Backstreet’s Back

Or Shady, or the Jedi or any other pop culture reference you fancy about a comeback. I mean it’s been 15 years, this is no Wozniacki return; this blog was dead and buried and forgotten. It’s a George R R Martin sized gap. People probably don’t blog anymore, but I’m certainly not joining any other social media and tempting as a podcast sounds, I think not. So for those who still read, this is what’s on offer. 

To be clear, I didn’t give up travelling for the last decade and a half. There’s been lots of Europe, a return to Kenya/Tanzania & Chile, Tunisia, St Lucia, Barbados, Cuba, The US & Canada (with apologies to those I have inevitably forgotten). In particular I wish I’d written about Costa Rica, Borneo, Yellowstone and Mexico-definitely the standout (and longer) trips in those years.

It’s not just been travelling-I….. I need to stop saying I and say we, as I became We; we’ve lived in The Netherlands and Quebec.

So what has been going on?

Well this.

This

And this

 

Introducing Andrea, Feliz and Sabio. Hence the need to change the Blog’s title.

Nearly forgot. I also (technically) became a Canadian.

I'd expected to write this two or three months ago; instead it is now 2 or 3 days before departure. We have had a LOT of setbacks, which I may or may not blather on about in the future.

Departure? I hear you say. And why the new post? Well, we bought this

 

An RV. VR. Caravan. Roulotte. Travel Trailer. Small house on wheels (Feliz’s take). So many names, for us she’s La Casita.

Oh, and we sold the house, so for now Casita is it. We’ve been living in it full time since the beginning of June and part time since late April, as well as 4 or 5 weeks of trial travelling last year. Turns out, when you have the great outdoors, the little indoors is pretty good. So far, so little travel, but all of this was just preparation.

On Tuesday, soundtracked by the Pet Shop Boys, we will Go West. Our first stop is Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. From there we will spend 2 months crossing Canada, quickly nipping to Badlands in the US en route. Then we’ll take the boat from Vancouver Island to the US of A and spend 6 months touring before arriving back in Canada on the East side. If we still have the energy, we’ll pass through the Maritimes before getting back to Quebec (at which point any lucky reader will be able to buy La Casita as a historical record of our adventures: it could be turned into a mobile museum, or be prosaically used for family holidays).

At least at the beginning, it’s mostly going to be National/State/Provincial parks: they dry up a bit as you head East, so at that stage there’ll probably be some space travel and a visit to the Mouse.

So if you want to know how 2 dogs and 2 hoomans get on in North America, come back here for the next instalment.