Europe was the biggest trip I've ever forced & probably one of my greatest accomplishments. My whole life I wanted to be one of those people who travelled all over the world, to whichever place they wanted to go to without letting anything stop them. In high school, I talked a lot about travelling whenever I graduated and had enough money. Look at me now. I'm that one person that people ask, "Where you going next?" They think I've been to so many places but to me, it barely feels like it's enough. Europe showed me that there is so much more of the world that we are missing out on by staying in our little bubble of the city we live in. In just 2017 alone, I have been to 2 continents, 6 countries & countless cities. I learned a lot about travelling alone & how to travel on this trip, as well as some things about myself. You can read about my lessons on this trip in my post here.

I decided I wanted to travel somewhere for my birthday & originally wanted to go to Chicago. My friends were just half-assing on the planning & I'm a person who needs to know the majority of the details way in advance & they were more like last minute people. I was getting annoyed so I decided to do research on other options of places I could potentially go. I dreamt for so long about going to Europe & I have family in many different countries there, as well as a friend in Abu Dhabi so I had places I could go. The more I looked into going abroad, the better it looked & the better the deals on one-way flights were. My flight from Toronto to London was $280! As soon as I booked that first flight, it became real & it was time to start planning.

I wanted to be in London for my actual birthday so I made sure to book my flight out of Canada a few days before & have a day to relax so that I wouldn't be too jet-lagged before my bday. So I left Ottawa on the morning of the 18th, flew out of Toronto that evening, had a layover in Lisbon, Portugal on the 19th & landed in London that evening; all before my birthday which was on the 21st.



London was a week & a half adventure where I got to hang out with my uncle, who I haven't seen in 6 years. By the end of my time there, I had seen almost all the tourist attractions & gotten used to the London accent. My uncle had just moved there about 7 months prior to me coming so he knew some things about the city but I was mostly googling places & suggestions of where we should go to eat. I wish I had planned more ideas prior to my trip because trying to google something to do at that very moment was very stressful & overwhelming. Besides not being prepared to explore the very big city of London, I still had a great time & got to see how my uncle lived and met his friends. The next time I come back, I'll be more prepared thou.





I originally was going to go home after a week or so in London but it would be so rude to go home without seeing my cousins in Norway, who I've never met before. Plus, they were only a $100 flight away. So I decided that my week & a half trip for my birthday was going to be extended to 2.5 weeks in the name of family. My family in Norway, unfortunately, lives in the smallest city-- it should basically be a town. Mind you I'm comparing it to a big city like Ottawa, which we all thought was small but after seeing Moss, Ottawa is a BIG city.

I really wish I had a car while I was there but I happened to lose my license a week before my trip & didn't get my replacement until my trip was basically over. It would have been very helpful especially since I went into Oslo every chance I got; it was just a 40 min train ride away but coulda been faster with a car. I could've explored other cities also. Nevertheless, I got to meet my cousins & their parents, as well as explore a new country.

Norway was a week adventure but unfortunately, my cousins were all in school & had after-school activities, plus whatever there was to do in Moss was closed by 7/8pm. The one day we had to go out in Moss was on Saturday & we went bowling with whoever could show up & then Sunday morning was my flight to head back home. It wasn't great timing but we had to make do with the time we had. I met up with my cousin who lived on campus at her school in Ås & we explored Oslo with her friend on my first official day there. Her friend worked at this amazing history store & his co-worker gave us some history lessons & let us hold the long swords they have inside there. We then walked around Karl Johans Gate, had TGIFridays for dinner & ended the night with candy & movies. We ended up watching Thor: Ragnork which apparently wasn't released yet in Canada so that was cool.

After that day, I didn't get to see my cousin again because she was super busy with school & then went out of the city on the weekend for a school-related trip. For the rest of my week there, I hung out with my other cousins & we had a couple movie nights & chilled at the house which I didn't mind because it was pretty cold there & I hadn't come prepared in the right winter wear. On one of the days, I also went over to my uncle's house to meet him in person after so many years of talking to him on the phone back when I was a kid. Moss & Oslo were a lot more chill than London was but I didn't mind much & was starting to get home sick.






After coming back to Canada, I realized there are many different ways in which we live compared to Europeans. I also realized how very blessed I am for this being my home. Europe is nice to visit & vacation in but it's such an expensive continent & everything is smaller there: homes, sugar intake, Starbucks venti drinks, space; everything is so congested. I still will be planning a trip back hopefully sooner than later because I'm obsessed with it despite it's differences from North America. I hope to check out Abu Dhabi, Greece, France, Amsterdam & so many more places.

• Carry On: I think this might be one of the most important points which is annoying because I had this on my last trip & it made things so much easier for me but this time I struggled to find a nice new one & instead just opted for the shittier alternative. A backpack is an ABSOLUTE MUST as a carry on bag. When you are checking in your bag, going through security, getting food, looking for your passport & boarding pass, leaving the airport during your layover etc. Life is sooo much easier hands-free. I had a purse with a long strap but it was heavy & a nuisance; I was also carrying another bag on the way there & a carry on bag on the way back so my hands were full.  Speaking of carry on, I don’t know why I didn’t get myself one of those cute ones that roll around & don’t need to be lifted unless you are putting it in a bucket for security clearance or into the overhead when you board the plane. I tried to take the easy way out & just take my gym bag because it was easily available at home; carrying that bag was a bitch & walking down the aisles of the plane with it & my purse was just a hot mess.
• Suitcase: Cheap should never be your first thought when getting things for your trip because for one, if you get a good one the first time you won’t need to get another one for the next trip, especially if it’s gonna be something that bugs you during your whole trip. I wanted to get this suitcase but it wasn’t in my budget & I ended up finding a decent one for $5o which I thought was a steal.  My one thing with choosing a suitcase was that it needed to have 360 wheels so that it would glide next to me as I walked. I was over the age of dragging a suitcase behind me & wanted to make life easier. The day I left my house for my trip, I regretted my choice immediately. The wheels went whichever way they wanted to go & never went the way I needed them to go; sometimes they would get stuck & not move & I’d almost fall over the suitcase. I ended up getting bruises from it and the zippers inside ripped. So much face palming & regret.

• Planning: RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Very important part of travelling. You need to have some sort of a plan per day, you shouldn’t depend on people to always take you out & show you all the cool things you want to see because they might not know what & where there are or the type of things you are into. A detailed itinerary isn’t what you need but you need one big thing you want to do for each day you’re there. It gives you a pinpoint of where in the city you’ll head to for the day & it'll give you some sort of plan for the day. Winging it is an option as well but depends on if you are solo or the type of crowd you're with. Also if you're in a big city & there is so much to do, it could be very overwhelming; some days I wasted time trying to decide where I wanted to eat & what I wanted to do.

• Packing: Everyone told me I was over packing & that I didn't need 7 pairs of jeans, 2 sneakers, heels & all these tops but I refused to listen to any of them. I didn't need any of it. I hated majority of what I packed and I barely had space to go shopping & bring things back. I learned a lot about how to organize outfits & how it's better to just leave things behind & buy things I may need, later on. 

till next time




xoxo


lamrou

Kingston was an absolute adventure & I can't believe I've never gone before when it's just an hour & a half drive away. I decided that enough was enough & it was time to go discover this HUGE province of Ontario that I live in. My goal would be to one day discover a least a good chunk of Canada but that starts with the province I live in.

The drive there was pretty chill except a stop to fill up a flat tire which some wonderful citizen yelled out her window to let me know about it, bless her soul I had no idea. That drive there however made me realize I need an abundance of playlist as well as one that's a minimum of 4 hours because I need to music to not stop & to please my soul of all kinds of genres I want to jam to; sing alongs, scream alongs, mellow vibes, & so much more.

The first thing we noticed as we drove into Kingston is how small the city is because you know we are used to these huge buildings & just a big city living in Ottawa & basically living in Toronto. Then we saw the Tragically Hip Way street & died laughing. Canada out here representing the big names we have & Kingston had to let everyone know they from their city; it was pretty cool that they are a street in their hometown.

First stop on our adventure in the small town was to get some food cause we was starving even though we got a little something from Starbucks before we left Ottawa, we needed real food. We were trying to get brunch but the wait was too long so we wandered until we found some place the looked good & stumbled upon a cute little italian restaurant called Olivea. I kinda regret not getting actual food but for some reason I just wasn't hungry anymore. I did however get a side of fries with this amazing aioli; I just wish I could remember what kind it was cause it was blessed. I also shared the grilled squid with spicy red sauce & aioli which was pretty good. My sister got the Penne Pomodoro & added chicken was good. Once we all ate we were ready too go explore downtown of the city.

So summer is basically here which means I need to get out & start living summer life doing things that are only around in the summer like waterparks & swimming at beaches and outdoor pools; I absolutely love swimming & am like a fish, I can be in the water all day long if I could. Every year I make a list of things I want to do throughout the summer & by the end of the summer I don't know what happened to my list & if I'm lucky i've done at least a couple of them. Nevertheless, those summers are past us & this one is here so here is my list for Summer 2017:

• Berry Picking at one of the few spots we have around Ottawa (probably Shouldice Berry Farm)
• Stand Up Paddleboarding - I see people doing it all summer, every summer & there is one by my house that i'd go to (Ottawa SUP)
• Paint Nite - been dyyyyiiinnnggg to go & paint a masterpiece (Paint Nite)
• Parliament Hill Yoga -  literally what its called, yoga on he hill infront of the Parliament & it's free (PHY)

• Calypso Waterpark - because who doesn't wanna go to a waterpark during the summer especially Calypso with their HUGE rides that have an abundance of stairs so like your getting a workout as well (Calypso)
• a roadtrip to Kingston because it's sooo close & i've never been besides the 10 min break on the rideshare to Toronto 

• a baseball game because i've been dying to go, especially a Blue Jays one & I even have a their hat so I'm like set to go (Toronto Blue Jays)
• then one of these two beaches & I'm satisfied with my beach day craving (Grand Bend Beach and/or Bruce Peninsula)

Maine, oh Maine. I came, I saw, I stayed an extra day & can I say it was an adventure. I was soo happy to be back home & got super homesick at the end of the trip. I keep referring to this trip as just Maine compared to the city I was in, Lewiston, because a lot of people don't know what Maine is let alone Lewiston. I also spent my time in the state of Maine going to different cities such as Lewiston, Portland, Brunswick, Auburn, Freeport, Lisbon Falls & Cape Elizabeth.

I was expecting Maine to be some cute small towns like you see in those movies such as Footloose & Safe Haven but realized that New Hampshire was more what I was expecting & Maine was filled with smaller towns. Nevertheless, it was still a nice chill vacation which was what I needed at the time plus I got to see my fams & the new baby I haven't met yet.

The trip there was quite a mission because I scored a sweet deal to get there but it was totally worth it. One of the few things I learned was that you must do some proper research because things most likely are different in other countries. I flew from Toronto to Boston & then got a Greyhound ticket to Portland, Maine. When I got to the bus station, I learned there were other buses besides Greyhound that could take me to Maine as well. If I did my research even better I would have found out that a Greyhound could drop me off in Lewiston & I could've walked to their house but hey you live & you learn.

the view flying out of Toronto

Anyways my trip, I was there from the 26th of April to May 1st but then my flight got cancelled so I had to stay another day. So I didn't do much the first day I got there, because I had been travelling since 5am & made it to my destination at about 5pm so about a 12 hour day. I was presented with a lovely surprise of a car that my lovely family rented for me to use for my week there because its a mission to get anywhere without driving which was I was beyond grateful for & dunno how I would've done & seen the things I did without a car.



My official first day there, my aunt, her baby & I went for breakfast at iHop (a place I have heaveily shitted on before because the last time I went I got something super not good but now I know that I lovely it & will probably mission out to the one in Niagara Falls to enjoy the lovely American restaurant). I got the Chicken Florentine Crepe which was amazing & sweet tea which was absolute shit. I realized maybe it's Maine that doesn't know how to make this special Sweet Tea that Southern people rave about but in Maine Sweet Tea is Iced Tea filled with sugar & Iced Tea is watery af with no sugar. After iHop, we just ran some errands she needed to do & then I just went on a drive getting lost while discovering their state full of trees & water. I ended up in Lisbon Falls which wasn't much at all but I got some cute earrings from a store I think is called Eastcraeft, then ended up walking around Brunswick & ended up heading home to get some take out sushi from Lewiston for dinner.




Our nightly routine consisted of watching some movies on Netflix once my aunt put her baby to bed. I was mostly visiting for her to get a break & to chill out because she didn't know much people considering she moved there about a year ago as well as been busy with her baby so I was there to give her a good chill week. We watched foreign movies because French was her strong suit & I didn't mind reading English subtitles. Over the week, we watched quite a few but the ones I recommend are An African Doctor & Palm Trees in the Snow, We Are Family is cute & funny too.

Day 2 in Maine we missioned out to Portland which is their capital city & where all things American exist including good restaurants and stores, or so I thought. We were hungry so we went to get lunch as soon as we got there & I was kinda disappointed and was wishing I chose somewhere else to eat but it is what it was. Eventide Co was where we had a lunch & I came to Maine to see family & to eat some good seafood, specifically lobster & sushi. I got a lobster roll & sablefish with a little rice & some side dressings with homemade chips with tartar sauce that me & my aunt shared, she had the fried fish sandwich.