If you'd have told me two years ago that by Nov. 2007 I would have visted all six populated continents of the world, I NEVER would have believed you. Yet, here I am, just 13 months after Derek, Mark, and I first boarded the plane for Australia, typing a blog entry from Quito, Ecuador, South America. I made the first half of it all happen--my world tour took me all over Australia, SE Asia, and Europe. But since I returned in March Scouting has been doing a nice job of taking care of the rest of it. First I went waaay north to the Yukon, then I went back to England to the world scouting jamboree and then to the Gambia, Africa. to develop a Scout camp. Further domestic Scouting travel took me east to Ottawa. ... read more

I have to say, the two major Parisien monuments really let me down today. The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower just really didn't come through. Let me explain. We started our day off at the Louvre. After waiting in a pretty big line to get tickets and then fighting our way through crowded halls, we finally made it to the Mona Lisa. "Well, there it is." was pretty much Derek and my responses. It's not like we hadn't seen it a thousand and one times other places (including on EVERY imaginable peice of Louvre merchandise) and it really wasn't that different in person, especially since the combination of glass, rope, and crowd kept us from getting very close. It was nice to have seen it with my own eyes, however. After that, Derek and I ... read more

Wow. I just finished four of the most fun days of my life living waaaay above my general social class and income bracket thanks to the intense generosity of friends from highschool and their subsequent, equally kind, connections. I'm talking, of course, of my time in the ski resort village of Meribel. Not sure what Meribel is? Let me give you an intro: it's in the center of 3, interconnected, skiable valleys containing the biggest area of skiiable terrian in the world, it boasts 190 lifts, has FOUR Club Meds, was home to the alpine events of the 1992 Winter Olypics, and is currently home to Lindsay, Vicky, and Helen who are 2003 grads of Mount Doug Sr. Secondary in Victoria and amazing hostesses! I really don't know where to start, so I guess I'll ... read more

I'm not sure how much I'm going to get through here today because I have days and days and days to catch up on, and I don't have unlimited time at the moment, but we'll see how much I can do. I guess I'll start with Amsterdam, first. When we got of the train a sense of calm immediately fell over me. Ahhhh the Netherlands. I really like that country, a lot. After a bit of work to orient ourselves we figured out which of the narrow streets with a combination of trams, cars, and bikes flying down them, we were supposed to enter down. We found our hostel and may our way to our 20 bed room. That's right--that wasn't a typo. TWENTY beds! Ahhh backpacking. It was a pretty cheap place for Amsterdam, though, ... read more

With some much communication now easily possible due to the greatness that is The Internet, sometimes it feels like I never left home. However, all this communication takes time, and more and more the poor blog seems to be getting neglected. Tonight is no exception. By the time I'd finished reading and responding to all my e-mails (and the Scouting ones have picked up again now that the Christmas holidays are over), answered all my FaceBook messages (the new internet time-eating demon) and done a quick perusal of the top stories on CBC, my hour if internet is pretty much spent. Such is the case tonight. ***Let's try this again*** So, as I was typing last night after wasting my time doing the above things, the computer very rudely restarted itself (even though I SWEAR I ... read more