Life in Lisbon is lovely. I rolled in at about 2 pm with even less of a plan (or a clue) than usual. I had no map, no hostel res, no cash, and no idea how to say even 'thanks' in Portuguese. I was a sorry case. But, after an ATM, an espresso, and a borderline sexual harassment by some crazy lady at the bus station (I was REALLY sad not to know how to say 'thanks' then!), I felt like I was turning things around. I found a map and got on the metro heading towards what I figured was [View Full Entry]

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About two weeks ago I railed out of France at 200+ KM/Hour towards the Spanish border using my second much-discounted Eurail pass. Three hours later I was in Barcelona without an expectation in the world except that I would be rusty at Spanish (learning French seems to have shoved much of the Spanish out of my head). But the good news is that foreigners struggling at Spanish is not something new for Barcelonians (note: the natives speak Catalan; also note: the natives are buried under Americans and Australians, for the most part, so Spanish is refreshing to their ears after so [View Full Entry]

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This time, I did it a bit differently. Usually, I show up at a new place and sort of float around the country until the options dry up or I get sick of staying in dorm rooms. But with Ireland I wanted to do it differently, and I did. I guess I felt like since I got my Irish citizenship I owed it to my 'motherland' to pay her an extended visit. And so I decided to sublet a place in Dublin for the month of September and see where it would take me. After two days in the city I [View Full Entry]

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Well, I've been in Dublin now for almost two weeks now and have made it feel like a homeawayfromhome for sure. I decided to sublet a place here for the month of September to get a feel for what it would be like to actually live here, a feeling that has now definitely settled in. What I like most about the city is the pub scene, which is lucky since it isn't the kind of place that fires on all cylinders. With the rain falling mostly every day it becomes easy to become a bar fly. My normal routine is to [View Full Entry]

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Sometimes the strangest thing is that something strange seems normal. In this case, spending a week in Italy. On paper I was sure that spending a week in Pasta-land would seem foreign, but this time around it seemed, well, like visiting a neighbor: the "I'm in Italy!!!" awe was plainly missing. I am starting to feel French...! Delphine and her family had spent a week hiking around Northern Italy, sleeping in refuges and generally rubbing in how athletic the family is and how lazy I am (I stayed in Lyon, spending my days working and restaurant going). I joined her family [View Full Entry]

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This has got to be one of the coolest cities in Europe. I got here about a week ago and immediately parted company with the nice, but clingy, 51 year-old American that had volunteered as my pet in Oslo. He was a very nice guy and all, but it was clear from the day I met him that he was a tad lonely - and looking to latch. I made the wise choice early on to book a separate hostel in Stockholm from him and once I had waved goodbye things immediately got better - and have only since gotten great. [View Full Entry]

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Sometimes things just go right. Delphine, her brother Remi, and I arrived in lovely Bergen about 10 days ago after a long day of futzing around (train from Grenoble to Geneva, flight to Amsterdam, flight to Bergen Airport, Bus to town) and checked in to a forgettable hostel in the center of town. The first thing that struck all of us, after a little mental acrobatics, was how bloody expensive things were here. And we aren't talking about just a bit more expensive - try $12 for a beer, $8 for a loaf of bread, and $4 for a cup of [View Full Entry]

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This was a good week. Our feeding began on a quiet Sunday afternoon after returning the rental car that Mom had rented for her week in Vancouver. "Yours is that one" the Avis shuttle-man said, pointing at a huge (but relatively small) cruise ship, the Norwegian Sun. The first stop, of course, was the buffet, which was open from something like six in the morning until ten at night. There is something wonderful about seeing mountains, whales, seals, and icebergs - while stuffing your face. It reminds you that man truly has conquered nature - and then defied its laws of [View Full Entry]

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It's been a long, long while - when measured in both days and kilometers. Let's see. It has been about eight months since I wrote in this blog, and believe you me: it hasn't been for lack of things to write. Since getting 'home' to Vancouver after my four months of motoring, I ended up settling (in the worst sense of the word) for a divided living room as a bedroom for another semester at UBC. During this time I was 49% happy to be grounded for a while, 26% missing my girlfriend in France, 25% missing doing something new. But [View Full Entry]

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22,000 KMs. One hundred days. 30 states and provinces. 3 tires, 5 oil changes, countless passengers. One tent, one sleeping bag, 4 shirts, one pair of pants. Zero plans. Here, in pictures, is a summary of the trip. [View Full Entry]

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