Europe Posts

I recently made the decision to take advantage of Iceland Air’s free stopover policy to visit Iceland on my way from Vancouver, Canada to Europe. If you weren’t aware, Iceland Air allows anyone to stop for up to a week in Iceland without any additional charges. This is a brilliant marketing move, and it’s help Iceland become a hugely successful tourist destination in the last few years (one tour guide told me that fishing used to be about 70% of the economy, and now tourism is coming close to eclipsing that). Before I arrived, I had heard stories about how expensive the country is. Let me be clear, those rumours are true. Compared to prices back in Vancouver, I would say most items in Iceland are 2-3x as expensive. For example, I had a small latte and a banana, which back home would probably cost me about $5 Canadian – […]

People keep asking me what my next travel plans are, so I thought I would give a little update. While I used to only come back to Canada for a month or two at a time, now that I have my own cottage in Canada I tend to spend longer periods here. Plus, while last year I dabbled in renting my cottage out while I was gone, it’s really only the summer months that seem to appeal to most renters; so it makes more sense for me to travel then so I can rent my cottage out and at least break-even while gone. So for my next adventure, I’ve chosen to walk The West Highland Way, an approximately 150km trail that runs from just outside Glasgow, Scotland, to Fort William. As the name implies, part of the trail takes a person through the beautiful Scottish highlands. Last April I walked […]

In less than two weeks from today, I’ll be leaving St. Jean Pied de Port, France and starting my 800 kilometre journey to Santiago de Compostela. People keep asking me if I’m excited, and a small part of me at this point definitely is. But I typically don’t start feeling real excitement or butterflies until I’m on the airplane heading to my destination. I have most of the logistics for my trip figured out, including a late night shuttle from Biarritz, France to St. Jean, and a nice bed and breakfast in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, for my first night. I’ll probably spend my second night in St. Jean in an actual albergue – it seems like a good opportunity to start mingling with fellow pilgrims, and I’ll take advantage of the people leaving at 6am to act as my alarm clock. My goal that day is to […]

While I still have roughly two months before I head to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to start the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, I have been focusing a lot of time recently with packing. I’d like to start being able to do some practice walks with a full pack shortly, which means I need to get my pack to roughly the same weight as it will be when I arrive. Of course, I could just fill it with rocks for now, but since I already have many of the items with me at home, I thought I’d just finish buying what I need and have it done ahead of time. As a rule of thumb, most people try to bring around 10% of their body weight on the Camino. For me, that’s probably around 20 lbs. I once did a 75 km hike with a 60 lb pack on […]

In about 90 days, I’m heading to London, England, to spend my birthday. As you get older, birthdays become less and less important I find, certainly not enough to warrant a huge drunk at the bar. So I thought this year I would spend my birthday in another country, hopefully meeting a few new people and maybe exploring the countryside. A few days after my birthday, I’m heading to Spain to start the Camino de Santiago, a famous Christian pilgrimage that ends in the city of Santiago, Spain. Historically many people attempted the long walk as penance for their sins, but nowadays people walk it for a variety of reasons, often because they want some introspection on life. There are many different routes to Santiago, most of which span various countries in Europe such as France, Spain and Portugal. The route I’ve settled on is called the Camino Frances, or […]

Earlier this year, I got a Facebook invite for a surprise birthday party in Malta. I’m sure when it was sent out nobody thought anyone from Canada would show up, since it’s a really long way to go for a birthday. But as soon as I received the invite, I decided it would be really fun to show up, and also a chance to see a little more of Europe. I left at the end of May and stopped briefly in London for a few days. I met up with my friend Barry, someone I recently met in Argentina back in February. We mostly just hung out around his area, watching football in the pubs. But one night we ventured to another part of town and set up for the afternoon on this rooftop pub. During the day we encountered this really great group of people from Sweden, and spent […]

One of my favourite aspects of travelling is the process of arriving in a new destination. It doesn’t really matter how much research you do online before getting there, the actual experience of seeing it for yourself for the first time is always unique and usually unexpected. Almost always a place is better in person that you imagine in your head after doing research, but sometimes it takes a little time to overcome your first impressions after arriving. For example, both me and a friend of mine thought Buenos Aires was fairly dirty when we first arrived. But it’s the type of city that grows on you over a few weeks while you discover all the little aspects of the city that make it appealing. Often though I usually think a city is much better in person when compared to everything I’ve read about it prior to arriving. That’s one […]

Prior to visiting Barcelona for my first time this year, I had no idea who Antoni Gaudi was. But after spending a few days in Barcelona visiting architectural sites, it’s pretty clear what a revolutionary architect he was. Park Güell Antonia Guadi was a Catalan architect whose various works in Spain have become extremely important, and draw huge crowds of tourists each day. While not entirely appreciated when he was alive, several of his works have now been classified as Unesco World Heritage Sites and he is one of Spain’s most revered architects. The first of his creations we went to visit was Park Güell. Our apartment was close enough Park Güell to walk to, but the nearest Metro station is Lesseps. Even from there though be prepared to walk for about 20 minutes, with the last part uphill. But don’t worry, the park is well worth the hike. Inside […]

One of the most impressive geological formations in the world are the Cliffs of Moher located in County Claire, Ireland. Located approximately an hour drive away from Galway, it’s an easily accessible location in the beautiful Burren region of Ireland, which has an eerie resemblance to a moonscape. I visited the Cliffs once in 2011, but unfortunately it was foggy and didn’t make for very nice photos. Thankfully I got a chance to go back again yesterday and got to see the Cliffs of Moher with much better sunshine this time. If you’re going to visit the Cliffs of Moher, I recommend giving yourself a window of a few days so you optimize your chances of having nice weather for your visit. When it is cloudy and foggy the view isn’t nearly as impressive, so definitely hold out for a bit of sun if you can. Near the highest point […]

I’ve been bouncing around Galway for a week now, and one thing that surprises me compared to a lot of other countries I have visited is how hard it is to find free WiFi. Lots of places seem to offer it on the internet, but when you actually show up to use it you typically only get 20 minutes for free via BitBuzz or Boingo. As someone who typically works remotely as I am travelling, 20 minutes just doesn’t cut it. Thankfully I found a pub in completely free WiFi in Galway: The Front Door. So while I typically prefer to spend my days working in coffee shops, for the time being I’m upgrading to beer-filled days due to the free WiFi here. So if you are visiting Galway and looking for a place to sit down for a bit and get reconnected with people back home, or possibly even […]