Category: travels

Spring in the Winter

~ Lkvy ~ 2 Comments

On January 19, I woke up at 7am to find the campsite enshrouded in fog so thick I couldn’t see Burger’s or Yann’s tents in the distance. It was much too chilly to leave my tent, so after putting on a fleece jacket and activating a fresh pair of hand warmers to put inside my sleeping bag, I tightened the drawstring around the hood, leaving only my nose poking out. I stayed in my warm cocoon for another two hours before emerging from the tent to find that the fog had dissipated. The boys were up and around, boiling water on camp stoves for their coffee.

“Sleeping Beauty,” remarked Burger.

I’m glad he and Yann didn’t end up scraping my frozen corpse off the tent platform at Montague Harbour Provincial Park. I’d survived my first ever winter camping trip.

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UK? Because I am.

~ Lkvy ~ 1 Comment

Once upon a bright and sunny day in 2018, Yann and I found ourselves before the door of a residential building in Arles-sur-Tech, France. I had the key — previously hidden behind the green shutters of the window to the right —in my hand. I had yet to meet the person to whom this lodging belonged. This stranger had hung the black Reynaud-Bray tote I’d abandoned at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport a few days earlier off the doorknob to make it easy for Yann and me to know which place to rob.

Lucky number 13.
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9/11 wasn’t my day.

~ Lkvy ~ Leave a comment

In super-recent, as of two minutes ago, news, my mouse has died. I’m using the touchpad instead, and it’s making me feel self-conscious about my tech skills.

9/11 was supposed to be New Tooth Day. The hygienist asked me how I was doing as I sat down in the dental chair. I was bursting with anxiety and confessed, “I’ve had so many setbacks that I’m afraid this won’t even happen.”

It did not happen.

I buried my face in my hands upon learning the news, trying to make sense of the disappointment. I’d already spent a few days in a cloud of negative thoughts, preparing for bad news. My preparedness did not help: I was still every bit as disappointed as I deserved to be.

Then, I had to go home and explain to my adoring fans why I still don’t have that last tooth. I won’t find out what’s going on with the implant until tomorrow morning, when I’ll see a specialized equipment-having dental specialist.

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Princeton: Not just an ivy league school.

~ Lkvy ~ 1 Comment

It’s a small town in the Okanagan that captured our tourism dollars because it was starting to get dark. I’d reserved a hotel room in exotic Langley. Initially, Jordi and I would spend the night in Vancouver, but hotel rooms cost $400 per night. Langley was marginally cheaper at ~$300, but it was conveniently just off Highway 1.

At 8 p.m., we were three hours away from Langley. After convincing the hotelier in Langley over the phone to waive our booking fee, Jordi asked me to find new lodging before the sun disappeared.

Unbeknownst to Jordi, I’ve slept on a mat in a coed dorm room in Beijing. I’ve slept in a windowless room in Airlie Beach where the only alternate exit in case of fire was a porthole in the ceiling. The Hostelling International accredited hotel in Ghent had black mould in the showers. I’ve stayed at the bizarrely named “Sparkling Dolphin Inn” in Kyoto, where the chairs wore baby socks.

I am a connoisseur of dumpy lodgings.

I pointed to a building just off Crowsnest Highway. “But that’s a motel!” exclaimed Jordi.

???

Continue reading “Princeton: Not just an ivy league school.” →