what to do, where to go

our indecisiveness is becoming an issue. maybe? we are staying with couchsurfing hosts in king's langley, northwest of london and we don't want to take advantage of their kindness and flexibility...but...we have no idea where we are going tomorrow. i mean, we have an idea. but we're not sure how we are to get there, how much it will cost or more importantly where we will stay once we get there.

i'm supposed to be doing research into this as jay cooks us all dinner. but, even when you travel your faults follow you. i am a procrastinator. so...the thoughts are that we will go to oxford, cambridge and york and then perhaps up into scotland if we can find a bus or train to take us there. i'd also like to see stonehenge. as of now it seems that ireland is off the itinerary as its too last minute...too expensive to swing it. i suppose at some point one has to say...there's always next time but when you are so nearby its frustrating not to be able to see everything.

...i feel like procrastinating just a bit longer...

london is gorgeous, big and overwhelming. there are way...WAY...more tourists here than in san francisco or nyc. and its expensive. yup, the rumours are true! we ducked out of london quickly as we needed to catch our breath after nyc and catch up on sleep. we managed to squeeze in a bus tour (i know...very touristy but i was tired and didn't want to walk everywhere) and the london tower before we head for the villages. the last couple of days have been very relaxing as we've slowed the pace down perusing england's home counties. yesterday we went to st. albans where we walked through a park that had roman ruins from 200 something AD, a gorgeous cathedral and up a hill to the town market. jay had a beer in the fighting cocks, which is reputably the oldest pub in britain. today we joined our hosts at a small festival near hemel and saw a large assortment of old cars & steam engines.

well, i best get on with the task at hand. (is it me or am i sounding more british everyday ;p)

cheers,
corina

p.s. photos have been taken and will be shared soon. ooooo i miss my macbook...sob

interview @ royal lake

our good friends, emily and jason (a.k.a. j.r. as not to confuse the audience with too many jasons), had the idea that it would be good to interview us before we left and when we get home. the thought was quiz us now with our expectations and quiz us later to see if the expectations where realistic, met &/or exceeded. have a look (we apologize for the sound quality...next time we'll have microphones or do a voice over ;p)

for those of you who don't want to sit through 18 minutes of ums and uhs these are some of the highlights:

q: what city/country are you most looking forward to?

c: spain/barcelona because fascination with architect antoni gaudi, i want to experience his spaces...sit on his park benches...that will be way better than looking a photos in my design history text books

j: paris

q: what scares you the most about this trip?

j: nothing specifically...the potential for disaster?!? haha

c: the process of preparing for this trip has been the scariest thing so far. the unknown is scary...unfamiliar countries.

q: as an aside to that what about tsunami season in malaysia at christmas time?

a: jay is not scared of tsunami season and after j.r. posed this question i looked up tsunami on google and apparently there is no specific tsunami season as tsunami's are like earthquakes just under the water...unpredictable. the good thing is that we can change our flights accordingly if necessary.

q: what do you hope to gain? 

a: (lots of pauses here)

c: less stress, perspective on the world, expanded experiences

j: we are generally insulated in north america so this is a chance to broaden our way of thinking 

q: who will forget/leave their bag behind first?

c: usually we would say jay...but on our recent travel experience to san francisco i lost my bus pass the first hour i had it.

j: i think corina lost 2 or 3 things and she said 'is this what its like for you all the time?' and i responded 'welcome to my world'!

c: jay's absentmindedness may be wearing off on me. oh no!

q: who will stop shaving first?

c: jay

j: corina (repeatedly pointing at corina)

q: what is the dollar amount you have spent on your trip so far?

c: $12,000 - plane tix $5000 each plus gear, shots, clothes, travel insurance...

j: $13,000

q: how much will the trip cost?

c: we hope to keep it in at $35,000 including what we've already spent

-after looking at our bank account and our daily budget it may be closer to $42,000. eek.

q: what electronics are you bringing with you?

c: there is some indecision about if we should bring a laptop or an iPod touch or both. we have 2 cameras a digital SLR and a point and shoot.

j: i think we should get an iPod touch regardless.

q: are you bringing a hair dryer or straightener corina?

c: nope. i'll be going natural for a year. 

q: what comforts from home are you bringing with you?

c: hair conditioner!

j: underwear (smirk)

c: and a mini photo album of friends, family and our cats

q: who will be the first to check the prices for flights home?

c: neither - we'll hang out in california 'til the money runs out!

the end. stay tuned next year for 5 individual questions from each of us...filmed without the other one hearing the questions or answers...

to schengen visa or not

that is the question!

the schengen region is a group of 25 european countries that have aligned themselves together for several purposes, including "visas, asylum, immigration and other policies related to free movement of persons". Its complicated so you can read more about it by following this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

what is important to us as canadian travelers is that we can freely move through the schengen countries without a visa. the stipulation is that we can only be in these countries for 90 out of 180 days. the map below highlights the schengen countries in green and the most recent additions in yellow.

as you can see, most of the countries on our european leg are part of the schengen region. we were planning on being in europe from august to december which is 120 days not the 90 we are allowed. so either we make our trips outside of the region longer or we apply for a special visa that allows us to stay as a tourist for longer. after spending a few hours investigating how to apply for a schengen visa i think we've decided to keep our travels in the area to 90 days. 

the application process of a schengen visa is long and thorough or at least it is through the german consulate. to apply for the visa you need to determine what your main destination is or if you are traveling through many countries like we are, what your first country will be. we've decided to fly from london to berlin to start our european tour. i contacted the german consulate office in winnipeg and was directed to the toronto embassy's website for forms & instructions. the document list to submit was quite long and included: a visa application form, a declaration, passport photos, valid passport, flight reservation, proof of health insurance, ref. letter from employer, proof of hotel reservation, proof of travel itinerary, current bank statement & $100 cash. my first reactions were...we're unemployed, we'll be couchsurfing or hosteling, we don't know our itinerary past going to berlin, and our bank account looks dismal until we get our house money! also, the time for processing was posted as 15 working days or longer if you have to send the paperwork to toronto...which we would. we leave in 30 days (ie. 20 working days) and that may be cutting it a bit close considering we have few of the documents prepared.

i dunno, sounds like a hassle. so what this means for us is more time in morocco, croatia & turkey. i think with some diligence we should be able to keep track of how long we've spent in the schengen area and keep it to 90 days. so we can just travel to europe with our canadian passport and not have to jump through hoops just as we are panicking to get our stuff sold & packed. sounds good to me!

so one might say...why are you only finding out about this now? well, for one thing i think we've done some of this planning in the wrong order. we had the idea/dream, we sold our house, we quit our jobs, and then we looked into the details. some people might prefer the dream, the planning and THEN selling and quitting. heh heh. well. that would be the prudent route. but also, i don't think that many canadian travelers worry about the enforcement of the schengen visa. its a borderless area after all and most travelers will be on a train or hitchhiking from country to country. there isn't much chance of being stopped or checked. but i would hate to be that one traveler that does get stopped, unable to prove that i'm under 90 days and kicked out or fined.

does anyone have any experience with the schengen agreement/visa? let us know. its been a small source of worry in the back of our minds.

oh. on a side note...when i called the german consulate in winnipeg i recognized the voice...last summer i designed his kitchen. gotta love winnipeg ;p

re-routing... maybe...

So first it was Toronto-London-European adventure to Istanbul-Cairo- Delhi-Singapore-Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh-Hong Kong-Auckland-Perth-Sydney-San Francisco... Then we shuffled the deck and came up with dropping Delhi in favor of  adding Tokyo later on in the Asia leg.  Now we might drop Oceania in favour of South America.  So substitute Auckland-Perth-Sydney with Sao Paulo-Lima-Santiago.  Too many choices, not enough time and money! Oh and now we would start out of Vancouver.  

I think we might be over analyzing things. (I know, c'mon Mr. Fast and Loose! faster looser) Well, I do tend to analyze things to the Nth degree (did I warn you that I am often contradictory?). I think I like the South American thing marginally better than Australia/New Zealand. But honestly it's like choosing  two fabulous prizes on the Price is Right (or the like) whatever the choice I think it will be a good one. What we need to do is get-a-move-on! So if the universe co-operates and we get our fancy new aeroplan Visa we can book a flight to Vancouver and thus the adventure would begin! No looking back. no... Ohhh what if's? Only looking forward, and focusing on the total awesomeness that will be confronting us.  Now if only we could make up our minds... =)

step three: plan trip itinerary (for real)

jay mentioned in a previous post that he had purchased a map. the map is massive. its of the whole world. we've mounted it to cardboard and it now has a place of prominence in our living room. 

we poked pins into each and every place we could think that we would want to go. ever. in our entire lives. well, the whole map was covered from top to bottom with pins...ok...that's an exaggeration...neither of us wanted to go to antarctica that badly. so how do we whittle down the destinations into a realistic itinerary? we procrastinate!!

since we sold the house we have done little to further our plans. its scary how easy it is to become complacent. i guess i wrote my letter of resignation, i postdated the cancellation of our house insurance, i set up an appointment with the real estate lawyer AND we have our physicals next week. the list of things to get done is in my head and i really, really need to get it onto paper. even jay said to me after a long, stressful day at work 'i didn't realize how much work this was all going to be'... mr. fast and loose, eh?

so here is a fast and loose itinerary that we are currently contemplating, currently looking for rtw tix vs. one way tix for and currently avoiding making decisions about:

fly winnipeg to toronto

fly toronto to new york

spend 4 days in new york city

fly new york to london

spend 4-6 weeks in uk

fly or train to paris

spend 6-8 months in western & eastern europe

including france, spain, morocco, italy, germany, netherlands, czech republic, austria, croatia, hungary, estonia, latvia, lithuania, st. petersburg?, turkey, egypt, greece...

fly athens to dubai (altho' we've had a hard time finding a flight for this leg)

spend 3-4 days in dubai

fly dubai to delhi

spend ? in india

fly delhi to kathmandu & then back to delhi (unless other flights available)

spend ? in nepal

fly delhi to bangkok

spend ? in thailand, laos, vietnam, cambodia

fly bangkok to singapore

spend a few days in singapore...bali?

fly singapore to hong kong

spend 5 days in hong kong

fly hong kong to tokyo

spend 5-10 days in japan...pusan? seoul?

fly to papua new guinea, australia and new zealand? OR just

fly tokyo to los angeles or san francisco

spend a week or 2 in california

fly california to vancouver

spend 2 weeks visiting in b.c.

fly vancouver to home

keep going to south america? money? energy? road trip?

as i was writing this list and referring back to the map i went back and added more countries. this is going to be hard to narrow down...or do we have to? do we just leave and hope that the plan will fall into place as we go?

my head is spinning...

corina

step two: quit job

a weight has lifted off my shoulders. today i quit my job. i've been holding in this secret for a few months already and its such a relief to have it out in the open. aaaaahhh. my last day is june 5th. everyone is so jealous...teehee

my bosses took it well. they are happy for me but sad to see me go. 

now its jay's turn ;p

SOLD

for $25,200 over asking! possession is given up on june 26th @ 8am. 

early morning discussions today involved possibly sticking around until August (yes j.r., until after our annual long wknd at the lake ;p). this will give us the opportunity to spend quality time with the people we love, get our kitties settled into their new home, and have our house money in hand before we leave the country. it's also been brought to our attention that july is the most expensive time to start a rtw trip because all of the world is on vacation in july/august. we may not save much by postponing for a month but we will be much more prepared.

we'd also like to take a side trip if flight prices are right. we'd love to see jay's brother in vancouver before we go. craig and mathy are expecting their first little one in june. 

so we may be knocking on your door for a place to crash in july. we promise to clean up after ourselves and jay will cook dinner at least 3 times a week. promise!

trying desperately to come up with a suitable knock knock joke...& failing miserably,

corina

planning, planning and more planning

One might say I tend to play it a little fast and loose.  It works for me, mostly.  More on that later.  I do see the benefit of planning, I promise. Today Corina and I  started planning where to go on our world tour. I had purchased a map yesterday so we could see everything all at once. The map was unrolled and the pins started going in. This got me all excited as I have a small thing for maps and that we could see a basic lay out of where everything was.  An idea of where we wanted to go was starting to jell... The reality of what we are about to do is sinking further and further in each day...  I know full well that Corina's desire to have a basic route, to look at is the most  prudent idea.  She knows what's what, after all I'm Mr. Fast and loose. I actually think that combined we could kick ass and take down names!  Watch out world, here we come.

jason 

going, going...

last night we had a realtor come by for a 2nd opinion...and then we decided to sign up with him. our house is now officially going on the market! eeeeek! 

the proposed plan is to go to market on a thursday and have offers presented on a sunday night. the thursday we've agreed to is April 23rd. that leaves 16 days to get this house presentable. aaaaack!

can you tell i'm nervous...excited...going to puke???

so this is it...

where to start? it is a question that has plagued me for a couple of months already...since we decided that we would take the plunge...sell the house, liquidate as much as possible, go traveling around the world (or 'rtw' as travel types say). i'm not sure how jay feels but i'm askered! i'm overwhelmed with all that needs to be sorted out and planned. how are we getting there, how are we paying for all this, what should we bring, who will take care of our kitty cats, WHERE SHOULD WE GO!!! it boggles the mind.

i guess making the decision...acknowledging that i am unfulfilled and searching to reignite passion in my life and knowing that this is what my mind, body and soul needs. that's a good start. right? i know in the depths of my being that this what i need to do. i feel so fortunate that my partner in crime...i mean life...is willing and able to accompany me on this journey. together we will conquer the fear and overcome the odds. i cannot wait. i cannot wait!

yippee!

in a little while,

corina