Getting to know the family was complete so it was time to get to know the local area. We started with a walk to the local pub. It seems that there is a fear of alcohol in this state. Supermarkets can only sell wines and beer; spirits must be bought from a liquor store, which it seems only open Monday-Saturday 10am-7pm. This is typical of the attitude to alcohol here. We got into the pub at around 1.00pm - there were only six people in. It was everything we thought it would be. Bright neon signs advertising ‘Lite Beers’, men on [View Full Entry]

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Back in September we booked a beautiful looking chalet near Mount Baker for the 20-22 December, so that we could get a few good days skiing in before our trip to S. America. But when Gen suggested we went for a days skiing for a day on Mount Crystal on our 3rd day, we jumped at the chance. Gen, Noel and I left early the next day and drove the 2 hours to the resort (How LUSH to live 2 hours away from skiing!) With zillions of layers on I was prepared for a typical December day in the Mountains, but [View Full Entry]

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At Mei’s Christening we met lots of locals including Linda and Javier. Z-C and Gen’s neighbours. Javier is Argentinian so we quizzed him on the traditions and locations of Argentina. He introduced us to Mate, which a tea drank communally. There is one brewer and one cup (gourd) that is filled with dry tea leaves. The brewer (in this case Javier) then adds water and honey (for sweetness) to the mix and lets it brew for a couple of minutes. The brewer has the first drink via a special filtering straw (bombilla). The reason he has the first ‘toke’ is because [View Full Entry]

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As with all good journeys - our adventure began with some drama. I somehow managed to leave some vital documents at my parent’s - which I realized at the train station 15 minutes before our train to Gatwick was due to depart. As Noel and I waited for the train my dear old Father nearly sent himself to an early grave by driving home at 70 MPH, grabbing it, driving back and arriving just as our train was leaving the platform. The first we knew he’d succeeded in this mission was when I was called to first class over the tannoy [View Full Entry]

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Your family-in-law are people that quite frankly you are stuck with - and I mean them with you are much as you with them. Before arriving in the States Noel had not met Zoe-Clare’s husband Gen and had only met my sister once on a night out in Harpenden. I doubt they were expecting to get to know him as well as they did on our second night’s stay here. In the States the plumbing seems to be a bit different, and not as vegetarian-friendly as perhaps in the UK. After falling asleep on the Friday night I was woken by [View Full Entry]

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Hello All, This is a brief update and would have included it with the next one (PHOTOS included) but I wanted a data point in the US to fill in the map! Vancouver to Seattle via Amtrak. This was an unexpected delightful trek. The train left and arrived on time right in the centre of downtown Seattle. The train was clean, modern and the staff helpful. Given the cost of $25 and travel time of 4 hours, it could be argued that it is cheaper and faster than car travel (which always depends on border waits and Vancouver/Seattle traffic). Stopover in [View Full Entry]

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After talking about Everett, Tacoma, Olympia and Portland (refer to my previous 3 posts), now I'm going to talk about Seattle! Seattle is a bustling city full of vibrancy and energy. It's also the home of several important corporations, such as Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon.com, and Starbucks (Ok, Boeing is not exactly in Seattle. It's in Everett, a small city about 50km north of Seattle.) Although I spent a very short time in Seattle, I had a wonderful time. On the first night of my trip, I visited the Seattle Central Library and several bookstores (refer to my first blog). On the [View Full Entry]

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There are many ways to travel between Vancouver, BC and Seattle. Some people take Greyhound, some people take Amtrak, and some people drive. However, a trip by Greyhound, Amtrak, or car easily costs more than USD$20 one way. I'm a stingy person and wanted to save as much money as possible, so I looked for a way to travel from Vancouver to Seattle as cheaply as possible. In the end I managed to do so for just $4! (In addition, I made a stopover in the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington.) I just wanna tell you that I didn't walk all [View Full Entry]

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“We are about people-to-people, our twenty Americans paired up with twenty Nigerians.” Susan Partnow, founder and director of Seattle-based Global Citizen Journey (GCJ), stood at the head of the room. She overlooked an audience; they overlooked her. “This is our grassroots connection.” What endured in bold letters were her last words, grassroots connection. The phrase was powerful, deep, strumming a chord within my system, a system slapped, pressed, and molded into the thought-processes of Western culture. But now, with a community of individuals [View Full Entry]

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Cackling, it was like the fire laughed at him. It spit sparks, the embers of fireworks, showering the enclave, bursting through the screen. Beneath the grate, coals shone a neon furry. The fire was hot. It blazed a furnace heat, and yet he lay so near, soaking in the waves like sand. His thick red coat glowed under the orange flickers. I waited for him to smolder in ash, but stubbornly he refused, and turned his heavy head to rest upon the hearth. And there he watched with keen interest, eyebrows dancing with each pull of the cork; champagne frothing with [View Full Entry]

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