Ideas how to Travel like First Class in Economy

How to Fly First Class for Economy prices

These days flying feels more like being a prisoner than a customer. If you fly a lot within Canada and the US then you'll agree with me.
The leg room feels smaller, the tv has been removed as well as the service and the food.
Since when do i have to pay for a toothpick on a 6 hour flight or witness the passenger sitting behind you get kicked off the plane because he had a few beers before boarding?

Here are some ideas to make your experience more like a first class trip than an economy trip. A little bit of planning pays off in the long run.

1- Pack a meal. Either find a restaurant that can make you a healthy, tasty sandwich to go or hit up the grocery store on your way to the airport. Pick up something you love to eat that will last the length or half the length of your plane ride. Some cheese, crackers, a fruit, some gummy bears or liquorice. You'll be the envy of your neighbour when his stomach starts growling and he has to dish out 1/4 the price he paid on his ticket to fly to eat.

2- Bring distractions. Fully charge your laptop or tablet, fill it with a couple movies that you enjoy and lots of music. Be prepared to entertain yourself and while away the hours in brainless enjoyment.

3- A book is useful. Preferably a book you've always wanted to read or one that you're already balls deep in. That way you'll be so stoked to board that plane they'll have to put up gates to keep you out of your seat.

4- Get up and stretch. Yes, it's ok. It's a small plane but you are allowed to treat yourself well. Getting up to stretch your legs and walk the length of the plane will help you relax, keep happy and floating. Then maybe you'll have worked up a bit of an appetite and you can dig in to the delicious gourmet meal you brought on board for yourself.

5- Pack layers. Gone are the days where airlines splurged on fluffy down travel pillows and lovely branded wooden blankets. If you have a tendancy to get cold make sure you have a pashmina/scarf/ hoodie in your carry on. If you get hot, keep a pair of flip-flops in your carry on, there is no substitution for comfy tootsies on a long ass airplane ride.

And, there you have it people. 5 simple and key rules to make your flight feel more private, comfortable and royal and less like a sardine in a sardine can.

Celebration of Love

Dear mom and dad,

It's pretty amazing that two people can meet and then decide to share their lives together.
In this day and age, it's almost unheard of. But you two have done it.

Imagine at this moment, when you have the whole world at your fingertips, and you can buy a ticket anywhere and you can imagine a life in any country, to commit to living and loving one person, that ONE person for the rest of your life and the rest of theirs. Well,  whichever comes first I guess. But you have done it.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to spend it with the two people who have shown me kindness, patience and unconditional love since I was a baby. They are an inspiration. A blessing. Truly they encompass the beauty of what love can be.

Not just in marriage, as I'm not a fan of marriage. I don't believe in the system which has corrupted love and partnership to a mere bank loan and showmanship of wealth. I do believe in celebrating life with your chosen partner and sharing that wealth will all the people you love. If marriage is a part of that then so be it.

 I don't think that because you're tied and taxed and tamed by marriage isn't necessary worthy of love. Love will find you and grow with you and make you a better person. As my parents have shown me over the years. No matter how much you love someone, no amount of money can keep the work that is needed and involved to maintain a relationship. Love will hurt and scab and heal you.

Thank you mom and dad for raising me in a world that holds no boundaries of what love can be. It was the first reunion with our east coast cousins. Austin and Vicky! You guys rock. Let's do it again in Aug 2016.

Tips For Adjusting To Life After Traveling

Tips for adjusting to life after traveling:

1. Get involved

The one thing that you find when you're on the road is instant family. I was constantly surrounded by genuine people who were looking for adventure, just like me. We shared a common interest and it seemed as though we had an instant bond: to experience everything we possibly could while we were there.
The hardest thing about being back home is that you've landed back home but it feels more foreign than that little island off the coast of Chile did. So GET INVOLVED.
Get out and about, join clubs that interest you, share your stories online and stay current. I had this wild desire to hide away in my room and lament over all my lost friendships. Alas, they're still my friends and my world has just gotten bigger.

2. Keep your wardrobe simple

While you're traveling there is approximately 1 backpack of clothes you can choose from. It doesn't take long to decide what you're going to wear in the morning. Mostly it's the tshirt and pants that are clean that make the cut. Once you're back home and you open up all the stuff you left in storage, your wardrobe quadruples and you're left having to make these very hard decisions of  what to wear in the morning, and sometimes those decisions are so hard I end up not leaving the house.

3. Start cooking

Once you return home, you're back to cooking. Yup, no more Som Tom (Green Papaya Salad) on the side of the road for pennies in Thailand, or Taco Stands, Tortillas, Soups lining the roads of foreign cities. Get a couple of cookbooks and go to town. Try to remember some amazing dishes you ate in that little Spanish town, or on the boat cruising down the Mekong River.

4. Reflection

For you,
morning rush hour is now a time of reflection. You have so many things and projects on the go that there never seems to be enough time in the day. Be patient. After long bouts of travel time for reflection is very necessary. You never truly benefit from your travels and experiences until years later. Enjoy the moment and the fleeting memories that present themselves throughout the day once your home.

5. Be Thankful.

 Not everyone has been around the world and been able to experience the things you have.

And last but not least

6. Deciding what to do next. 

This is the biggest challenge for many returning long-term travellers. I'm yet to meet anyone who took a year or more to travel the world and returned exactly the same person. Dreams change, ideas change and your mind is expanded. Your world is now HUGE. There are foods in your memory, smells and sights that have changed you forever. We now want to put that into use, into practice, but we just don't always know how to do it.

So my best advice for you, is keep living like you're traveling. There is always something new around the corner to ignite your imagination and inspire your senses.

Today traveling is about connecting with LOCALS

I've been traveling on and off for approximately 10 years. I've traveled for my job, for pleasure and for adventure.
In some instances I was living in a remote base camp with soldiers. We shared a seaman with one other person and a bathroom down the hall with the whole floor.

At other times I was sleeping in dorms, hostels and camping in tents. I've had the opportunity to relax in 5 star hotels and immerse myself in pure luxuries of bath bubbles and hot tubs.
But nothing compares to meeting people who live in the city your visiting. You get to see their country, city, town, village from their eyes. The eyes of a local.

You should always try to stay with locals when you travel for 5 reasons:

1. You get to see these new, exotic destinations from the point of a local. The private swimming holes and the best taco stand that is not in your guide book.

2. Instant friends. You get get meet people who have similar interests to yours and you can share the adventures.

3. The new friends you meet will get to hear all about where you're from and you can share the experience by hosting them when they come to your country.

4. It's cheaper.

5. You can brainstorm the rest of your trip. Ideally you had a basic itinerary of what you wanted to see but in picking the brains of locals you'll get a better understanding of what sights are not to be missed.

In this generation, we have the ability to connect with all kinds of people from all over the world. Sharing ideas and lives has never been easier.

The following websites can make this very easy for you.

www.couchsurfing.com

www.airbnb.com

www.homestay.com

Now get connecting!

The Daily Grind

I am in love. In love with life, music, gardening, food and of course love. Absolutely in love with love itself.

After working for 7 years overseas, in a fulfilling career of Travel and Tourism within the military confines of camp, I find myself lost. In love with life but lost without purpose. Without substance. Without indentity.

In giving years of my life to traveling and working. Living in hostels and in camps where all 20 of us shared 1 bathroom, where privacy could only be found in the confines of your shared bedroom. When eating a meal alone  meant sitting across the table from other strangers in uniform.

Today, I find myself feeling more alone than I have ever felt. Floating on cloud, without roots or logic. I'm on a mission to find myself. On a mission to retrain my brain. To make friends, and organize my time.

This might sound like a mumble jumble effect but since starting this Blog in 2012 I never really stayed on top of it. So now is the best time to Start.

I will start with the extravagant lifestyle of the vagabond.
Living out of a backpack makes you realize how little you truly need. I miss the days where I'd wake up and put on what I was wearing the day before and be on my way with everything I owned on my back.

Leaving the place where I happened to be staying for a night or a week and sometimes a month. Leaving the people whom I adopted as family and of course the safe feeling of familiarity. Onto the next adventure. When you've conditioned your life to accept that the only constant is change, then it stops changing, it creates a sense of loss. Although, in reality change is the only constant ALL THE TIME. Yet now time seems to stand still.

The people in my life are those who suffer the most b/c I am intrinsically a traveler at heart. Always wanting the new, the fresh and unknown. Although, I am determined to make this relationship work, he is suffering b/c I am relying him for all my needs: Emotional, Intellectual, Physical and Cultural. Which no one person should ever have to bear the weight of.

This Castle in the Sand is getting a makeover. The tide is high.

Rainbow Platoon

It's a little over my two month anniversary in theatre. Times flies and so do the helicopters, outside my window all night long.
I'm thankful for lots on this American Thanksgiving day. Namely my dad for always answering my Skype calls just when I need to hear them.

With this new group of people arriving in camp, trying to reinvent the wheel and change the ways things have been done in the past. It's driving me insane. If not for my dads pep talk from an recent article in the New York Times, I don't think I would have made it out of this day alive.

The positive power of negative thinking. Something to think about. Stay in the present and embrace the chaos. Life is how we chose to see it and I see it as a challenge, an opportunity and a blessing.

I see it as the castle in the sand, that's been built into something so beautiful to be enjoyed until it's swept back into the sea. Let's see it for what it is. The good and the bad, the sad and the happy, the spicy and the sweet. We're not going to like it all, and it's not going to be easy. But we can find fun in the strife. Cry at the jokes and laugh at the insults.

All I can say at this point in my life is that I chose to be here. All we can do is try to work together and make life somewhat enjoyable for the little time we're here. Even if that means, not taking things to seriously when everyone wants you to die over the seriousness. We can walk towards freedom together. Minds open and hearts free, to teach the little people what they can really be.

They want you to beg and plead and bargain and sweat, for something that is beyond your control. I'm not here to climb the ladder, to get a promotion, to prove myself to anyone. I want to learn and grow within myself and my surroundings. To share knowledge and wisdom with kindess and confidence. Walk tall and stand strong and always remember that Castles made of Sand, will fall into the sea, Eventually..

Purple Haze

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It all began at 4am on Friday morning. I drove my rental car to the airport and parked it. Headed with my 2 checked bags and one carry on for the fourth time into the unknown. I was to travel from Comox to Toronto with Air Canada.

Upon arrival in Toronto I grabbed the airport shuttle to Union Station in downtown to catch my VIA train to Belleville. From there it was a 20 minute cab ride to my hotel for the night. After a long 15 hours of travel from 4am to 21h00, I took to sleep very easy.

It was a 7am wake up call for breakfast at the Yukon Galley and then another quick cab ride to the Trenton Pax Terminal where we awaited our Service flight to Afghanistan. Not direct, but many, many, many stops along the way.

The C17 was loaded with cargo and held room for only 20 of us whom were the lucky ones who got to travel as cargo. There were 3 PSP and about 17 soldiers, which also included some VIP’s, and no Madonna wasn't one of them.

It was cold and loud on the way to Germany, wished I'd had invested in those $400 sound canceling BOSE headphones. We landed and were herded into the airport for approx 2 hours until we were called back to the plane. All this was happening at 3am with no German Beer in sight, but the hunt had been on believe you me, fast and furiously. Coffee was our only substitute.

From Germany we pushed on towards Kuwait. Another 7 hour flight ahead of us. It was freezing cold and only a little blanket could be drummed up to help with the chill overnight. We landed in Kuwait at 2pm local time on a Sunday. Only to find out we had no access to our checked bags, therefore I was stuck wearing my dirty uniform and sleeping in my underwear. I did take a shower and sacrifice one of the sheets they issued us as a towel.  It was a great sleep. Crazy dreams of Purple Sand and friends left behind in the Valley.

It was a rude awakening at 4am to load the 3^rd and last flight of this arduous journey. Wasn’t sure if I was going up or coming down but zombie walked out to the flight line.

Considering what we had all just endured over the last couple of days this flight should be a cakewalk. A few games of Tetris, half of a movie and a couple chapters of my book and five hours late, the eagle had landed. Kabul… we have arrived.

Excited to get settled we grabbed our bags off the palate, only to find out that the roads from the airport to Camp Phoenix were flagged black, which meant no passage at that time. We were rerouted in a 6 car Convoy and a people pod to Camp Souter. Doning our Personal Protective Equipment we traveled the 10 minutes through the checkpoints into Souter.There we were allotted a room until further notice of the local Afghani protests and a clear route to our new home.

To be continued….

Blue moon

This is my 2nd attempt to start a blog.
On the Blue Moon of Aug 2012, Mount Septimus became a vision. A vision of majestic strength and personal achievement. The first mountain to summit of hopefully many to come.

It was a grueling mission on the body and the mind, and only prevailed to create hope and love within my spirit. Challenging and daunting, I'm not gonna lie. I was scared.

I accompanied a solid, professional Mountaineering guru who walked me through this experience. As my mentor he aided me in positive thinking and maintaining my strength. Not to mention all the technical climbing involved, my life was in his hands to an extent.

It was a 5 hour hike into our camping site. We slept soundly that night with dreams of the summit in our near future. We awoke to a clear blue sky and sunshine warming our hearts.

Starting the climb on the icy snow we did some exercises beforehand in self arrest positions and safety precautions. We began to climb. The rocky loose rocks were threatening to unsteady our steps.
Once reaching the north glacier we traversed across, staring deep into the crevasses below and above our trail. Once we crossed and hit the Basalt rock, it was only a matter of time before we scurried up the rock to reach the top.

The view was intense. My heart was singing by then and my legs burning. I felt elation.

We ate, and reflected on the journey and to our sadness it was time to down climb. The adventure starts again. This time gravity working for us not against us.

Upon reaching camp we warmed up, ate and basked in the glory of the full Blue Moon poking out from the peak of our summit. This experience touched me so deeply I felt honored to have been a part of this glorious world if only for a few days. It has inspired me intensely and these memories will walk with me for the rest of my life.