"If I hide myself wherever I go..."

"...am I ever really there?"

This week on "What in the world is this a quote from?" Brought to you by the Barenaked Ladies song "For You".  It's a great song and I would suggest you go and youtube it, but I know nobody will so I'll just skip that part.

I had so many good ideas for a new blog post just a couple of days ago, but that has since past and now I don't know what I was going to do.

My cousin and I have been back from our trip for over a month now so we all settled back into home.  I must say, that kind of travelling is different from what I have done.  The travelling I've done is either going to Africa for 2 or 3 months and staying in one spot, or going to one city (ie; Toronto or Ottawa) and staying in a hotel then coming back home.  I totally enjoyed the whole staying in a city for a few days, then deciding where to go next and how to get there.  There were quite a few morning where we woke up not knowing what we were going to do that day, and those days were some of the best. 

My favourite parts probably were Doune Castle, Edinburgh and Bruges.  Doune Castle for obvious reasons, that was cool to see and very enjoyable.  Edinburgh as a city was beautiful, and although that hostel was the containers hostel, it was probably one of my favourites.  Bruges I had heard so many good things about before we left from many, many different people and I think I agree with all of them.  I definitely recommend that city to anyone travelling to Belgium.  I liked Iceland to while we were there, but we only had just over 24 hours there so didn't get to see much.  I would like to go again and maybe rent a car or something like that. That'd be cool.

Brussels and Dusseldorf were also very nice and would recommend them to anyone.  Although I think Dusseldorf is a little less touristy, so it's still a nice city, but not as much to see, and definitely less English. I wish we could've gotten to Berlin, but it was too far and too expensive so maybe next time?

I don't know about any of you guys, but every once in a while, usually when I am travelling, there will be a certain time or a certain place where everything just seems right. I don't really know how to explain it and I don't even know if "seems right" is the correct way of putting it.  Its a calm, quite moment where you just have to be quiet and soak up the moment and realize where you are and what you're a doing.  Although quiet is not hard to do for me, but hopefully you kinda know what I mean.

I'll let you know the few moments I can recall where I felt like this (in no particular order)

The first one is after the 2013 Grey Cup. After all the crazy screaming, yelling and Heeeennnnrrryyy-ing that was included in the entire Grey Cup game, once almost everyone had left the stadium exept for only a few (a few as in likely a thousand or so, I don't really know) there was a moment.  Once the cup had been presented and the fans all streamed out onto Albert St, my brother, his friend and I just stood in our seats and looked around for a few minutes.  We didn't say anything (that I remember) and didn't try to rush out of Taylor Field.  I don't know about the other 2, but I was just standing there soaking up the moment, yeah, it's just football, but to us in Saskatchewan, it's not really just football. After a while, we left the stadium and joined the other Rider fans on the street and so on, that was also wicked fun.

The second one was during my second trip to Ghana.  I can't remember which day it was exactly, but it was close-ish to the end of my 5 months in total in Kumasi.  At the very end of the day, I ended up sitting of the roof of the building next to my house. I wrote about it before but that was a while ago, it was a 2 or 3 story building that was in the same yard as where I stayed in Kumasi, I was kinda the shell of a building that at one point was going to be built, but never really got to being finished.  I would quite often find myself on the roof of this building, you could see a lot of Kumasi from there, and also could see a beautiful sunset as well.  This one night in particular, I found myself on the roof just listening to the city at night.  I don't remember what was special about the one evening, but it was memorable.

The last one I can think of at this moment is the day after Remembrance Day last year.  Yeah, I know, how could I not say Remembrance Day itself.  While it was the entire reason for the trip and was one of the most memorable days of my life, there was to many people around to have that one quiet moment.  No, the time I'm talking about is the day after, I had a few hours before I had to go to the airport to fly home, so I decided to go back to the War Memorial and see if the poppies we had all put on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were still there.  They all were, along with other notes and letters and things left for those who fought for our country.  While there were still people there, it was considerably less people, and I think we were all kinda thinking the same thing.  Nobody really spoke to each other, we just stood there thinking, or reading the notes and letters left behind.  I don't know if I could ever explain that feeling.   It was just as powerful to be at that place the day after Remembrance Day.

Ok, that was a little too deep. I feel like I need a joke to lighten the mood.  What did the blanket say when it fell off the bed?  Oh Sheet.      Hahaha C'mon, that was hilarious. No? Well, it made me giggle.

Now I don't really know how to end this. So I'll just...umm....bye? 

One...Two...Five!

Figured I should post on here again since we are on the way back home. The last time I updated you guys we were just in our way too Brussels. Now that seems like a long time ago.

We stayed three nights in Brussels. I like that city actually, it was nice. One of the days we were there we went to the Belgium Military Museum  (or something like that) and walked around there. The had a separate place where they had probably like over 20 planes. It was awesome, and I made a point to take a load of pictures cause I knew dad would be jealous. They even had 2 different Canadian military planes.

After our time in Brussels we took a bus to Düsseldorf and stayed there for 4 nights. Düsseldorf was nice as well although there was very little English. I can count on 1 hand the amount of English speakers we came across. Which doesn't bother me too much but can be tiring if your not used to it. We wandered around the city and went up in the tower that there is, that was pretty cool. We took a train to Frankfurt and just stayed there the one night.

Yesterday we flew to Iceland which we were looking forward too. If I had longer here I think I'd really enjoy it. It's a beautiful country. Although I would probably rent a car if you're here for a while, we didn't get a taxi back to the airport and instead walked for 2 hours. That was fun....

Anyway, we are just hanging out at the airport at the moment waiting for the flight to Edmonton.

I'll see everyone when I get back and I shall update this thing again likely. Likely when I have a computer and not just my phone that it a pain to type on.

BYE!

"Come see the Violence Inherent in the System"

Well after a wonderful couple of days in Bruges, we are leaving today to head to Brussels.  We were thinking of going to Berlin but that is on the other side of Germany and quite expensive to get there, so Brussels it is then.  We booked our next hostel for 3 nights and from there we will go to Germany then to Reykjavik and on home.  It's just over a week before we head home and it's gone by pretty fast.

The hostel we stayed in here in Bruges has the most uncomfortable bed I've ever slept in. It is like sleeping on a cement block. I won't miss the bed at all.  I will miss the city though, it's awesome. But I am looking forward to going to Brussels and seeing what is there. 

I can't really think of anything else interesting to tell you guys.  I will say though that Bruges is probably the easiest city to get around in.  And to not get lost in. It drove us crazy in Edinburgh cause I swear that none of the streets have signs on them so it's difficult to tell what street your on. Which doesn't work well when you're trying to find your hostel.  Or walking for 2 hours to find the ferry you need to take in Hull. Yup, 2 hours with about 25 lbs on your back. That was kinda exhausting but I do enjoy all the money I likely saved not getting a taxi.

You'll be happy to know that I think I've already taken like 400 pictures at least. I've been kinda picture happy. 

That's all I got for now, but it's like 3:30 in the morning (not a soul in sight. City's looking like a ghost town, on a moonless summer night...) cough cough... haha. Anyway, it's the middle of the night right now where you guys are so ya'll won't see this until later sooo...bye for now.

'Cause I'm a Lowlife...*

Hey all! (Or like, the two people that read this). I figured I should update you all since I haven't in a few days. Well other than that Happy Birthday post to my dearest mother.

We are currently in Bruges, Belgium at the moment and I must thank all the people that recommended this city for us to go to as it is quickly becoming a favourite.  To get here we took a ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge. It was a 13 1/2 hour ride that was also overnight.  I wasn't sure if I could make the trip without getting seasick, but surprisingly I was perfectly fine which was nice. When we got off the ferry we had to get our passports stamped to get into Belgium. That actually took longer than I thought as the guy had some sort of an issue with Grant's passport and after about 5 minutes of talking with the other dude stamping the passports we were finally let in.  Well, it also took me giving the guy my phone to look at my confirmation email for the hostel we are currently staying in.  I'm not sure what the issue was, but it's kinda funny now that we have been let in and it's all good.

I don't think I posted about Edinburgh (sorry, that was a squirrel moment).  I quite like that city as well.  While we were there we ran across a festival of some sort.  There were a lot of buskers (street performers) all over the place.  We saw some really entertaining ones and I did catch some on video as well.  Our hostel for that Edinburgh was actually just a whole bunch of shipping containers put together which was a little different.   I knew that's basically what it was when I booked it but didn't bother to tell Grant as it was funnier that way.

Also, if you're wondering (you're might not be but I'm going to tell you anyway), I did through a little party for Grant's 18th birthday.  I bought a happy birthday banner, a cake, candles (not lit though, we were inside) and a present and card.  So that was fun, we spent his birthday in a small hostel in Hull watching Interstellar.

That's all I have for you now. I'm actually typing this Monday night, and once a connect to some WiFi I'll post it.

*The reason for the title is I didn't know what to title this blog as I'm not creative but I do recall a comment from my Dad o  a post from a couple of years ago saying something about titling a post "Cause I'm a Lowlife". So I'm naming it that just for him.

And Now For Something Completely Different....

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Have a great day!!!

Doune Castle!

What?! A blog title with an exclamation point? Heck yes! If you don't know already, Doune Castle is the castle that they filmed a lot of Monty Python and the Holy Grail at. This castle is the main reason we flew into Glasgow and not somewhere else.  I really wanted to go there.  Yesterday we got up and took a train to Stirling, then took a bus to Doune and had a short walk to the castle.  It was fantastic I tell you hwhat (insert Hank Hill voice here). I got the few manditory pictures of the castle and of where many of the scenes took place.  I'd also like to thank my photographer Grant.

That was a fantastic day and worth the train tickets back and forth.  I'll just have to remember to show Courier Mike the pictures as I know he'll enjoy them.

And now for the part of the blog I've been wanting add for a while now.  This one is just for mom, who has, throughout the years blessed me with lots of good advice like how to fold you towels just so (she will go back and re-fold them), and also advice on cooking and baking (or when the recipe says just add the egg yolk and she just says "aww screw it" and puts the whole egg in), and all the other motherly advice throughout the years. I have one confession that I wanted to say while there is an ocean between us....deep breath....I have...picked up a hitchhiker.

It was last year I believe and it was on my way back from Saskatoon (after I bought that Queen CD). I came across someone on the side of road with their bike sitting beside them. I slowed down and picked them up cause I was thinking the bicycle may be broken or something, and also that the hitchhiker looked like an older woman.  We took the front wheel off the bike and slide it into the back of my Soul. The hitchhiker turned out to be a like 60 year old woman named Lynn. It was quite the interesting ride back to Prince Albert where I dropped her off.

Haha! I'll have to tell you the rest of the story at some point. It's a good'n.

That's it for now. We got to Edinburgh today and have a few days here before we head to Belgium.

"Supreme Executive Power Derives from a Mandate from the Masses

Not some farcical aquatic ceremony."

Quote doesn't really match the post, but I'm in Scotland so I'm just going to leave it.  That and Monty Python makes me laugh.

So we got to Glasgow earlier today after 3 flights and many hours in airports.
There we no major hiccups on the way here.  Just the usual panicked thought while going through customs that they are going to deny us entry for some reason.  I think maybe I've just watched to much Border Security.  We took a taxi from the airport to the hostel after we landed.  The taxi driver was super nice and gave us some suggestions.  He told us to take the subway that is just around the corner from the hostel.  We actually did do that and got off on one of the stops that sounded interesting and walked around for a while. We got back on the subway and came back, it was kinda fun.

We did some more wandering around town for a while and decided we both can't get used to driving on the other side of the road. Supper was actually some sandwiches that we made with groceries we bought at a store close by.  Which we figure is a little more healthy than the Mcdonalds we had for lunch. We even bought food for breakfast tomorrow as well.

Tomorrow it is on to Doune Castle which I'm totally looking forward too.

7 Hours And Counting.....

It's just over 7 hours until we leave and what do you think I'm doing? Sleeping? Why ever would I do that? Haha.

Today was full of packing, checking and double checking all of our stuff. I do think we have everything. If we don't, well it's not like we are going anywhere to crazy, so we can just buy what we need.

Talk to you guys from the other side of the pond!

On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.

Not Camelot, but the next best thing.

So if you can't guess by now, I'm going on another trip.  I'll pause for you to collect yourself after that bombshell....

This time though, I'm not going alone which will be a little different.  In two weeks my cousin Grant and I are headed to Europe for a couple of weeks.  Our first stop will be Doune Castle (I believe that's what it's called) which is where a large chunk of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed.  I am really looking forward to that part cause of you don't know by now, that is definitely my favourite movie.  That is also the only part of the trip where I don't care if Grant likes it or not, we're going. Haha.

The plan after that is a little more of Scotland, a ferry ride to Belgium and then we will make our way to Frankfurt, Germany and fly back.  Although on the way home we are stopping in Reykjavik, Iceland for just over 24 hours.  I'm really looking forward to that part as well. I've heard Iceland is beautiful.

Well, I'm actually looking forward to the whole trip.  I've been wanting to do something like this for pretty much forever.  And it will be fun to have some company on the trip.  I would have no problem going by myself but I'm excited to enjoy the trip with someone else.

That's all I got for now, watch this space for more..