Domingo de aventura

Exploring in your backyard and still learning a little piece of history is the fun part.You'll never know what you will find or see, you may think you know the area but be careful it might shock you with what you find. Explore with an open mind.

Can you believe it and this is only an hour outside the capital of Alberta and yet you can not feel the city atmosphere at all. It is like two different worlds.

I just felt like going for a little hike on this partly cloudy Sunday after running errands. As everyone was packing up their trailer and heading back home for the day, my adventures and fun was just beginning.

First it started with driving down a road the way i always go towards Evansburg and i was like what is over there down that road, so i followed it. I passed a golf course, yet another one if i may add. And after that it was only peoples acreage after acreage and then,

Well I better turn around or @TravelJenB might see me in Dawson City lol! #CuriousSunday 

Just right inside the provincial park of Pembina there are four concrete pillars and they are the remains of which there was a railway bridge back in the 1913 by the Canadian Northern Railway. Where the settlement of the Pembina river area coincided with the extension of two railways - The Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian North.

Both companies decided to build railways from Edmonton to the pacific coast via the yellowhead trail. the Grand Trunk Pacific reached the Pembina first in 1910 and chose the easiest route across the river, and then Canadian Northern Railway reached the river in 1913 and spent one year building a bridge across the Pembina River.

The Duplications of the two railways along the river proved inefficient and forced both companies to default in 1917. Where Later in 1922 the bridge built by the Canadian Northern Railway was dismantled but only to leave the four concrete pillars as a historical remainder of the railway race.

Walked as far as i could along side the river - boy the water level has gone up. Tubing on this river in the summer time would be so fun. 

Smile*

No matter how far one is from one another there is always a reason to smile!! Like when I smile every time he sends me a email. We'll call him Chuck for this blog. 

That is an issue of doing a very short Contiki tour - you feel rushed to see everything the city has to offer and you do not get the time to visit and hang out with many people from the Tour Group before one leaves to go back home or onwards to another tour. It wasn't until the end of the tour when we got back to London when Chuck and I hit it off. The remaining Tour who came back to London went for end of tour drinks at the London Pub outside the Royal National.

We started playing drinking games. But before that Chuck and I just sat in the corner by ourselves just having a conversation. Then one of our Tour Friend came over okay you guys have been over here talking a lot, it is time to kiss.

That was the first warning. 

After we played two or three different drinking games. The bar was closing so we had to move over to the hotel bar where we continued having our conversation, Chuck and I. And then she came back over and wouldn't leave until we did kiss this time.

What life could have been

Arrived at work this afternoon and I was asked "Did you get Married?" I was like uh I hope not, I am not done traveling and living my life to settle down.

There used to be another Katelyn working at the Front Desk before I and many guests get me confused for her, as i always have to tell them uh nope that was not me, another Katelyn.

But, now that made me think on how much my life would have been if I had said Yes to my guy friend who at the time lived in Spain when i was twenty years old, now he lives in Amsterdam. Parts of me wanted to say yes at the time but even now I couldn't have imaged where I would be or how I would be If i had moved to Spain and eloped with him. I guess it will be one of those life's secrets in ones past that one will never know......

Questions we will never know the answer too....

• Would i be living in Europe or would he have moved to Canada?
• Would I have traveled Contiki earlier? 
• Would I have been Happy?
• Would I have finished my Marketing Diploma? 
• Would I have been better off?
• Why didn't I say yes?
• Would I have been fluent in Spanish?
• Would I have become a different person?

You can't read much into something in your past too much, you can dwell upon it for a day and just ponder.. What if! but then tomorrow you have to move on or you might miss out on something great in your present or possibly your future.

I know back then i was still much of a child back then when he asked me... but I do not know, maybe it would have helped me grow up faster?! I know this far, that I never saw the light at the end of the tunnel back then, until now. It wasn't until I started traveling with Contiki that i started seeing that light at the end of the tunnel and life became that much more clearer and I knew what i wanted! ..... Australia!

Funny how that much time what it had done and where i was, to where and whom i have become. amazing! And yet i am still moving forward to who knows where......

Cheers Xo

Today I added some Bounce into my Life!

Today as i was driving into Stony Plain running errands before work, 102.3 Now Radio was playing odd ball of songs that they do not normally play. It was way scattered and was making my head spin and to be honest not enjoyable to listen to because they were jumping all around the place. It was like the Radio Station has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).

It was too much for me to handle so I switched to 91.7 The Bounce for some more upbeat music, for being such a gloomy Tuesday afternoon. And I found myself dancing in the car again, as I once was when i was listening to 102.3 Now Radio but the past few weeks I have not found myself dancing in the car to Now's music. They have lost their Wow factor.

As of 2 o'clock 102.3 Now Radio had lost a Now Family member and 91.7 The Bounce had gained a listener. I ended up being in a better mood after listening to 91.7 The Bounce for just a couple hours. They put the Bounce back into my life, That Now Radio had taken away.

The Bounce's music is more upbeat and actually has a rotation to play through, not like 102.3 Now Radio how they, I have noticed have been playing a lot of the same songs over and over again because the Now family listeners are requesting the same songs over and over again. I may be wrong but that is just what I have been hearing. And it was getting tiresome so I did something about it, once i turned that channel on the radio I felt refreshed and smiling again!

I need a break from the Now Family, and I need some Bounce in my life! "Put some Bounce into your Life and Listen to 91.7 The Bounce today"

Hollywood Rooftop, Drais

Everyone loves to party in style right? Not only are you partying at one of the hottest clubs with a swimming pool and pole dancing but you also get a magnificent view of Hollywood, Los Angeles and you just might see a celeb spotting.

Upscale fashionable required where all ages are welcome before 10pm nightly. After 10pm Enjoy a drink inside sitting at a booth mingling with your friends while watching pole dancing or dancing with your friends.

Or chill outside on the pool deck and without having to walk back inside to grab a drink, there is a bar outside on the pool deck. So Enjoy! 

Then grab that drink and over look the magnificent view of Hollywood - it's marvelous! I really felt like a VIP that night. Contiki Holidays have your hookups.

Where is this Fabulous nightclub you ask?  
6250 Hollywood Blvd
12th Fl
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Neighbourhood: Hollywood

And for more Information: http://hollywood.drais.net/www_information/

Why I Didnt Fall In Love With Paris

Driving into Paris on the contiki coach was magnificent, seeing the Eiffel tower defiantly not in Kansas anymore. I am not saying I do not like Paris but i did not feel what people are suppose to feel when they visit Paris, it was a different experience that is hard to explain but never the less has defiantly have taken into consideration of how I live my life, always moving forward. As I say every time I visit Europe it changes me, I do not know how but it changes my outlook, perspective and i am more sure of who i am after each visit from Europe.

Safety. I did not feel comfortable walking around the city always cautious on how i was carrying my bag. As the first night we were touring around the city, and the bus dropped us off to have dinner and whoever wanted to go back to the hotel was to meet at a specific spot to get back onto the coach or continue exploring Paris and take a taxi back to the Hotel. Some of us went back onto the bus and as we were driving onwards back to the Hotel, we happened to see a mugging or fight. Not to sure what it was but by the looks of something, one guy was trying to take another gentlemen fanny pouch of some sort and he was getting mad, and the third guy was trying to hold him back.


Weather. Do not go to Paris in December/January it is rainy and cold and nothing is open New Years Day so not much for you to do except for walking the hallways of the Louvre, which is not a bad thing because that place you can take two days and still not see everything - it is defiantly the place of art :), or walk the streets of Paris or do people watching at a local cafe.


Time. The length of time i was in Paris was short. Arrived December 29 and left January 2. I am sure if i have been in Paris longer and actually got to see and spend some time I would have enjoyed Paris much more, Not saying that I did not enjoy Paris. Just the fact that it was too short. Although I feel i saw more of London then i did of Paris and i was in London for shorter if not the same amount of time. You defiantly need 5+ days in any destination you travel to.


Getting around. Especially from the Contiki hotel we stayed at, to get into Paris. It just seemed quite far. Until you get into Paris, for example we exited the Louvre and planned on finding the Metro to take us to Notre Dame but instead it turned out to be a few blocks north, which was nice that it was semi close by. The Metro was a little bit harder to figure out, which track to take to get us to this destination and so forth. I do not know why but I did not feel safe riding the Metro in Paris.

Language barrier. I had forgotten my translation, lonely planet french book at home so I did not have that with me. Which if i did have so i would have felt more comfortable communicating and be more willing to try. I had not taken a French lesson since elementary school, even I had burrowed some french discs from the library and listened to them each and every day was still not the right approach to learning a new language.


Beggars. Especially watch out for the deaf people that try and come up to you to ask for money. Oh my gosh, i have not seen that many Vendors in Paris since my trip to Italy and still then I think Paris has Italy beaten for how many vendors they have. And most of the Vendors are ripping you off. Best bet is to buy your souvenirs in a store on the streets of Paris - that is how i bought my Key Chain Eiffel Tower, for 0.25 Euros. Watch out for the Gold Ring & String Ring Scam... especially on Montmatre & Champs de Mars.

Gold Ring Scam: a quick and simple summary; A Girl drops a fake gold ring in front of a tourist and tries to persuade him/her to buy it for far more than it is worth. 


Alone. Would have been nice to have someone to share New years in Paris with. Although it did help having Doug, a previous Contiki friend from a previous tour there. It is tough traveling alone and I give myself a lot of props traveling around the globe by myself meeting strangers that soon become friends, Thanks Contiki Holidays for making it easier to travel by one self.


Groups were separated. There were two buses with 50 people on each bus and there were a few people that i had met few months prior on facebook that i have only got to meet one day prior to the tour in London. It would have been nice to have been in the same hotel at least or close to.Just would have been more fun to have more people to share the experience of Paris with and get lost walking the streets with.