Alice and I are in Baddeck right now waiting until 5 or so to head back onto the road towards our campgrounds. She says if you check in after 6pm, you don't have to pay for the day's fees so we figure we'll laze around Baddeck for the time being. One of the gift shops have the cutest mugs! They are 'Buddha' mugs that are easy to cradle. I like! [View Full Entry]

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Iceland is such a beautiful, unspoilt country. The views are spectacular since there aren't really any trees to get in the way! The water is delicious and it's just natural phenomenon after natural phenomenon. Alice and I did the Golden Circle Tour with Iceland Excursions. The hot chocolate at the Geysir café was the best deal. 200kr but free refills! I just wish I knew that beforehand so I could’ve bought it at the beginning of the stop rather than the end! Nuts. I don’t know how Icelanders survive there with the extremely high cost of everything but they do. I [View Full Entry]

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On the train headed for Paris and Alice and I didn’t even have a place arranged to stay at! We emailed a bunch of couchsurfers and crossed our fingers that someone would call. We didn’t want that to ruin our first day in Paris though. We met up with the guy whose place we’d be renting starting the 12th (since our Mom was flying in to stay with us in Paris for 5 days) and paid him the deposit but for the 10th and 11th, we had no clue what we were going to do! We debated on sleeping in the [View Full Entry]

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Alice and I took the Free Berlin Bike Tour which pretty much took us everywhere. Berlin is so flat and easy to bike. It’s a capital city but it doesn’t have the dense population that most other capital cities have and I love that! It was a Thursday afternoon and everywhere we looked, people were relaxing on the grass like it was Sunday. Enrico (our host) said there’s a high unemployment rate in Berlin but the social system keeps them afloat and apparently, very well! Our guide was an American who visited Berlin, went home and came right back to live. [View Full Entry]

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Heidelberg is SO beautiful! Cobble stone streets, old buildings, nice people, patios everywhere! Alice and I went up to the Castle and walked the famous Philosopher´s Walk. We stayed with a couchsurfer (great project--look it up!) in his single room apartment and it was AWESOME! He was such a great host and so eager to show us around the little town. Unforgettable! [View Full Entry]

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I went on a tour of the demilitarized zone up north of Seoul. I only met one guy who had done it and he said it was boring but I quite liked it. We started at Jimingak Park (might have spelled that wrong) where there was the freedom bell which they still ring every hour and the bridge where they exchanged POWs. Very plain bridge but powerful. Next, we went to the 3rd infiltration tunnel which North Korea dug to invade South Korea. The area was solid bedrock! Apparently they even covered the walls with coal soot in order to disguise [View Full Entry]

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Aidan and I walked everywhere. At least, it felt like it. We headed out at 10:30 am. First, we went by City Hall where some huge bicycle rally thing was going on. Next, we went to a Palace that was ridiculously huge. I want a Palace. Doesn't have to be all that big. Just a few acres and I'll be happy. What else...um...the air here is more dry hot than humid hot so I was really thirsty and my skin felt really dry. We walked down this popular market area and came across an event which was advertising something but we [View Full Entry]

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So on the 14th, my sister forwarded me a travel agency newsletter with a cheap flight to Seoul. I looked at it and then emailed the agent about the upcoming weekend. The next day, I scootered my way to his office and bought a ticket for Seoul departing the 16th. I contacted my old lab partner, Aidan, who's teaching English there and asked if his offer for me to crash was still good--it was. I was set for Seoul! Upon arrival, I took the bus as instructed and got off at approximately the right area. I found a payphone and proceeded [View Full Entry]

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After some beaching in Bantayan, I decided to go to Malapuasca to do a specific dive: the Thresher Shark dive off Monad Shoal. It's this sunken island where threshers go to be 'cleaned' by the wrasse. Since my diving experience was so minimal, I had to sign up for the dive as a Deep Dive Adventure Dive meaning I had to do some reading and had an instructor with me at all time. So disappointed, I didn't get to see the Threshers. It's like 25% chance of seeing them. :( I was tested for narcosis but didn't seem to really feel [View Full Entry]

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I'm just relaxing at Bantayan at the moment. It's low season so there was pretty much just me on the beach for a quite a long time. Unfortunately, the sand wasn't as nice as the picture--it never is. Lots of shell bits. I saw a baby jellyfish. I think it's the first time I've ever seen a jelly fish. It was so small--pretty dark coloured though. I've never seen a jellyfish but I assumed that that is what is was...hm...Anyways, it was all on its own near the shore. Perhaps it was dead. I have no idea. I thought about touching [View Full Entry]

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