article placeholder

One more sleep until Canada

It’s bed time in Bangkok, and we fly home in the morning. Things won’t be that immediate though; the flights and airport waiting will likely be a 30-35 hour ordeal. And then that’s it. Trip over; real life here we come. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone, but there’s definitely a twinge of bittersweet about things coming to an end. Speaking of bittersweet, today, September 3rd, is also the birthday of one of my favourite people. Happy birthday Shane. I miss you brother. Chris  

Happy Birthday Dad!

It’s my Dad’s birthday today, or at least it’s still his birthday right now in B.C. Canada (August 4th). We’re so far away we’ve already moved into tomorrow. Anyway, miss you Dad. Hope you have a good day. Don’t do too much work on your renovations. We’re thinking about you. Love, Chris (and Laura)  
Here's a picture of Mimoun the Camel!!!!

Our Biggest Adventure Yet! (drumroll please)

Hey gang, Chris and Laura here again. Well, we’ve been teasing all of you with subtle mentions of our big news. If you’ve been following along for the past several months, you’ll know that our plans have already changed more than once, so one more big change shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Our original plan was to wrap up our travels in Thailand, where we would settle down for a year and teach English. But life has a way of surprising you. In mid-May, Laura got a message on Facebook and it changed the course of our life. Instead of magical Thailand, the “Land of Smiles,” we had a new option: a place with a strange and unique local culture; with extreme weather that some people only dream about. This place just sounded so interesting and challenging from a traveller’s perspective we simply couldn’t say no. Fresh air,…Continue Reading

Feeling homesick after 5.5 months of travel

For the first time in my life I have had people ask me where I’m from and when I say Canada they shrug their shoulders and say, “Where’s that?”  After 5.5 months I am officially homesick. Although some of my homesickness might be brought on by the fact that my entire body is aching, my eyeballs hurt and my head is pounding. To say the least, I’m glad I brought Imodium.  To make the situation even worse, Chris is also feeling like this.  I hope we get on our feet soon because we should jump on a bus and head into Iran. Right now we’re in a city called Van which is very close to the border.  To get here we took a 7-hour bus ride from Diyarbakir where we spent two nights and had a wonderful adventure. We’ve had people ask us throughout our trip if we are homesick,…Continue Reading

Vancouver, B.C., Canada

As promised, here are some of the photos we got in Vancouver. We’re in London now, and after walking for about 10 hours yesterday (we estimated about 14km), we have a ton of photos from here already, but first things first. Although it is my intent to write more once we get a bit more used to life on the road, for now I think I’ll let the pictures do (most of) the talking.  
article placeholder

www.TheAirplaneGuy.ca

For the past few days I’ve been working far more furiously than you would think someone who is technically unemployed would be. But working for yourself on a freelance basis can be like that and I’m happy to have the work. I also have a couple of other projects to wrap-up, so I’m not out of it yet. But, earlier tonight I did finish the major phase of a web design project I’ve been doing for a client of mine (who’s also become a friend), and if you’re checking out this site you should check his out too. Allan Gallant will be billing himself the Airplane Guy, offering a range of school outreach programs to students right in the classroom. He’s been involved in aviation and aviation education for virtually his entire life, most recently having been in charge of education programs at the Calgary Aerospace Museum. Laura and I…Continue Reading

Vancouver Aquarium

It costs 22 Canadian bucks for an adult to visit the Vancouver aquarium but it’s worth it. They take remarkably good care of their tanks and creatures of all shapes and sizes. Ever seen a Beluga whale? How about  sea horses or a prehistoric fish that’s about 6 feet long and 1.5 feet wide? If you haven’t then you need to go the Vancouver Aquarium. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the aquarium presented their written material. The descriptions were short and memorable. They also have some awesome interactive exhibits such as video sequences that you can control the speed of, in order to see just how fast the reflexes are of different creatures. I had the best time learning random facts like there are 24 species of Piranha but only 3 species even pose a threat to humans and that’s only if you wade through a shallow pond of water…Continue Reading
Front and center is Dale and Des's beautiful daughter Isla!

Dinner at the Millers’

Fresh mussels. Shrimp.  Steak. Asparagus. Broccoli. Zucchini. I love food. Des, Dale, myself and Chris all did different tasks to create an amazing dinner at the Millers’ place. The next day we went to Dale’s parents house (also Millers) for dinner. Margie whipped up a fantastic red meat pasta sauce which we washed down with two red wines: “Gnarly” and “Gnarlier”. I preferred the “Gnarlier”. After dinner Mr. Miller brought out the Scotch and Port. We ended the evening with a crash course, delivered by Chris, on how to clean your camera sensor.  

It’s the final countdown

Only 10 more days. Now I’m getting excited. Woo-hoo!!!! We had a huge turkey and ham dinner with Chris’ aunts, uncles, mom and dad. Son and dad bonded with Uncle Dave over a game of snooker. Dad won.  
article placeholder

Sorrento, B.C., Canada

After a grueling overnight in the G-hound, we finally made it south to warmer climes. We’ve been in my parent’s adopted hometown of Sorrento, B.C. now for about three days, and I tell you, retirement living has never had it so easy. It’s about 4 degrees celsius, which is downright balmy for a Canadian January, and the lake views and mountain vistas are easy enough to take. We had a late Christmas get together with the Aunts and Uncles here down at the retirement park’s club house, and it was a chance once again for my Old Man to prove he’s better at pool than pretty much any one else I’ve ever met. He’s also better at shuffleboard than his son, but in fairness, he has about 40 years on me. We did a couple of group shots, but I’ll just put up the best one. In the other ones…Continue Reading
article placeholder

Dinosaur Bone Bed Near Grand Prairie

Grand Prairie… um? Chris and I had an enjoyable time hanging out with family and going swimming with the kids (our nieces and nephews).  We also had a lovely visit with Brian Brake one evening and got to see the gorgeous house he managed to renovate almost entirely in the first two months of being here. He’s not one to sit around. Brian, my former boss from The Military Museums, is now living up here to start work on building a dinosaur museum! It should be completed in two years.  It will be a fantastic attraction featuring Alberta’s dinosaur bone bed with the most bones per square meter. Essentially, it’s a mass grave of dinosaurs. Currently they are calling it the River of Death and Discovery Dinosaur Center. Very cool!  
article placeholder

Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada

Today is our last day in the North. Around lunch time (in about 3 hours), we’ll be taking a bus to a place called Dawson Creek, where we’ll catch another one to Kamloops, B.C. This’ll be the longest Greyhound ride of our Canadian leg, and all told we’ll be in Greyhound’s nasty clutches for about 18 hours. It makes me shudder, but we have no choice. At least we’ll be leaving this snowy tundra behind. Luckily, we’ve also had the pleasure of spending the last week or so visiting with my sister Kelli and her family. It’s always nice to see the kids, even though they seem to be giving her a bit more grief than usual by not always doing what they’re told. We did a lot with them, including getting to attend Kindergarten for Delaney’s Special Helper Day. That was pretty cool. We also brought a late haul…Continue Reading