Stick it in das boot.

Flights are all booked, looks like I will be heading to Munich, Germany on September 22nd, 2013. I thought it would be a good idea to try to learn some common German phrases before I left. While trying to figure out how to order a beer in German I stumbled upon this video and can not stop watching it.

Visa approved!

Yesterday I received an e-mail stating that my workers Visa for the UK had been approved! Guess who is moving to London!!! It only took a full week from when we mailed our biometrics until we received the conformation letter.  The next step is to book the flights. T-38 days until I get to start traveling and experiencing more of life. Rachel and I plan to leave the end of September but I wish I could go right now. Still, it is good that we have a month until we leave because there is still so much to do before we can move.
Some positive changes and things that popped into our minds when we heard the news:
Not having a car, living in a flat, living on our own, learning how to cook our own meals, saying things like the tele and poppycock, rubbish and bloody hell, eating custard, fish and chips, riding bikes IN LONDON, trench coats, beef eaters, public transportation and accents! Jack the Ripper, 1000's of years of history we get to walk by everyday, doubledecker buses, meeting new people, new friends, new jobs, traveling, tattoos, french wine, Amsterdam weed, big sweaters, being stylish.

                                                                   

                                                   Last time I was in London was on a school trip in 2011. 

                                                  We were only there for a couple of days. 

Osheage 2013

Katelyn, Rachel and I went to Osheaga this year and it was an amazing time. I have only been to Montreal once before but that is enough to say that I love the city. I mean, who wouldn't want to visit Montreal? It has poutineries that are open 24/7, the beer is cheaper, they have Vieux-Montréal, and there are always events going on. It goes without saying that the way of life there is so much different than Regina. I think one of my favorite differences is the transportation. I would love to live in a city where the metro, buses and biking are a convenient way to travel.

     Onto Osheaga! My friends and I got a good deal through Expedia which included flights and hotel for 6 days for under 1000$ each. I am certain there are cheaper ways to get to Montreal but for us this deal was perfect. While in Montreal we attended the festival all three days and also had time to shop, check out some restaurants, explore Vieux- Montréal, visit the bio-dome and planetarium, and look through the Museum of Fine Arts.

Music Festival 

Here is a list of the bands we were able to see and a quick review:

Friday- Capital Cities, Ben Howard, K-OS (left the stage like a diva and we never returned to see his rescheduled time), Ellie Goulding, & Baaur.

Friday was a good day at the festival but it was defiantly the most tiring. We were there all day and it was extremely hot. After a day of standing and walking in the extreme heat we were drained.

Saturday- Flogging Molly, Tegan and Sara, Imagine Dragons, Beck (one of my favorites), Jimmy Eat World, Stars (Finally got to see them!), Frank Turner, Macklemore &Ryan Lewis.

Saturday was a shorter day for us and a bit cooler which translated into a great time! Unfortunately we tried to sneek in alcohol which was taken from us but this didn't put a damper on our day (which is good because obviously we had out priorities straight- here for the music!).  We caught some great bands and were super stoked for the next day.

Sunday- The Lumineers, New Order, Icona Pop (only caught their radio song), Holy Ghost!, Hot Chip (peed my pants of excitement).

Sunday was the shortest day but for me it was the best day. We didn't see many bands but the ones we did see were amazing! We were successful sneeking in some drinks and we were so close to the stage for majority of the concerts it is almost unbelievable. After the festival we went to the Hot Chip after party that was held at the Virgin Mobile Corona Theater which was a beautiful old theater, the bathroom had couches which is kind of a big deal when you are from Regina.

Tips

1)Wear a backpack instead of a purse. It is easy to carry things and I bet it is less annoying. Backpacks are almost always in style so no worries there.

2)Bring water or at least a water bottle to fill during the day. It got so hot I am certain I would have passed out if I wasn't hydrating.

3)Bring rain gear. We brought ponchos from the dollar store and even though they might look dorky, almost everyone there is wearing them so need to feel embarrassed!

4)Wear shoes you can walk in. I wore my vans and my toms and my feet were still sore at the end of the day but I'm guessing they felt a lot better than they would have if I had worn flip-flops.

5) You can bring snacks into the festival and I would recommend doing so because a small poutine was almost ten dollars.

6) The alcoholic beverages in the park were extremely expensive and the beer sellers naturally expect a tip on top of that. If you want to drink, there are cheaper methods.  

7)There is security that checks bags before you enter the festival. Make sure you are going through a line where the security person isn't on a power trip. I am referring to a particular security guard who was touching everybody's everything.

8)Bring cash with you. There are ATM's but they charge a service fee. There also isn't much service so if you have to transfer money between accounts make sure to do so before.

9) Organize and pre-plan where you want to go and which bands you want to see. There are five stages so performances overlap. It's best to have an idea about who you want to see instead of accidently missing out or having someone not get what they want.

Pictures 

What good is a blog post without pictures? In no particular order 

                                          Parc Jean Drapeau 

                                          View from roof of hotel 

                                                    Elevator selfie 

                                                    Outside of Museum of Fine Arts 
                                                    Artist: Chihuly 

                                                    Great Poutine and customer service
                                                    Recommended! 

                                                    Holy Ghost! 

                                          At New Order 

                                           Waiting for Hot Chip 

                                                    Katelyn at Bio-dome 

                                                    Puffin! 

                                          Vieux- Montréal 

Matching t-shirts 

                                                    Dancing in the rain at Beck. Poncho 
                                                    reminded me of Breaking Bad. 

                                          Outside of MTL Fine Art Museum 

                                           Hot Chip

Big Chair outside of Mount Royal Station 

Overview 

Mtl was an amazing time and I will defiantly be visiting again. Made some great memories, ate delicious food, watched stellar performances and learnt so many things like how to use the metro and that my friends are two of the best ladies in the world (which I knew already but was reinforced multiple times throughout the trip!)  :) 

Cheers! 

Interesting Article

Found an interesting read about Travel on Thought Catalog. You can find the original article here, but I will re-post the piece below.

How To Travel — Some Contrarian Advice

JUL. 10, 2013 

By RYAN HOLIDAY

Why are you traveling?

Because, you know, you don’t magically get a prize at the end of your life for having been to the most places. There is nothing inherently valuable in travel, no matter how hard the true believers try to convince us.

Seneca, the stoic philosopher, has a great line about the restlessness of those who seem compelled to travel. They go from resort to resort and climate to climate, he says. “They make one journey after another and change spectacle for spectacle. As Lucretius says, “Thus each man flees himself. But to what end if he does not escape himself? He pursues and dogs himself as his own most tedious companion. And so we must realize that our difficulty is not the fault of the places but of ourselves.”

It’s hard for me to see anything to envy in most people who travel. Because deep down that is what they are doing. Fleeing themselves and the lives they’ve created. Or worse, they’re telling themselves that they’re after self-discovery, exploration or perspective when really they are running towards distraction and self-indulgence.

Is that why you’re packing up your things and hitting the road?

Are you, as Emerson once put it, “bringing ruins to the ruins?”

The purpose of travel, like all important experiences, is to improve yourself and your life. It’s just as likely — in some cases more likely — that you will do that closer to home and not further.

So what I think about when I travel is that “why.” (Some example “whys” for me: research, to unplug, to go straight to the source of something that is important to me or I need to see in person, a job or a paying gig, to show something that’s important to me to someone who is important to me, etc etc) I don’t take it as self-evident that going to this place or that place is some accomplishment. There are just as many idiots living in Rome as there are at home.

And when you make this distinction most of the other travel advice falls away. The penny pinching and the optimization, the trying to squeeze as many landmarks into a single day, all that becomes pointless and you focus on what matters.

So what I am saying is that saving your money, plotting your time off work or school, diligently tracking your frequent flyer miles and taking a hostel tour of Europe or Asia on budget is the wrong way to think about it.

In the vein of my somewhat controversial advice for young people, I thought I’d give some of my thoughts not just on traveling but on how to do it right.

My Travel Rules and Criteria

[*] Instead of doing a TON of stuff. Pick one or two things, read all about those things and then actually spend time doing them. Research shows that you’ll enjoy an experience more if you’ve put effort and time into bringing it about. So I’d rather visit two or three sights that I’ve done my reading on and truly comprehend than I would seeing a ton of stuff that goes right in and out of my brain. (And never feel “obligated” to see the things everyone says you have to).

[*] Take long walks.

[*] What are you taking all these pictures for? Oh for the memories? So just look at it and remember it. Experience the present moment.

[*] Read books, lots of books. You’re finally in a place where no one can interrupt you or call you into meetings and since half the television stations will be in another language…use it as a chance to do a lot of reading.

[*] Eat healthy. Enjoy the cuisine for sure, but you’ll enjoy the place less if you feel like a fucking slob the whole time. (To put it another way, why are you eating pretzels on the airplane?)

[*] Try to avoid guidebooks, which are superficial at best and completely wrong at worst. I’ve had a lot more luck pulling up Wikipedia, and looking at the list of National (or World) Historical Register list for that city and swinging by a few of them. Better yet, I’ve found a lot cooler stuff in non-fiction books and literature that mentioned the cool stuff in passing. Then you google it and find out where it is.

[*] I like to go and stand on hallowed ground. It’s humbling and makes you a better person. Try it.

[*] Come up with a schedule that works for you. Me, I get up in the morning early and run. Then I work for a few hours. Then I roll lunch and activities into a 3-4 hour block where I am away from work and exploring the city I’m staying in. Then I come back, work, get caught up, relax and then eventually head out for a late dinner. In almost every time zone I’ve been in, this seems to be the ideal schedule to A) enjoy my life B) Not actually count as “taking time off.” No one notices I am missing. And it lets me extend trips without feeling stressed or needing to rush home.

[*] Don’t check luggage. If you’re bringing that much stuff with you, you’re doing something wrong.

[*] When you’re traveling to a new city, the first thing you should do when you get to the hotel is change into your workout clothes and go for a long run. You get to see the sights, get a sense of the layout and then you won’t waste an hour of your life in a lame hotel gym either.

[*] Never recline your seat on an airplane. Yes, it gives you more room — but ultimately at the expense of someone else. In economics, they call this an externality. It’s bad. Don’t do it.

[*] Stay in weird ass hotels. Sometimes they can suck but the story is usually worth it. A few favorites: A hotel that was actually a early 20th-century luxury train car, a castle in Germany, the room where Gram Parsons died in Palm Desert, a hotel in Arizona where John Dillinger was arrested, a hotel built by Wild Bill Hickok, etc etc.

[*] Add some work component to your travel if you can. Then you can write it all off on your taxes.

[*] Don’t waste time and space packing things you MIGHT need but could conceivably buy there. Remember, it costs money (time, energy, patience) to carry pointless things around. (Also, most hotels will give you razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other toiletries).

[*] Go see weird shit.

[*] Ignore the temptation to a) talk and tell everyone about your upcoming trip b) spend months and months planning. Just go. Get comfortable with travel being an ordinary experience in your life and you’ll do it more. Make it some enormous event and you’re liable to confuse getting on a plane as an accomplishment by itself.

[*] In terms of museums — I like Tyler Cowen’s trick about pretending you’re a thief who is casing the joint. It changes how you perceive and remember the art. Try it.

[*] Don’t upgrade your phone plan to international when you leave the country. Not because it saves money but because it’s a really good excuse to not use your cellphone for a while. (And if you need to call someone, try Google Voice. It’s free).

[*] You know there are lots of cool places inside the United States. The South is beautiful and chances are you haven’t seen most of it. There’s all sorts of weird history and ridiculous things that your teachers never told you about. Check it out, a lot of it is within a day or two drive.

In other words…

Travel should not be an escape. It should be part of your life, no better or no worse than the rest of your life. If you are so dissatisfied with what you do or where you live that you look forward to NOT being and spend weeks and months figuring out how to get a few days off from it, that should be a wake up call. There’s a big difference between wanting a change in scenery and some new experiences vs. needing to run away from a prison of your own making.

There is to me, a lot more to admire in someone who stayed put and challenged their perspectives and habits and lifestyle choices at home than there is to some first world Instagram addict who conflates meaning with checking off boxes on a bucket list.

So ask: Do you deserve this trip? Ask yourself that honestly. Am I actually in a place to get something out of this?

Over the years, I feel like I have mastered the art of something I wouldn’t call travel. I’d call it living my life in interesting places. When I can help it, I try to get paid to go to the places I go. What I don’t do is pine for the “opportunity” to go somewhere — because if I want it, I will make it happen.

These rules and tricks have helped make that possible. Maybe they’ll work for you too. 

Obligatory First Post

I suppose this is the birth of my new blog. Firstly, I will tell you my plans for the next little bit of my life.  I have recently applied for a visa to travel to the UK so hopefully I will be spending at least seven months in the UK starting at the end of September. After this I will be heading over to Victoria, B.C. to do a two year art program. That will be in September 2014 so I still have a solid year until then. Still exciting though.

During these next few years I would like to travel and explore as much as possible. I have already made a bucket list for my months in the UK which I will post later. Being in Europe for such an amount of time is a great opportunity to adventure through the worlds second smallest continent!

I am creating this blog mostly for personal reasons- to document my travels and for my mom & dad to see what I am up to. I welcome any readers though and hope you  enjoy!

                                                        It was this or "London Bridges" by Fergie