Somewhere over the rainbow...

Do you believe in signs?  

As a child my favourite movie was The Wizard of Oz, I remember watching it over and over again.  I wanted to be just like Dorothy and discover a new brightly coloured world.  So you can imagine how I felt when I looked outside my window and realized that I was ACTUALLY somewhere over the rainbow.  I couldn't contain my smile, that was my god wink.  I knew I had made the right decision. St Lucia was the right choice, it was going to be perfect... 

"Ladies and gentleman, we are beginning our decent into beautiful St Lucia.  The weather in St Lucia is currently ridiculously, like you will need another shower, hot!!! Lucky for you it is raining so you will have zero view of the magnificent Pitons as we land and surprise it appears that only half your luggage has made it here with us.  Please enjoy your stay in Paradise!"  

Ok, so this is not exactly how it happened but I did land during a rainstorm in 38 degree Celsius weather with only one of my suitcases.  But even that couldn't stop me, I was in St Lucia, a place I had been dreaming about for years and I was finally here!  This was my new home!

As we drove from the airport to the North of the island, approximately a 90 minute van ride, I was amazed by everything I saw.  The lush rainforest, the colourful villages and the OCEAN.  I had finally done it, I lived on an island! How lucky was I?

As the van pulled up to our new home, my new roommates and I looked at each other. We were excited, we were finally here!  We rolled our suitcases inside and we were greeted by two of our colleagues. It was time to go shopping... groceries and household basics! Now, I had done my research and I knew food in St Lucia would be expensive but I was not prepared for this.  Broccoli 30$, cauliflower 27$, apples 3$ each, Almond milk 15$, hummus 18$!!!!!!!!! That's it, I am going to starve!  Now these were Eastern Caribbean dollar amounts but still 30 Eastern Caribbean dollars = 15 Canadian dollars.  Ok, don't panic I will just look for local stuff... oh, look Paw paw is cheap...what the heck is paw paw?!? Bananas and plantains are cheap, ok that works.  Sour Sop, five fingers, Bora beans?!? I don't even...Oh look a sale rack...what is that?!?  Smells like death...Meat, lots of meat, and not refrigerated, oh that makes perfect sense... Ok time to PANIC, we are definitely going to starve!!!! 

Needless to say we left the grocery store a little depressed that night but we were looking forward to heading back to our new house and unpacking.  It had been a long trip, I left on the Monday at 3:00 p.m. and arrived the following day at 2:30 p.m.  It was now 6:00 p.m. and already dark here and I just wanted to message my loved ones back home to say I was safe and go to bed.  As we arrived home, it was apparent that neither one of these things were going to happen.  Our internet password was incorrect, so no wifi, no messages, no link to home or to the people I loved and already missed.  The house was filthy, clearly no one had lived here for at least a few weeks and the last family had not done a stellar job of cleaning before leaving.  A bit discouraged, my roommates and I looked at each other and decided sleep and food would have to wait until our kitchen and our rooms were cleaned.  A few dead geckos, a cockroach and a cute little frog later, the major clean-up was done. 

Still no internet and no way of reaching home...time to pick which room would be ours and head to bed.  We decided the only fair way to pick our rooms would be to have a draw.  So we put in the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in our gigantic decorative rock bowl and picked.  In retrospect, we should really have called our rooms by their proper names. Room 1 = the no breeze room (due to the fact that it only has one window), room 2 = the cockroach room (due to the fact that on the first night we had to track, find and kill a cockroach hiding in the dresser) and number 3= the frog room (due to the fact that a small tropical frog was rescued in the shower).  

As luck would have it I picked room number 3, my favourite number. This was a sign...things were going to get better.  How could they not, after all I had picked the frog room and you know how much the French love their frogs ;)

Our house

The view from my bedroom window.

Five fingers or star fruit, yummm!

And so it continues...

After attending my second International job fair this past winter, I was faced with 3 very hard choices...

Option 1) Belgium: An amazing school with a great reputation + a wonderful administration team - taxed 50% of your salary - expensive housing - expensive transportation - expensive everything = me, poor and unable to travel in Europe = no deal, not now anyways and no regrets

Option 2) Bali: Dream location + Yoga + Ubud - a job description that kept changing - a questionable school reputation - a head of school with a bad attitude and horrible communications skills = a chaotic job situation = a chance of ruining one of my favourite places on earth = no way, no how, no deal... I even tried to force it but in the end I knew in my gut it wasn't going to be a good fit so I politely refused (even if it broke my heart) and cried myself to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up sad but sure of my decision.  I would stay put for another year and explore my options when the time was right.  I had closed two impressively big windows and was left feeling both satisfied with my decision and slightly claustrophobic.  But as luck would have it, all it took was one special person and...a GIANT door swung open! A third option, a new and exciting option...

Option 3) St Lucia : Dream location + great school + impressive Director + Darlene, my link + Jennifer, an expat in St Lucia, my guide and friend (through Darlene) = Full Package =
I'm moving to the Caribbean!!!

And so a little over a month ago, I packed it all up (yet again), said some tearful goodbyes to my loved ones and I moved to St Lucia...

A tale of one exquisite city

To travel is to set eyes on breathtaking landscapes like those of Iceland or perhaps New Zealand and to appreciate their unique beauty... It is also about more than that... It is, in essence, about finding the many great loves of your life...

Venice is one of my great loves and if I had to pick my favourite city (today) it would be Venicia.

Perhaps it is because it is shaped like a fish, myself being the quintessential Pisces.  Or perhaps it is because it is a city built on water, a man made island, a safe haven.  For days, not a car in sight, just boats.  And anyone who knows me, knows that my absolute favourite way to travel is by boat...sailboat, speed boat, paddle boat, row boat, banana tree leaf boat, any boat...except for a cruise ship, that's not a boat.  

My love for it is quite simple really. It is its architecture, its history, its art and...its LOVE.  Getting lost in Venice is quite possibly the best thing you can do.  And because it is an island, you'll never have to worry if you've walked yourself all the way to Verona, lol.  So bring the map (just in case, if you must) but try to let yourself get swept away by its magnificent beauty.  A beauty that can only truly be discovered by exploring every possible wrong turn.  Narrow alleyways leading to beautiful gardens, tiny canals and magnificent sunsets.  Once you've had your fill of walking (we walked for 6 hours almost everyday, by the end we needed a change) hop on and off the Vaporetto (water bus) but stay away from the water taxis, they will cost you.

The only thing you can really get wrong in Venice is the restaurants, unless of course you are a millionaire... DO NOT sit, eat like the locals rather and find a ciccheti bar for drinks and delicious finger foods.  And what's best is that most ciccheti bars offer their own unique appetizers.  So have a few and then move on the the next bar and if nothing tickles your fancy, move on to the next.  This was by far our favourite way to eat in Venice.  Pizza on the go is also a must!  Sitting down in a restaurant (especially near the Rialto bridge or Piazza San Marco) will actually cost you double, it's all about the seating fee.  So do your research.

We were told that Venice would be very expensive and it could have very well been.  But we did our research, found a small but very nice hotel (breakfast included) in a quaint little neighbourhood a short walk away from the very touristy Rialto area.  We ate at ciccheti bars and opted not to do the famously overpriced gondola ride (with most of the gondoliers on their phones it just didn't do it for us, go figure).

Make sure you make the trip out to the neighbouring island of Burano.  It is one of the most colourful and unique places I have ever seen.  And the ferry ride is gorgeous.

But the real beauty behind this magnificent city can only truly be experienced when the sun goes down.  At night, Venice is transformed and no matter how many pictures you take with your expensive camera and your fancy tripod, it cannot be captured.  It may be due to the mass exodus of tourists opting to stay in hotels on the mainland or it may be the way the moonlight reflects on Venice's every spectacular canal... Whatever the reason, it is of no great importance. The mood changes, the air becomes charged with passion, warmth and intensity and you are transported to a different time.  It tugs at your heart strings like a favourite song or a favourite poem, leaving you breathless with hope.   Because on this night, in this incredible place, anything CAN happen.  Venice to me is like the magic of a first love, when missing any part of it would be too painful to bare.

My dream is to one day return to Venice for Carnival, to see the streets flooded with elaborate costumes and the most beautiful of masks.  Something about its tradition makes me ache for a place in time where love letters and poems were how people truly connected.  One day, I will return and it will be spectacular. Venicia, mi amore, my heart is yours xo

Riddle me this...

So Miss World Traveler...Which has been your favourite?

Would you believe me if I said it was impossible to say because I believe it changes every minute of every day depending on what my soul craves in that very moment.  

I have been asked this question more times than I can possibly keep track of.  I have also often caught myself asking this very question to fellow travelers and I am pretty sure that all of them have looked at me the same way, I am sure, I have looked at you.  What?!? You want me to pick just ONE, just like that?!?  Some respond by saying "That's like asking a parent which child is his or her favourite?" Others may reply by asking you how much time do you have??? Others will look at you like you have three eyeballs growing out of your forehead.  I like to reply by saying... It depends!

It is not a stupid question but a very difficult one to answer.  One I often ask myself and please please please do not stop asking it, as a traveler I love it anytime someone encourages me to travel back in time and to catch a glimpse of the places and the people that have changed my life forever.  So ask the question but be prepared for me to change my mind... often.  I may have a very different answer for you if you ask me again tomorrow or next month or even next year.

So to answer your question, it all depends which question you are truly asking me...

If you are asking in what country I have seen the most incredible and foreign landscapes then my answer (today) is... Iceland.  The land that transports even the biggest critic to another planet, marveling at everything all at once and trying to convince yourself that you have not traveled to the moon but that you are indeed still on planet earth. 

If you look it up on-line you will find "Iceland, a Nordic island nation defined by its dramatic volcanic landscape of geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, glaciers and black-sand beaches."  Or you may even find a more romantic description calling it a land of contrasts, a land where fire and ice co-exist. If you ask me to describe it, I can't... one cannot describe magic.

So book your flight and GO see it for yourself!  You will not regret it, I promise you that.

I dream of the day I will be lucky enough to see Iceland again... until then stay golden, Ponyboy ;)

Oh and that is just the landscape so ... HURRY! and safe travels xo