Travel Stories - On My Way to Europe

My best friends and I recently celebrated a milestone birthday. In order to commemorate the occasion, three of us decided that we would go to Paris and London. What better way to spend a potentially terrifying birthday than by being in Paris and London? Nothing seems as scary when you have to use your second language skills. As often happens when planning events that involve more than just one person, the trip was slightly delayed but it did happen. This past September Joanne, Laura and I packed our bags and off we went! The plan was to spend just over a week with the girls, starting in Paris and then moving north to London on the Eurostar. I knew that a week would not be enough time for me; I had never been to Europe before, so I left a week earlier than the girls, and spent a week traipsing through Italy before meeting up with everyone in Paris to start the birthday extravaganza.

My departure for this trip was a bit hurried as I work for the Toronto Film Festival and I was scheduled to depart one day after the festival closed.

Not the best planning choice on my part. I was delivered to the airport courtesy of the Peggy-mobile, much nicer than trekking on the subway to the airport. I flew on Air Transat. It’s a Canadian charter airline that flies to Europe and also to the Caribbean. The last time I flew a charter it was when La and I went to Mexico, and it wasn’t nice. The seats were tiny and the food was…well it was stereotypical airplane food. Air Transat was none of that. The seats were not all cramped together, they were leather and plush, and the food was President’s Choice Blue Menu Indian entrees, not only good but good for you too! The only complaint I had, (other than my total inability to sleep, which is so not like me, I usually can sleep anywhere), was that the first film was the new Indiana Jones movie. Until this flight I had never seen an Indiana Jones film from start to finish, (I know, I’m a bit of a nut case that way), and this was NOT the one to start with. FOR THE LOVE OF FILM, why was this movie ever made? What a waste of…well, a waste of everything. But other than that the flight was easy and I arrived in London with 5 hours to kill. So I went to Brighton, looking for the beach and the memoires. And I found it. I have a love for all things retro and hokey, and that is exactly what Brighton is. Coney Island...with British dialects. It’s fabulously dingy in all the ways you want. And you can eat fish and chips on the beach. Amazing.

After a few hours on the beach it was back to the airport for my flight to Venice. By the time I checked in for my flight I had been awake for over 24 hours and was exhausted. I 100% fell asleep on a bench waiting for my flight information to be posted on the departure board. Fell asleep so deeply I had dreams. This is the bench.

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A Random Adventure in Toronto

I had every intention of coming home after work to write a blog post about my most recent trip. It was snowing heavily and I am really not a fan of the snow. (That is something else you should know about me I guess, I may be Canadian but I am not a winter person). So the snow and the cold and the wet made it the perfect night to come home and write some posts. But that didn't happen. Instead I went and saw Doubt with my friends Lynne and Debbie. It was a good decision for two reasons:

1. Doubt is a great film. You should go and see it.

2. It turns out that not all things made of ice and snow are bad. Lynne, Debbie and I accidentally found an outdoor festival...and even though it was cold and snowy it was a lot of fun! All around Yorkville there are these AMAZING ice sculptures right now. It's really pretty. So detailed and elegant. All of the sculptures are famous sites from around the world. Since we didn't know that we were going to stumble upon this magical winter wonderland we were unprepared and didn't have a camera to catch all of the fun. But I did have my blackberry...not the best quality pics ever but I think it captured all of the fun we had!

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Travel Stories - The Introduction

I love to travel. If you know me already, you know that. If you have just met me...Hi. Nice to meet you. My name is Shannon and I love to travel. I'll go anywhere. Any time. Really. It's true. What do you like to do?

Although this is my first blog, while I was traveling I did write home often about my adventures. Blogging sans blog, really. My grandmother, bless her cotton socks, has saved all of my emails, letters and post cards from all of my travels. Over the next few days I will be using these to post my travel stories here for all to read...not just those people whose email address I already have. I believe that your world is not complete until you have read about being attacked by a camel and my time living in Arnhem Land.

I will start with the most recent trip, (a Birthday extravaganza in Italy, France and England), and work backwards through South East Asia and Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. So stay tuned and read on about my travels as Shannon - The Island Girl.

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ChannelWhitsunday.com

Yesterday I was lucky enough to meet up with John Nayler from ChannelWhitsunday.com while he was in Toronto on a very short stop over.  John is traveling the world and, while having many adventures of his own, is interviewing applicants for THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD.  (John is an applicant himself.  You can check out his application video HERE).

Here is my interview with John that we filmed in Union Station here in downtown Toronto before he jumped on a train and headed on his way. 

Thanks again for meeting with me John.  It was a a lot of fun!  

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National Geographic is Cool

"The Great Barrier Reef is the tropical rain forest of the ocean" I thought that was a great way to describe the amazing ecosystem that exists, not only in the Great Barrier Reef, but in all of the coral reef systems in the world. (Did you know that there are coral reefs in 190 different countries? The work of reef conservation really is a global affair)

I have been doing some research on the coral of the Great Barrier Reef. I knew that the reefs were amazing living creations that are home to thousands of kinds of fish and marine life, but wow! The relationships that exist to make the reef work are amazing. What I found the most fascinating were the number of symbiotic relationships that must work perfectly in order for the reef to continue to exist. If one tiny thing falls out of whack, everything spirals downwards very quickly.

One of these symbiotic relationships exists between polyps and zooxanthellae. The reefs are actually a colony of coral polyps who join together by external skeletons. The polyps have tentacles with which they catch and eat plankton, however their primary food source comes from their BFFs, zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae, (let's call them Zoo from here on in just to make it easier for me), live inside the polyps and use photosynthesis to convert the sunlight in to food. (That is why coral reefs are always in relatively shallow water, they need the sun to survive) The waste produced by the Zoo are the main food source for the polyps and the polyps provide shelter and protection for the Zoo. Neither could exist without the other. This perfect friendship between the coral polyps and the zoo demands the most ideal oceanic conditions. If the water gets to warm or the sea levels get to high and the Zoo can't get energy from the sun, the relationship goes sour and the polyps kick the zoo out of their warm safe homes leaving the coral to lose it's colour and eventually starve to death. This process is called coral bleaching and it affects almost every coral reef in the world.

The Australian government follows coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef Action Plan is a 5 year $8.9 million plan that has been put in place to try to reverse climate change and it's affect on the Great Barrier Reef. Many of us who are applying for THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD do not live in Australia but that doesn't mean that we can't do our part to help the reef recover and maintain it's delicate ecosystem balance. Through making small changes to our every day life, and by practicing responsible tourism while visiting sensitive areas like the Great Barrier Reef we can keep our world healthy enough that the 1.9 million tourists a year who visit the reef can keep coming back, and another 1.9 million can see the beauty that exists under the sea!


Anyway, the reason I started writing this post is because I was on the National Geographic website and I found this great video of a photographer who has spent a lot of time diving the Great Barrier Reef. His name is David Doubilet and he describes the Great Barrier Reef as "One of the great pulses on the planet". I thought that was a great description. Be sure to check out his work HERE The shots are amazing.

And spread the word...Green is Sexy and important. Let's all do our part.

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I Found A Web Cam That Works!

You may remember from my previous post that my webcam/computer doesn't have a microphone so I couldn't webcast! Problem solved! My stepfather has one on his computer that works PERFECTLY!! I had some time on my hands this weekend and so this is what I did!



I still think I had "lip to mouth syncing issues" but couldn't figure out how to make them go away. Oh well. Maybe next time!

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My New NING Community

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Please...Let it Rain.

I was watching Oprah today and one of her guests was Princess Fannie. If you watch Oprah you probably know who Princess Fannie is. If you don't, Princess Fannie is a favourite guest on Oprah's show. She lost her home during hurricane Katrina and for a time she lived in a van with 12 of her family members. She has appeared on Oprah numerous times over the last few years while we watch her struggle to finally recover from the devastation that the hurricane inflicted on New Orleans. On the episode that aired today Fannie finally moved back in to her home.

I started wondering how long it will take for the hundreds of families to reestablish themselves after the fires that are wreaking havoc in Victoria and New South Wales right now. My heart goes out to everyone in Australia who is dealing with this newest environmental devastation.

Please, please, let it rain. Let the winds stop.

I have read stories of men and women on their roof tops armed with only a few buckets of water while their children are inside, in a bath tub, covered with a blanket, hoping that they can hold the flames off for just a little bit longer. "Fighting Goliath, One Bucket at a Time" I heard of a man who had to jump in to his pool while flames jumped over his house, and a group of people who climbed in to a drain pipe and had to roll around in the stagnant water as flames licked at the entrance to the pipe. These are stories that should never be told. But they have been. So they should now be stories that we never forget.

The world has reached out. As we did after the tsunami and after Katrina the world has spoken up with donations and support. The Australian Red Cross has already received more than $15 million towards relief for families touched by this terrible tragedy. If you would like to donate you can do that HERE.

The people who have lost their homes and their families need our help and support. So does our planet. Some of these fires have been started by despicable people with no regard for human life, and those people should be punished, but they have been helped along by Mother Nature. The extreme drought and high winds have made these fires worse than anyone could imagine. Mother Nature needs some love. Let's think green, recycle, take the bus, ride a bike, turn off your lights...all these little things will add up to big change. Cheesy, I know, but it's true. If you need more ideas of what you can do to help our planet out try reducing your energy usage. HERE are some ideas. Find out what your carbon foot print is HERE and then reduce it. Let's all do our best. Reduce, reuse and recycle. It's cool. It's SEXY, and it is the best thing that you can do to help everyone around the world.

While we may be doing all we can, Australia still needs the rain. Please, let it rain.

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