Island Walker - Latest Comments

Re: Conveyor Belt Tourism

Brett Wilson — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:19:21 -0000

There were definitely a few stray cats, but I found most people in Italy owned dogs. France seemed to be where all the cats were at.

Re: Conveyor Belt Tourism

Kim Schmidt — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:38:15 -0000

Nice! Andre's parents went to Rome last year. They sent us a postcard with a cat on it and said that there are cats all over the place there. :P Kiki, meanwhile, enjoys the view of my lizard tank here... :P Enjoy Rome and eat some good pasta/pizza, mmmkk??

Re: Conveyor Belt Tourism

Bonnie Wilson — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:48:38 -0000

Oh so true about all the tourists!! Italy is such a beautiful place- again your pics are amazing! Stay safe!
Bonnie & Guy

Re: Jandals, a hangover and the Cote D’Azur

Kim Schmidt — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:07:58 -0000

Wait....why was the naked fisherman the best part??? lol!! Kidding!! Glad you had fun and can have this opportunity to travel! Jealous, but excited for you!!!

Re: Jandals, a hangover and the Cote D’Azur

Janella — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:28:30 -0000

You sure you don't want to join NaNoWriMo? ;P

Re: Jandals, a hangover and the Cote D’Azur

Sadie Swanson — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:56:51 -0000

As it should be. :)

Re: Jandals, a hangover and the Cote D’Azur

Brett Wilson — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:28:16 -0000

A word of warning:

The post was written under the influence of Red Wine and edited after one liter of Hefe Weissbier. Read at your own discretion.

Re: Back to Nature

aeotrin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:11:41 -0000

We have those grapes in our backyard, or very similar at least :)

Re: Oxford

A Walker — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:04:52 -0000

Oh, well! Haha there goes the logic of making assumptions on your travel dates. I just went to the closest Monday prior to your post.

Most awesome that you plan on the full UK and Ireland trip! Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to join you in Europe this time around, but I will definitely go back at any chance I can get, and so we'll plan something in future. I have a hunch that you would like Newcastle, it appears to be very big in the arts. (Katrina and I passed by it on train, she mentioned it was big on the arts, so don't quote me on that lol.) But really, I can't fathom the possibility that any place in England/ Scotland is not worth seeing, even if closed, raining and out of ale. I could spend months in this area and be most content, and spending at least a month in these three countries alone is necessary to really soak it up. Just let me know in advance and I'll mark it on the calendar.

Cheers

Re: Oxford

Brett Wilson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:17:52 -0000

Strangely enough I wasn't there on the 29th, but the 22nd. That would have been even worse though! I'm just a delayed blogger lol. The city was open, but there was nothing to do in terms of night entertainment. All of the theater, live music etc was on most other days of the week, just not Mondays.

I would definitely go back with you and Kat! I plan on doing a full trip to take in the rest of England, Ireland and Scotland :)

Re: After Paris

Brett Wilson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:07:19 -0000

Definitely leaning towards the Nikon. Thanks for the reference to D90, looks pretty sweet! Might see if I could find a used one, but I don't think I would purchase one new. You're camera is definitely for the pros though, of which I am not heh.

Re: After Paris

Brett Wilson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:04:12 -0000

Marseilles is definitely backwater slums, and is apparently made fun of in France for being a garbage bin as well. If that makes you want to check it out, be my guest!

I have enjoyed the smaller, non-touristy destinations in France far more than any of the popular destinations. I'll be writing quite a bit about the Provence and the national park and the Cote d'Azur shortly. There were some incredible off the path cities that I loved!

Re: After Paris

Kim Schmidt — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:44:50 -0000

NIKON! NIKON!!!! For what it's worth, the D90 is an incredible DSLR and since it's like, 2 years old, it's fairly cheap. Which is good...since Nikkor lenses aren't cheap... tho they are awesome :) I do love my Nikon D7000!!!

Re: Oxford

A Walker — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:35:17 -0000

Everything was closed? I was completely not aware that Mondays were 'off' days there, and they actually aren't! I did some research and the last Monday in August is a bank holiday in Britain ("Summer Bank Holiday"), which fell onto the day of your trip (29th.) Unfortunately this research was done now, on a hunch, since I don't remember Oxford being closed in hindsight (although I have no idea what days of the week I was there.) Blarg!

Also, you would have definately benefitted with Katrina as a tour guide, she has been to this place several times and knows all the perks. Hopefully the three of us can wind up in England at some point in time. London and Oxford are just a small taste of what the island has to offer. (But unfortunately I have pretty much only seen the north, beyond just a few hours for a day trip).

Cheers, (and I will now be researching weird foreign holidays myself before future trips haha).
-Aaron

Re: The horrendously beautiful city called Paris

A Walker — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:19:09 -0000

Paris is hard to recommend. I love it, but I cannot find anyone who shares my perspective haha. When Katrina and I went our hostel was in the Montmartre region by the Sacre Coeur where you had ventured to. It helps to navigate through the alleys by leaving a trail of urine, haha no just kidding. I was amazed that the Tour Eiffel was so large and imposing in person, I was picturing it as much smaller. Also, the Notre Dame Cathedral is grand, I loved it too. It's in my favorites list for cathedrals along with St. Paul's and some in other parts of England. Also, great that you could actually see the Louvre. Katrina and I went twice and it was closed *both* times!

Enjoy the travels,
Aaron

Re: After Paris

A Walker — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:10:13 -0000

That is awesome that you are exploring the rest of France. I have only seen Paris, which I was really fond of (and cannot explain why...), but the rest is still a mystery. I have heard from others that places like Marseilles and Brest are back-water slums but that only makes me want to visit all the more lol. I will be following your route attentively for pointers towards my next trip, whenever that will be.

Take care and glad to read up on the adventures!

Re: Sprechen Sie Englisch?

Kim Schmidt — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:50:40 -0000

Wow!! I'm jealous of all this traveling Brett!!! I'm also very impressed with your willingness to learn these different languages and being an awesome blogger and cautious traveler :) Auf Wiedersehen & Sicheres Reisen!!

Re: In Sunny London Town

Brett Wilson — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:11:16 -0000

We'll see how it goes. After this trip some lucky country in Europe might get my services for a year or two first... but when I do come back to Canada it's going to be BC all the way!

Re: In Sunny London Town

Brett Wilson — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:07:07 -0000

I'm jealous of you! You were the one that got to live here. I can absolutely see the appeal now.

Re: In Sunny London Town

Kim Schmidt — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:42:39 -0000

Now now Brett...London seems jolly and all, but we all know you want to move back to Canada so that we can all move to BC together. :) I'm glad you're enjoying yourself so much! It's so gutsy of you to be such a traveler...I could never do that kind of thing...crazy! Thanks for posting on here and letting us all know what kind of shenanigans you're up to! :P

Re: In Sunny London Town

Guy Ethier — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:51:25 -0000

Wow- glad the blogging is back!!! London looks fantastic- enjoy!!!

Re: In Sunny London Town

Cynthia Walker — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 14:57:48 -0000

"I wonder how easy it would be to get a job in London?"

I'll let you know in about five months. :) There seems to be pretty good prospects for programmers, although all this "economic down turn" stuff has me a little concerned that nobody will want to hire little ol' fresh-out-of-foreign-university me.

Loved this blog post, as I've had a fascination with London for years. Hope you'll post more!

Re: In Sunny London Town

Katrina — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 14:54:47 -0000

Brett! I'm so jealous!

-Katrina

Re: Tararua Mountain Range

Kim Schmidt — Sun, 29 May 2011 21:50:18 -0000

Sounds neat! Definitely sounds like you earned them beers!! (Also, good to hear from you again!! I do enjoy these blogs)

Re: The road has led me here

Fatih — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:49:42 -0000

Fantastic photos and stories Brett. I've always told people that traveling is an eye opener.