Snow – theplaceswe

March 19, 2017July 4, 2017

Goodbye tans, hello runny noses

After an entire day of travelling we arrived at our hotel in Calgary, and our shorts and t-shirts were no use to us in the freezing weather. We spent a couple of days in the city organising our next 5 weeks. Even as I write this I know I can’t post it, not immediately anyway. We were trying to organise visas to enter China with the plan being that we spent a few weeks snowboarding here in Canada and then flying to Hong Kong and Shanghai before surprising everyone back home. This all would have worked fine if the Chinese Consulate would give us visas but because we weren’t Canadians or permanent residents they weren’t able to finalise our visas and then we were left in a bit of a dilemma. What to do? We did a bit of research and decided to take advantage of Shanghai’s visa free stop over policy. This meant though that we needed to fly into Shanghai from one place and fly out to another. We decided to combat this by booking a short stay in Macau. With all of that sorted we had nothing else to do but catch up with our friends and enjoy the snow.

We spent a week in Banff enjoying both Sunshine Village and Lake Louise. The snow was so unbelievably soft that I often just wanted to sit in it and relax. Each day we would wake up, have breakfast and then head to the mountains where I would become increasingly frustrated with myself when I would mess up and feel my progress slipping backwards. I think a part of me was not just nervous about the snowboarding but also nervous about surprising our family and friends back home. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep it from them. All of a sudden people just wanted to FaceTime us to chat and catch up and one thing we’ve learnt is that people always want to know two things. 1. What we’ve been doing and 2. Where we were off to next. Ordinarily both questions are easy to answer but we didn’t want any possibility of us slipping up so both Mark and I avoided FaceTime with anyone, simply claiming the wifi was no good. That in itself wasn’t a lie because wifi is often terrible where we go but it was still difficult to keep avoiding people.

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After our time in Banff we travelled to Kelowna to go to Big White where Mark spent 6 months living and working when he finished high school. It was interesting to hear all of the things he remembered once we got there but the funniest thing was his comment about the changes. After the first day I asked him if it was as he remembered and his response was “Yeah everything seems the same except everyone is so much younger than when I was here.” To which I had to gently remind him that it was 9 years ago and these kids were doing just what he had done although now he was much older. He didn’t really like me pointing this out but it did amuse us for the remainder of our time. The snow at Big White was no where near as good as the snow at Banff which was disappointing but I had finally learn to snowboard so I was happy.

We left Kelowna for Vancouver and when we arrived, piled all of our gear into a tiny cab and set off for our hotel in northern Vancouver. We stayed at this amazing B&B right near Capilano Bridge where we spent an afternoon wandering around and where we bumped into a girl Mark when to school with, it’s such a small world. It was also where we both nearly revealed our surprise plans. After visiting the Capilano Bridge we walked back to our B&B and booked tickets to go watch the Canucks play. I was so excited to watch my first ice hockey game and then we had planned to go and eat dinner afterwards. Things didn’t go to plan as soon as we left the B&B. We were walking down the road to the bus stop and when we turned the corner, saw the bus just up ahead so we ran to get there in time. We jumped on board and then realised that neither of us had actually checked we were on the correct bus. After Mark spoke to the bus driver and we were told this bus would take us to where we wanted to go we relaxed and waited for the drive to be over. When we arrived at the stadium we grabbed ourselves a hot dog and drink because how could I not at my first hockey game? And then we sat down and watched a rather uneventful hockey game and to fill in some time during the breaks we ate more food, although I didn’t eat that much more as I was excited to getting Vietnamese for dinner. Once the game was over (Canucks lost) we left to go get dinner only to be upset when we found all of the restaurants closed and our wandering had led us to a not so inviting part of Vancouver. We quickly grabbed a taxi and made our way back to our B&B.

When we got to the airport the next day we realised we were 10 days from going home but to make sure we kept the surprise Mark sent our parents a message telling them we were travelling up north to the Yukon and we would be without wifi for the week we were there. This was not an unusual message from us so our parents all replied telling us to enjoy and then we turned off our wifi. Our flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong was horrendous and possibly one of the worst flights either of us had been on. The man beside Mark was so elderly he didn’t seem to be able to do much on his own without Mark helping him. To repay Mark, he would keep falling asleep and farting. The kids behind us were so loud and Mark discovered a downside to having long hair – when someone in the row behind you pulls on your chair to move and they grab your hair with it. Once the plane landed we ran off and fast as we could to get some space and then got a taxi to the safety of our hotel.

December 6, 2016December 6, 2016

Canada ey

For our past week in Canada we have spent the majority of our time with an old friend of Mark’s (back from his Canada days) and his girlfriend. What still amazes me along this trip is the hospitality of friends and family but especially those we don’t expect it from. Steve and Danelle have been amazing from the moment we saw them. They came out on a Thursday night to have drinks with us, stayed out until late, went to work the next day and then met up with us again the next night for dinner. This was all before they picked us up at 5:00am on Saturday morning in their RV full of beer, wine, food & snow gear. They had planned out our weekend for us and for the first time in a long time we didn’t have to organise a thing. We arrived at Sunshine, hired snowboards and jumped on to the gondola. It has been maybe 3 years since I’ve been to the snow to attempt to learn to snowboard and so this time around it was just starting from scratch although in much better snow than we find back home. After Mark spent an hour or so with me we met up with Steve & Danelle to sit in the snow and have a drink and chat before the 3 of them went off to go down a few runs together. After they were done we ate some lunch and then all went for a ride together, I again spent more time on my ass than I would like to admit but hey, gotta start somewhere. We spent the night in a campground in Banff and made a trip out to the town for dinner where we encountered more Aussies & Kiwis than we did at ANZAC Day in Gallipoli. They were everywhere and we learnt that most people would just assume we lived and worked there when they heard us speak.

Waking up in the RV after such a deep sleep and stepping outside in the cold was surprisingly refreshing. I am glad though that we parked as close as we could to the bathrooms because it quickly stopped being refreshing and quickly became cold. The only shower in the bathroom was occupied and I felt like a bit of a creep waiting in the bathroom for the lady to finish but I didn’t want to lose my place in the imaginary line I had conjured up in my mind and therefore keep everyone waiting. It didn’t take too long though and when I made it back to the RV everything was packed up ready to go. We drove back to the town and bought breakfast before stopping by Lake Louise to have a drink, enjoy the scenery and just relax before we were dropped off at our hotel and Steve and Danelle made their way back home.

The next two days we spent at Lake Louise. The first day Mark spent up on the hill snowboarding and I spent the day doing nothing that was particularly interesting but all the same needed to be done – I worked on our trip. When Mark got back I asked him how his day was and all I got back was “I was sick”. I thought at first it was something he ate so started asking him about everything he ate during the day to which he just shook his head and said “No, I was sick because I was so exhausted.” And at this I just laughed and knew he would be sore the next day but he unfortunately had to drive us into town so we could eat.

screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-8-49-29-pm — Mark out and about

On the second day we packed our things into the hire car and spent one last day together on the hill. We left Lake Louise that day and drove to Radium Springs to enjoy a bit of quiet and also enjoy the hot pool. We spent the night there and the next day after a quick last stop at Banff Mark put an address into Google Maps and told me to direct. When I looked at it I saw it was a Cinema. Not sure if that was correct I asked him where we were going and his reply was “I thought we would kill some time and go see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. I love Harry Potter so going to see the movie at an actual cinema was so exciting I sat with a smile on my face the entire drive but then wasn’t focussing and nearly caused us to take a wrong turn which would have meant delays and we were already running down to the minute. We got there though and the act of walking into the cinema reminded me so much of home it was strange. When we got to the counter though we had just missed the screening by about 2 minutes. After 30 seconds of slight panic on my behalf Mark bought tickets to the next one which was in 15 minutes. One movie, one large popcorn, two large drinks and a bag of Twix later I actually skipped to the car. I was so happy and excited – I can’t wait for the next movies to come out! We drove to Steve and Danelle’s straight from the cinema and met them there for a drink before we went out for one last dinner at a BBQ House. We ate, drank and laughed for hours before it was time to go home because although we haven’t worked for close to a year, they still had their normal lives to attend to the next day.

And so that next day brings us to today. After saying thank you and goodbye we drove to the airport (stopped by McDonald’s for breakfast on the way), flew to Toronto and then got the shuttle bus to our hotel where we have had dinner, packed our bags and I finally managed to book a house to stay at in Havana, Cuba, where we flew to tomorrow. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. We don’t expect to have much internet (if any) in Cuba so you might not hear from us for a while.

Until we are back, our love, B & Mark xxx

November 10, 2016November 10, 2016

Ummm it’s cold here.

We woke up early in Rome to say goodbye to my family and then walked around Rome and ate breakfast at the Colosseum while the sun rose. It was the perfect end to our time in ‘mainland’ Europe. When we got back to our hotel we packed our bags, checked out and walked to Roma Termini station to head to the airport. Once at the airport it was anarchy. An airport staff member yelled at us to move our bags, we weren’t able to find the start of the priority check in line, and once we got to a check in counter our booking didn’t show up on their system so we were pushed aside while someone tried to sort it out for us. The plus side to all of that was that the lady who checked us in was the most hilarious ‘check-in lady’ we’ve ever had. She was not shy to express her frustration and utter disappointment at how her day was turning out. We eventually got through all formalities and were on our flight to Berlin. I will say that neither of us were happy to be at Berlin airport. It is probably one of the worst airports we have been to, and we’ve been there multiple times. And so after walking around for a while, sitting in the lounge for a while, and sitting on the plane for a while, we finally took off and flew to Reykjavik.

We arrived at Keflavik airport and we so amazed at the airport that we knew it was going to be a good 10 days. I don’t care what people say – first impressions do matter. We walked out, got on the bus and 45 minutes later were standing outside a hotel that wasn’t ours, looking for the apartment that was ours. We found it pretty easily, or so we thought. We walked into the apartment block just as some people were walking out and then were stuck inside trying to find our apartment for half an hour. At this stage it’s 3.00am and I’m wondering about the people who left the building and what they were doing leaving so late and wondering if Mark had managed to find our actual apartment while searching outside. Mark eventually showed up again and we left to go to our apartment. Once we got inside we were both so tired but also so hungry. It was while we were organising our phone chargers that Mark asked me where his Kindle was. I froze and my heart skipped a bit. “Fuck!” I thought. I knew exactly where it was, it was in the seat pocket of seat F23 on our plane. I put it there where Mark was falling asleep but in my daze I forgot to get it out or tell him where I put it. I was so annoyed at myself, 1. for forgetting and 2. because it was going to cost us money to replace it, and these days that money just adds more days to our trip. Let’s just say I had a very fitful 3 hour sleep before my alarm went off and we were up, dressed and out the door. Reykjavik at dawn is a beautiful city but my god it was cold. After walking the city we went back to our apartment to have breakfast and so I could sit on the phone and hope that Mark’s Kindle was turned in by flight attendants, assuming that found it. I felt such relief when the rather grumpy lady on the phone told me that she had his Kindle. Yep, it was going to be a good day. We picked up our car that afternoon and had an early night so we could try to catch up on sleep we had missed.

The next few days we were up early each morning to make it out to different sites before the sun rose and before the crowds moved in. At some points along our drive we would drive out onto a gravel road and within 5 minutes were completely isolated, it was something truly amazing and after 2 days it was odd if we encountered other people. We stopped to visit so many waterfalls along our journey and the raw power of some were breathtaking. My favourite however was the Seljanfoss waterfall. We were there early in the morning by ourselves and were able to walk around behind the waterfall to watch the water cascading down in front of us. Even though the water spraying on my face was so cold it went numb I loved it there. It was simply beautiful.

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After a few days we began to slow down and relax a little bit, after all, there are only so many waterfalls you can see before they all begin to blur. Toning down our chase for waterfalls worked well because we began our chase of the northern lights. On our first night we stopped in an open area and were looking for any hint of them in the sky. At the beginning we could see a silver glow in the sky but weren’t sure if we were in a good spot. While we waited Mark got out of the car and started taking photos to practise and get the camera settings right. After a couple of shots and getting the settings where he wanted we looked at the last photo and part of the sky was green. Turns out we were in a great spot to see the lights except clouds had moved in so without the camera we were only able to see a glow. We were happy with our find and the next night were out again, only this time to an even better spot and within a few minutes of arriving we could see them. It was so strange to see them with our own eyes and not through pictures. Ever since I watched Balto as a kid I always wanted to see the lights so I’m so glad I was able to see them in my life and with Mark beside me.

Have you ever seen anything so ‘out of this world’?

Our last few days were spent further out in eastern Iceland where we were able to see huge glaciers just off the side of the road. From the road they look huge but once you drive down the gravel roads and walk to the edges of the glaciers you appreciate the enormity of them. It’s not just the size that gets you though, it’s the look. The whiteness of the glaciers with the bright blue glow against the black mountainous backdrop is stunning.

We left eastern Iceland and drove 4 and a half hours back to Reykjavik and checked into a beautiful hotel. The first thing we did after checking in was venture up to the bar for the free tastings. Free chocolate and drinks? Yes please. The next day we took it easy before heading out to the Blue Lagoon in the afternoon where we could relax in the thermal pools which was the perfect end to our Iceland experience. To top it all off though Mark bought last minute tickets to see Björk at the Harpa in Reykjavik and afterwards we ate hot dogs for dinner – So Icelandic of us!

We both loved our time in Iceland but are looking forward to heading to New York especially now that they have voted for a new President. Let’s see what’s changed in 24 hours.

Love, an intrigued B x