Blogs from San Fernando, Los Angeles, California, United States, North America

This is the real Los Angeles, this is life in the SAN FERNANDO VALLEY. Away from the big city, and traffic, most turist dont get too see this part of LA county, and it is not always sunny in LA. This pictures were taken during spring and a 3 weekend spand in Northern, eastern, and western LA county.... read more

"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson So many times over this past year we have felt this foreign feeling. Now, being home, broke and jobless... I take the time to reflect on these moments. Number of Continents Visited: 3 Number of Countries Visited: 16 (In chronological order: Mexico, Japan, China (Tibet), Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru) Number of Cities Visited: 81 Number of Flights Taken: 20 Number of Trains Taken: 7 Number of Boats Taken: 4 Number of Car Rides: 5 Number of Buses: Too many to count Longest Bus Ride: 30 hours (El Calafate-Bariloche) Worst Trip to Get to a Destination: 15 hrs from Luang Prabang to Thai Border, waiting for border to open, local ... read more

Yesterday I received an email from Juliet, my school's Study Abroad and Exchange advisor. It read: "Thank you for your application to study abroad in Spain: Madrid . I am delighted to inform you that have been selected for an interview." This is the next big step. I submitted my application (did that the day after my birthday) and haven't looked back since; Instead I have been planning the many ways to finance this trip which is definitely going to involve trying to surmount the fashion-mania that no doubt arrests all travels stepping foot in any major European city. So my interview is set for this upcoming Tuesday at 2pm...Wish me luck I suppose, but no one should be reading this until I am on the plane. I have been advised to dress as though I ... read more

Well, Mom and Dad, Krista, Bill and the kids have come and gone. Hard to believe the holidays are over. Watched the plane take off from Bob Hope (semi) International Airport this past Wednesday morning with Mom and Dad on board headed for San Francisco and then on to Toronto. It was great having the 'old folks' around and it's not the same without them. Miss them already. Mom called from Peterborough about 11 pm their time Wednesday night and said the flight was fantastic. That's good 'cause we all know how Dad doesn't like the 'bumps' ! Currently their opening about 2 months worth of mail AND catching up on some sleep. Also apparently buying a STACK of new wool blankets because now that they've acclimatized to the Southern California 'winter' mom is now chilled ... read more

Well, there were good parts and bad parts. We found a cheap hotel, but you get what you pay for. I finally got the wireless to work by magic. There was a pool and a hot tub and a laundry. The inside room wasn't the greatest but there was HBO. Either way, we ended up staying an extra day. Here's the story about my Bad Week. We got in and took the car in since it was acting tired. We got a rental car that turned out to be an SUV that seated 7. I never let Johan drive it and I ended up liking the room, though it was crazy driving that on the freeway. Anyway, we went to Universal Studios and had fun. We were going to see the new Harry Potter movie on ... read more