This was my second trip to visit Sarah in St. Maarten in two months so I'm not posting too many St. Maarten pics. We did, however, fly to a couple of neighbouring islands so it was still a new experience. We flew to the French Island of St. Barts (Saint Barthelemy) for a day so that Sarah could re-enter St. Maarten on her Dutch passport and save the school from paying for her work visa. The school paid for her flight so it was pretty easy to say yes. We flew to St. Barts in a 19-seat DHC Twin-Otter which is [View Full Entry]

---

---

I flew down to St. Maarten via Toronto the week of Nov. 11-18 for a much-appreciated vacation. Two reasons for going: to attend Sonya and Kevin's wedding and to spend some time with Sarah. Sarah is living in St. Maarten teaching at an international school on the Dutch side so acted as host and tour guide for the group that flew in, which included Sonya and Kevin, Wendy, John, Kevin and myself. It was my first time in the Caribbean and I think it was much better than staying at an all-inclusive resort because I got to experience more of the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Finally, here's my big summer trip for 2006. Sarah, Sonya and I had been talking about a road trip to the Yukon since New Year's; we didn't actually make it to the Yukon but we did get as far as southern Alaska. The girls flew into Calgary on July 4, and the next day we loaded up my van and off we went. Here's the day-to-day summary of the trip if you want the details. If not, just check out the pictures: Day 1 - Calgary to Columbia Icefield, Athabasca Glacier. Stopped at Banff town and Lake Louise. Camped at the [View Full Entry]

---

---

So I finally took Wayne up on his invitation to join him for a week of windsurfing at Cape Hatteras. I flew in to Hamilton from Calgary and nine of us made the 15 hour road trip to Cape Hatteras. The Outer Banks is an interesting place, basically a string of islands separating Pomlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean. We stayed in a lovely "sound-side" house in Buxton on Hatteras Island. Most of our time was spent windsurfing, although you might not get that impression from the pictures. So it was basically me and eight guys who know how to windsurf, [View Full Entry]

---

---

January 7 The first day on the slopes this winter. It was a nice family excursion with roommates James and Trina. At noon we met up with our neighbours Chris and Carly. James and Chris went for a couple of runs in the Dive because they're hardcore skiers and they got the 'gear' while I went for a few runs with the girls. It was a pretty good day all in all. About -5 with some sun but unfortunately some low clouds prevented me from getting an awesome panoramic shot. Enjoy the pics. Also some pics from the Flames-Leafs game at [View Full Entry]

---

---

* * *I just added a bunch of pictures to the Sarajevo entry if you want to check them out* * * Well, my trip is now over and I'm back in Calgary. To finish it off, I spent just over two weeks in Sierra Leone to do some volunteer work with my dad and sister Shanti. It was a great experience, and very interesting because it's so different from our western society. It's definitely not the place to go if you're looking for comfort and conveience, but that's makes the whole experience more interesting. Unfortunately, my camera died on day [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sarajevo is a city that I've been wanting to see. It wasn't a disappointment...my favourite city so far. It's a diverse city with eastern and western influences and makes me wish I had time to go further east. And the people are very friendly... the bus and tram drivers went out of their way to help me. Most of what I checked out was related to the recent war with Serbia, which was still very evident with bullet holes in the walls, damaged buildings, and Sarajevo roses (red pavement where a shell exploded). The war tunnel museum was probably the most [View Full Entry]

---

---

So I finally left Slovenia and headed south towards the Croatian coast just in time for a severe heat wave. Croatia has very rugged terrain and beautiful cities but overall it was a bit of a disappointment for me. I think it was mainly two things: the heat and the hordes of tourists. So if you go there, make sure it's not in July-August because the cities and beaches are just swarming. There's not too many hostels in Croatia so every time I got off a bus, train, or boat, I got swarmed by people trying to rent out a room. [View Full Entry]

---

---

On to Austria. I had planned to meet up with my roommate James in Austria since he is taking a German course in the town of Klagenfurt. I first spent 3 days in Vienna, just in time for a bunch of rain, which kind of takes away from the experience. I was also getting to the point where I had enough of seeing the big cities and wanted to spend more time in the countryside and the smaller towns. However, I stayed at a pretty fun hostel and ran into a couple of guys there that I had met in Prague [View Full Entry]

---

---

This entry will have me all caught up as I am getting on a train for Croatia today from Ljubljana. I would have to say that Slovenia has been my favourite European country so far, for its natural beauty, the friendly people, and the outdoor activities. I started in the capital of Ljubljana which is very nice but small so I saw everything I needed to see in one day, so then I moved west to the village of Bled in the Julian Alps, where I ended up spending 5 days. There are all kinds of outdoor activities there like climbing, [View Full Entry]

---

---