cornerduck
murray coates Joined: February 22nd 2008
Logged in: February 3rd 2012
Logged in: February 3rd 2012
We try to do active holidays that require training in advance of the trip. Staying moderately fit seems to be easier if you are preparing for a specific objective such as hiking the West Coast Trail etc. We are not beach/resort people.
The Travelblog website is very helpful when planning a new adventure because you can almost always find a blog by someone who has been where you want to go. Thanks to all the other helpful bloggers. We also use it to answer the question; "How was your trip"
My new travel motto is "what's the worst that can happen if something goes wrong?" usually the answer is nothing much!!! Good to get out of one's comfort zone from time to time.
Habitat for Humanity has become a major part of my existence as it provides a basis to help people as well as see new places. The total number of countries visited as at April 2011 is 50. I am hoping for 100 some day-expect to be at 52 plus by year end (2011)
My next trip will be Cambodia in December with Habitat. Some of our team may also do a cycling trip in Cambodia before the build. In 2012 it looks like the Habitat destinations will be Mongolia and Vietnam.
Kiva.org - Loans That Change Lives - my latest crusade - have just made several small loans in Uganda ,Mongolia, Kenya,Cambodia, Krygyzstan etc.
Travel Blog Posts
bike riding in the countryside
Nov 16,2011 I am one day away from exiting Canada for my next Habitat trip. We have a full team (12 people) and will all meet up in Phenom Penh on December 3d. Before the build I am stopping off in Korea and hope to go to the DMZ plus do a birding trip. I will fly to Cambodia on the 21st to do a bike trip, before arriving in PP on the 3d of December. I am now in Penom Penh after arriving from Seoul last night.Excellent 3 days in Korea including a tour of the DMZ and a birding tour. Quite a weather contrast - was +4c in Seoul and +30c here now.Bruce had arranged Tuc Tuc taxi for me - motorcycle with cart which cost $7 to go from airport to hotel in ... read more
Ready to go
This is the long awaited sequel to the Couer d'alene bike trip. Alert readers will remember we bailed at Wallace on our May trip due to snow on the trail up on Lookout Pass. This prevented us from finishing our loop via the Trail of the Hiawatha. We decided to return after our son's wedding and do the trail as a side trip on the way back to West Hawk Lake in Manitoba. I normally wouldn't post a short trip like this but it is a truly different experience and I highly recommend it to anyone passing through Idaho on I90. After the wedding experience , we left Ymir on July 4th and crossed into Idaho south of Salmo at Naleway. Crossing into the USA by car is quite an experience these days and probably must ... read more
Loaded for the trip
We are now sitting in the Wallace Inn which appropriately is located in Wallace, Idaho. This is night two (May 20th) of our Bitter Root loop bike trip. We had planned to cycle from Plummer on the Coeur d'Alenes (Cda) trail to Mullan, then up over the Lookout Pass to the trail of the Hiawatha and down to Avery , returning to Ste Maries, Id. We have done about 65 miles so far which was over one third of what was intended. However things are unraveling as the Hiawatha trail is still under 5 feet of snow. The new plan is to head back the way we came and return another time to finish the trip. To add insult to injury, the forecast is for rain so our next three days may be a bit less ... read more
Entrance to the forbidden city complete with Mao Picture
Unbelievable as it may seem, 3 days after returning home from Paraguay, Jan and I left for China. I got home from Paraguay on Wednesday, did laundry and slept in my own bed for one night , then went to Victoria for a conference returning home Friday evening. Packed up Saturday morning and caught the ferry to Vancouver so we could be on the 3.00 AM Sunday morning flight to Beijing. After the 11 hour flight it was off the plane for a quick tour of Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. The population of China is 1.6 billion and many of them were on the same tour. After the first of many LSDs (Lazy Susan Dinners) we headed off to the hotel for a well earned but short rest before our evening LSD. A low ... read more
South America does meat
One month to go-I have everything quite organized-biggest group ever as a leader. I am leaving early (on March 15th) for Buenos Aires and Uruguay-This is my first trip to South America-plan is to leave Vancouver on March 14th, then fly out on the 15th,arriving in Buenos Aires on March 16th. I will meet up with 2 other HFH participants in Buenos Aires. We then plan to take the ferry to Colonia in Uruguay and stay there for one night. After that we bus it to Montevideo for a one night stay -then off to Iguazu Falls and Asuncion. I am very ready for this trip (as of Feb 27th) One sad note -Casey the beagle is no longer with us as she got throat cancer and was put to sleep on Feb 19th. Friday March ... read more
my luggage for a month
I am starting to get organized to finish planning my trip to Poland.One of the first things I had to do was return to Manitoba and get my motorcycle and camper trailer back to Salt Spring. I left West Hawk Lake on August 19th and arrived back on Salt Spring on Monday August 23d. This was a costly journey as I had to replace the alternator on the bike as it failed just out of Winnipeg on the first day.That will be it for the HD-I am planning to get a BMW next year. I have a detailled itinerary but will be winging it a bit in Russia and the Baltics. In any case I am down to the last 2 days before leaving for Europe. lots of last minute stuff and I plan to climb ... read more
Casey waiting to see what happens next
This is our second trip of 2010 and is a local adventure which we normally wouldn't put on the blog. However this one was unique as it was the first time we were able to take the the dog on a motorcycle trip. This was actually a ferry trip interrupted by some motorcycling. We had 6 ferry rides to get all the way around the circuit. Including camp fees, ferry tickets and gas, the whole 4 days cost about $300. Absolute highlights of this route included Lund, the highway before Sechelt (very winding and high up along the coastline) and the 3 Sunshine Coast ferries from south of Powell River to Horseshoe Bay and Gibson's Landing. This is also an alternative route for people coming from the east who want a different and more scenic way ... read more
January 3rd 2010
My Pack
We have just returned from frigid Manitoba, having spent Christmas at West Hawk Lake-BRRRR. We are now into full packing/planning mode for our trip to Africa-we will leave on the 15th and expect to visit South Africa, Namibia.Zimbabwe,Zambia and Swaziland. We may also be able to visit Botswana. We have 2 organized tours with one being a 4 day canoe trip on the Zambezi and the other a 4 day hike on the Garden Route along the coast. We have lots to do before the 15th............ Countdown continues-It is now the 9th of January and we are slowly getting ready.As usual we have multi-activity considerations but are still trying to last for a month with one checked bag (MEC backpack/suitcase) and a small carry on backpack. To lower the profile I am leaving my old backpack ... read more
thessaloniki
I am one week away from leaving on my next Habitat for Humanity trip (my first as a leader) I will leave Canada on October 7th and fly to London on the usual direct flight from Vancouver to London. I will overnight there then fly to Thessaloniki in Greece on Easyjet. After a day or so there, I hope to catch a train to Istanbul and spend 2 days there. I will then take the famous Dogu Express across Turkey to Kars. From Kars things are less certain but I hope to catch a bus to Tblisi in Georgia. In Georgia I have lined up a homestay and will bus it from there to Yerevan on the 17th of October. Our Habitat build will run from October 18th to October 31st. This time I am taking ... read more
bikes on the train
We have just returned from a cycling trip to Iceland via Denmark and the Faroe Islands. We left Winnipeg on June 20th and flew to Copenhagan via Reykavik. Bikes came off the the plane in Copenhagan with some issues-mine was out of the box but luckily all the pieces were there. As it turned out Jan's bike suffered some damage as the rear brake and derailer were out of adjustment. Never underestimate the amount of damage that baggage handlers can do - on the outbound we put bikes in boxes but probably didnt pay enough attention to taping the boxes shut and padding the contents. On the inbound we put them in plastic airline bags and had no problems. Another issue is whether to deflate the tires, bike shop staff will tell you that tubes will ... read more
