My feelings of sadness at leaving the ship were soon changing to excitement as I waited for a shuttle cab to take us through the container-full docks to the exit point, and a taxi which drove me to my new home for a few days. My first impression: this really is a french place, my francais was better than the taxi-driver's english, quelle surprise! I'm glad I had that little bit of practise at improving my french on the ship. So we drove towards the city, chatting away however we could; I've found so many friendly people here. And up to The Plateau, a delightful area which one could vaguely compare to Oxford's Cowley Road; multi-ethnic, arty, creative, all sorts thrive here, with many cafe's and restaurants of all distinctions. My hostess (found via airbnb, which ... read more

Strangely our ship is still at the docks, awaiting unloading; apparently there are too few dockers to work on the ships, so we may have another day here. That's nice too, getting to know Lisbon, and really enjoying the warmth here. Delightful city, very easy to wander, feels very old. I feel settled on the ship too, my room enormous, comfy bed, complete with fridge, ensuite bathroom, desk, will try to add photo. The only other passenger is a french woman of similar age, Francoise, who has been on board since France. The Polish captain is full of machismo, the crew are extremely polite and respectful, and the food so far is... fairly OK. Good I've brought plenty of my own. Yesterday morning after being rudely surprised by a message to get to the ship by ... read more

RE-starting my blog after a long time; getting excited about my trip to Montreal, Canada, in the footsteps of my maternal grandfather. When he was 18, with his 20 year old brother, he set off by cattle ship in 1905. I have found a container ship to take me a similar journey, though I must go to Portugal to meet the ship! heyho. So preparations are in full swing, particularly getting family history info together to show to relatives on the other side of the pond. Altho' my grandpa only stayed for 20 odd years, marrying my granny and my mum born there in Saskatchewan, they returned to England when my granny became ill. My mum was 3 yrs old. however, several of his relatives stayed there, and it's his brother's daughter Letitia who I'm interested ... read more

Dear friends, have decided to post a blog, see if it still works. I so enjoy writing about my travels, so here's some of my first writings about my journey: 1. April 2010 I left home on 30th March, with my new tenant moving in as I cancelled the electric! Most salutary to condense my belongings and pack them into my loft, garden shed, and friends’ garage. And this feels a good time to be setting off on adventure. After a great long weekend in Devon, on the Womens Healing Retreat, and a few days with friend Erica in Buckfastleigh searching for a van, I realised I wanted something smaller than those I’d been looking at. We soon came up with the idea of a Romahome made by Citroen, and Gumtree provided this very one, in ... read more

Howdy folks..... Yesterday I left Canada and moved into the great US of A....so here's the remainder of the Canada story: correcting my previous entry, of course I was in the western side last time I wrote! I completed my islands trip, staying with more wonderful 5W members as I went, and using a little hitching on safe islands to get about. It can be done on public transport, takes quite a lot of research and I mainly did use buses and ferries of course. I got up to Campbell River, as intended on Vancouver Island, a place where most folk go to fish; salmon abounds and the eateries there were full of big guys talking fish of various sorts! I visited Janet and Tom on Quadra Island, lots of forest, eagles, even wolves there and ... read more