For those of you keeping up on our where-abouts you should fully know it’s been 4 months since we made the last leg of our journey to home. During this time I’m sure you also all noticed our blog entries died down to pretty much a sudden stop. Adjusting back to the real world has been some awesome fun, lots more work then we are used to, busy busy busy, and we can’t forget about the gambit of emotions to go along with all that!

Luckily we did not jump back into the work force right away and planned to have 2 months of seeing friends and family, espcially since we did not have a home yet. Our condo still had renters in it until July 1st. So, we stayed mostly with my parents, with sleep-over extended visits to various friends houses here and there.

The start to life back in Canada was a short visit to Calgary. Our great friends Steve and Karen who traveled with us for 2 months through Europe were great hosts for these couple of days and made us one of the best dinners we had in a long ass time. We love steak, especially Triple A Alberta Beef. You’ve never have beef until you have eaten this. Trust us! We tried steak all over the world and nothing came remotely close to Alberta Beef. Our friends showed up Gordon Ramsay in their own backyard. No fancy gourmet kitchen or posh restaurant with a ridiculous priced menu. Take that Gordon!

We then flew home to Vancouver filled with extremely happy family/friends to see our return. Welcome home BBQ’s, parties, simple get togethers, outings and repeat. We truly felt missed and were quite thankful of my parents letting us live with them until we got our condo back.

However, on top of all this hub-bub, we really had a hard time getting out of bed and doing anything during the day. We were still quite used to sleeping in and then relaxing all day on a beach or in a pool. Plus, I’m sure we had a large dose of jet lag in our systems as well.

May long weekend we drove out to Salmo B.C to help PK Sound with the Village stage tear down at Shambhala. Demolish parts of the stage and clean up the forest during the day and drink with friends around the giant bon fire at night.

After May long we drove back to Calgary for a couple weeks to do some much needed renovations on our loft in order to get a new renter for July 1st. New paint, new carpet, replace some light fixtures, replace the bathroom door, hang up curtains, clean it up, list it, and interview possible renters. When I look back at the work we did it doesn’t sound like much. But, like most renovations things never go as planned and ended up being quite the headache. It sure felt good once it was completed! I wanted to move back in after pouring my heart and soul into it. It looks SO good and in result rented quite easily. Unfortunately we were so down to the last minute we completely forgot to take after photos!! =(

Another highlight for us was participating in our first scavenger hunt with Alex and Heather. We named our team Gang Green, wore all green clothing, and decorated my car for some extra bonus point team flair and scavenged the city for items and photos. It was a blast and we won second place!! Can not wait to do it again next year. Much thanks to Mike Awesome for hosting this!!

Suddenly July long weekend approached us and that meant three things. First, Scott would be going back to work at his old job. The second was one more weekend spent at The Village helping now with the beginnings of the new stage construction. Third, we got to move back into our home! It was a busy week of driving, constructing a stage, moving, unpacking, and Scott adjusting back to the work life.

As great as it actually was to live with my parents for the past two months. We truly have an amazing relationship with them. Which was only made stronger when they both traveled all the way out to Thailand for a month with us. It’s now amazingly great to truly and finally be home.

We still have a ton more stories to share from our travels. Vietnam, Cambodia, and one last week in Thailand are still to come, even some tales from on the road in Canada. Also, coming up are more things to share about our adjustment back home and stories about the music events we have attended. I’m sure Furry Friday will also make a big come back appearance soon enough!

Sorry to have been on such a hiatus. But really… we are not sorry! We’ve been really enjoying life and every moment of being home. Hope your summer was as awesome as ours.

Ever have one of those days? Those days that everything seems to go wrong? Monday, April 26th 2010 was one of those days. Today reminded me of a scene in the movie Benjamin Button. That if just one damn thing went right it would have changed the entire outcome. But instead, it turned into the worse day of travel in 300 days around the world. And the thing about it? It was fucking preventable.

Today was the day we were supposed to be going back to Canada. The end of our trip. Going home to deal with our loft, see friends and start decompressing from our trip and preparing to get back to the world. We had just spend the last 10 days at a posh resort in Koh Phanang. We wanted our end of the trip to be perfect and come back to Canada on nothing but a high note. We had it all planned. A ferry from Phanang to Koh Samui at 12.30, flight to Bangkok at 2.15pm, Bangkok to Taipai at 5.05pm, Taipai to Vancouver, Vancouver to Calgary. 21 hours of travel and we would be home. Unfortunately the universe had other plans.

Our hotel told us that the ferry from Koh Phanang to Samui would take 30 minutes, and 15 minutes to the airport. So we got on the boat at 12.30pm. But the boat had other plans. Two ferry’s full of people came in at the same time which caused a ruckus on the dock. We were on the boat, but the boat just sat there. Until about 1.00pm. Slowly it made it’s way to Koh Samui, and we had a bit of hope. But it was misplaced as the trip took 55 minutes, and at 1.55 we arrived at the dock.

Running with our bags we begged a taxi to take us to the airport as fast as possible. We found a great driver who busted ass down the roads, but kept getting slowed down. First a bunch of scooters. Then a dump truck with opposing traffic. In the end we made it to the airport just to see our plane fly away. Though we had hope, as it was Bangkok Airways, known for good service.

Doesn’t that look like a face that you can trust will take care of you?

So we talk to the ticketing agent who booked us a flight in an hour, for a small fee of $60. But the plane wouldn’t land until 4.40, 25 minutes before our China Airlines flight was due to take off. They suggested to carry on our bags and arranged to have someone meet us in Bangkok on the tarmac to escort us to the international terminal and catch our flight. They called ahead and said it would be taken care of. Sounded great to us!

But because we were carrying on our bags, we had liquid and items that couldn’t go on. I gave away my moonshine rice whisky that I picked up in Pai (more on that in the coming days) to a taxi driver who seemed extremely pleased and ran off to share his loot to some fellow security guards on their break. We were starting to run late as this all took time and we ran to the security with all of our bags. This is when things started to go downhill.

“Sir, do you have bullets in your bag?”

“Uh, yes, I guess I do… ” How do you answer that question? I had forgotten all about the empty shells from the shooting range in Phnom Phen. I was going to make a cool art project for the people who donated money to ensure I didn’t shoot live chickens. And I had the empty shells in my bag. Which apparently you can’t bring on a plane. Who would have thought?

They searched my bag again, and found my swiss army knife that Steve had given to me in Switzerland. There was no way I could convince them to take it onboard, and I couldn’t mail it. Luckily the super nice security lady offered to mail it to me. The day started to look up a bit, but we were holding up the plane and had to run to the tarmac.

We put our bags in the back of the plane, told the stewardess about our problem and that we needed to get off right away in Bangkok. Everything seemed fine at this point, and it looked like Everything was turning up Milhouse. But really, it was turning into the constant diarrhea you get in SE Asia.

I’m starting to feel like Jack Bauer here… tick tock tick tock

The plane lands at 4.40pm. We had 25 minutes to get to our gate, should be enough time. We grabbed our bags and ran out onto the tarmac looking for our Bangkok Airways representative. But of course, nobody had a fucking clue. The people on the tarmac told us to get on the bus with everyone else and someone would meet us inside. Inside, there was no one. We ran our asses off to the international transit point, and sweating (it was 37 degrees after all) we saw a Bangkok Airways representative. Great! But she had no idea what we were talking about. Neither did the other person who came, or the security guard standing there.

I could see where we had to go! We had a stupid sticker from Bangkok Airways that was supposed to let us through, but they refused. Saying we had to go to the 4th level because we didn’t have our printed tickets. The printed tickets they were supposed to have for us at the gate. After 10 minutes of calling around, we ran to the 4th floor looking for China Airlines with all of our baggage. All 75kg’s of it. In the heat. For about 1KM. Trying not to knock over everyone. In our flip flops. Fucking hell.

Enter WTF angry Scott

By the time we made it to the international check in, there was nobody at the China Airlines desk. Or the ticketing office. Or on their ticketing phone number. It was 5.20pm and they disappeared like the VC in the Chu Chi Tunnels. And guess what? Nobody had a clue how to help us out. We managed to contact a China Airlines number who said we could go to Taipai tomorrow, but there were no flights to Vancouver in the next week.

At this point we started to lose it. Bangkok is going through massive civil unrest right now. People are dying on the street, grenades are being launched and it looks like a massive crackdown on the protesters is about to happen by the army. There were a ton of military in the airport itself. For the same reasons I wouldn’t travel to Mogadishu right now – namely self preservation – I didn’t feel comfortable putting Dee and I in the middle of this for the next week or two or three. Even the Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Canadians against non-essential travel to Bangkok because the ongoing political demonstrations in the Thai capital “have been marked by violence, death, and injury.”

`The security situation is very volatile with significant potential for further civil unrest, violent clashes, and attacks,” the department warned in an updated advisory Monday.’

The trains are shut down, malls are closed, army and protesters are roaming the streets. There are advisories from Britain and USA to avoid it at all costs. So we took the hint. We didn’t want to hang out in a Bangkok hotel for a week or more, only to have the airport shut down like 2 years ago and be even more stuck.

So I tried calling Orbitz, who we booked our flights with. After dropping the call a couple times, I was told that the China Airlines ticketing office was closed and they couldn’t offer me a refund. I had to wait for 2 hours for them to open. What kind of BS is that? I booked via Orbitz, but they say they’re just a booking site and we have to contact the airline. What’s the point of booking through a travel company if they’re not going to help you when things go south? We waited and waited, tried calling 7 times and were finally told too bad that we had to stick around Bangkok until China Airlines sorted it out.

Okay, now we are just sad and want to head home…

At the end of our ropes of this travel day from hell, we just went and booked a flight to L.A. From LAX we can fly to Calgary and be back in Canada and make at least one of our flights that we booked from Calgary to Vancouver on Thursday. But really, what a fucking day.

If just one thing had happened our way, we would be touching down in Canada right now. If there was no full moon party, two boatloads wouldn’t have come in. If there was not so much wind, we would have made it in 30 minutes on the boat. If the cement truck wasn’t driving 20KM’s an hour, our taxi would have made it on time. If Bangkok Airways actually made a phone call like they said they would, someone would have met us on the tarmac to escort us. If we didn’t waste time with the idiots at the international transfer point, we would have made it to the checkin and through security. If someone at China Airlines was actually there to talk to, we could have settled things.

But no, not one fucking thing went the right way today. And this is why April 26th is now going to be a banned day. On this day I’m going to do sweet fuck all for the rest of my life. Stay in bed. Don’t go out. Hide under the covers.

But luckily we found a flight from Bangkok to Seoul at 12.15AM on April 27th and had 5 seats all to ourselves. We then went to the Korean Airlines lounge and received 40% off the entry price because we were in transfer. And now have free internet, buffet food and unlimited Jim Bean Bourbon and red wine to forget about all these troubles. And it seems that I drank all their Jim Bean Bourbon, and they’ve replaced it with Johnny Walker Black Label 12 Year scotch. Nice. Plus a shower which was like heaven after losing 20lbs in sweat running around like the Tasmanian devil. Plus we have an emergency exit for our 12 hour flight to LA, and two seats to ourselves from LA to Calgary with some friends waiting for us on the other side. It looks like April 27th is the day everything turns up Milhouse.

Watch out Bangkok Airways, Orbitz and China Airlines… the wraith of Scott is coming your way!

The only thing left? To get a refund from China Airlines. They’re easily going to sell our tickets to people on standby, because frankly, everyone wants to get the hell out of Bangkok right now. Let’s hope Orbitz/China Airlines is going to take care of me. Otherwise I’ll get so angry another volcano will erupt. I’ve gone way overboard on a $100 rip off, this is 2k gone. And for that much, I have all the time in the world to be a pain in the ass.

So there it is. Our day from hell. What turned into a happy 21 hour travel day is now 42 hours of travel back home. Where absolutley everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The only good thing? We’re still alive and slightly drunk, heading back to Canada. Hopefully the custom officers at LA won’t be the usual assholes that they were when we last went through the US a bunch of times. But that’s entirely another story about the complete incompetence of customs and airline security staff.

Bangkok Airways, Orbtiz, and China Airlines has made us feel like a piece of trash today.

Today is the day we fly back to Canada. Can you believe it? It has been 305 days since we flew across the pond from Calgary, Alberta to Dublin, Ireland. Not quite a year like we originally planned, but in all honesty it is a perfect amount for us. We are feeling quite ready to head on home. Or at least to leave Asia, which we have been traveling through for the past 6 months. I feel like if we were heading to a different country (like Australia) we’d feel quite anxious and excited to keep on traveling. But, our funds are far past gone and it’s time to head on home.

However our dreams have not traveled as far as they can go just yet! Coming home to Canada does not all mean back to the daily grind. Yes, we’ve made plans for ourselves to still “travel” or the next two months. Which I guess means we will be traveling for a year when all is said and done. What are our plans? Couch-surf at various friends and family, volunteer at the Shambhala Music Festival, and also camp across BC and Alberta in-between all of that. It’s going to be grand!

Our travel back home involves a total of 17 hours in the air. With 4 connections that means a grand total of a 21 hour travel day! Yikes! To think we used to moan at 9 hour days… Luckily we have our upcoming adventures to look forward to plus more! Thoughts of great Alberta Beef steaks, homemade hamburgers, true Canadian style BBQ anything, cheap sushi, poutine, bagels and cream cheese, brushing our teeth with tap water, wasting time with friends, high speed internet and always working wifi, two laptops, our cats, dancing to amazing music pounding out of the best sound system in the world (unlike this one), camping in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, feeling the love from our families, not having sub-titles at the movies and on TV, fresh salads, cooking for ourselves, wheat beer, the list goes on and on….. I’m sure all these thoughts will help our gruesome travel home pass right on by.

So, maybe by the time your read this we will be in the air or even with our feet back on good old Canadian soil. To our friends and family… we will see you real soon!!!

Now back to our regular scheduled posts. Remember, we are still a few months behind in sharing our tales! Look forward to these upcoming adventures and more!

A private sunset trip around Phi Phi Leh
Overstaying our welcome in Thailand
Tubing in Vang Viang with the A-Team
Getting a new wardrobe in Hoi Ani
Are we in the Sahara or Vietnam?
Shooting M60′s at Cambodia’s Happy Gun Club

I know, I know. The title says “save” the world and the sign says “take over” the world. But really, when I take over the world it will be saving it. Have you ever watched your Members of Parliament, Senators or whatever your elected figures are on TV? It’s seriously like watching a bunch of children debate. “He said this” “She said that” – stand up and booing. Repeat. I wonder when they get to the job of serious issues like helping the homeless, stopping war, reducing the deficits and increasing our qualities of life?… hmm.. right.

But before I can “save” the world I have to do some training. And this is where you come in. Everyone knows that training takes money. And not well wishing money but hard currency. In this case US dollars. Luckily Canadian dollars are just as good these days as the old green back. Who knew a loonie would ever beat the greenback? And while I would take happy wishes, they need cold currency. I know, I know. It’s not fair. I can try sending them an email saying I’ll review their shooting range for some free explosives, but I don’t think it’ll work. And our beer habit blew through our budget 2 months ago and we’re running on vaporous. Its your help or nothing.

You may be asking yourself what kind of training is involved? Very simply, shooting very big effin guns (BFGS). In Cambodia I can shoot RPG’s, M60′s and Ak47. But at a cost of $200 for the RPG and $1 a bullet for the rest. The M60 shoots something like 20 rounds a second, so it can be pricey.

I promise to video the whole event, and be extremely happy about it. So what do you say, got a couple bucks to spare? $5, $10, $20 – it’ll all help. A $50 or $100 will get you something special in the mail. If your in Canada, email money transfers work great, otherwise Paypal is also perfect.

I’ve included a F.A.Q. with this post to answer any more of your questions!

Q: How do I know you just won’t spend the money on hookers and blow?
A: Great question. First of all, Dee’s with me so that kills half of it. Secondly, shooting BFG’s is a bit more exciting. And after that Bangkok incident, well.. ’nuff said. Plus I promise videos in full HD quality.

Q: I really don’t think learning to shoot some guns is going to help you take over the world. Won’t I be wasting my money?
A: Not at all. If I do manage to take over the world one day, wouldn’t you rather be with me than against me? Us Dutch are known to have big noses and long memories. Secondly, what if Zombies attack? You need someone in the know to help you out.

Q: Zombies? Really?
A: Of course. Who knows, chemical neurological weapons are made daily. Think the US, Russian and Iranian governments aren’t researching this? Just look back at the LSD experiments in the 60′s when they dosed soldiers so they can’t fight. Who said those experiments stopped? What about crazy asteroids? H1Q1? Nihilist Virus? Crack heads? Shit can happen my friend. Best be prepared.

Q: That’s why we have soldiers. Police. First line responders.
A: That’s exactly right. First line responders. And when they get overrun, who’s left? Have you ever fired an M60? Thrown a grenade? Launched an RPG? Oh no? Wouldn’t you rather have someone on your side who has? Who can help defend you? Or do you think twitter can save you from a blood thirsty monster? Tweet tweet. Crunch.

Q: I know you. You’ve played a ridiculous amount of video games. Isn’t that training enough?
A: It’s a good step 1 of training. And I’ve put thousands of hours into it virtually. Both strategy and twitching. Now it’s time for the real thing.

Q: So your saying you won’t save me in-case something bad happens? When I come knocking on your door, you just gonna pass over all the good times we’ve had?
A: Well, let’s be serious for a moment. The worlds ending, of course I’m going to help you. But it’s going to take some begging and pleading. And I’ll never let you forget that you never helped me out with the training. I’m kind of an ass that way. I’m sure there will be something you can do while I’m blowing the shit out of things and saving our asses. Underwear to clean and such.

Q: Well yeah, that’s only if “Zombies” attack.
A: Think it’ll be any better if I do manage to take over the world?

Q: $50 US is a bit expensive…
A: For Canadians, not really. Have you noticed how the dollar has dived lately? Much like the US Olympic Hockey team, it’s gone waaaay down. It’s almost like $49 Canadian dollars, a deal for you! So just go ahead and send me $50 Canadian and we’ll call it even. And to my American friends, donate sooner and it’ll be cheaper for you!

Q: How do I know your going to do what you say you’ll do?
A: This is it in writing I suppose. I’ll even mention you here on this blog for special accolade to let everyone know the names of the people who helped me. And who’ll be protected in the future…

Q: What if I want to be a cabinet minister?
A: The more money you send, the higher your position will be in my government/post apocalypse organization. Pure and simple, dollars talk today.

Q: I don’t have any money to spare. Times are tough. Will you still help me?
A: Pretty much.. no. Read above. If that appeals to you, well sure. But I only have so much underwear. Times are tough for me as well! That’s why I have my hand out to you asking for money, which I never do. But remember, this is a trade for your future. For less than a Starbucks chai tea latte, you can help. And if your willing to give up a whole week of coffee, your pretty much set.

Q: OK, you’ve convinced me. Training you to fire big weapons benefits me. How do I donate?
A: Paypal works great. Canadians can send me an email money transfer to scott at dreamalittledream.ca Remember, even $5 buys you protection.

Q: I heard that you were going to shoot cows and chickens? What’s up with this?
A: Well, my initial excitement for bloodlust and realism was a bit much. I had a meeting with KFETOCCOA (Karen For The Ethical Treatment Of Chickens, Cows and Other Animals) who persuaded me that static targets and perhaps cars would be a better substitute. So don’t fear, no living being will be harmed by this. For now.

EMAIL MONEY TRANSFER: (for Canadians only)
Send to: scott at dreamalittledream.ca
Password: zombies

PAYPAL: (for everyone)
just click on the handy thumbnail below!

I want to do this in 3 days, so don’t delay! Send money now!

You don’t want me or yourself to become a Zombie! Send money now!

Pulling up the events screen I have to say that we’re a bit jealous that we’re not in Vancouver right now! There’s so many concerts, Kid Koala (above), Dj Numark and tons more. If they had released all the free concerts earlier we may have rearranged our schedule a bit.

It also makes it easy to check out the games that are playing, and times.  It used my iPhone’s GPS to synch the Vancouver time to our Thailand time. This’ll make it easier when asking places if they’re open at 8AM so I can watch the game!

If your in Vancouver or traveling around and want to keep up with how many Gold Medals Canada is getting, I recommend this application for your iPhone. Just in the itunes app store.

Click on the addresses for a google map location.

Sunshine Diner (2649 West Broadway) - Located in Kits, this place has the best Eggs Bennedicts in town. Awesome breakfast menu and good lunch. Enjoy their 50′s atmosphere paired with a delicious milkshake!

Cafe Crepe (location maps)- If you want a great cup of coffee, cheap liquor, great crepes and fantastic panini’s, go here. There’s quite a few around including at UBC..

  

The Naam (2724 West 4th Avenue) - One of the few 24 hour restaurants in the city, they have an all vegetarian menu. Who says you can’t have desert for breakfast?

Great Sushi – The Eatery (3431 West Broadway) – Most sushi places you go to in Vancouver are excellent, but The Eatery is our favourite. With a heavy manga theme and loud music, it serves tasty infusions.

Cactus Club Cafe (location maps) – There’s about 6 of these around downtown and kits, with more throughout the lower mainland. A good place to have a steak, the Blackened Cajun Steak is my favourite.

White Spot – Everywhere! – This place is legendary. If you want a great hamburger go here. The BC Burger is one of the best hamburgers around. They call their secret sauce “Triple O” for a reason!

Steamworks Brewing Co (375 Water Street) – Located in Gastown, part of downtown, this place brews their own beer and has a great pub menu. Their nachos are fantastic and you’ll be able to watch the games. Don’t forget to order yourself what we like to call “The Tower of Power!” Tip – head down the stairs to the sports lounge, it’s more relaxed than upstairs, complete with comfy sofas!

The Boathouse (1795 Beach Ave) – Best place for reasonably priced seafood. I dare you to take the platter! This is the place we take people from out of town to get their fill, and everyones always impressed.

Go Fish – The Best Fish and Chips in Vancouver (1505 West 1st Avenue, 604-730-5040)- We’re pretty big on seafood in Vancouver. If you want the best fish and chips in town – which means ungreasy and large portions cooked by a gourmet team – head here. The halibut and chips are my favourite, but salmon burgers are always popular. Located at the fisherman’s pier on Granville Island. Look for where the fishing boats are, you can walk along the prominade. Expect a long line, open 11.30 – 6.00.

Tim Hortons Coffee (everywhere)- great basic coffee, double double is an institution here in Canada. Cheap coffee and good sandwiches you’ll trip over them everywhere.

I’ve certainly missed many, but had to make a short list of our favorites. Are there any you can recommend? If anyone takes my advice please let me know!

For our first installment we have decided to feature our own cats. We have not met them during our trip but they are always on our minds… (Well at least mine! I don’t know about Scott…)

Name: Charlie Vanderlee (from the TV show Party of Five)
From: Russia
Most Prized Possession: EEKS the mouse catnip toy by Kitty Hoots (except he keeps magically loosing them… maybe under the fridge?) He likes to lick EEKS for hours and get high.
Favorite Hobby: Licking plastic bags that drives us crazy. The sound is so annoying! sluurriick. sluuriick. ugh
Favorite Place: On someone’s lap, in front of the fire, or on my pillow while I’m sleeping
Three Random Facts:
1. We suspect he punched his brother in the eye to be sure we picked him at the adoption center. It came down to a lazy eyed kitten or one who jumped up our leg.
2. After getting some major dental work he turned into the biggest suck in all the lands. Look at that photo above!
3. He can’t meow very well and when he tries its almost like a broken squeaky horn. It’s actually quite pathetic and we make fun of him when he does it. It may be why he doesn’t meow much!

Name: Kerrigan Vanderlee (named after Kerrigan the Queen of Blades from the game Starcraft)
From: Not from this world (see picture below for proof)
Most Prized Possession: A stretchy string we specifically went to Home Depot to get for her. You’d think it was the purest smack in all the land the way she takes care of it.
Favorite Hobby: Chittering at the reflections on the ceiling or the birds outside the window
Favorite Place: On top of a blanket (as seen in photo)
Three Random Facts:
1. She drools when your pet her while she is sitting on your lap
2. We think she is on a diet as she refuses to eat any cat treats, and sometimes she purges her food. Very conscious about her weight.
3. She is very talkative and loves to let you know how her day went, and likes to put Scott in his place when we are arguing. (she is always on my side)

And this is our cats at night. Beware they have laser eyes that scan your thoughts and turn you into their slaves! Seriously we think they’re out to get us sometimes.

Check back next friday for our second Furry Friday installment!

About three years ago, on some random night the usual was going on in our routine lives. It was yet another late evening (or early morning) with our friends Steve and Karen and we had just got back from some drum and bass show and were now looking for some chill out time. But on this random night, instead of talking about how good the DJ was, or how we were not looking forward to work on Monday we instead shared our dream with them on how we wanted to take an epic trip across the world.

This topic of conversation then inspired Steve to tell us about different huge drum & bass festivals he has heard about over in Europe, Sun and Bass, Innovation in the Sun, Hospitality Nights, Valve Sound System, etc. And of course also how all our wish list DJ’s are just locals over in Europe.

Many more random nights of the same went by but all through them we continued to talk about how awesome it would be to witness these shows with our own eyes. To the point we agreed the best way to experience them would be together as the 4 of us. And so the seed was planted! Scott and I still had the dream to travel the world and now our friends Karen and Steve had their own little dream to travel Europe with us.

For about a year the seed didn’t look like it would ever grow and become reality until one random end of the summer night. We were already not looking forward to cold winter and how it would be great to escape the cold and hit a beach together. Much to my surprise this “hopeful speaking” actually turned into a reality and that November we meet up with them in Punta Cana! From this moment I knew our hopeful Europe speaking would become a reality. It was all a matter of when.

Before we knew it we where actually setting dreams into plans. Picking tentative dates, places to go, things we must do, researching events to attend, and then choosing the location to start it all… and of course of all the places in Europe to choose from. We choose Amsterdam to set us off on the right foot.
Finally on a warm summer day in August of 2009 we got off a train in Amsterdam and like it was out of some teenage summer movie we saw our friends down at the end of the walkway with the same travel tired weary smiles as us.

And so begins the next leg in our adventure…. Surrounded by the comfort of our friends.

Moving isn’t easy in the first place and it’s even more stressful when you are moving your stuff yet have no home… you enter the large conundrum of what to do with your stuff.

Our options were as follows:

1. Rent our condo out as a furnished suite
2. Rent a storage space
3. Sell all of our stuff
4. Try to fit as much stuff as we can in our condo’s storage locker and then find a loving family member to store the rest for us

In the end we went with option 1 and 4. We found some fantastic renters for our condo that stated they didn’t have much in terms of furniture. So, we left behind some useful items for them that would be a bit of a nuisance to store someplace else. Items like our kitchen table and chairs, breakfast bar stools, some ikea bookshelves, entertainment stand, patio furniture, etc.

We then filled our storage locker with as many boxes as we possibly could. If it was a Tetris game we would of scored some killer ass points.

And all the rest of our items and boxes were moved into a truck and brought to my parents house.

I must send out a HUGE THANKS to my parents for taking on our stuff for the year. They already had a pretty full house but somehow manage to fit our stuff into it too.

Being able to store our stuff in my parents homes has saved us thousands of dollars in storage rental fees, and/or the hassle to coming back home in a year and needing to go buy our things all over again when money will be super tight.

So… THANK YOU MOM & DAD!!! You have been a huge, huge help. We might still be in Canada if it wasn’t for you.

I would also like to send out a big thank you to our friend Alex who helped us on our moving day, along with a huge pile of other things in regards to our final trip preparations. Again, if we didn’t have you we would still be in Canada! THANK YOU.

Also, a grateful thanks to Scott’s mom for handling some misc paperwork etc for us while we are gone.