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The Open Road - Kris and Dennie

Previously: Moved to England to Teach High School English- Gave up, quit and left for round the world trip. Traveled through the Middle East, SE Asia, Australia, NZ, and Fiji prior to arriving back home to Canada. Spent the next school year trying desperately to be the cool substitute teacher who tells stories of wild adventures and remembers what it was like to be a teenager... Failed miserably. Lived and worked in Valencia Spain with my girlfriend Dennie for 2 years, and taught highschool drama. Fast losing my hearing as a result of the volume students in Spain constantly speak.

Currently: finally back in Canada; Friends, Family, A Mortgage and a job don't sound half bad right about now.

Coming up: Small town Saskatchewan Shinanigans, A Mexican Christmas? Skiing in the Rockies.

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Joined on: June 29th 2005
Last Login: November 11th 2009

Blog Entries: 67
Photos: 518
Recommended by 5, Recommends 16

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by The Open Road, order by Date newest first.

By The Open Road
October 20th 2009

If You Build It, They Will Come North America » Canada

Pretty Saskatchewan Flowers

Travel is a gift all too often taken for granted. As members of the Western middle class, we have the social mobility to move in and out of new countries and cultures seamlessly, sometimes roughing it and living on spaghetti and tomato sauce for weeks on end. We are able to do so with knowledge that the social safety net of our background will usually prevent us from any real harm. Upon return home, we have faith that well paying jobs will be there, paying for our next escape. While owning a car and having a mortgage are often vilified by [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
September 2nd 2009

Live your life and forget your age North America » Canada » Saskatchewan » Regina

Dennie and Tenzin
Chillin in the hammock at Winnipeg Folk festival.

There have been many travels since my last blog; Berlin, Andorra, the Pyranees, Alicante, Albarracin, Majorca, Picos de Europa, Bilbao, Asturias and Teruel. We travelled a great deal of the country overland by car, as the realisation came to us that our time here was coming to an end and we had spent too much of our free time and money travelling abroad. Spain needed some attention, and finally with a basic understaniding of the language we could travel with ease, and get off the beaten track... The usual bevvy of sumertime fun awaited us in Canada, and our routine combination [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
January 4th 2009

Goats are Boys and Sheep are Girls... Africa » Morocco » Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz » Marrakech

date and nut souq

It had been some time since I had entered into the East. Here, everything is different. Though I knew this prior to arrival, The Medina of Marrakech was more exciting, chaotic, and stressful than anywhere I had been before. I had experienced souq culture in Dubai and Muscat, but here it seemed the pressure to buy at all times of the day would not let up. We walked from our hotel on our first evening in Morocco past the old city walls and towards the Djem Al Feena, a huge open square that acts as a stage for a bevy of [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
January 3rd 2009

In Search of a Mission Europe » Spain » Andalusia

our cave

Oh, Christmas holidays. I was very much looking forward to having my mother and aunt come to visit Kris and I, both because I miss my far-away family and because I was looking forward to showing them around Spain. My mission was to show them a good time and not stretch any of our budgets too far. I thought I had done a good job. And then I got the e-mail from my uncle: "You're mother's flight has been delayed. They will now be getting to minneapolis tonight and leave sunday afternoon. They want you to try to reschedule the connecting [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
September 24th 2008

Where my Music's Playing North America » Canada » Saskatchewan » Regina

It's always dangerous to write about experiences that occurred almost two months ago. With the passage of time comes a natural romantisization. The nostalgic part of my brain has already added a soundtrack and cut out the down time. But my warm feelings of Saskatchewan in summer never change. Dennie and I touched down in Regina tired and excited in early July with high expectations of weddings, bbq’s, family dinners, backyard parties, music festivals and camping trips. Another year brought change; relationships came and went, friends moved away and others returned, babies turned into tod [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
September 24th 2008

To Play Cards Again Europe » United Kingdom » England » North Yorkshire » Knaresborough

Historic Knaresborough

When I lived in Northern England circumstances transformed me into a bit of a social chameleon. Thrown together into a 6 bedroom house with 5 other outcasts had me wearing button up shirts and nice shoes to bars that played bad Britpop, or attending Drum and Bass shows in seedy warehouses. These experiences, in combination to my daily exposure to British Teenagers clouded my impression of the country, and left me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. True, I did manage to find enough cool places to warrant another return, but my deep seeded prejudices remained. Enter [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
September 24th 2008

Living on the edge: Battles with Adrenaline Addiction Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Sagunto

Just before the entrada

Adrenaline addiction has yet to have a global advertising campaign against it. In fact quite the opposite; ski resorts, adventure sport companies, even energy drink and high octane breakfast cereals have glorified this serious disease into something to be craved and desired. I too, as an unwary consumer, bought into the madness and purchased the occasional Red Bull and various sporting goods. Last year my opinion of adrenaline began to change. Maybe something clicked while accompanying Dennie off a mountain in Switzerland, or watching her volunteer to be the first one to jump down a waterf [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
July 14th 2008

There and Back Again Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris

The Sacrecour
with Leonie in the Bottom right. Montemarte, Paris.

When I was 17 I went to Europe on a graduating school trip. Our parents reluctantly signed permission slips allowing us to enjoy a glass of wine with our meals, knowing this likely would result in binge drinking with our teachers, and sent us off for two weeks of touring from Paris to the Pyrenees. Everything about Europe was so new to us, and the oddities found on the menus of French KFC restaurants fascinated us more than the monuments, châteaux’s and ancient cobbled streets. The strongest memories I have of this trip are typical of the 17 year old mind. [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
May 31st 2008

A couple close calls Europe » Spain » Catalonia

Rafting

This trip in many ways mirrors one of our other great weekend trips taken this year. It was in the Pyrenees, we drove there in a rented Peugot, and once again we were lucky enough to be along for the ride on another great trip fully planned by our friends Nadine and Aaron. They are trip-planning wizards and nice enough to welcome last minute tag alongs. So when Nadine planned an adventure trip to the small town of Sort next to the Noguera Pallaresa river for Aaron's 30th birhtday, we were glad to join. Once again we left straight from work [View Full Entry]

By The Open Road
May 7th 2008

Rain drops on Roses Europe » Switzerland » South-West » Interlaken

Swiss road sign

Switzerland is a bit of a postcard. So perfect do things work, so idyllic are their rolling green hills and dramatic snow capped mountains, and so friendly are their chubby blonde children that one begins to believe that all is not well in the land of clocks and chocolate. Just as no one suspects the butterfly, the Swiss have managed to slip under every ones radar undetected, slowly stockpiling massive amounts of multi use ergonomic knives and breeding an army of massive St. Bernard’s. Upon first meeting with a Swiss person one would hardly think these lovely people capable of such [View Full Entry]

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The Open Road - Kris and Dennie

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