Entering Continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel

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The Channel Tunnel is one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Modern World’ selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It connects the UK to continental Europe. I remember thinking: wow, you can drive across the English Channel. Of course, being in England and on our way to Belgium, we wanted to go across the Channel Tunnel. The high-speed train is the obvious choice, until you see ticket prices. We went with Megabus (a coach bus company) and expected it would take the ferry and we would miss the tunnel altogether. So, when we arrived at the Channel Tunnel Border Crossing we were slightly surprised, a little excited and vastly disappointed. There was a train stuck in one of the tunnels and we had a minimum three hour wait ahead of us. Continue reading →

London: 4 Days in the City

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Our first major European city on our around-the-world trip was London – a classic choice. We spent four nights at an airbnb in East London near Bethnal Green Station. Walking to our apartment we felt a bit like we were in the rougher part of town but inside the place was great, and the price difficult to beat in London ($85 CAD/night for two people). Continue reading →

“Little by little, one travels far” – J.R.R. Tolkien (England)

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One of the first things I did when we decided on dates for Europe, was start messaging all my friends and family who live there. Staying with people you know in other countries and cities has countless benefits: you get to catch up with someone you likely haven’t seen in a long time, you are shown a different side of the area, you can get away from just the touristy spots, you can often drive around (without having to weigh the pros and cons of a rental car), you get a glimpse as to how people in that area live and, in my opinion, it improves the overall experience. Oh, and free accommodation doesn’t hurt the budget… Continue reading →

Seven Day Stopover in Iceland

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Our plan was to fly from Vancouver to Europe and we were looking for the cheapest city to land in – Paris, Frankfurt, London, etc. We checked prices to Reykjavik out of curiosity (I had always wanted to go Iceland) and they turned out to be surprisingly cheap. While Icelandair offers a “free stopover up to one week” en-route to Europe, it was even cheaper to only book a flight to Reykjavik with them and then another airline to England (we flew into Bristol with EasyJet). Continue reading →

Home Sweet Home

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Since we have already been in Iceland for five days and are behind on posting – this entry has to be short and sweet, just like our time at home. After six months in Latin America, we decided it was time for a short break in Vancouver before continuing our trip through Europe and Asia.  We booked 35 days at home and they flew by. While there were plenty of things we didn’t get the chance to do or the people we didn’t get the chance to see; we had a wonderful month at home. Besides plenty of family dinners (July is full of birthdays!), relaxing, and getting ready to travel again; we spent a weekend on Nelson Island, went sailing and white water rafting and went to Whistler.

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Frozen in Time – Cuba

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Our first glimpse into life in Cuba and the prominence of the import/export bans enforced by the U.S.A on Cuba was at the airport check-in line-up in Cancun. There were at least a hundred large boxes being checked-in by various passengers: air-conditioners, microwaves, TV’s,  chairs, etc. Other than that, everything we had been told by fellow travellers and travel blogs we read beforehand about Cuba was dead wrong. Continue reading →

Our Vacation from our Vacation (Quintana Roo, Mexico)

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After a 12-hour journey from San Igancio, Belize (and four buses) we arrived in Playa del Carmen – our one week vacation spot. During our relaxing week in Playa del Carmen, it rained over half the days. Now, if we’d actually been on a one-week vacation (like most of the tourists here) we’d have been very upset – but given we were just here to chill out and enjoy some spicy Mexican food before flying to Cuba, we weren’t too concerned. It did however mean that we didn’t get up to a whole lot. We had planned on visiting Cozumel and maybe a couple cenotes but we axed all that. On the few sunny days we had, we ventured down to the Mayan ruins of Tulum, visited Akumal for its beach and sea turtles and hit up the beaches in Playa – which were absolutely covered in seaweed that the stormy weather brought in. We also ate out at least once a day, breaking our “we cook 80% of our meals” rule – oops. But Mexican food is just so tasty. And Mexican ceviche – omg.

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