Especially when I’m pretty sure I live on the steepest street in North America. Or at least it feels that way.

But I won't ride a unicycle like this fool. Photo by Samuel Mann.

Hike Doubtful Sound - Another from Mr. Hayes, simply because OMGISNTTHISPRETTY?

I wonder why it's called Doubtful Sound. "Is this a Sound?" "Doubtful." Photo by Kiwi-Wings.

Sit on a beach – Because I can.

Visit Hobbiton - I had no idea this actually existed. TINY HOUSES FOR TINY PEOPLE?

White Water Rafting – Like Dave & Deb did with Rangitata Rafting, because water sports are the only sports I really enjoy and yet I’ve never been white water rafting. I’d love being hosed down while clinging to a raft in class 5 rapids, truly.

Visit Aoraki Mount Cook National Park – Because the water is so blue. And the tallest mountain in New Zealand is okay too, I guess.

Photo by dan taylor.

Actually, Camp at all 14 National Parks – If there’s anything I learned from my weekend at winter camp and my unfortunate 20-minute struggle to change my underwear in my sleeping bag, it’s that I definitely need more camping experience.

Hang Out With Some Glow Worms in Waitomo, New Zealand – I hate worms and things that have glowing poop, but these are pretty cool. Also, I had a nightmare not too long ago that I found 3 worms in my hair and they were causing me to go bald, so I feel like somehow it fits into my weird life.

Learn to Dive – I’ve been tossing around the idea of learning how to dive for a few months now, and it’s something I’d like to do. There’s some amazing shipwrecks around the coast of Newfoundland to be explored. One of New Zealand’s 25 marine reserves sounds like a pretty great place to start.

The one thing I won’t do, ever? This.

Now excuse me, this music is giving me a seizure.

Blog4NZ is a grassroots blogging and social media effort to support New Zealand travel in the wake of the Canterbury earthquake.

It is a worldwide blogging event happening on March 21-23, 2011 and you can be a part of it.

You’ll be proud to hear I’ve started setting my alarm clock again. I now wake up every morning at 9 a.m., read for a little while, and brew a cup of coffee. Sometimes I roll around on the floor and cry about my lack of income, but generally I’m calm, cool and collected. I’ve even started walking Maggie’s dog for beer money.

Don’t judge.

I’ve applied to two different freelance positions. I have a large project in the works with a few good buddies. But here’s my general plan:

If I don’t have a viable income by the time my EI runs out, and if I don’t get my other projects off the ground, I’ll go teach in South Korea or Japan. I had planned for Busan anyway, and I already have an amazing recruiter connection.

My other ideas are either moving to Halifax or Montreal. The vote is in favour of Montreal, where I know nobody, where I don’t speak French, and where I’m unsure of the job market. I kinda like that.

The other is Halifax where I have more friends than I can handle and I’m also closer to home.

So I did the only thing reasonable.

I bought a one-way ticket to Halifax.

August 26th I leave, with no definite return date. I’m not moving, though. I need a change of scenery, and a change of pace. Although as soon as I posted my status on Facebook, my friend replied, “I’m flying in the next day, drinks?”

Ah, can’t escape the love.

Basically, I’m unsure if I’m ready to leave St. John’s. Halifax, Montreal…baby, if you want me, make an offer. It’s hard to face the fact I may never experience a front-yard view like this again.

Makes the trashy houses look pretty.

Oh yeah, did I mention The National Post identified me in an article? I shit you not. It’s right there, at the very bottom, just scroll down. No, further. FURTHER. Now I have to get my ass in gear to put together this film before Tuesday, and I don’t have the slightest freaking clue what to do.

First, let me apologize for my lack of content. You’re surely devastated, and perhaps are writing me hatemail right now. It’s ok, I understand.

I’m not complaining by any means, but I’m totally worked to death. While this blog is one of my great passions, paid work comes first. Always. Last night while writing an article for Examiner (I’m a St. John’s Nightlife Examiner, by the way), I passed out mid sentence at 12 a.m., at least an hour earlier than I usually get to sleep. Today I’m clear headed. Who knew sleep made such a difference?

Anyway, in the past few weeks I’ve been scrambling to get things together for New York City. My blurry weekend in Halifax aside, this is the first real vacation I’ve had since last summer. I realize I’m attending a travel bloggers conference and all, but I’ve decided to ditch the laptop and fully immerse myself in the city.

Immerse, indeed. Last weekend, by some miracle, the sun came out full force and I blew off all my chores to sunbathe with my Frommer’s NYC guide on the back deck. The result is a list of things I want to see and do that will require 5 years to complete.

NYC planning. HALP.

In reality, TBEX will take up 90% of my time. Even Friday evening there’s a kick-off party, and before that, I’m sharing a meal/drinks galore with Steph, Cailin and Pam (and whoever else wants to join!). Saturday morning, I have to put my hangover on hold to attend the conference, doling out Newfoundland & Labrador materials and tossing my business cards around like confetti and crack. Immediately following is a TripAdvisor party, supper with the Matador editors (SO excited), and a BootsnAll party. And seeing as how it’s Saturday night, I sure as hell won’t be going home at 10.

Repeat on Sunday.

Never mind the people I really, really hope to spend time with (and the others I’m sure to meet along the way!). I have a little Word document on my computer with a list of people I want to shake hands with/grope/hug. There’s a lot. I’m also pretty aerie-faerie at times, so if you introduce yourself to me and I stare at you blankly, just punch me in the face. Or run up to me and hug me, I don’t believe in personal space.

Plus the sightseeing, my gawd! The Broadway show, Ground Zero, dive pubs, the Statue of Liberty, MoMA, Central Park, Times Square, Rockefeller Center.

I expressed my distress to my travelling companion, Kirsten, about not fitting everything in. She told me (in nicer terms), “Suck it up, princess. NYC will always be there.”

It’s true. I’m not going to map out daily itineraries. I feel like this trip is the culmination of many forces drawing me to the city. I’m not a big-city person, and I never cared about seeing NYC, but I awoke one morning after a dream which took place there, and I said, “I’m going.”

Then I won the Frommer’s travel guide. Then TBEX announced their NYC location, and I discovered I could get to the city for less than half the Airmiles it would take to get me to Alberta. For real.

So now the time is approaching and I’ve bought a sexy new suitcase and tote bag, the hotel is booked and I’m ready to go. So, so ready.

With expandable zipper and 10 year warranty for the amount of shopping I hope to do.

Who else wants to meet up for a few beers, exchange travel stories and hit on strangers in the grand city of NYC? Let I know.

I meant to tell you my other travel plans, but this is a little long-winded. Just know that they involve ferry rides to isolated towns without paved roads and trying to recapture my childhood by searching for Mash Gush Falls.

I talk about Newfoundland a lot. I can close my eyes and count the pieces of gum wads encrusted in the sidewalk before Atlantic Place on my way to work. I get wrapped up in my own place.

Then I go back through old Facebook photo albums and I realize I had a whole previous travel life. One that cost me a shitload of cash I didn’t have, but one that changed my entire existence forever.

Four days was all it took for me to fall in love with Edinburgh, Scotland.

My long-weekend getaways were a whirlwind of activity when I studied in England. We hopped the bus to Stansted from Harlow at 3 a.m. on a Friday morning, flew into a new city, and stayed there until Monday evening. We were bloody exhausted, usually hungover and our workloads suffered. I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Edinburgh is one of the few cities I felt comfortable in while abroad. I’m still surprised by how populated the area actually is – to me, it felt small. Intimate. I mean, there’s a freaking castle and a mountain in the middle of the city, and nobody else seems as impressed by this as I am.

I’m also surprised by how many people skip over Scotland entirely. Most of my friends who travel seem to pay no interest in the country.

But the moment you step into the city and there’s a bagpiper tootin’ his little heart out, you can’t help but grin. The rough accents, the architecture, the Royal Mile, the Highlands just beyond the city…it feels like Newfoundland and Ireland all rolled into one.

The details are a little hazy now. I remember karaoke and a house party. One night, after visiting a bar, my classmate Kat and I left early because I was still feeling ill from the plague I caught in Dublin. Crossing along one of the streets, we turned to see Edinburgh Castle all yellow and lit up above the city. I remember thinking if I could find a home abroad, it’d be somewhere close to Edinburgh.

My first trip abroad was to France. It cost me just a few hundred dollars, and it only took an hour to get there by ferry from Newfoundland.

Photo courtesy of Miquelon (click photo)

St. Pierre et Miquelon is a group of islands owned by France just chillin’ out in the Atlantic Ocean. Hardly anyone knows they’re there, and I suspect they kinda like it that way.
 
The place is bloody old. According to its website, the islands were used for more than 8000 years by the Beothuks and Paleo-Eskimos. Then the Europeans swooped in, set up fishing industry and the islands grew prosperous from there. SPM is also notoriously known for its rum-running history during the USA prohibition.
 
I assume one of the reasons the islands are so isolated is because it’s friggen hard to get there. There’s only one airline (Air Saint- Pierre), and there’s just one ferry which leaves from Fortune early in the morning. This means that driving to Fortune from St. John’s or any other urban areas when you get to Newfoundland is a hassle, and Fortune isn’t exactly the most fun place to visit.
 
Breaking it down: St. Pierre is the most populated island with about 6,500 people, and Miquelon is the larger island but has just a tiny village of 600 people. Then there’s the deserted Ile aux Marins, and a small farm-inhabited island called Langlade. AND THEN there’s a bunch of places I’ve never even heard of until just five minutes ago, like l’Ile aux Vainqueurs, l’Ile aux Pigeons and l’Ile Verte. I just got unreasonably excited.
 
 I haven’t been there in about eight years, but I remember the ferry ride and the young school children vomiting with seasickness. Then: stepping onto the pier, the whole downtown area opening up with colourful storefronts, old French-styled architecture and adorable little European cars (how the hell do you get cars to SPM?). And a man yelling at me to clear the plank.

Photo courtesy of Miquelon

Literally, the moment you step foot onto St. Pierre, you’re in a different country. English is barely spoken, and European voltage replaces North American standards. Euros are the currency. It feels like Europe, but you can’t ignore some of the Newfoundland vibes poking their way into the town like colourful saltbox houses, fishing boats, and damned chilly weather.
 
We were studying French at the Francoforum, Memorial University’s French institution. Me and a few girls stayed with a little old lady named Madame Luberry. We adored her food — the rich butter, the salads with vinaigrette sauces — and watching Friends dubbed with French. There was an albino lobster mounted on the wall in her living room.

We spent the next few days immersed in French culture, enjoying French cuisine and touring the ghost town on Ile aux Marins. Washed up on the beach was the hull of a ship. The 8 mile sand bar between Miquelon and St. Pierre has wrecked at least 500 vessels.

Shipwreck courtesy of miquelon

We were 16 at the time, bar-going age in St. Pierre. The discotheque reputably had the best light system “this side of Montreal,” which means perhaps two strobe lights instead of one. But it was our first real experience at a bar, sober, and we had more fun than a 16 year old ever could in Canada. I distinctly remember the woman dressed entirely in denim dancing with her eyes closed in the corner.

When not in classes, we’d stroll around the town with the smell of French bakeries flowing out from the streets. I bought $40 worth to bring home. $40. Pain du chocolat, croissants, French bread.

I can actually smell the town and imagine walking through fog so dense we couldn’t see our feet. Then there’s the shop where I bought the silver dolphin ring with the green stone, the one I lost just a few months ago.

Photo courtesy of Miquelon

The whole time I’ve been writing this post, my brain’s been bubbling over with excitement. Road trip, anyone?

Check out some more St. Pierre et Miquelon images in the Flickr group.

On another note, if you have time, check out this site I’ve lately discovered called Dog Meets World. It’s a unique project designed to allow travellers to make “real connections to other people in other cultures, in essence to become photo-diplomats.” Have a look!

Figured I’d update you all on some recent developments in my 2010 travel plans. This week I booked a weekend in Halifax for February 19-21. Yeah, three full days was all I could pull off, but my best friend needs me and a couple cases of Coronas.

After I booked the trip and started experiencing the first stomach-bubbles of anticipation, I sat back and thought…wtf is there to do in Halifax?! I know absolutely nothing about the city, besides the fact it’s twice the size of St. John’s, has a million universities, and was the site for the huge Halifax explosion.

Which reminds me of that Canadian heritage commercial from 100 years ago. Damn, they don’t make quality actors like this anymore.

Anyway, I have a few contacts around the city, including Chris and some blogger friends, and I just recently found out my boozebag cousin will be moving there in two weeks. This all has potential to be quite a two-day, whirlwind trip.

That being said, I’d still like some suggestions on what to do while there. I have a few things planned, but I’m puzzled by my ignorance. At least half of my friends are from Nova Scotia, it seems weird that I’m not better acquainted with the place. I feel like it’s Newfoundland’s sister province. In fact, I spent last night playing Risk with three boys from Yarmouth (I lost, in case you were wondering). And earlier I had a phone chat with Mitch from Cape Breton, the island where at least a dozen of my friends hail from.

Even more exciting news, however, is that I bought a TBEX ticket! Oh shit yeah! I’m going to NYC, baby!

The whole thing was very spontaneous. I’m taking some extra time off work so I can hit up a few days in the city, so I want to make the most of my time there. I’m so excited I could cry. In fact, maybe I will.

But then I realized something, an unfortunate situation which the travel world shall shun me for. I have never planned a trip solely by myself before. Every other time I’ve travelled, it’s been with others or arranged through school/work. I am almost definitely guaranteed to land in NYC, have a panic attack, and pass out on a bus stop where a bum will rob me of my earrings and wallet. OMG.

Did I even mention my overwhelming fear of large cities? Or how I was so terrified of the London tube, I wet my pants? (That didn’t happen. But it could have.)

So I’m reaching out to my blogger friends and asking to be included in your NYC plans. Dates? Accommodations? Drinks? Strippers? I’m going to make a big list of names and paste them to a chart complete with coordinating photos so I can memorize them beforehand. That way I can walk up to you at the conference and be all, “DUUUUDE, you’re the one with that sweet-ass blog about travelling with a camel and a family of 10!” And you will be impressed. I promise.

On a more serious note, I was going to write a post about the situation in Haiti but the effort seems useless now as there are one million blogs doing the same. All I can say is that my heart breaks every time I see the updates, and I cannot imagine the amount of devastation being experienced by the country.

I’m also insanely impressed by the outpouring of support from eager volunteers on behalf of Matador’s campaign to get some help to Haiti. To follow this incredible process, all initiated by the equally incredible Julie Schwietert, keep checking Matador Change for updates.

Also check out Got Passport’s site for some great info. Every little effort counts.

(Thumbnail image by Itdan)