Ode to a Vagabond’s Boots
General Info
Schengen Area… confused?
Ashleigh and I were only a few days into our trip when we embarrassingly discovered certain visa regulations that forced us to almost completely alter our original plan for travelling through Europe.
Packed for Europe
We’ve gotten our travel gear together and I think we’re finally ready to embark on our incredibly long journey. All I have left for possessions are carefully rolled up, folded, and stuffed into my hiking backpack. Everything else has been sold, given away, or left behind. No more Xbox. There goes my sword collection. I’m sure Ashleigh’s going to miss all her dresses and shoes. But what a pain it would be if we had to lug wheeled suitcases across, say, the Scottish Highlands; it’s just not sensible. So, trying to be as minimalist as possible, we’ve carefully selected practical articles of clothing and a few personal items. We also have our camping gear: our tent, sleeping bags, tarps, etc. as camping will be a major part of our trip, and even though it may weigh us down I think it will get a lot of use.
If anybody is interested in ever going on an extended backpacking/hiking trip, we’ve spread out all of our gear and written a list for you to look at to perhaps give you some ideas.
Bring on the Enlightenment
Hello all!
This will be a quick post about something that I got recently… New perfume! If you haven’t heard about the link between scent and memory, you can check out some spiffy science here. Several years ago I went to Mexico with my family and I decided to bring this perfume that had been a gift and I hadn’t worn yet. I wore it throughout my time in Mexico, but switched back to my usual perfume when I got home. A couple months later I tried wearing the Mexico perfume again, and I was overwhelmed by all these memories and thoughts about our trip to Mexico! And that is how it has been, every time I smell that perfume I think of Mexico.
Boxes
I thought I’d write a little about how I’m feeling looking at the clock ticking down toward the start of our adventure. The best way to start is maybe by detailing what we have been up to the past couple of weeks.
About two weeks ago, we started seriously packing up our apartment and putting our furniture up for sale. I knew I would have a hard time with it, there were too many factors working against a girl who is sentimental about literally everything (I actually had a huge struggle about whether to keep a single broken earring that I got for super cheap in a place I can’t remember any details about, but was somewhere in Japan and therefore might make it worth holding onto). Since we’re leaving for an extended period, it made sense to minimize what we were keeping in long-term storage (aka, my parents house :)) so I’m doing my best to only hold onto things I know I’d regret letting go. So, after I’d packed up about two boxes of “Donates” and a box of “Keeps” I slumped on the floor super bummed out and took, like, three days to recover. I’m such a delicate flower, I know.
HelpX Opens the Way…
We’ve signed away to the Help Exchange website, opening the way to a colourful list of organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats looking for volunteer helpers to stay with them in exchange for room and board. In my mind it’s a pretty good deal, a damn good deal… yes I am a thrifty man, and the idea of not having to spend money on food and accommodation appeals to me, but of course there’s a whole lot more to this work exchange thing that I am looking forward too. You’ve got to take a look at some of these places! Here are a couple examples of HelpX spots we’re looking to volunteer on in Norway:
Blogs, journals, and videos, oh my!
So due to Nat and I being crazy excited for our trip, we’ve been talking to our friends and family about it for months. Okay, maybe a year… and a half. Maybe two years. Anyway, since we’ve been talking about it for so long, we’ve been slowly collecting travel-related gifts as birthday and Christmas presents. Amongst them, we’ve collected a beautiful collection of travel journals to bring with us to help document our journey.
So now we are left wondering, what are we going to write about?? As you can see above, we can choose plenty to write about and we can easily devote an entire journal to each aspect we pick. I’ve already managed to pick a couple of things that I’m really excited about.
Winter, Thou art Cruel
Hello all, So unfortunately, it looks as though travel around Iceland is going to be too difficult during the winter months as none of the bus lines operate to the areas we would like to visit, especially the west fjords. We haven’t given up hope on seeing Iceland, but we have decided that starting in … Read more
Going with the Flow
Hello everyone! So as Nathanael and I start making our preparations to get going, we’ve had some changes of plans. We’ve bumped back our departure date from July to November since Nathanael’s sister is getting married and we wouldn’t dream of missing out on such a beautiful day! Unfortunately, this means we hit a few … Read more
The Void
These are the words from the journal of Jon the Weir: “I, Jon the Weir, descended into a crack in the earth. I climbed precariously for many fathoms in the evening heat when suddenly I came upon a chamber and the temperature suddenly dropped. Beyond a still pool of ice filled water, there lay a … Read more