Why Korea? You don't even like kimchi!

In my previous post, I talked about what prompted me to decide to move to Korea.  My job of 8 years was coming to an end, and I felt I wanted to experience something different.  Having been in the same job since I graduated university, I felt that I learnt all that I could from this position; I didn't feel challenged by it anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the job, my place of work and heck I even loved my boss!  But when I can fill out a travel claim in my sleep, it's time to try something different, don't you think?  I knew working for another Senator wasn't an option.  Not only would it mostly be doing the same things, I'm not sure I would have found a Senator that was as great a boss as my previous one.  No offence to the many great Senators I've gotten to know over the years, but my old boss was a truly great man.  I think they would agree with me too - every one always loved him.  Over our near decade of knowing each other,  we had gotten to know each other and our families quite well.  He certainly has become like a father figure to me.  I have tremendous admiration and respect for him and I know that that won't go away now that I no longer work for him.  I will always be grateful that he took a chance on a very young and inexperienced fresh-out-of-school girl to essentially run his whole office.  It was a big leap of faith on his part, and I hope that I did my best for him.  I certainly hope that I can one day come back to the Senate under a different role in administration because it has become like a family to me.  I will miss walking into Parliament and feeling the history and privilege of just being there.  But just as a baby bird must someday leave the nest, I had to spread my wings a try something new.

When beginning my research into teaching abroad, one of the first things I looked into, was getting a TEFL certificate.  While some people I spoke to said it was unnecessary  I thought it was important for a few reasons:
1) Having no experience teaching made me nervous.  Sure, I've done lots of public speaking and am very comfortable talking to people, but having to create and execute an actual structured lesson plan? Nothing.  So, while not as in depth as an actual teaching degree (by far! this was only a 60 hour in-class, 40 hour online program) I thought it would be a good "crash course" on how to teach.
2) Both of the programs I was looking into offered help with finding an overseas teaching job for all of their graduates.  From everything that I saw and read, finding a job in Korea (or anywhere for that matter) is stressful at best and extremely overwhelming.  Job boards are filled with ads and it's difficult to know exactly where to start.  So if some one was going to offer to help me, of course  I'd take them up on that offer!
3) Usually having a TEFL certificate, again while not being a Bachelor of Education, shows the employer you're serious about the job and will help when you get hired when you have zero experience, and might even push you to a higher pay bracket.  Of course, for some people doing this, money isn't everything.  Not that it is for me either, but a girl's got bills to pay!  Being able to live decently and have a bit of money to put aside at the end of the month was important to me, so this little piece of paper just helped me that much more.

After a few weekends this past summer, I had my certificate in hand and was ready to start the official job hunt.  But where did I want to go? China? Japan? Korea?  The answer was still a question mark at that point.  I had been on vacation in China the previous summer and really loved it so it was high on the list.  I had been to Tokyo briefly and thought it was an interesting option too.  To make a decision, I had to ask myself why I was actually doing this.  Why did I want to give everything up for a year, and move to the other side of the world?  This was an important question and one I've had to remind myself of the answer many times over the last few months as the nerves have started to set in.

I want to move and teach overseas because I want to have a different experience.  I want to experience living in a different country, in a different culture, with different challenges.  As strange as it sounds, I even want to experience culture shock. (Please remind me of this statement when I am sad and questioning my decision to move overseas and want to come back early!)

Of course, all of the countries would easily meet all of these criteria.  I was interested in each of their cultures, although admittedly, I love dim sum and sushi far more than I like kimchi.  In the end, my choice of country boiled down to the benefits.  Each country will fly you there and back.  China and Korea both provide free accommodation to their teachers, Japan gives you an allowance and you're on the hook for the tab which can eat into your savings when you're in one of the most expensive countries in the world.  China pays about half of what Korea does, so in order to save a bit more money, Korea won the battle for my new home.  Since the decision was made, I've done all that I can to embrace the Korean culture: taking language lessons at the Korean Embassy, dinners out at local Korean restaurants, and had a 4 hour marathon karaoke session Korean-style (isn't karaoke the national sport over there?).  I hope that doing these things to prepare will lessen the severity of my culture shock that I know is inevitable.

Every one I've talked to who has gone over, and everything that I've read online, has told me that there is a pattern that happens when some one moves to a foreign culture:
Phase 1 - the honeymoon phase, where everything is exciting and new.  I've been told this may last for the first few months after my arrival.
Phase 2 - culture shock hits, you're alone in a strange land and all you want is to be home with everything familiar.  I've been told to keep myself busy when this stage comes, as sitting at home sulking will only make it worse.  I've also be advised to avoid alcohol and becoming a regular at the local ex-pat pub during this time as some who have never left this phase congregate there and will try to bring me down with them.
Phase 3 - acceptance of the life and culture of this new land and the ability to enjoying it for it is: a beautiful experience.

I fully expect to go through each of these phases, and I'm sure it won't all be easy or pretty.  I hope you, my friends and readers, will all be there to experience the highs and lows with me!

Hop in your time machine!! Punta del Diablo, Uruguay

UPDATE:
Just as I posted my previous monster of a post about my upcoming trip on Korea, I saw that I had a draft from my trip 2 years ago in Uruguay.  I figured I might as well add it.  It doesn't seem finished (I remember the internet was slow and annoying), but here it is just the same.

On New Year's day, we woke up at around 9 to take advantage of free breakfast and pack up our things before checking out of our Montevideo hostel. Since our bus wasn't leaving until 4 in the afternoon, we decided to wander the city a bit more and at some point grab lunch. Little did we know that would be practically impossible!

We decided to walk out towards the beach area in town and sit in a nearby park and read. Once we tired of that, our tummies were grumbling so we figured we'd find a local eatery. It being Jan 1, everything was shut down. There was the odd convenience store that was open, as was the ice cream shop we had been to the previous day, but nothing to get an actual meal - not even McDonald's! After about an hour of walking, we finally found one restaurant open near our hostel. Not surprisingly, it was packed. Once we finally had some food in us, it was time to go to the bus station to take a 4.5 hour trip to our little beach village.

It was a mostly uneventful trip, but I found it to be quite warm. The sun was hot that day! We arrived in town around 8pm and trekked to our hostel on the other side of the quaint fishing town. When we checked in, we were told that guests staying in the suites, which we were, had the open to get their breakfast in bed every morning. And best of all, for FREE! We wandered into town and had a late dinner (or I should say late for us dinner since 10pm is a standard dinner time in South America) and ice cream. As a side note, I have to say, the ice cream down here is pretty good. Not as hard as it is back home, but not as soft as gelato. And it's nice and creamy. Matthew approves too.

We were both pretty exhausted so we went back to our hostel and fell fast asleep as we listened to the waves crashing only a short distance from our room. The next day, I wanted to be lazy and relax the whole day, since that was the intention of going to Punta del Diablo. We read in the hammocks that were on our room balcony (that overlooked the ocean - it was quite lovely!). Later in the afternoon, we finally managed to load up on the sunscreen and head down to the beach. It was quite nice, but the water was a bit too cold for me, so I mostly stayed on my towel. There were good waves and therefore many surfers too.

Back...with a vengeance!

So, it's been over 2 years since my last post on this blog.  I've traveled lots in that time (China, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Alberta and BC) and many things have changed, but one of the biggest change is still yet to come!  I am moving to Korea!  The city of Incheon, to be precise.  I will be going there for a year to teach English, the age range of my students is still TBD.

But before I go on about my future, I suppose I should fill in about my past.  Since my last post from Uruguay back in 2011, I have had the great fortune of having a new love in my life.  Fabian and I have been together since July of that year and I have to say I can't remember when I  have clicked so well with a partner.  To have found some one who loves and respects me just as much as I do him is something that I cherish and will work to keep...which will be no small feat while we are 10000km apart!  I write this on my blog for all to see because a) when you're in love you want to shout it from the mountain top b) you'll be hearing a lot about him (and likely the relationship) over the next year of blog posts (so best I fill you in before you start asking who the heck is this Fabian guy she keeps referring to?) and c) I'll  probably have the long distance relationship moments where I'll look back on it and be reminded of why I am committed to making it work.

As I said, there has been lots of changes that have taken place over the last two years, but most of them have happened in the last few months.  The catalyst for my moving to Korea was that my job as an assistant to a Senator was coming to an end.  My boss was retiring at the mandatory age of 75.  After 8 years of working for him, and a total of 10 on Parliament Hill, I felt the need to try something different.  Clearly, I've always been interested in travelling (and my case of wanderlust has only worsened with age) but living in a foreign country is not something I've ever had the opportunity to do.  You have a completely different experience when fully immersed in a different culture for an extended period of time.  The longest I've been away from Canada for one stretch of time was 1 month in Australia.  Hardly extended and hardly shocking. (Don't get me wrong, I loved Oz, but it's very similar to Canada, only with more beaches, tropical climates and taps that serve pre-mixed rum and coke *ew*)

I knew well in advance my job was coming to an end, so I had ample time to decide what my next move would be.  Work for another Senator? Find another job in government? Move to the private sector?  All very responsible, grown-up options.  One day a year ago, Fabian and I were talking about what we wanted for the future.  We both love to travel and don't have any kids, so why not take advantage of it now?  I threw the idea of teaching abroad out there, fully expecting it to be rejected.  But to my surprise, it wasn't.  We talked about it and it sounded like a decent option to look into.  Over the next few days, the idea sat with me, and the longer it did, the more I realized that this is what I really want to do.  It just felt right.

Over the following days and weeks, I researched places, requirements, schools, and a whole gamut of information to see how I could turn my dream into a reality.  After hitting a few of the same roadblocks, it became clear that if I wanted to continue down the path of moving overseas, it would have to be something I would do alone.  You see, Fabian is from Switzerland, and therefore, does not have English as his first language, nor has he done any of his schooling in an English-speaking country, both requirements for most of the countries we were interested in teaching in.  We looked into him teaching French abroad, but we ran into even more problems with that option.  We finally came to the conclusion that he would not go.  He would stay in Ottawa.  I thought about if that's what I wanted to do too.  But every time I thought "I should stay here", there would be something in my gut that said
that that was the wrong decision.

When I told Fabian about my decision, he fully supported me.  He understood that this was my dream and he did not want to stop my from achieving that.  This is why he's a great boyfriend.  He has been nothing but supportive and encouraging to me.  I'm not sure I would be able to do the same if the shoe was on the other foot.  That's what makes him an amazing boyfriend. It was never a question of "are we going to break up?" it was always simply "how are we going to make this work?".

From that point on, I've worked on doing what I needed to do to be prepared for this: I took a TEFL course to get a basis on how to teach; I've taken Korean lessons to understand the language a little bit and perhaps (hopefully) lessen the amount of culture shock; I've gotten all of my affairs in order - tenants to rent out my condo, storage locker for my things, etc.  I even had a "Korean night out" with friends and enjoyed Korean food and karaoke.  If that won't get me ready, nothing will!

I'll go more into the job hunting process in another post.  I have just over a week left in my job before I am unemployed, then a month of sleeping in and visiting family and friends before jetting off to far and distant lands.  I plan to post more in that time too to get every one fully caught up.  But I think this giant post will suffice for now!  Until then!

Montevideo, Uruguay

Normally, I would spend the morning of December 31 sleeping in, and preparing to be up late that evening. in 2010, however, I was climbing into a taxi at 4:30am and on a plane by 6am. Obviously, I slept for most of the 1.5 hour flight to our connection Sao Paulo but was unable to do so for the 2nd half to Montevideo (I hate being in the middle seat!). As we arrived in Uruguay's capital city at noon and would be staying for only one night, we tried to make the most of our time and dropped off our bags at the hostel and went straight to the local bus station. While mostly all of our trip was planned and booked, there was one element I couldn't book ahead of time: the bus from Montevideo to the southern beaches. As I know that New Years is usually a very busy time to travel, I was quite worried that we wouldn't be able to get a bus to our destination and therefore cause us to miss out of a great vacation spot and loose a lot of money at the same time.

The bus station was a mad house! People everywhere! We went to the first ticket agency and asked for tickets for the next day. They had no availability. Same thing at the second. At this point, I started to panic. The one thing that I couldn't control during this trip's organization seemed be unravelling before me. As they say, though, third time's the charm and we were able to get tickets both there and back. I was relieved to say the least!

After my heart pace slowed to a normal rate, we decided to wander the city aimlessly. It's a good thing we didn't plan to visit any specific museums as most places were closed for New Years. It would seem to me (and I could be quite wrong) that a couple of New Year's traditions in Montevideo is to throw out pieces of last year's calendar onto the street (like confetti) as it was every where, and also to throw water onto people as they walk unsuspectingly below your balcony. As I was unaware of these things when I first arrived, I initially thought the city was just really dirty as it was covered in paper, and I gave the finger to the guy who doused me with water. I feel bad for both things now, but they seemed justified at the time.

After avoiding the crowds celebrating in the streets (have you ever seen Matthew in his tourist garb? Tilley hat, water bottle and giant camera. It screams "please rob me!"), we came back to the hostel to relax for a few hours before the festivities and dinner of NYE. We opted to attend the small party the hostel was having for guests as we didn't know where else to go. We met a few other American tourists from Colorado and spent most of our evening with them. It was a really nice time. Good conversation and laughs. We went to the roof of the hostel to ring in the new year. Unfortunately we were too low to see what sounded like many, many fireworks going off around the city, but we got to see a few nice ones. When things failed to pick up at the hostel after midnight, our small group decided to try to find a real party at a local bar. After that bombed, we decided instead to finish off a bottle of champagne in the main square of Montevideo. Not a bad way to start the new year.

After sleeping for a few hours, we awoke to journey to our next hot spot and one I had been looking forward to for quite sometime, Punta del Diablo in southern Uruguay.

Iguazu Falls

Since my last post, a New Year has started, numerous international borders have been crossed and many, many photos have been taken. I blame a busy schedule and a lack of reliable internet connections for not having posted in just over a week. To keep this interesting, I will do one post for each stop over the last week so that it breaks it up to a well sized easy read.

So, to pick up where we left off: going to Foz do Iguacu, Brasil.

After a short, direct flight from Rio, we landed in Foz, checked into our hostel and took a bus straight to see the Brazilian side of the famous Iguazu Falls (the spelling of the name of the falls varies based on whether or not you're writing in spanish or portuguese, but I prefer it with a "Z" so the spanish version wins). It was suggested to us from many sources that we needed to see the falls from both the Argentine and the Brazilian side, and that it would take the better part of a day to do the Argentine side, where the Brazilian side would only take a few hours.

A couple of cheap bus rides later, we arrived at the falls. The site was well organized and the lines were efficient. We took one of the trails that runs along the canyon overlooking the falls that leads towards the "main fall": the devil's throat. It was all very spectacular. Part of the trail includes a walkway that goes out into the falls area and you get very soaked from all the water spray. Lots of good photo opportunities as well. I think that day alone, Matthew and I took a good 400 photos! As the park closed at 5, we had just enough time to walk the trail, go up the lookout, and then catch the very crowded bus back to town.

Once we got back to the hostel, we decided to take a dip in the small pool by the outdoor patio and bar. There, we met two other travelling couples, one from South Africa and one from Canada. We spent much of the evening hanging out and chatting with them. Others joined us throughout the night, but due to a poor memory, I don't remember details (sorry, peoples!). Nonetheless, nights like that are one of the main reasons I like to stay at hostels: you just never know when you'll make a new friend!

After a short sleep, we awoke to take another couple of buses and crossed into Argentina to see the falls from their side. The views were nothing short of breath taking. Every time you saw them, you thought "this is nice", and then take a picture. Two steps later, you'd say "wow, this is even nicer" and take another picture. This went on and on. We took another 400 photos! Thank goodness for 4GB memory cards!

After another dip in the pool, and a couple of drinks during happy hour (I think Caipariniha might be Matthew's new favourite drink), we had a late dinner of tasty beef and then hit the hay.

Our third and final day in Foz was spent crossing yet another border, this time to Paraguay. As I hope to see as many countries as I can in my lifetime, I figured this was likely my best opportunity to check this small landlocked country off my list. I had heard mixed things about the possibility of getting a visa at the border or even needing one at all, so Matthew and I decided not to take the chance of being deported from Paraguay and got them in Ottawa before we left for our trip. I had read a great deal that the city and country were unsafe and that we should really watch our things, but luckily we didn't encounter any real problems. I was unsure what to expect from Ciudad del Este since I'd only heard about the shopping there. Well, it turns out, the only things to do in the city is shop. The markets were a bit nuts and crowded - dare I say far more crazy than anything I experienced in South East Asia! You could buy just about anything there, however, that doesn't mean that things were cheaper. In fact, most electronics we looked at were more expensive than they are back home. Needless to say, we only bought a couple of souvenir shirts and my requisite magnets before crossing back into Brazil to do our final Brazilian souvenir shopping and getting an early night's sleep. We had an early morning flight to catch on New Year's eve to visit our next destination: Montevideo, Uruguay.

Things to do in Rio

After our first sleep in Rio, we decided (semi required) to spend the day on the beach since everything else was closed for Christmas. It was quite a lovely day to spend at the beach too! Hot, sunny and not a cloud in the sky (well, ok maybe a few, but they were way off in the distance). We rented a parasol umbrella for only $1.80, and it was the best money I ever spent! I can only imagine how red I would be now without it. We ended up spending about 3 hours on Impanema beach, which according to reports is a better beach than the more famous Copacabana beach. I thought it was really great. The sand was nice and soft and white; the water was warm; there was a nice breeze coming off the water; there was lovely scenery all around us as well as many beautiful people to look at (both of the male and female variety). So, our Christmas 2010 was basically spent lounging on the beach, reading, relaxing and catching some (but not too many) rays.

Once our water supply ran out, we decided to head back to the hostel for a quick shower then go for dinner. After much wandering, we finally settled on a tex-mex place where I had yummy tacos, and Matthew had fish quesadillas. After dinner and a quick nap at the hostel, we wandered over to the rocks that separate Impanema and Copacabana beaches to watch the sunset. It was quite nice and romantic. On our way back to the hostel, Matthew decided he wanted to try his first suco (juice) bar. He got Acai, and I decided to get melon. Then, he was keen on having dessert.

It was at this point that my stomach started to feel a little unwell. At first, we thought it was just being overly dehydrated because we had been out in the sun all day. But, not 10 minutes later, I was sick and lost all the tasty tacos I had eaten for dinner that evening. I decided to call it an early night and thought surely I would be fine in the morning. After all, we have a whole tour arranged to take us around the city and there were still lots more we wanted to on our last day in town! Oh, how naive I was...

Two hours later, the sickness at both ends started, and went every 20 minutes for the next few hours, then every 60 minutes. At 1am, we decided it must surely be food poisoning and asked our friend Google for any advice on how to deal with it. We were informed that it's one of those things that just has to pass on its own in a day or so. For the next full day - ALL of December 26 - I was laid up in bed being ill. Matthew was very good to me, brining me lots of water to help re-hydrate me, re-arranging our tour for the following day, getting the hostel owner to agree to keep the A/C on in the room during the day (I think I might have died were it not for that one!), and brining me a little food when I felt up to eat it. Now, I've never had food poisoning before, but as bad as it is on its own, you can just imagine how bad it is when you're stuck in a dorm room with 7 other guys and have a small shared bathroom down the hall to run to every time you're going to be sick! Needless to say, it was quite miserable. But I am grateful to Matthew for his help and kindness as well as to hostel owner Sylvia for her great hospitality.

Since all of Sunday was a bust for us, we had much ground to cover today. The city tour that we were scheduled to do yesterday was pushed back to today. So, we got to see Sugar Loaf Mountain, Christ the Redeemer statue, the famous tile steps (who's name escapes me at the moment) as well as numerous other sights in Rio. We were quite lucky to get to see both the mountain and the statue as for the last couple days they were too heavy in clouds to see anything. Photos to come to Facebook soon (and also perhaps a few here). It was quite a full day and well worth it, I thought. I was able to get a couple of small souvenirs, but I still have yet to get my magnet. Since Impanema does not apparently have any souvenir shops (go figure!), I will have to hope that they have a few to purchase at the airport tomorrow morning before we leave for Iguazu Falls.

So that has been our Rio advenutre. Not at all what I had expected or would have really hoped (being sick anywhere is no fun!), but a good time nonetheless. I am glad to say that I have seen Rio, although, I think next time I will come during their winter season and will bring a bigger water bottle!

Here are my first attempts to post pictures to this blog. Geez, it took me long enough to figure out! Posted are two photos of our time in Chicago. One is of Matthew and I reflected in the Bean, and the other is of me posing with the great view of Chicago in the background while visiting the Hancock tower.

5 and counting!

We finally made it! I am currently writing this post from my bed at the hostel in Rio de Janeiro! I'll come to my first impressions of the city in a moment, but I should recap the extensive travels we went through in order to make it here first.

We departed Ottawa on time and made it into Chicago a half hour before schedule. This meant, we had a full 8 hours before our next flight. So, with our carry on packs, we took the train into Chicago's downtown and did everything I had hoped to do and more! We first went to Millennium park to see "the bean", then walked up the Magnificent Mile all the way to the Hancock Tower where we went up to the observation deck and had a great view and short audio tour of the city. From there, we wandered to Gino's East to try their famous deep dish pizza. My verdict: it was good (lots of gooey cheese), but the crust was dry and had a similar texture to cornmeal. Personally, I think Matthew's pizza is way better! We were able to do all of this and still had oodles of time to take the hour long train ride back to the airport, go through security again to catch our next flight. Overall, a successful and fun layover trip in the windy city! (Which thankfully wasn't that windy or cold - which is especially good since we had minimal winter clothes on!)

After an uneventful flight to Miami (which I mostly slept through), we went out on a hunt for dinner. I have to say, Miami airport fails in the food department. We looked at the terminal map and decided to go to the opposite end of the terminal from where we landed because it was closer to our departure gate and the restaurants looked better to us. But when we finally arrived, all of the advertised restaurants we boarded up and labelled "coming soon", causing us to trek all the way back to our original location in the airport. I was not impressed. As our next flight to Buenos Aires was an over night flight, I decided it would be best if I was extra comfy. So, just before we started boarding, I changed into my pyjama bottoms, charged up my ipod and took a half a sleeping pill. Not 10 minutes after take off, I was sound a sleep and didn't wake up for a solid 6 hours. Half a pill, sleep music, an eye mask and a comfy pillow are really the keys to getting a good night sleep on a plane! The combo has worked well for me so many times!

We had another long layover when we arrived in Buenos Aires, which is good since it limited our stress of having to make a connecting flight. We had a longer than usual interaction with immigration because we weren't technically staying in Argentina and so shouldn't have to pay the $75USD they charge Canadians upon arrival. After explaining our situation to a couple of friendly agents, they stamps our forms and sent us on our way to check in for our flight to Rio. We grabbed lunch, read in uncomfortable chairs and basically chilled for 4 hours. When our plane was finally due to start boarding, there was hardly anyone at the gate. There were only 14 people on the entire flight! The plane was an A330 (a fairly large one) and so they decided to move every one up to business class! It was really great! I highly recommend flying TAM airways!

We arrived in Rio and almost immediately I began to sweat up a storm and my hair started to frizz. It's really humid here, even at 10pm. We went through customs and immigration without any issues, but while waiting for our luggage, I did see a few cases of "When plastic surgery goes bad". It's hard not to stare and wonder why. Anyhow, we then went out to find a cab to take us to our hostel. Had we not arrived at 8pm, we may have taken a cheaper bus alternative, but we thought, given the time and the amount of stuff we have to carry, it would be smarter to just cab it. Our cabbie negotiated a price with us before we left and it was the same price the hostel told me it would likely cost so I was satisfied. We got into the back and I discovered that my seatbelt was broken. Normally, I wouldn't be so concerned, but Brazilian drivers seem a little crazy. Our cabbie was going very fast and many people seem to change lanes quite erratically. I thought it was quite telling when our cab driver blew past a cop car going 20 km over the speed limit and he did nothing. From what I could see of the city itself though, even though it was dark, it looked very nice. Our hostel is in Impanema which is a nicer part of town and not far from one of the best beaches (or so I'm told - will find out for sure in the next day or so!) The cab driver was very helpful and got us to our proper hostel. The hostel itself is nice and the owner, a woman named Silvia, I believe is a bundle of energy. She was quite the hostess when we arrived and made us feel quite welcome. They had prepared a christmas dinner for the guests tonight so we got to enjoy a nice free (if not cold) meal. After our long day, it was much appreciated!

So that is an update on this trip. I would also like to point out that this now is officially the 5th continent that I have been on! Only 2 more to go! But, those are for another time. I think I'll stick to enjoying this one first!

Stop one of many

It's currently 5:45am and we have just gone through US customs and have another hour before our scheduled flight to Chicago. Normally, I would spend this time people watching, browsing the shops and debating as to whether or not I should buy some over priced airport food. Today, however, I am blogging at the gate. Believe it or not, this is actually the first time I am travelling with a laptop. On past trips, I have always just made use of local internet cafes. This trip, however, for whatever reason, I decided to bring my own computer. I think it could be due to a combination of not wanting to waste money to use some one else's computer, having good access to free wifi throughout most of the continent, and also a little bit of paranoia in losing my precious travel photos. This fear stems from my trip to South East Asia when my camera was lost and so were most of my photos. It was a devastating experience, and one I have no desire to repeat. By bringing my own computer, I can upload my photos regularly and Matthew even helped me set up "drop box" so that if something (God forbid) happens to my laptop, I will still have my photos.

For those who don't know, this trip has the hope to be quite epic. We will be visiting 4 countries in just 2 weeks (bringing my grand total of countries visited to 26!). Compared to my previous trips to Europe this may not see like a quick passed trip, but when you realize the grandeur of countries like Brazil, it seems a bit more reasonable.

Once we depart Ottawa, we will be travelling to Chicago, where we have a 7.5 hour layover. This may seem like a long layover, and I suppose it is, but I plan on making the most of the time we have there. I would say that 7 hours is the minimum amount of time needed in order to justify leaving the airport and seeing the city. So that is what we will do. Take the train to downtown Chicago and sample their famous deep dish pizza! I have never been to the windy city before, and so I am quite excited. I know that there are many things that we just won't have time to do during our visit today, but so long as we try the pizza I will be happy. If we have time to visit "the Bean" as well, it's a bonus.

From Chicago, we fly to Miami for a short(er) layover before leaving just after 11pm for Buenos Aires. As this is an overnight flight, I plan to sleep as much as I can. I have my eye mask, pyjama pants, slippers and my ipod is loaded with music designed to help you sleep. I think I'm set! Once we arrive in Buenos Aires, we have 5 hours to pick up our bags, check in with TAM airlines and then wait for our flight to Rio de Janeiro. If all goes according to plan, we should arrive by 8pm tomorrow night. Ugh. What a long couple of days!

This being my first official post for this trip, I suppose I should say what my hopes and expectations are for this trip and what I am most looking forward to. I hope that this will be a fun trip. I hope that all my planning will have paid off and that plans will run smoothly. I expect there to be obstacles along the way, but I am still hopeful that things will go fairly well and according to plan. I also expect there to be times where I get stressed out or upset, but I hope that I will recognize these feelings early and be able to react to them appropriately. In the months leading up to this trip, I have become more anxious and excited for various things. At first it was just going to a new continent. Then, it was the anticipation of the food (I love a good steak!). But now, strangely enough, I am really looking forward to the beaches. For those that know me best, I say this is strange, because I am generally not a beach-loving person. But, for whatever reason, I am excited to just sit on the beach and relax.

Best line heard at the airport so far:

Girl: How much did you pay for your sandwich?

Guy:$7, but it tastes like $2!

One more sleep!

It's been well over a year since a big travel adventure and I am happy to say that I am now packed and ready to go! Tomorrow Matthew and I will begin our trip which will take us to 4 countries in South America. We will have a very early start to our day (wake up around 3:30am!) and will spend the first 36 hours getting from Ottawa to our first official destination: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It will be quite the trek just to get there but I am optimistic that we will have a fun (and hopefully low stress) time. Keep checking back here as I will be bringing my laptop with me to update my blog as we go! Comments are always welcome! :-)