Family Time

august 23/09

its amazing to me how time has flown since ive arrived at mike and kathys home a few days ago. ive had my massage and reflexology taken care of. my dad has come baring gifts of "normal" clothes. ive been thrilled at being able to rid myself of the clothes ive sweated in the past 2 months. ive shopped for all the things i needed to get to continue on my journey. i ended up buying a new camera to replace my broken one as the logistics of trying to get it fixed were simply too complicated. ive started up running again in the mornings. tonight i even got to hang out with don and leslie (my grandmas brother and wife). overall the last few days have been nothing short of fabulous. to top everything off, i even hooked up with my friend kelly who was out visiting her sister. we spent some tie chilling in stanley park, taking pictures of the raccoons running around rampid and free.

back to my visit with don and leslie - i have never met them before today - or at least if i have i would have been too young to be capable of remembering. its saddening to know that as they are a really lovely couple and i am proud to call them family. i especially found it so inspiring to talk to leslie who has done an extensive amount of travelling in her time. as she told me story after story of some of the adventures shes had, all i could do was sit there in awe and fascination. i find it surprising to think of how few young (or older) women feel comfortable travelling relatively on their own in this day and age. but tonight i sat listening to the stories of a fearless woman who has gone out and explored the world and did it during times of which womens travel really and truely was rare.

i can only hope my adventures throughout the world will inspire other women - other people - to go after those dreams they never fathomed possible to achieve. the world is at our fingertips. anything is possible so dream big.



august 24/09

i have chosen today to be my day to figure out what i want to do and where i want to go from here. i feel so incredibly overwhelmed by the emmense variety of possibilities that i dont even know where to begin. i thought that looking at books at chapters here may inspire me to some direction. it didnt. i ended up wandering aimlessly for an hour, picking up books, turning the pages, skimming paragraphs and putting them down. i have never felt so lost at the thought that i can do whatever i wish - i am free.


now, dont get me wrong. i am thrilled with where i am and the fact that i AM so free to do as i wish. its just wierd when people continuously ask me where i plan to go next or when i plan on going. i not have an answer - for them or me.


generally speaking, i "plan" on going to australia next. it seems like the obvious choice. i DO have my work visa after all. but who says i HAVE to leave from vancouver? sure, it is the closest available airport and would get me a direct flight to sydney, but theres a few other ways i could go too:


1) head down to seattle or some other close USA city. theres a good chance i could get a cheaper flight if i head right out of the states rather than canada (i hate that)

2) i could travel by bus or train down the west coast, beach bumming my way to LA. yeah, its getting cooler this time of year, but its still warm enough to make a trip like that fun. plus, my cousins live in oregon so i could spend some time hanging out with them

3) if i go down to LA - why not do mexico while im at it?

4) with all these places to fly out of to australia, i dont necessarily have to go to sydney. i could do melbourne, brisbane - what about starting in new zealand? the options are endless

5) what about other options other than flying? go work on a cruise, take a freighter overseas....

6) to top it all off - there is no rush for me to leave vancouver. i still havent been to the islan, tofino or a lot of other cool places that are nearby

*sigh* so not i just got to figure out how to go about his. being cost effective is my #1 priority and in pricing stuff out i hopefully will figure out what to do next....