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...

this blog is on hold

...until we can get our shit together and i can stop freaking out about not having our shit together.

and besides...jason has promised to write the next blog so i'm afraid you are stuck waiting for him.

gone?

our house is now on mls.

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=8195312 

must be official then. we are going to sell our house. i am having mixed feelings about this. there are so many things i love about our place especially now that all the little projects are complete and everything is in its place. 

last night we moved into my parents house for the week that our house is open for showings. i'm hoping that it only takes a week but we do have until May 3rd before the 'rents get back from vacation and kick us out. our kitty cats have been there for a week already and clearly missed us. they were all snuggles and cuddles last night.

my emotions are running at an all time high. late nights cleaning paired with grabbing food on the run paired with physical exhaustion of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning paired with mixed emotions of selling our first home, leaving our kitties, family and friends and then add a sappy commercial or news story about a 14 year old saving a 2 year old with CPR = emotional rollercoaster ride for corina!!! tears have been shed already. reality is sinking in. what the 'bleep' are we doing?

i wonder if i'm going to start bawling in front of the realtor when he presents the offers on sunday...

sigh,

corina

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???

test, test, 1, 2, 3...

little did i know...our recent trip to san francisco was a test! i was informed of this on the bart ride back to the airport on our very last day. had i known...

jay is a pretty hard guy to annoy. he's laid back, patient, giving, kind, generous...etc. so finding out that i've annoyed him is kinda hard to hear. he'll probably read this and think...now you know how i feel...as i am definitely the easier person to annoy. 

here's the sitch...

the first morning we were in the eclectic city of san francisco we set out to find breakfast before a day of sightseeing. we were both quite hungry and still tired from the traveling the day before. we hadn't done much research on where to eat near our hotel but figured it wouldn't be too hard...this is san francisco after all! fyi - i'm a strict vegetarian and jay is a fish eating veg head (a pescetarian if you will). to make a long story short jay ate well all day and i had to resort to bagel and pb and bread and hummus due to our lack meal planning and knowledge of the area. i was hungry, grumpy and shaky all day and almost died and went to heaven when our friends took us out for thai food later that nite. but because of that first day i vowed to find vegan friendly restaurants. i scoured the internet and wrote lists and planned. unfortunately, most of the vegan restaurants listed on the internet were not in the same neighbourhood as our hotel. SO jay and i would hop on the bus in the morning so that i could have a good breakfast. this went on for days. until the last day when we were short on time because of hotel check out time...we went for a stroll on polk street and by chance came across a coffee shop that served vegan goodies and my all time favourite thing...SMOOTHIES! i exclaimed 'if only we had found this place on the first day!' jay gave me a look and said 'if you would have just been open to exploring these places instead of always planning everything on the internet we would have!' 

as we were barting to SFO i told jay that i was hurt by his comment at breakfast. i suggested that a response like 'i know, this place is awesome' or 'i know, that totally sucks, eh?' may have been more supportive and appreciated. that's when i found out that our trip had been a test. he knows that i am a creature of habit and that i am definitely pushing my boundaries with this extended trip we are planning. so the sf trip was for him a way to gauge exactly how much i was willing to push. he thought i should be more open to exploring and i had no idea that i was annoying him. 

we agreed that more open communication was definitely necessary if we are going to be spending a year traipsing around the world together. its easy to let things slide when you are in your routine lives because if you need to escape the other person its pretty easy to play the avoidance game. things blow over and you're back to normal. BUT when you are always together little annoyances can fester into bigger deals than they really need to be. 

i wouldn't say that we failed the test just that there is room for improvement :) i'm still going to research vegan food options wherever we go but i'll also try to be more open to living for the day. 

over and out,

corina

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