Category Archives: Travel

My Spring road trip through Ontario

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ontario

I did it! I warned you. If you read the post I wrote near the beginning of Spring 2022, then you’ll know my emotions this time of year typically find me “wishing from the windowsill.” But, I grew sick of staring out the window and hoping. So, I did it! I took some action. Now let me tell you what I did – my road trip through Ontario.

It was April 15th when I found my hands on the steering wheel and had this crazy thought: “I know you just want to get some healthy groceries like you planned, but not cook any of it and heat up a pizza by the TV, but why can’t you just get on the road now? You got some cash, you got your car, so get on the road! And tonight you can enjoy a pizza by the TV in some grungy motel.”

And like a car mechanic I sneered, lit a cigarette with my greasy fingers and put my engine to the test. The road tested me indeed, for as soon as I had my old tires spinning on the highway I began to doubt my spontaneous adventure. I was at a gas station when my tank went dry. Sipping coffee, I convinced myself that this pathetic little drive out in the country had been fun enough and now I could get some groceries on the way home…. Screw that!

I lit another cigarette, turned up the music and ZOOM! – I’ll literally need Zoom to talk to home now because I’m not coming back… My car was blasting on the highway, en route to the City of Hamilton, ON. So excited to get there, I went on Yahoo to look up fun tourist attractions; the day was still young and sunny with the Spring flowers blooming, I thought I had all the time in the world to explore Hamilton and visit my friend there like a true tourist. I thought she’d be so surprised to see me that we’d go out to party and celebrate or something.

Things were looking good as the flowers passed one by one and I got one wheel’s turn closer to my city of attraction. That night I stayed at a motel and enjoyed the pizza like I promised. Then, next morning, I was back out there on the road with my car zooming, tires burning rubber and Hamilton on my mind.

I drove for several days, calling in sick for work, listening to the same radio station, pumping my gas tank full of fuel and my head full of coffee. I was having so much fun on the road I felt like my whole family was with me. I imagined myself telling all my friends how I had had this crazy idea to drive across Hamilton when I was supposed to get groceries. Oh, how proud of me they would be.

Or so I thought…

I was several kilometers away from reaching my destination when my car engine started smoking and I had to pull over. When I tried to start it again, it made some horrible noises and I was scared to keep going. Many thoughts raced through my head at this point. I thought that I might be too embarrassed to share my story now, if my car broke down and I had to bus home. But not if I handled the problem promptly! Then I could be proud. Hopeful, I pulled out my phone and searched for auto body shop Hamilton. I was quickly serviced by a local company and although the sun was going down by the time I was driving my car again, at least I didn’t let this problem put a halt to my adventure. I would get my car serviced a hundred times if I had to.

That night, I met up with my friend and she joined me on the rest of my little trip, showing me the new restaurants that had sprouted throughout the city since I had visited last. For two days we enjoyed the city, and then I had to continue my days on the road to reach home. The way home was even more fun, although I missed my friend. Instead of staying in motels, I did some lonely camping and enjoyed a few long walks through the woods. It was my first time camping alone and I can’t wait to do it again.

Over all it was a satisfying road trip, but I think I can do better. Next time, perhaps this Summer, I will bring friends with me and plan ahead. Before I leave you here, I want to ask you something: How are you enjoying your Spring?

What are some good things to do in quarantine

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Hopefully things are turning back to normal for you, but still in Canada I have to isolate for two weeks after re-entering the country from Europe, so over the past few days I’ve thought of some interesting ways to entertain myself. If you’re like me and had to search the wide web for something to do in quarantine, then you might find this article useful. Let’s start with the basics.

Here are 5 quick things you can order online right now to make your two weeks at home much more bearable because if you wait they won’t show up for two or more days.

  1. A video game console with some games
  2. Some painting supplies and few medium-sized canvases
  3. Journals and pens for writing or dream recording
  4. Postcards and envelops to write endearing letters to all your loved ones
  5. Lots of good food for cooking

These are ideas to get you started, but like I said, unless you have someone to go to the store for you or you can order these things from local delivery service, you should order them online sooner than later so they show up when you start to get bored. The first few days isolating in a hotel room can feel fun like camping but you start to go crazy rather quickly.

While waiting for my 5 things to show up, I did a lot of internet browsing, listening to podcasts and reading blogs like the Medieverse and a few others to keep me sane until I was able to disappear into the used PlayStation 3 that was delivered to my hotel room door. I found a game called Dragon’s Dogma to be very entertaining. The paint supplies, however, were even more of a blessing for me as it’s something I’ve always wanted to get better at growing up and now I finally have a few paintings I’m proud of enough to hang in my bedroom where only people I trust can ever see them, lol.

But by far the thing that saved my existence the most while quarantining for two weeks in my hotel, because my room had a small kitchen attached, was baking and cooking. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to avoid sugar like I usually do, but I had a good reason. All the baking I ate, stuff like muffins and even a whole cake at one point, which got moldy in the fridge by the way (I didn’t eat the whole thing), kept me from getting overly depressed.

I’m not able to live without seeing people for too long so I also spent a lot of time on the phone. Writing those personal letters by candlelight at night are some sweet memories, and the replies I got in the mail brightened the loneliest days and were written in beautiful handwriting so I framed them in my hallway.

One habit I picked up in quarantine that I never thought would stay with me is journaling. I already filled the journal I bought from back to front with recordings of my dreams, doodles and cute little notes to myself. So expect me to transcribe some of that content into more blog posts in the future.

I hope these ideas inspired you to make your time in isolation no worse than it has to be. Have fun!

Visiting Nanaimo BC (Updated in 2023)

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nanaimo landscape

Keep in mind while reading this that I’m writing as someone who just visited Nanaimo BC for the first time and I’m writing for people who have never visited there but plan to in the future. First, before I talk about my experience there, I would like to answer the question “Why would anyone want to visit Nanaimo BC?”

Why Would Anyone Want to Visit Nanaimo, BC?

I have 3 very good reasons why someone like me would want to visit Nanaimo. The first two have to do with ease of travel, but I’ll start by saying that if you grew up in a landlocked province in Europe like me then it might be enough just to see the ocean. I have better reasons, though, so here we go.

  1. There is a ferry you can take directly from Vancouver to Nanaimo, which makes traveling there easy because yo can fly to Vancouver from anywhere in the world.
  2. If you decide to visit Nanaimo by taking the ferry from Seattle, that means you’ll need to land in Victoria BC first and that’s the best excuse I can think of for not just visiting Nanaimo but south Vancouver Island in general. On the highway from Victoria to Nanaimo there is so much to see that I would almost recommend this route to American tourists who have more time on their hands.
  3. Like I said earlier, Nanaimo is a great place to visit if you’re not used to being by the ocean. This is because Nanaimo is a small city right by the ocean and they have some of the most beautiful dockyards and ocean views in all of British Columbia.

Now that we’re done talking about the three reasons why going to Nanaimo may be easier than you think and how you can do it, I’m ready to talk about my own experience and why I went there recently.

Why I Visited Nanaimo, BC

The truth is often more exciting than fiction, or stranger as some say it, but not in this case for me. The boring truth is that I visited Nanaimo BC because my great aunt retired there and I hadn’t seen her in years. Our visit was magical, something I’ll never forget. The reason I’ll never forget it, however, is not because my great aunt is a fabulous host, but rather because Nanaimo was so kind to me and I met many wonderful people and shared many fabulous experiences that I didn’t expect before hopping on the ferry.

I never expected that the technician I called from Appliance Repair Nanaimo to fix my great aunt’s deep freezer would become my tour guide and show me all the best pubs in Nanaimo to check out that night. I also didn’t expect that our taxi driver would be joining us for drinks after he got off work. Nanaimo loves tourists more than most places I’ve visited in the world, and they enjoyed showing me around, I’d guess, more than I myself enjoyed being showed around. It was a great time!

One thing I discovered while there was the best recipe for Nanaimo bars I’ve ever tasted, and, you guessed it, that recipe was made by my great aunt herself, a family secret – so don’t expect me to ever repeat it! I ate so much sugar while I was with my great aunt that I still weigh myself in the bathroom every morning partly regretting it to this day (t was only a week ago).

The last thing I want to say before I let you decide for yourself whether Nanaimo is worth visiting or not, is this: If you didn’t have enough time to visit the place in 2021 then consider waiting until the summer of 2022 because summer is by far the best time of year to visit because this is when the ocean is so pretty to spend time at. There is so much to do in the surrounding area, from ATVing in the woods to sailing around the coast, I’m sure you’ll have nearly as much fun as I did 🙂

I highly recommend it… In 2023, Nanaimo is very worth visiting!