Being on the road - an odd lifestyle

I started writing this back  in June, and added bits and pieces as we went along.  It was never quite the right time to post it, as I felt it wasn’t ‘finished’.  Circumstances have caused us to put our adventure on hold for a couple of months, and return to Vancouver to look after a family matter that needs our help.  It was one of the things we promised to each other - if family needed us at home, then we would return.  But we also promised that we would pick up where we left off as soon as things at home were ok. . .

. . . . . . .

We’ve been on the road now for about a month and a half.  At times, it feels like just a few days.  How are things working out?  Pretty well, really.  After some initial hiccups with getting the internet and phones sorted out, we pretty much have that under control now.  We have a car, we have our electronic connection devices and we plan our next places to stay a couple of weeks in advance.  It seems we packed enough clothing, but not too much, and we have what we need to get by on a daily basis.  We're not missing any of the 'things' back home that we thought we had to have to get by!

A friend thought I should do a blogpost on packing for a year.  She figured she’d need a trailer following her around with a wardrobe if she were to do this!  I had thought so too initially, but we decided that we would follow the sun for a year and so only pack for one season.  That seems to have worked reasonably well.  We both brought one pair of sandals and one pair of good walking shoes.  As much as possible, I packed very lightweight, non-bulky clothing.  There is a wonderful line of merino wool garments called Icebreaker  ( http://ca.icebreaker.com/en/home ) - I have a heavy long sleeve sweater, a lightweight long sleeve t-shirt and a lightweight short sleeve t-shirt from that line.  A couple more tops, one pair of black jeans, a pair of shorts, a pair of capris, a bathing suit and two dresses.  Lots of underwear, and lots of socks for walking.  There are probably a couple of things I could have done without, because as usual, as much clothing as I have, I always end up wearing the favourites anyhow.

We’ve found that fuel is more expensive here (about double the price in Canada), but the car is very fuel efficient, and we aren’t driving huge distances.  We have been using the AirBnB website ( https://www.airbnb.co.uk ) to find places to stay.  Our main criteria when we choose a place is that it must have free wifi and parking.  We prefer to have our own cooking and bathroom facilities, but in more populated or very popular areas, we generally settle for shared, as places are more expensive there.  Ideally we want use of the washing machine and dryer as well - laundromats are expensive and can take a lot of time out of our day.  

Generally the AirBnB places are less expensive than staying in a B&B, and we have more room to spread out.  The hosts have been really friendly, and we’ve made some nice new friends in our travels.   We get to know a lot more about the area we’re in, and get to know the people who live there.   And it keeps our budget under control.  We’ve tended to take places that are in more remote villages because the price is lower, and getting to the big centres only takes about a half hour by car, if we really want to go there.  Which we usually don't!

We also signed up on www.trustedhousesitters.com and have had one housesitting assignment already, with a second set up for the end of August.  In exchange for caring for someone’s pet(s) and home, we get to stay in their house for free.  It’s a great arrangement for both parties - the pets get to stay in their own home, and the homeowner doesn't have to pay for expensive pet boarding.  And we get a whole house to ourselves!  We’re hoping to get a couple of these assignments when we travel to New Zealand in January.

How are WE getting along?  Just great, thanks!  After 37 years, two kids, three houses, jobs, volunteering, golf, soccer - all the things that can interfere with a relationship - I admit I was unsure how it would go being together 24/7.  But it’s taken us back to our ‘roots’ of when we first met.  We’d head out in Glen’s red convertible and go where the road took us, exploring funny little places that caught our fancy, and generally enjoying the great outdoors.  

It’s a bit of an odd lifestyle being on the road, not being sure where we’ll be next week or next month.  But it’s sure shaken us out of our comfort zone of the home, the hobbies, the tv, the ‘stuff’.  We’re both starting to get the hang of it - every day is still an adventure and we’ve found a new way of being that brings challenge and new experiences every day.  It’s a lot of fun.

Things I’ll miss . . . or not

Little electronic signs that smile or frown depending on whether you’re speeding or obeying the limit.  

'Pay and Display' parking lots - Everywhere!

No top sheets on the beds!  I don't always want a big heavy quilt, thanks.  Especially in the summer.  

Driving on the wrong side of the road.

British accents

Clothing without name brands splashed all over the garment.

History in my face, everywhere.


So stay tuned.  We should be back at it by late fall.  Here are some pictures of Vancouver - it seems funny being a ‘tourist’ in our own town.  We don’t have our own house to return to, so we’re doing a combination of house/pet sitting and subletting friends apartments.  So it still feels like being ‘on the road’.

Always love arriving at the YVR terminal 

Hiking up Quarry Rock at Deep Cove with my cousin and his family

Dinner with dear friends at their home in Tsawassen - nice view.  Looks
a bit like England!

Hanging with the family poolside.  

The view from my bedroom window at our house/cat-sit in Steveston.
We've been watching the fish boats on the Fraser all week. 

Gay Paree!

August 13

Had the most amazing comfortable night at the CitizenM Hotel - a new hotel concept from Holland.  The rooms are not large, but the bed is huge, the pillows are giant and fluffy and the blackout curtain worked perfectly.  Breakfast was a fantastic array of French pastries, cheese, eggs, sausages, cappuccino or americano, fresh squeezed grapefruit and orange juices, assorted cold cuts - yummy. We ate way too much and promised ourselves to walk it off during the day.

We walked over to the airport to catch the train - 23 euros each for a transit day pass - yikes!  The Paris metro system is something to behold - 3 levels of trains in the underground.  The downtown station we got off at is a virtual city below the city.  Crazy.  The Vancouver sky train is like a mosquito to an elephant in comparison.

Paris Metro

The guy standing up by the door was playing
the accordion when we got on the train. It was all
"Paris" themed music - I guess he figured people
leaving from the airport would like that. 

We exited the station and found ourselves in a bewildering array of beautiful old buildings, cobbled streets and a lot of French signage.  We had been told to look for Pont Neuf by the information people in the subway, so I practiced (what I thought) was very good French on a passerby.  Turns out my accent is very bad.  After spelling it out for him, the lightbulb finally went on in his head.  Bless him for being so patient with me.  He pointed us in the right direction and off we went.  

 No idea what this is.  It was just there.

I officially want to live in one of these apartments.

Tour Saint-Jacques built between 1509 and 1523. 

It was the departure point on the Tours route of the pilgrimage

to Santiago de Compostela. There is a statue at the base of 

Blaise Pascal, who was one of two original inventors of

the mechanical calculator in 1645.   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal

A rather grand doorway.

I'll take the penthouse please.

Fancy clothing store. Missing an R!

We came across a very large and beautiful building and finally realized we were looking at La Louvre.  No words - the place is truly massive.  Probably most of you reading this already know that, but holy smokes!  Anyhow, we thought maybe it would be a good way to spend the day so we wandered around until we reached the central courtyard . . . and saw the ridiculous lines of people waiting to get in.  Nope, not gonna do that!   

Pretty building with a nice fence. Huge building. WAIT - is it La Louvre?  OUI!

The whole outside of the building is covered in works of art.

Not going to wait in that lineup - we only have one day here!

So Louis XIV gave up living here in favour of the Palace of Versailles?
Guess I'm going to have to check it out someday, because this is a rather
spectacular place to decide NOT to live in.

It was kind of windy today.  Screwed up the fountain a bit.

Anyone feel like they are in a Dan Brown novel here?

The details are extraordinary. Can you imagine just ONE of these on
a modern-day home?

Let's build some columns.  But prettier than the Roman ones please.

We spent about an hour wandering around the outside and admiring all the beautiful aspects of the building, and then carried on into the Jardin des Tuileries.  I felt like my head was on a permanent swivel - up, down, side to side, up again, side again, down again - so much to see and admire and marvel at the time, effort and talent it took to produce all this eye candy.

L'arc de Triomphe du Carrousel - I have no idea who all these people are
photobombing my picture.

Inside is just as pretty as the outside.

There it is!  From the Jardin des Tuileries

In the Jardin des Tuileries.  

In Jardin des Tuilieries, they set out chairs so you can look at the fountain.
All the pathways are sand, so you can pretend you're at the beach instead
of the middle of a city, maybe?

Ho hum.  Another statue.  

And another giant vase.  Maybe add some flowers?

Brilliant.  There are a number of these 'water fountains'
around the Jardin where you can fill up your water bottles

Why build an ordinary lamp-post when you can build
one like this?

We found a bridge - no idea if it was Pont Neuf or not, but we probably took a half hour to cross it because it was covered in so much art.  There are what seem to be hundreds of tourist riverboats, packed to the gunwales with people, going up and down the river.  Parisian tourism companies must love summertime - I think it’s a license to print money.  

Imagine building something useful and making it pretty at the same time!

Too bad it's a bit of a dark picture.  I'm not an engineer
so I don't know what they call the structure above
the arch - but it's really pretty.

Add a few statues to the bridge railing - makes it more interesting for the pedestrians

Again, why have an ordinary lamp-post, when you can have one like this?
I mean, many like this!

We carried on along the left bank of the Seine, but alas, it was not the left bank of my imagination.  It was a pretty walk though, and we were getting glimpses of the Eiffel Tower, along with regular sightings of international boy scout and girl guide troops.  We decided to follow them as they probably were using their navigational skills to find the tower.  We were correct - finally arrived there.  The thought had crossed our minds to maybe climb the tower, or at least take the elevator.  And then we saw the lineup to pay.  Um, nope.  Not going to spend my one day in Paris standing in line.  We spent a fair bit of time just marvelling at the structure and the design, took a lot of pictures, and carried on.  

Seine River from the Left Bank looking at all the tourist boats.  Hundreds
of them filled with probably 400 - 500 people.  

Strolling the left bank.  I always had visions of grassy banks
with people in berets sitting on red gingham cloths,
eating baguettes & cheese, and washing it down with red wine.
Illusion shattered.

There it is.  Now to figure out how to get there.

We followed the boy scouts and girl guides.  Found it!

Silly lineups.  It was fun just to stand underneath and say "I'm really here!"

The only thing we haven’t done is sit on a sidewalk sipping a beer or wine, so that needed to be remedied pronto.  2 beers, 1 wine and 30 euros later, mission accomplished.  This town is not for the faint-of-wallet.  Good thing we’re only here for a day.

Le Sidewalk Cafe. OK, done that!

$45.41 Cdn for two glasses of beer and one glass of wine.
Yikes!

Pretty little pastries with not-so-pretty prices.  

 We wandered back to the Seine and found a tent market selling everything from soup to leather bags, and spent some time wandering around in there.  It’s amazing how many ways the Eiffel Tower can be portrayed in souvenirs.  We resisted.

By this time, we had been on our feet for well over 7 hours, so we caught a bus back to the metro station and caught the train back to the hotel.  Great day in a truly beautiful city.  I’ll come back mid-winter to check out the places we didn’t go into.  If the lineups are only half what they were today, I won’t mind waiting quite so much.  
 

Back at the hotel - some interesting items on the wall display.

In our room - the blue mood lighting on the walls can
be changed to many different colours

No need for electrical converters at this hotel - all built into the walls for us!

Tomorrow we will be on a plane to Vancouver.  It’s been a magical 2 1/2 months - I feel like we’ve been gone a lot longer.  We’ve packed a lot of adventure into this time, and it’s been so much more than I had imagined it would be.  

Watching the planes come in from our room.  We'll be on one of those tomorrow.

Farewell Paris.  We'll be back.