observations

It’s Official! Off to the Land of Smiles

/ Terry Heck / 8 Comments

I am beyond excited to be leaving home again on the 27th of September. Thailand has been on my list since as long as I can remember. Finally, this dream is becoming a reality.

As of right now, my very good friend Neil will be coming with me on this trip. He is just as stoked as I am. We aren’t going in with much of a plan other than get there, get to our first hostel and see where travel takes us. We know we will be spending a few days in Bangkok and that we will be heading to Chiang Mai for a larger portion of time. Renting scooters and booting it around northern Thailand is a definite possibility as well, using Chaing Mai as a base camp of sorts. Kind of a scooter travel extravaganza as it were.

That is what we will call the skeleton of the trip. Anything that happens in between will be as we go. Perhaps an impromptu flight to Vietnam? Maybe a delve into Cambodia? Essentially we do not want to overload ourselves, and have made the agreement to have slower, spontaneous travel and see where the wind takes us. I may also end up getting a new tattoo from a monk. I’m pretty sure that’s on my itinerary as of now.

Again, I am beyond ecstatic about this journey we are going to take. I’ll keep you all posted as things happen. This is one of those trips that I might just get my wish of having a ridiculous, over the top, crazy once in a lifetime story to tell; One can only hope.

So, as far as the blog is concerned over the next 3 weeks, we will talk about the process, trials and tribulations of getting things sorted and the gear we are taking as well as packing techniques and general information.

We’ll talk soon, promise! Keep your eyes on the horizon!

Thirty Days of Europe Recap and What Comes Next

/ Terry Heck / Leave a comment

I want to start off by saying I feel truly blessed to have been able to take this adventure. From the sights, to the sounds, to the food, to the personal reasons that I went. Everything turned out great.

Now I know normally when someone takes an extended life break to go somewhere else in the world they often come back with a horror story of some kind. Their camera gets stolen, they miss flights, they lose luggage; Things we all hear about and dread experiencing.

I don’t really have one of those crazy stories of hardship on the road. Part of me is thankful for that, and part of me is sad about it. I don’t have an insane one of a kind tale to tell, but what I do have are stories of personal growth, making changes, fulfilling promises and enjoying life.

I got to go to places that I’ve dreamed of for so long, I got to take my Oma home one last time. I got Cecile to drink far too much really shitty Italian liquor and walk the streets (sorry again for the day after, heh), I got to spend thirty days with my birth mother, as mentioned above, which I think brought us closer together than we were before. I experienced so many things, saw so much, and reveled in it the entire time. It taught me a lot about myself and a lot about others; Their cultures, dynamics, history, views, the list of items could go on, so I’ll stop there. I learned, through trial by fire, how to use my camera more efficiently and properly. I took something like five thousand pictures and still have ye to go through a lot of them.

If I had to have one drawback of the experience, it was that I learned that seeing ten countries in thirty days is a bit too fast for me. I would have liked to cut the country list by about two or three places. The flip-side of this statement is that after going to these places I now know the countries to cut, where I really didn’t before. So perhaps that makes my slow down point moot? Maybe, but I still think if I ever have the chance to do it again, it would be be at a slower rate.

On that point, if I ever do Europe again, it would likely contain mainly countries in the east. Not only are they easier on the wallet but also the people seems much more available. By that I mean eastern Europeans seemed way more laid back, far easier to approach and speak with about a veritable gambit of topics. The next European adventure would likely contain Croatia, Hungary and Romania. Those would be my big three.

Those that have been following me know that I was fired from my job the Friday before we were to get on the plane. They had agreed to the time off, even had me work extra days to make up for it, then let me go due to “restructuring”, whatever that means. Essentially it was the only way my boss could legally get rid of me (him and I did not see eye to eye on the way he treated people and my drivers, which I brought up on numerous occasions, guess he didn’t like that). So rather than let it get me down, well, I just didn’t. Once we got back, reality kinda set in that I have a mortgage to pay, bills, responsibilities. Even so, I kinda just said screw it the other day and have decided to go to Thailand in two to four weeks. I figure I can still do it right now, without much of a consequence, so why not? Then when I get back the intense job hunt can begin.

So going forward, should Thailand become a reality, you will hear from me while I travel the Land of Smiles! I hope you can join me on that adventure as well.

As always, keep your eyes on the horizon!

It’s All Greek To Me

/ Terry Heck / 4 Comments

Sorry for the delayed posting of this. I’ve been back home for a few weeks now and have been dealing with a large amount of personal issues that have made it difficult to concentrate on other things.

We left Greece three days before they closed the banks this time around. I had no idea there were any further issues until we were already out and in Germany. While there however, you almost couldn’t tell there was massive debt, a high unemployment rate or that people were struggling. We spoke to a fair number of people that said the issues Greece had to face were no where near as bad as the media makes it out to be. Granted one person was a jeweler that likely was doing pretty well for himself regardless. Another was the artist that did my tattoo. He told me that the problems were essentially caused by people under twenty five to thirty years old. Basically, they want to complain about the situations but they don’t want to work. He said that there are jobs if people want them but the youth of Greece have a very large sense of entitlement and refuse work when it is presented.

We got to Frankfurt and heard about the bank closures, the limitation on ATM withdrawals as well as lack of ability to pay by credit card and how this affected travelers on holidays. I’m glad we had the time in Greece and just as happy we didn’t get stuck there due to the issues.

Despite all of the nay-saying people have been doing over the course of this whole problematic relationship between Greece and the European bank the people of Greece were awesome, friendly, accommodating and all around pleasant to meet and speak with about anything from the issues themselves to just small talk (they do it well). The Grecian people we spoke with seem to be taking be everything in stride. It’s a mantra I can relate to given the issues I’m dealing with right now myself.

Most of our time was spent in Athens proper. Our hotel (Hotel Attalos) was small but nice and the hotel staff was great. The shining jewel of this establishment was that the roof top bar they have gave a direct view of the Acropolis on the hillside. Speaking of which, guess where we went? That’s right, the Acropolis. The attraction was busy but I didn’t feel crowded like it was in Rome. Once again, however, the other attractions that were associated with the ticket price seemed to have been overlooked by the general public. There were a total of ten or so attractions you could see and most of them had just a handful of people partaking. It reminds me of the people that go to the Louvre only to see the Mona Lisa, which is a shame and does not make a lot of sense to me. There is so much more to see and do outside of the “top” attractions in each city you visit.

We did end up taking a single day island trip to Hydra. This place was a gem, so let me tell you about it. You see, there are only two motorized vehicles on the island. One is the Ford F150 with a small water tank on the back that serves as their fire truck and the other is the garbage truck. Other than that there are boats but nothing else on land. The silence was astounding. You can hear yourself think there, which was quite refreshing.

Hyrda is filled, and I do mean filled, with roaming cats. No one owns them and everyone owns them all at once. The town as a whole takes responsibility for these animals. They are allowed in all the shops that line the coast. It was pretty nice to see something like that. Unfortunately I did not get to my camera in time to take a photograph of a man, bags in hand, calling out to the cats and the cats running to him from every direction. Out of houses, shops, alleys, bushes or whatever else they were in/on/around. Seeing a dozen cats all running at him from different directions then following him home was pretty great although for a moment I had horror movie speculations about what would happen to him as they were lunging at the bags he was carrying to get at the food.

Our seven hours in Hydra were over after a small meal at one of the many restaurants then we were back on the hydrofoil jetting back to Athens.

We only had three days or so in Greece but I would like to go back. Perhaps more island hopping or staying the entire time on Crete (which is ultra cheap by the way). I don’t know if it was because the end of the trip was fast approaching or if it was just because Greece is well, Greece, but I really liked the country as a whole. Laid back, fun, inexpensive, impressive and friendly among other things would be words to describe the form and function of Greece and how I felt while there. There are other places I need to see in my life, but Greece is on the short list of spots to revisit.

I’ll be writing about Germany next, our last stop in Europe, which had an intensely personal meaning for me to go there. It will be a very emotional post for me and likely the longest one I will write. I should have it out within the next five days or so. Bear with me, will ya? Thanks, I appreciate it.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon.

Prague, my Favorite City so Far.

/ Terry Heck / Leave a comment

We got in at six in the morning by train from Krakow. We got to the hotel by tram and from the moment we stepped off the tram and crossed our first bridge I knew Prague would simply be magical, purely and truly. The area we stayed in was filled with colorful and ornate buildings. Each door was custom and different. Art was everywhere you turned, whether it was being sold by people on the street and on the Charles bridge or on the buildings and structures themselves. We were essentially outside of the main tourist area, but close enough that it was a medium length walk to the center square. Performers are everywhere, from classical instruments to side show type spectacles. One Irishman was doing a show that involved whipping his volunteer and ended with him laying on broken glass which happened to be smashed in front of us and created from the beers he was drinking all afternoon while doing his show.

The city is alive and there is a buzz in the air at most times of the day. It’s not just tourists, it’s locals too. Granted most places, even coffee shops surprisingly, don’t open until eleven in the morning. Even with that there were people out as early as six or seven jogging, commuting, talking with friends on the street. Its very active even though you would assume it wouldn’t be given the opening times. Our first days were spent walking around, sampling the Czech food, drinking beers and Cecile shopping for art and jewelry, which was great. After the hustle of Paris and the emotions of Auschwitz it was nice to just chill out for a bit.

We stayed at a hotel in the Mala Strana district. It was a pleasant, clean, well kept hotel. We had a suite instead of a regular room and it was really spacious and comfortable. The receptionist at the hotel, Eva, was simply a dream. She made phone calls for taxi’s and rental cars, got our room ready early, and made arrangements for a great many things. She was the single greatest hotel receptionist that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Truthfully the car rental we got was in order to head over the Vienna, Austria for a day, which turned into getting a hotel and staying the night. Vienna was less awesome than expected. In fact I don’t really know what I expected. I was in Austria when I was a kid and we were in the Alps back then. I figured Vienna would remind me of that. Old school houses, nice scenery and the like. It didn’t. It had almost zero old world charm and granted we were only there for twenty four hours but I expected more of it. The saving grace of Vienna was St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Now, if you’ve been keeping up with my site and blog then you already know I’m a sucker for Gothic architecture. This is the reason that this church was the highlight of this particular city for me. We left Vienna with a sense of wishing there was more to it. Again, we were there for a single day, these are my impressions based on old memories that I wish were more prevalent and the fact that we didn’t explore much other than city center. Take my take on Vienna with a grain of salt, I’m sure it’s awesome when you have more time.

The drive back to Prague however was crazy! We decided to take some back roads instead of the main highway. This was great, really great. It was like being in a rally car. I was navigating and calling the upcoming turns and whether they were sharp or not while Cecile was driving. Keep in mind that some of these roads were single lanes and you had two way traffic. It was pretty intense and absolutely fun!

We were both really happy to be back in Prague and we decided to go to a musical performance that was part symphony and part opera. It was held in an old church in the tourist district, a few minutes from the Charles bridge. The acoustics were impressive and the voice of the soprano was amazing. She had a very large range and actually managed to make me tear up a couple of times. It was overall a great and moving performance on all fronts. The same day we went to a theater show, which broke my brain. It was kind of an Alice in Wonderland story, but not actually a retelling. It was a show about how the author of the books was telling a dying child the things Alice was doing after the books, but again, not really. It was done in black light and interpretative dance. It had clowns and Jewish ghosts, was based in Prague as a setting and confused the hell out of me. I had no idea what was happening, nor did most of the others there, from the reactions I saw. It was kind of about Alice’s maturation and finding love, but again, and I cannot stress this enough, this is coming from a person that had no clue what was going on. I would recommend you stay away from shows named Aspects of Alice and for those that have seen is and can tell me what I watched please comment and tell me because I’d like to know.

Our last day was spent going through the exhibits and buildings at Prague Castle. Again, a massive Gothic Cathedral that took my breath away, more than any other Gothic structure yet. The stained glass was crisp and colorful. The architecture itself was stunning and was everything I hoped for when we stepped in the doors. Other parts of the Castle included an exhibition on the history of the area as well exhibitions on torture devices, palaces and treasures. Overall, an impressive collection of activities that took us about six hours to go through. A pleasant way to spend our last day there.

I would recommend Prague to pretty much anyone I can. It’s a great city, filled with many characters, many stories and many fun and exciting things to do. It’s fast paced and slow all at once, depending on you and what you want out of the city. It quickly became my favorite city I’ve visited due to the culture, diversity, art and sense of life you can feel there.

I’ll be posting pictures later on, as it have thousands to sort through. I will create a gallery and update you guys on it.

Next up will be Rome and just a heads up, I hated it there. More on that later.

Keep your eyes on the horizon!

Spain and Relaxation

/ Terry Heck / 3 Comments

We touched down in Malaga, Spain and immediately I felt the difference in climate from Ireland, which was expected but still pleasant. Our cab driver pointed out landmarks and points of interest on the way to the hotel and explained how to get around on the transit system. He was very helpful. The language barrier is a little difficult to circumvent here however you can pretty much get by with a mixture of strange gestures, body language, pointing and rudimentary Spanish. I expected Malaga to be sort of a relaxing portion of my journey. It did not disappoint.

Out hotel was in a local neighborhood, outside of the city center, so when we woke up we decided to explore our immediate surroundings. Immediate surroundings ended up being walking around for 2 hours aimlessly in order to locate various things, see sights and get the lay of the land. We stopped in at a small eatery for a beer and a small reprieve from the Spanish sun. Business hours are odd in Spain, like really odd. People close up shop from noon or one o’clock until four or five in the evening daily. Lunch doesn’t take place until later afternoon and it seems as though people don’t eat dinner until after eight at night. This is ultimately very strange for someone who comes from a much different way of timing their days. So when we stopped at this small restaurant I ordered two beers, one for me and one for mum. I went back for a second one for me and I guess they closed during this time, or at least weren’t serving but were still letting people use the patio. I was ridiculed in Spanish after pointing at a beer and asking for one. She was pointing at me while talking to her family that worked there, they started laughing and then she gave me shit. Regardless, I got my beer, she got her money and everyone left happy and satisfied. Oh! Did I mention beers were only 1.50 euros here? Mental!

We decided to walk a few more blocks and came upon a small open set of doors, the smells coming from it were awesome. Apparently we found a place that sells fresh made sandwiches, whole rotisserie chickens, liquor, beer and random premade tapas. The bill for 2 sandwiches a beer and a water came to 7 euros. Once again, mental! This is such a change from Ireland and Sweden. The cheapness of Malaga got me super excited. What other deals could we find?

After eating half of our giant sandwiches we hopped on the local bus to go to city center, which also happens to be a touristy walking/shopping/eating plaza the equivalent of about six or so city blocks, squared. The main city of Malaga hosts three hundred thousand permanent residents, and within this space are over 1300 restaurants. Beers in this area are double that of an outside neighborhood, boo I say!

We went to a huge Spanish Catholic cathedral, it was amazingly decorated and the architecture was phenomenal. After that we took a horse drawn carriage tour from city center to the port area and back, all the while being told about what we were seeing, in Spanish of course. I managed to get the names of most things but not much else. Thus concluded day one.

Today we were supposed to go to Morocco, this did not happen. After doing a little more research we decided against it. The day tours you can take are mostly filled with being hounded by merchants that have deals with the tour operators. As per reviews these same merchants are at each location you stop at, I personally did not want to deal with the bullshit and waste my time and money. I’ll get to Morocco one day, but on my own terms and likely farther inland than Tangier. Instead of Morocco we opted for continuing with Spain as a relaxing, laid back, slow walk kind of visit. We visited both a Moorish castle from the twelfth century and a Spanish castle from around the same time. The Moorish castle was magnificent, filled with old relics, original building layouts and many many viewpoints that overlooked Malaga. The Spanish castle was a trip and a half to get to. We walked up thirty five degree inclines for about a kilometer to get to the entrance. This is the highest point you can get to within city limits. The castle itself was pretty bare, which was disappointing, however the views from the top were amazing. This kind of killed the relaxing part but it was good to do non the less.

I’ve noticed the longer you spend here the easier it is to adapt to Spanish time. I think tomorrow I’ll sleep until noon then have a further lazy day to end off Spain.

After that we are flying to Paris which will be another whirlwind of a stop, jam packed with a ton of things we both want to see and do. I’m glad Spain was more of a gentle rest of a destination as it let us recharge our batteries for the upcoming craziness that is Paris.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon!

Ireland….Simply Awesome

/ Terry Heck / 2 Comments

Right after getting off the plane yesterday, I was hit with a vibe. The vibe I got was one of kindness and relaxation and friendship. It was immediate, starting with the taxi driver, one Mr. Brendan Murphy. From the amount of times he joked with us, said “shite”, gave us helpful information, or the directions he gave us. All when he didn’t have to.

I’m used to sitting in complete silence when in a cab, minus the obligatory “Hello, I’m going to *insert destination*, ok?” This cab driver was different. I wanted to talk to him, wanted to know about him, it was very strange to me at the time.

The next morning it hit me, it was plain as day. People here are genuinely nice, genuinely interested in talking with you, it’s like a completely different social situation than back home.

All of the other drivers we met, same thing. Willing to help, just because. Willing to shoot the “shite” with you for the sake of doing so. A hostess (we did not interact with her at all until after dinner when she came to clean up the table) at the steak house we ate at tonight gave us the names, street addresses and directions to other restaurants in the area as well as one in Belfast for when we are there Wednesday.  She even gave us one for while we are in Paris. She was pleasant, thoughtful and kind. She spoke to us about her daughter and the travels she has done and places she loves. It was a solid ten minute conversation with someone we had just met. She didn’t need to do all of those things, but she did and it wasn’t to get a tip, or phony in any way. It was refreshing.

Now I may be a bit cynical because in Winnipeg, my home, that kind of thing just doesn’t happen much, if at all. Servers put on fake smiles, and feign interest. They seem to just want you out the door as soon as they can so they can fill the next table and get the next tip. Disclaimer : this blog post is in no way meant to offend, harm or otherwise make any person in the service industry feel like less of a person, or that I am roping them into some large group of assholes. You guys have it shitty sometimes, needing tips to live. I get the problems and I acknowledge them. These are simply differences that I have observed personally.

Another thing I noticed was peoples’ genuine interest in the others around them. No cell phones, Ipads or Ipods were out at the tables during any of the meals we had. I looked around and saw these people engaging in very odd behaviour. They were actually talking with one another as a family. It was both refreshing and unnerving. In North America we see the exact opposite so many times in so many situations. How did we fall so far from the values of the time before cell phones, before social media, before the internet?

I realize the irony of my spouting these thoughts while blogging on a social media platform on the internet. It is not lost on me. I think I need to make some changes when I get home. I need to make more of an effort to be attentive to those around me. I need to make more of an effort to see my friends and family on a more regular basis.

Ireland, hands down, has been one of the best places I have visited in my life. I will find it difficult to find another place on this trip to be more inviting and welcoming than this island has been to us. If it happens, I would be very surprised. I just wish I could spend more time here than the currently allotted number of days. I’ll be back Ireland!

Next post, hopefully tomorrow, will be about the sights we saw and things we did over the last couple of days and what tomorrow will offer, in more detail. So far we have gone to the Kilmainham Gaol, the obligatory Guinness Storehouse tour, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Dublin castle. Meeting up with a friend of a friend tomorrow (hopefully) and he is going to show us around his city for the day.

After that will be our trip to Belfast in Northern Ireland on Wednesday, and I will get to see one of the sights on my bucket list. The Giant’s Causeway. I’m super excited about what we have done and what is in store over the next two days and I cannot wait to share my Irish experiences with you.

Keep your eyes on the horizon!