I’m back in my natural habitat again – on an airplane at 37,000 feet above ground. It’s a red eye flight, overnight across the country, and despite the loss of sleep I love these flights when the cabin is all dark and cozy and quiet. Out the window on my left I have the most spectacular view of the Northern Lights, and I’ve been watching them dance across the sky parallel to this plane for more than an hour now. I wish I could show you the vibrant green lights bending and weaving through the glow and the tiny orange lights from the towns below glittering up. I tried to get some photos, but I only have my iPhone and not my real camera so the shots just ended up a blank black blur of nothing. It’s breathtaking, but you’ll just have to take my word for it…. So instead I took a selfie. I needed something to show!
The lady sitting beside me has a book of crossword puzzles and I’ve never witnessed anyone whiz through a crossword so quickly! I’m a little awestruck. This is going to sound pretty nerdy, but I’m an eensy-bit envious and wish I had my own book of crossword puzzles…. Back in my days as a full-time flight attendant I loved the moments after service was complete when I could sit with the newspaper and work on a crossword puzzle, between jumping back up to refill a coffee cup (generally a pilot’s). Not that it happened too often, but the times I was able to complete the crossword everyone would hear me crowing about it! And other days those spare moments after service were spent just gossiping over trashy tabloids; I liked to keep myself well rounded!! Ha….
My flight will be landing soon so I’m going to wrap this up. Short and sweet this time! I’ll have more from Ontario coming up next time.
People looove to complain about social media these days.  Have you noticed that?  It almost seems like the trendy sport du jour, especially from people who are perhaps ‘recovering digital addicts’ themselves.  I maybe have tiptoed on that bandwagon myself once or twice, fed up with all the angry/prejudice/ranting commonly found, but at the moment I am a staunch supporter.  I’m thankful for the connection I get with people online, and that has been extra apparent to me this past week.  Personally, it’s been a bit rocky for me but I have had so many comments of support via my social media outlets that have brightened my day and genuinely made me feel better.  So thank you.
Speaking of great people, let’s segue in with some of them I spent my weekend with. Â If you’ve followed this blog before you might remember Jeff and Jeanette and my Warsaw adventures with them earlier this summer… Well those two beautiful love birds tied the knot on Saturday and I was fortunate enough to celebrate with them. Â With their wedding in my hometown, I feel qualified to announce their venue picks were pretty fantastic: What more could you want than to spend a day surrounded by indoor tropical gardens in the middle of downtown, and then (for us aviation geeks/travel addicts) party surrounded by old airplanes? Â Seriously, it was perfect.
Jeanette and Jeff’s wedding at Devonian Gardens
Perfect for this gang of aviators (photo credits to Natasha and Dave – thanks guys!)
So that was a lot of fun….
I have been desperately missing my travel adventures for the past couple weeks I’ve been at home, and yesterday I finally decided to do something about it. Â I took my camera for a walk and played the role of tourist for a couple hours, and you know what I (re)discovered? I live in a beautiful city!! Â Here are a few of my favourite shots from one corner of Calgary:
The Peace Bridge and downtown CalgaryPeace BridgeCalgarians soaking up the summer-like Fall; still going at 6pm on a late September day!Still on a bit of a graffiti kick from being in BogotaThe city viewed from McHugh BluffCalgary and the Bow RiverPrairie sky
And finally, because my walk took me here, a Calgary icon and home of all my best memories of milkshakes and burgers. Â Peter’s Drive In. Â I recommend the caramel coffee milkshake!
Hopefully in the next few days I’ll be free to get back on the road. Â Not sure yet where it will take me!
My last post a few days ago was from Bogota, and now here I am again in Calgary, some 6350 kilometres later. I have been bouncing around the globe in the most inefficient fashion, back and forth across the Atlantic twice, then a couple times across the Americas, with no end in sight yet. I love it! When else in life will I ever get a chance like this to be so irresponsible with my itinerary and fully live up to my Aimless potential?? Maybe I’ve seen that “It’s not the Destination that counts, but the Journey” quote in all its various Pinterest forms too many times and have really taken it to heart….
As I’m forming my thoughts right now, I’m soaking up the last of the afternoon light on a patio and absolutely revelling in the feel of the warm sunshine on my bare skin. These are the kind of days I will always associate with HOME: The sky a bright blue in all directions, the air just slightly cool but the heat from the sun making it more comfortable to be in shorts than jeans, green grass and yellow leaves. Summer will always be my true love, but apparently I’ve got a bit of a thing for Fall now, too. Fall is mysterious in my home town, changing daily and forever leaving me wanting more of these perfect days.
Like if we back up to earlier this week when I first arrived off the plane, Calgary was cold! Of course it was, since I had plans that kept me outside… Here’s a little secret just between us: I came all the way home only to keep a commitment to my softball team after I had told them earlier I’d be at this final tournament. That was before I knew I’d be in Colombia, and before I realized just how much I’d like Colombia and want to stay longer. Oh, don’t get the wrong idea, it is NOT my skill that the team was relying on. Nope not at all. I’m really terrible at this sport. Embarrassingly bad. But I’m a good cheerleader for the rest of the team, and I think I help by making everyone else seem like a superstar in comparison. It’s good to know your role, right?!
The tournament was held in a tiny rural town, and even though it was all new to me (I’ve never been there nor attended a ball tournament before) I had a sense of familiarity. There’s something that just felt so quintessentially Canadian about this; where else would you find a couple hundred people camped in an open field and everyone smiling and having a great time despite nearly freezing? Cold. Happy. Amy and Heidi
Our team at batEveryone is smiling – and no one knew I had a camera out! Maybe it’s the breakfast beers….
Close to the action at all timesNatasha and I around the campfire. Finally not cold!
I didn’t take many pictures, I blame my sudden shock at being reacquainted to the Canadian weather. Too hard to take good photos when my fingers are numb and teeth chattering from the cold! Still glad I came back for this, however much I miss my sunshine and beaches. After travelling alone so much it felt great to be part of a team again!
I have a confession to make. I have been avoiding this blog for a week, even though I still have lots to say and even though I really do love writing it. That’s weird, right? I would want to sit down and start a post telling you about all the great things I saw on my last trip, (finishing off the post I started in Naming New York ) but then I would open YouTube or Pinterest instead, or watch a movie or pick up a book, pretty much anything to avoid productivity. I’ve also managed to avoid laundry and vacuuming through these same tactics. But I think it’s about time for me to wrap up this little brain break I’ve given myself and get back to seeing how much I can accomplish in my day instead of how little. Do you know the feeling – have you ever had a chance to just let yourself be a blob for a while? (Not counting any times prior to your 23rd birthday! I remember lots of us choosing to be brainless at times before the full pressures of adulthood kicked in!)
So here we go. I think I’ll still start off with something easy, though, and keep this to a pretty simple recounting of the time I had in New York with my girls last week.
Four childhood friends from a small town are set loose in a big city where they discover new adventures and new things about each other. If you didn’t read that last sentence in an exaggerated movie-trailer-narrative voice then please go back and read it again the way it was meant. Or skip it entirely – lines that cheesy aren’t meant to be taken seriously!! But actually…. that pretty much sums up my 5 days in New York. The four childhood friends are myself and 3 of my cousins that I grew up with, and we really did keep busy with exploring for the entire trip.
Amanda, Erin, Julie, and yours trulyWe’re not always so elegant… That photo was just before the one Broadway show we were able to see. And side note – go see Cirque Du Soleil PARAMOUR if you ever get the chance. I loved it sooooo much!! I think my exuberance to see the show must have caught the attention of Karma, because when we arrived at the theatre to pick up our tickets, (cheapest ones available and at the top back of the room) we were given an upgrade and watched the show from nearly the best seats in the house! Made my night!!
Another highlight was going to Yankee Stadium to watch a baseball game, again made even better when our team won! Go Jays! We had jokingly wondered before if it would be a problem cheering for the visiting team, but when we got to the stadium we saw almost as many Toronto fans as there were for the Yankees. It was incredible to sit out in the sunshine with about 37,400 or so other people and cheer on the teams.
On a day that was slightly less hot and sunny, we chose to be a little more active than we had been previously so we found some bicycles to rent and cruised our way through Central Park. I still find it amazing that a park so big can be in the middle of 8.5 million people… and there were times where it felt like we were the only ones there! Beautiful! As we were making our way through the park, Julie saw signs leading to a castle in the park so we made our way to go see it. Now, the part that I really want to convey other than the fact that an almost secret mini castle exists, is the fun coincidence that this is Belvedere Castle. If you’ve been reading my other posts, you may remember that I was just at Belvedere Palace in Poland with two other friends. Unless I was just the only one that hadn’t realized Belvedere was a major global name, this seems an unlikely parallelism. Not that I’m reading anything into it – I doubt the universe is trying to get me to drink more Belvedere Vodka! – but it’s made me smile none the less.
Part of Central Park’s Belvedere Castle in New York
So activeOther things we did during our days there: Ate a lot of ice cream. Gawked at the crowds in Times Square. Walked through SoHo and countless other communities. Shopped on 5th Ave. Saw the Statue of Liberty. Took a moment to reflect at the 9/11 Memorial site. Rode the subway. Noticed two rats. Marvelled at the Brooklyn Bridge. Gossiped together while getting pedicures. Laughed at the “Pretty Lady Discount” we were offered by creative vendors. Took a ton of pictures of the four of us together. Further cemented our bond as friends for life.
New York City. Those three words together are almost certain to evoke a reaction whenever they’re used. Clearly more than just a mark on a map, New York has a persona of its own, and in the realm of cities, New York is an A-list celebrity that everyone recognizes and wants a part of. The fame of this city makes it seem completely familiar, but with an edge and enough mystery to keep us intrigued.
I’m here with 3 other girlfriends, and I am soooo happy to have their company on this trip! Always happy to see them, but especially now after travelling alone for the past 6+ weeks!! Having their excitement and seeing their view of NY along with the way they’ve relayed that to their own friends back home has been fascinating for me. It’s fun to have another perspective – a reminder of what it’s like to experience the hum of the Big Apple for the first time.
For me, it’s the rush I feel just as I step outside the theatre after watching a great Broadway show that keeps me coming back. Having so many sounds and sensations saturating my nervous system is the best intoxication for me, and I’m floating on that energy for the rest of the night. The skill of the performers; the set, costumes and lights and music; then to walk outside into the crowds – sirens and horns and bike bells and street hawkers and advertisements all blaring; the sizzle of hot dogs and kebabs lingering over it all. This is New York. Not the mountains of garbage on the curbs or the smells on the subway platforms, those seem to fade away to the background of what I notice or remember. And that, in my opinion, is what really makes any A-lister, whether city or celebrity: that certain magic equation where the good is so great that it subtracts away the negative.
It’s funny how quickly situations in life can change sometimes. Not long ago I was bemoaning the loneliness that can set in with solo travel, and then in the metaphorical blink of an eye I found myself so busy socializing that I could barely manage the time to keep up with my writing. (A problem I will happily choose any time!) My other big change has been location again…. Yes, I realize this is a travel blog and so it’s not news that I’ve travelled… But I’ve left Europe and I think that any continent change deserves specific mention. Friday morning I flew out of Warsaw, enjoyed a 5 hour layover in Amsterdam, and wound up clearing customs in Edmonton. This city isn’t home for me, but close enough that I have my own people here. People like Tricia, who will be in most of my stories this post. I’ll give a visual to help while you continue reading; she’s the blue-eyed beauty on the left. You’re welcome. 😉
And a little foreshadowing… she’ll feature prominently in this blog when we go to another new continent, Asia, this fall.
When I set out on my travels I had people say to me “aren’t you worried about the dangers?”, and my answer was always along the lines of “of course I am, but I’ll be careful. Plus who says home is safer anyway??” So not that I’m keeping score or anything, but I have two new examples proving MY point on this issue.
Number 1 – Crime: It seemed like a man was following us in a store last night, and just after we started paying closer attention he set down his basket full to the brim with items and bent over it for a moment as if looking for something. Suddenly he’s dashing straight out the door and into an SUV that screeched up to the entrance. My theory is that he was using us as a distraction cover while he boldly shoplifted a ton of stuff. Jerk.
Number 2 – Wildlife: I still can’t quite believe this happened, and it happened to me, with witnesses! Walking along the river valley in an Edmonton park, on a paved pathway through the trees, I nearly stepped on a snake. (!!!!!!) Good thing the snake was fast, and it disappeared away into the bushes along the path before my heart was able to resume beating. It was BIG! And black with a bright green/yellow stripe down the length of it. As my foot was about to come down on it, and it began to move away I gave a startled yelp and hopped back/over away. That’s how I remember it, but another version is that I ‘screamed like a girl’ and jolted over to the other side of the path. Sounds a little dramatic to me…. I prefer to think I kept a bit of dignity in that moment, but who knows?! One thing for sure is I was awfully jumpy for the next hour. A Google search has me convinced this was a Prairie Garter Snake, which can grow to be about a metre long. I had no idea there were snakes like this in Alberta. I think I liked it better in that ignorance.
So since I’ve established that home (home province) does not equal an automatically safer environment, it’s easier to announce that my next trip begins in a day from now. I’ll be on my way to another country again early Tuesday morning. See what I mean about change happening quickly?
aimlessly ali 