Project Runaway

I have been terribly remiss. I have procrastinated, and yes, I have been putting off my writing and I feel I owe an explanation.
By now most of you know that we have returned to Canada. The last few months have consisted of moving into a new home in a new neighbourhood and dragging myself back [...]

[Author's Note: Be warned as this post does contain anecdotes and references to Bikini Waxing. This information and the visual/visceral responses invoked may not be for the faint of heart]
I love being pampered. It is one of my guilty pleasures along with really good chocolate. In the last 10 months there have been the [...]

When I was in high school I dated a boy who was so enthralled with all things Californian that he bought a surfboard and carried it around school. The catch was we lived in a small hamlet approximately a 16 hour drive from any waves. I am sharing this embarrassing tidbit to demonstrate that young [...]

My permanent home is on Vancouver Island. To get to the mainland, one hops on a B.C. ferry for the 1 hour and 35 minute trip across the Strait of Georgia. I have been asked how often I make this trip and the truth is not often. This usually leads to a puzzled look on [...]

When I worked at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, I used to take my evening break in a quiet area where there were several comfy chairs and the only traffic was the rare person going into the chapel nearby. As I sat there and read an older lady from housekeeping would clean the area. She [...]

Research shows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Experience shows that eating the free breakfast included in most establishments saves you money.  As I like to be healthy and cheap this arrangement works well for me.
From Europe to Asia the breakfasts have been diverse. In Italy: a cappuccino and a cornetto; Turkey: cay tea, [...]

When we left on our travels, time seemed to stretch far ahead of us. Now it is 2010 and we are already nearly 8 months into our 10 month trip. SE Asia has been exhilarating and exhausting, and I have just not had time to keep up with my blog as well. So this is [...]

Our dear friends and fellow travelers, one-giant-step.com, tagged us in a blog challenge to reveal our Three Travel Secrets. After 7 months and 2 weeks these are the tips that I would like to share.
Rent Serviced apartments when staying for longer periods in a location. This is the one tip that I can’t stress enough. [...]

It is December, but as there has been no change of seasons to mark time, I feel as if it is July. Malaysia is a long ways back now. We had worked our way up the coast and then crossed into Thailand. I am hungover and on an overnight train to Bangkok. We decide to [...]

British novelist Anthony Burgess writes that eating durian is “like eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory.”
definition of blancmange: sweet almond-flavored milk pudding thickened with gelatin or cornstarch; usually molded
Chef Andrew Zimmern compares the taste to “completely rotten, mushy onions.”
Anthony Bourdain, while a lover of durian, relates his encounter with the fruit as thus: [...]