I've been in the Netherlands since last Wednesday. It's now Sunday afternoon and I'm at my Tante Rite's house taking advantage of her internet since we don't have internet at my Oma's house. So much has happened this week already! It's great to be here again. 7 years is way too long to go without seeing my Dutch family but it honestly doesn't feel like 7 years in many ways since it's just like being at a second home. All of my family on my dad's side lives here. I flew to Amsterdam with a short stop in London. My fiirst [View Full Entry]

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OK, so here are the 5 words I know in Polish: Dobry - good (dobree) Dzien dobry - good morning or hello (gendobree) Dobranoc - good night (dobranots) Milo mi - it's nice to meet you (meewo mee) Prosze - please (prosheh) Dziekuje - thank you (gehnkooyeh) (ooh - actually 6 words!) That's it! I find Polish to be extremely difficult and it's not at all like Spanish or Dutch where you can catch a lot of the words because they are so similar to English. But I've been getting by. It's amazing how you can just use a few words [View Full Entry]

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Wow. The best way I can explain my Saturday and adventure to Poland is to do a timeline, so here goes: 9:58 am - had just finished a leisurely last walk around outside and breakfast, back at my hostel and leisurely checking email before checking out of my hostel and leisurely making my way to the airport for my 1:30 pm flight. 9:59 am - thinking hmm, maybe I should just check the airport website to make sure my flight isn't delayed. 10:00 am - discoving my flight time has been changed from 1:30 pm to 11:05 am!!!! Panic sets in. [View Full Entry]

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Not sure why this site isn´t accepting my additions to the last blog - so here is the new stuff again just in case: Last thing I did was go watch the Magic Fountain (the fountain does a pretty awesome music and light show) and do a last wander around the Plaça Espanya area. What a great way to end my stay here! I feel like I´m forgetting a lot but you really have to see the city for yourselves if I´ve piqued your interest at all. Got to make sure I´m up early for my flight to Warsaw tomorrow. I´ve [View Full Entry]

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I guess I didn´t really explain why I came to Barcelona of all places. Most of you probably know, but just in case some don´t, here it is. In the fall of 2002 I came here with my classmates (about 25 of us) from the University of Calgary to study planning and architecture for a semester. We all lived here for 4 months and I had an apartment with 3 girl friends. We got to know the city quite well - after 4 months it felt quite like home. It was an amazing time and an experience I´ll always cherish. So [View Full Entry]

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Well, I slept like a baby who hadn´t slept in 30 hours....I was hoping to be up fairly early but I only woke up at 9 am because I heard someone else´s alarm go off down the hall - thanks! Maybe they do wake up calls here - rather be up at 7. What a busy day! I can honestly say I haven´t walked as much in the last 2 weeks as I did today. After a delicous breakfast consisting of an omelette bocadillo (quite tasty), I headed off to my old stomping grounds. First stop - my old apartment just [View Full Entry]

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Hello folks, Another blog... yup, I´m doing it again. Mostly for selfish reasons as it makes remembering things when I scrapbook a trip MUCH easier afterwards. But, I also hope you enjoy reading it too! I´ll apologize in advance if the blog is a little less amusing than usual as I don´t have Brad by my side interjecting his witty little comments as I write. I hope you´re not too disappointed and still find some enjoyment in the adventures of Debra solo. So, yes, I am traveling on my own this time! Here´s the basic itinerary: Leave November 9th, back on [View Full Entry]

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Bye paradise! On Monday we left Ko Phi Phi Don (with much sadness) and caught the early morning ferry to Phuket. We met a really interesting “young” Chinese fellow on the ferry - he was 87 years old and still traveling! He told us some amazing stories of his life in China and being held hostage in a university when he was young on suspicion of being a spy and forced to do all kinds of physical labour. He was there for 10 years before they finally realized they had no evidence on him anyway. It was incredible to hear how [View Full Entry]

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What an amazing week it's been! We've just completed an entire week on Ko Phi Phi Don (pronounced Ko Pee Pee Don), an island between Phuket (pronounced Pooget/Pooket) and Ko Lanta. We stayed in the town on the island the first night to get our bearings but my cousin recommended that we stay at the Paradise Pearl Bungalows on Long Beach. She said they were "a dream" and Rita, you were right. That describes it perfectly. The room we had was gorgeous with a great view of Ko Phi Phi Lei. To top it all off, every morning we had a [View Full Entry]

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<Pictures finally added!> We've turned into a couple of beach bums this week! On Sunday we travelled by bus and then ferry to the island Ko Lanta. It was an exhausting long day. The bus ride was long and up and down windy mountain roads (more than a few of us were feeling the effects!) and then we sat on top of the crowded ferry which was a big mistake. After 2 hours in the hot sun without sunscreen we were a bit crispy. So much for trying to avoid tan lines! We stayed 3 nights at the Lanta Riviera Resort [View Full Entry]

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