Last Weekend in Melbourne

Days 441-442, February 11-12, 2012

So with my initial depression, for the most part, sedated, I finally got myself out to explore some more of Melbourne. This would be my last weekend in the city and I didn’t want to leave without seeing a bit more of it, as well as seeing friends before I took off for Canberra.

Those that know me really well would not be surprised at the type of weekend I had. Low key, non-drunk, and full of board games. I don’t change all that much, do I?

Southern Cross Station

Visa Runs and Other Fun in Vientiane

Days 383-386, December 15-18, 2011

Can I be brutally honest right now? My main reason for blazing past Pakse after the 4000 Islands was so I could get to Vientiane and apply for my Thai visa and receive it before the weekend. I did not want to get stuck in the city over the weekend waiting for my passport to be handed back to me from the Thai Embassy.

Funny how things don’t always work out the way you planned it.

Vientiane, Laos

[No] Sex, [Some] Drugs, & Country Music

Day 249-254, August 3-8, 2011

There were a couple reasons I was excited to go to Amsterdam. First, it was Pride. You always hear about the craziness of European gay prides and Amsterdam was surely to exceed those expectations(for what Pride was really like, check this post out). But I think I was actually even more excited because this would be the first time I meet another fellow travel blogger on the road, Jaime from Breakaway Backpacker.

We had been planning this for months now and it was finally here! With our apartment booked and our train arrival times happening within a half hour of each other, it was time to head off. For me, it was a 20 hour train ride from Zagreb, through Munich and onto a night train to Amsterdam. For Jaime, it was a two hour train from Antwerp, Belgium.

Seville–Last stop in Spain

The following takes place on days 170-171, May 16-17, 2011.

Having a really lazy, late start to the day isn’t always a bad thing. That is, if you’re in a regular temperature city. I am not. I am in Palma del Rio, a good three kilometers walk from the train station. By being lazy, I just condemned myself to walking to the train station with my backpack in the hottest part of the day. Not the brightest move on my part I must say.

Lucky for me, there was shade on at least one side of the road for most of the way until I got to the old Roman bridge right by Kelsi’s family’s home. I was a bit sad that I couldn’t say a proper goodbye to Kelsi but her family was home and she was busy working with the kids. It was still fun to spend a couple nights with someone from back home. Certainly killed a little of the homesickness I was feeling.

Lagos–Portugal’s Paradise

The following takes place between Days 163-167, May 9-14, 2011

I hadn’t really planned to go to Lagos when I came to Portugal. I knew I would head to the south of the country, or at least Southern Spain. I just happened to meet a girl in my hostel in Lisbon who mentioned how beautiful the Algarve region of Portugal was. In particular, she raved about Lagos. A quick Google search showed a little resort town right on the Atlantic ocean extremely popular with tourists from England. Lucky for me, it wasn’t the high season quite yet so finding a hostel for only 10 euros a night was a breeze.

So, early in the morning, I hoisted up my backpack and took the metro to the nearby train station, bought a ticket and within an hour was on the train heading south.

Days 112-115, The CRTC has rated this post R

The following takes place between Saturday, March 19 and Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I am warning you now, this post is going to include a mention of a rather intimate encounter while in Foz. I warn you now. I’ll give you warning as to when it is. The reason I’m feeling comfortable about doing this, even considering that there is family that reads this(Trevor, perhaps you should black that portion out when you print it off for Grandma) is that this is my blog. With Jaime of the blog Breakaway Backpacker being so honest on his I came to the realization that I really shouldn’t be throwing myself back into the closet. This blog is as much for me as it is for others to read.

So, with that said, lets get on with the show!

Days 101-105, Buenos Aires from all Angles

The following takes place between Tuesday, March 8 to Saturday, March 12, 2011

Buenos Aires is a massive city with so much room to explore and discover its hidden treasures. There is also many different ways that one can explore and discover these treasures. From organized tours to random wanderings, there’s not shortage of the things that you can find.

With the realization of my time in South America quickly starting to wind down, I had to make the most of my shortened time frame. So the wallet opened and I started spending crazy amounts of money. Tours and shows were booked, bikes were rented, and money was set aside for a pub crawl. It was going to be an intensive, and memorable, couple days.

Day 90, Being Sociable In Santiago

The following takes place on Friday,  February 25, 2011

After waking up with surprisingly no hangover, the first thing I did was attempt to find where Ben was. Or, more importantly, whether he actually got back to the hostel safely. After a massive margarita and numerous tequila shots(you’re welcome!), he was a tad bit gone. Probably didn’t help that he was still a wee bit jetlagged from coming from Melbourne.

With Ben officially found and alive, I sat around while the rest of the previous nights gang slowly woke up. With plans to head to the Plaza de Armas for a free walking tour of Santiago, we had to start getting a bit of a move on if we wanted to make it.

Day 89, The Santiago Gang Forms

The following takes place on Thursday, February 24, 2011

The plan that formed today involved doing some geocaching along the route of the metro station that stops by my hostel. I packed a little bag with some extra batteries, my GPS, my iTouch, pens, and my camera and took off.

I’ve probably said this many times before, and will probably write an actual article regarding this, but geocaching is one of the best ways to see parts of a city you would normally never see. These are places that locals thought should be highlighted. Out of the way parks, important monuments, isolated view points of the city. Hell, sometimes even locals don’t know about these places themselves.

Day 87-88, Time to Scream

The following takes place between Tuesday, February 22 and Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The bus ride from Iquique to Santiago is a long, 23/24 hour journey. I splurged though and got a full cama bus with TurBus, one of the best bus companies I’ve done business with. They are the largest bus company in Chile, with destinations completely throughout the narrow country. I still swear that Greyhound can stand to do a little trip to Peru(Cruz del Sur) and Chile(TurBus) to see how bus companies should be run. Comfortable, friendly, ON TIME. There’s even food included in the price.

We arrived in Santiago in the mid afternoon. Before I had left Iquique I had booked a hostel and had memorized the directions to get there. This involved taking the subway. Luckily there was a metro station right at the bus terminal. I bought my BIP card, which is a reloadable card to get you on both the subway and the city buses, and got onto the subway.

Days 73-86, Of Sun, Beach, Earthquakes, and Romance

The following takes place between Tuesday, February 8 and Monday, February 21, 2011

Oh, how grand life is. There are certain moments that really hit it home that I’m on a trip like no other. How else can one go from giant expanses of salt, to desert, to ocean side in the space of a week? It’s hard sometimes to remember how fortunate I am to be able to experience all that I am experiencing. The idea of going on a Round The World trip is such a foreign concept back home. You rarely, if ever, hear of people doing something like this. Either because it was always thought to be too expensive(back when the province was struggling), to now where it’s thought to be too much time to take off(now that the province is booming and everyone is putting more value in making money than in leisure time).

So here I am, in Iquique, a beautiful little city(smaller than Saskatoon even), nestled between the beginnings of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. Rarely is there a cloud in the sky. Rarely is there a breeze in the air, and when the wind does blow, the smell of the salt water is ripe. It’s as close to paradise as I have been.

Days 60-64, Getting Lucky in Cochabamba

The Following takes place between Wednesday, January 26 to Sunday January 30, 2011

What happened to Days 57 to 59? Well, somehow I don’t think anyone would really want to hear me spout out how I spent most of those days curled up under the covers of my bed back in La Paz, throwing up every hour. I was not a pretty sight. And my mom can attest, when I’m sick, I kinda turn into a snivelling baby demanding attention and pity.

When I finally felt better I grabbed a night bus and headed off to Cochabamba. A beautiful city that isn’t really on a lot of backpackers radar. Which is just my luck. It was like I had the whole city to myself. Plus, there were other things that occured that made Cochabamba one of my favorite cities I’ve visited thus far.