Blogs from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, North America

The weather is warming up and the day is getting longer. Welcome to spring ! Enjoy the flowers and colors scattered around the streets, people's yards...... read more

Well, this is the first blog post of hopefully many.. About a month ago, I left my corporate middle-management marketing job. I was ultimately over-worked, over-stressed and burned out. After 9 years busting my ass at the same company, I was tired. My personal life was nearly non-existent. (A large section of text on the realities of my work life-situation has been redacted)... As my tolerance and job satisfaction were dwindling, my father mentioned to me that I could always just take time off and not go right into finding another job. The prospect of no income had never occurred to me. I loved to travel, and every year saved up every single vacation day to take a big trip abroad. But it was always rushed and never enough. I had been in school/working or just ... read more

hello friends, i am sitting at a comupter station inside Shawn's parents house in a city called Thornhill in Markham outside Toronto. Nice drive but long. We drove it in two days. a little tired. we stayed in Sault Ste. Marie last night at the Algonquin Hotel. Two bands were playing at the bars that night. i enjoyed the music from the room until late in the night! but i did manage to get some sleep. the next morning i woke before sunrise to watch the sun come out over the horizon, the water all aglimmer. there was a large barge coming up the river tooting its low deep horn. near the shore were ducks that i could observe frolicking in the water and getting their morning meal. some ice flows near the shore were interstingly ... read more

25 december Nog eventjes gaan stappen op zoek naar de kerstsfeer en er toch gevonden. St. James Park, hier net buiten het hotel was mooi verlicht en dus zeker waard even te doorkruisen. Zonder kaart of enige zin van richting begaf deze reiziger zich tussen de wolkenkrabbers. Echte wolkenkrabbers zijn het niet, maar onze KBC-toren is er in elk geval niks tegen. Ik denk dat het hotel op zich zelfs groter is. Toevallig op de City Halls gestoten, zowel het oude als het nieuwe, waar een ijspiste is gemaakt om te schaatsen. Heel gezellig, maar veel te druk om me er zelf op te wagen. Mensen die het al gewaagd hebben met mij te schaatsen, weten dat ik ruimte nodig heb om het aantal slachtoffers te beperken. Dan maar verder op pad. Ik kwam enkele raampjes ... read more

Hey, mijn schaapjes 24 december Vertrokken in Schiphol vanuit gate G3 (inderdaad, de symbolische drievuldigheid van G's en 3 gates verwijderd van waar ze bottles in the eyes poppen). Na een 8-tal uurtjes vliegen, uiteindelijk aangekomen in Philadelphia. De douane in de VS is enorm streng, of toch de regulaties. Het is daar dus wachten, wachten èèèn...wachten. En dan hopen dat alles in orde is anders is het nog eens wachten, wachten èèèn boze mensen achter je. Gelukkig was alles in orde voor mij, Wheldon heeft me er door gelaten en ik heb wijselijk geen woordspeling op zijn naam gemaakt. Vanuit Philly was het nog een twee uurtjes vliegen om uiteindelijk in Lester B Pearson aan te komen. Er was geen shuttlebus voorzien voor mijn hotel, dus heb ik de taxi moeten nemen. Een razend snelle ... read more

I feel like a bit of a cheat posting a blog for Canada because now a huge part of the map on my profile gets coloured in and I actually only spent four days in this vast land. Though, I did do authentic Canadian things, apparently. When it’s boiling hot in Toronto, everyone heads north a few hours out of town to their cottage in the woods. I’m sure it’s not quite everyone that can do that but that’s what we did. And it was nice. Not quite the wilderness experience I had been led to believe given that there is a road right to the place and a town not far away. However, about a hectare of your own forest and a hundred metres or so of your own river can never be whinged about. ... read more