A year ago today we were two months into our trip. Still in Canada with the whole world and practically the whole year ahead of us. We arrived back in Yellowknife on July 24, 2014. The only time we were delayed overnight on the entire trip was on this side of the Mackenzie River. The NWT experienced one of the worst forrest fire seasons in recorded history this year and, sure enough, after crossing the Deh Cho Bridge we saw the "Road Closed" signs just outsid...

Nothing, and I mean nothing, says "you're not in Europe anymore" like South Edmonton Common. Surely if there is a hell on God's green little Earth, here it lies. A deep maze of vast and adjacent parking lots surrounded by lifeless big box outlets, roads that go nowhere and chain restaurants serving up processed, pre packaged calories in synthetic interiors. Everyone drives. Not a pedestrian, bike or dwelling anywhere in site. People come here to shop. Not f...

Right to the end the travel has been interesting. Three minutes before our train was scheduled to depart Amsterdam for Frankfurt it was cancelled. We had to sprint to another platform that took us to the German border where we took a 2 hour bus to another city for a train to Frankfurt airport. The only thing to report from here is that the beer, bratwurst and schnitzel are all outstanding. As such, it's time to compile my playlist for our year off that I pla...

I very well may have had the greatest nap of all time this afternoon. We are staying in a little houseboat on one of Amsterdam's maze of canals. During the day, little tour boats make their way past us up and down the narrow inner city waterways. By early evening these are joined by private motor boats, smaller still and usually occupied by one or two couples sharing a picnic as they glide atop the still water, under the low bridges and past the shops and bars...

I wish I loved watching football (soccer). I wish I could even pretend to enjoy it. It's Saturday night here in southern Holland and the place is a sea of orange mayhem as the Netherlands prepares to play Costa Rica in the World Cup quarter finals. Deb and I just walked through the central market and I can't imagine there is a single resident of this town not wearing an orange shirt at one of the great little bars that spill out onto the lovely sidewalks and st...