Ryan Shymanski and Megan Look

HappyOurs



After months of double shifts and saving up the time has finally come for us to set out on our 11 month vacation. The route we have planned will surely change but for now is as follows:
August 27 fly into Cancun, Mexico
Sept - mid October we are going to be backpacking thru Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
October 17 we fly to Dominican for Lisa's wedding
Fly back to Costa Rica and work our way into Panama
Fly to Equador and work our way through Peru, Chile, Argentina
Home to Vancouver, B.C. for Christmas
New York for New Years Eve
We fly into Bangkok and are going to spend the next few months in South East Asia.
So waste some time at work and follow along with us on our adventure. There are sure to be some amazing stories, gorgeous photos and as anyone who knows us can testify, some utterly hilarious situations that could happen to noone but us

You can subscribe to our blog and you will receive an email each time we update our blog

Check out the link below to read about some of our previous travels.
http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Meg-and-Ry-and-Heather/



Travel Blog Posts


HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
February 9th 2009

Since leaving Chang Mai, we boarded a mini bus and headed for the Laos border. We arrived early in the evening, had some dinner and a couple beers and went to sleep. Waking in the morning we were taken to the Thai immigration side for the border formalities, then boarded a long boat and were taken across the river to the Laos border. The Immigration into Laos was a long, very frustrating system which included waiting in long lines and a lot of pushing and shoving. At the end we had our Laos visa and were 42 dollars US lighter each ( the most expensive entry cost of any country we ve been to ). We then boarded our boat and spent 2 days cruising down the Mekong on our way to Luang Prabang. We arrived ... read more



RING- ing in the New Year

Published: January 11th 2009Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand
HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
January 10th 2009

Well, a lot has happened since our last blog. Flying home from Buenos Aires to Vancouver, turned out to be the biggest headache imaginable. Despite delays and cancellations we arrived in YVR 17 hours late to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. Off again, we headed to New York for New Years. Figuring out our way from JFK airport to our hostel was surprisingly easy. Our first and lasting impressions . . . New York is as elegant, alive and sophisticated in real life as it is in the tv shows. Dec 31 we bundled up and headed to Times Square to celebrate New Years Eve. We got there by 430 in the afternoon, were herded into the block off streets and left to wait until midnight. No access to food, drinks, entertainment or washrooms. The ... read more



HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
December 17th 2008

Over the last couple weeks we have covered many miles and spent many hours on the bus, our longest bus was 32 hours! (from Arica, Chile to Vin Del Mar, Chile). The highlight of Arica was the pedestrian street lined with outdoor patios where we sat and enjoyed a ´rocket´ of beer and a couple hot dogs smothered in mayonaise, tomatos, lettuce and ketchup . . . a Chilean specialty. A couple things we noticed about the Chilean people are that the overwhelming majority take really good care of themselves and work out and dress quite fashionably, something we have not seen in any other South American country thus far. Also, they really like their beer. Every table along the pedestrian street was full of people drinking beer, again another thing we havent seen thus far. ... read more



Up to alltitude!

Published: December 2nd 2008South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz
HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
December 2nd 2008

After some fun filled days in Huaccachina we took the overnight bus into Cusco. We found a quaint hostel and set out to explore the city. Cusco, for us, is one of those cities that really lets us appreciate traveling. Its easy to spend hours walking through the narrow, cobbled streets looking at the architecture of the old buildings and popping into stores to shop. The city is a contrast of tradition and modern. There are women walking the streets dressed in traditional garb, carrying a bushel of fresh veggies on their back and talking on their cell phones. As we walked around the very hilly city, breathing became more and more difficult due to the high altitude of Cusco. We took frequent breaks and sipped coffees and people watched from patios overlooking the central plaza. ... read more



Sky Scrapers to Sand Dunes

Published: November 26th 2008South America » Peru » Lima » Lima » Miraflores
HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
November 21st 2008

After our Galapagos tour we spent a couple days relaxing in Guayaquil. Until fairly recently Guayaquil had a rightly deserved reputation as a very dangerous ciyty. The government has since started to clean it up and make it safer for travelers. The Malecon 2000 was built- a long water front promenade with shops and restaurants and lots of police patrol making it completely safe. The Parque de Bolivar is just a few streets from the Malecon. We sat and watched iguanas stare down at us from in the trees above us. Then it was time to move on and head into Peru. The first thing we noticed entering Peru is the lack of trees. Everywhere is bare and flat enough that one can see for miles. Our first stop, and pretty much every other traveler it ... read more



Galapagos Islands

Published: November 12th 2008South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Cruz Island
HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
November 12th 2008

We have just returned from our 5 days in the Galapagos Islands and our time spent there can be summarised in one word: Amazing! Since beginning to plan our trip we were looking forward to the Galapagos as one of the major highlights and we were not disappointed. There are many ways to go about organising a trip to the islands. After much research and careful consideration we decided to book a 4 day cruise with Dreamkapture travel in Guayaquil. There is no way of getting around the fact that a trip to the Galapagos is going to be expensive but in the end we feel that it was money well spent. We flew in 1 day before the tour started and stayed in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. We spent the day walking around the ... read more



HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
November 6th 2008

We left Puerto Viejo and headed for the Panama border; it turned out to be one of the more exciting border crossings. The bus let you off about 100 meters from this rickety looking bridge crossing a large river, on one side was Costa Rica and the other was Panama. You get your passport stamped and walk across the bridge to the Panama immigration office. It was the country that has asked the most questions about our travel plans and required us to show the most personal information. We had to show them our credit card to prove we had sufficient funds to travel, an onward ticket out of Panama and we had to buy a tourist card for $10 each. Some people didnt have a copy of an onward ticket and were forced to buy ... read more



HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
October 27th 2008

Up and at it early in the rainy morning we made our way to the San Jose airport for our flight to the Dominican Republic. Stood in line for about an hour only to find out that our flight had been delayed due to heavy rain the night before. The delay would cause us to miss our connection flight in Panama City. Our only choice was to fly into Santo Domingo and Copa would transfer us to Punta Cana from there, about an hour cab ride away. We took our free breakfast coupons and went to wait for the flight. 2 flights and about 6 hours later we were in Santo Domingo . . . but where was our transfer? There was no sign or anyone waiting for us. By luck, we saw a lady from ... read more



HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
October 15th 2008

We have done our fair share of traveling and have stayed in and seen some pretty bad accommodation. But this last week we have splurged and become champagne backpackers. It all started after our time in San Juan del Sur. . . we had both been sick for days, had to force ourselves to move on. After a long bus ride that literally went in circles before eventually breaking down, we arrived into Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica. We checked into a 4 star beachside resort and started living in luxury. The hotel was beautiful, with an ocean front pool, impeccable grounds and huge rooms with king size beds and english T.V. In the morning we woke up and filled up on the buffet breakfast. The day was spent lounging poolside, wondering the abandon beach. Tamarindo itself ... read more



HappyOurs icon
HappyOurs
October 6th 2008

Our weekend in Roatan was great. We stayed at Posada Arco Iris in a studio apartment with its own kitchen. It is situated steps away from a white sand beach and there are 2 resident monkies that are eager to play and hold your hand. Days were spent at the beach, suntanning and snorkeling- there is good snorkeling swimming distance off the shore. Nights were spent with Ryan cooking up amazing meals, Megan relaxing in the hammock with wine. Seems unfair but she had to do dishes. We had our own little deck to relax on and had many lizards, geckos and frogs coming to visit us. The only downside to Roatan were the expensive ferry to get there and away and the many sand fleas at the beach. Either suntan on the deck or use ... read more






Tot: 0.958s; Tpl: 0.005s; cc: 15; qc: 87; dbt: 0.0528s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.61.183); sld: 1; ; mem: 2mb