Blogs from Saskatchewan, Canada, North America - page 30

Hey everyone. I'm leaving on the 29th to join Renata in Croatia and we'll be meeting up at the train station in Zagreb. It's very hot and humid there right now so I'm packing more light clothes and fewer warm ones. We'll see how well this blog works but the plan is to keep everyone up to date on what we're doing. The ups and downs, thrills and spills. Our own version of Eurotrip even. Hopefully with less frontal male nudity. ... read more

How can I summarize my experience? What did I like best? What did I find most difficult? Did I enjoy it? It was a very challenging six weeks. Aside from the obvious struggle to understand and be understood in a place where English was minimal, and where most folks know only a few words, there was also the very real challenge of understanding and appreciating a very different culture. So many things are quite different in Central America. For example, there is no such thing as pedestrian rights, and though it is necessary often to step off the very narrow sidewalks into the street, one must constantly be on the lookout for vehicles speeding past - and I do mean speeding, because although there are man-sized speed bumps, and the occasional speed limit sign, the latter ... read more

After a fascinating six weeks on the road, it was a good feeling to be back in Canada Friday afternoon, and even better to be back in Esterhazy tonight! My return flights were without serious incident: Air Canada ripped a handle off my new suitcase (it was pretty heavy I guess), and kept us waiting in the plane for an extra 40 minutes in Vancouver before taking off today, but the flights themselves were smooth and the weather here is much warmer than I expected. In fact, my room is hotter than any I had in Guatemala while I was away, including the two nights at Tikal where daytime temperatures hovered around +35°C. I'll try not to say "si" when you say something I agree with or call my name. It will take me a bit ... read more

I'm sure you can all understand me when I say that the last two months have been both dragging and rushing by. Checklists to create and finish, gear to research and purchase, itineraries to plan, insurance, work arrangements, moving, blah,blah,blah. It's has taken up so much real estate in my mind that it gets to the point that you want to say,"to hell with it lets go already!". Plans have changed so much since we started thinking about this that the only thing that we've decided on for sure is to remain flexible. We're rank amateurs at bicycle touring and most of our gear is untested so it's a virtual certainty that we will have some painful lessons to learn, but what better way to learn. Speaking of painful lessons, as most of you know Vicki ... read more

. . . to my online travel journal!! I've set up this travel blog so that you can read about my travels for the next 3 months. I'll try to make an entry as often as possible, and you can check it out whenever you feel like it! I've set it up so that you receive an e-mail every time I make a new entry. If you talk to anyone else who would like to know when there's a new entry, just have them send me an e-mail and I'll add them to the list! Or they can link to this blog and click subscribe at the bottom of the page. And don't forget, I love to hear from you, so send me an e-mail back when you get a chance! Michelle... read more