Reykjavik – First Impressions

September 20, 2014 / morganonthemap / Leave a comment

1. There isn’t nearly as much wool as was implied.

Before coming to Iceland I read quite a few articles about the country. What there is to do, what the place is like, how to get where you’re going. One thing kept cropping up in all of these articles: people love the Icelandic wool sweater. I was often made out to be iconic, and implied that it was well worn by locals. Well, I have been walking around downtown now for 7 hours and I have to say it’s just not as prominent as I expected. Yes it’s in shop windows and yes, I have seen 3 people wearing them, but that’s just three! I felt there would be more.

I expected it to be more like this, but on people.

2. People just walk out into traffic.

More then once I, and sometimes another tourist or two, have been standing waiting at a walk light only to have a local breeze by us and just walk out on a red walk light. Not sure why the place has walk lights at all since walking into the street seems to be commonplace. Now they don’t walk right in front of moving cars like I saw people in Italy do, but they do indeed just walk out into traffic. Sometimes they do it without so much as a glance to see if anything’s coming. Getting run over isn’t the way I want to start my trip, so I’m going to stick to the walk lights… where they are available.

3. The hot dogs aren’t what they were made out to be.

It was implied to me through more then one source that the hot dogs here are excellent. I tried one, I even let them put all the toppings on it, but it wasn’t for me. Not something I really enjoyed at all. I may give them a second change, go to a different vendor. We’ll see.

Looks better then it tastes. But the real problem was the texture!

4. The City is fine, but it’s the countryside that’s where it’s at!

I’ve been exploring the city, I went to a museum, checked out some landmarks, window shopped, everything you’re supposed to do in a city. But one look across the harbor at the mountains I can just barely make out in the fog and I know that my explorations need to go beyond the city limits. I need to see the wilderness!

Need to go where it looks more like this!

5. People here use their bicycles to get around.

Rain or shine (though I have yet to experience the latter) it seems that for the people of Reykjavik, biking is the way to get around. Sure some walk, and some have cars, but it seems like a lot more then I’m used to bike. I know in weather like this back home in Canada I’d be hard pressed to find very many people out on bikes!

Strange creatures of Reykjavik, Iceland

September 17, 2014 / morganonthemap / Leave a comment

I’ve only been in Iceland for a few hours, but I’ve already had a chance to start exploring. One thing became pretty clear to me pretty fast, there’s some weird things around here! Specifically I mean sculptures, or “creatures.”

I’ve found a few so far. There’s the man who’s top half is a giant stone.

Must find it hard to think with his head all up in a rock.

Then there’s his polar opposite a few streets over, two people who’s bottom halves are chunks of stone.

These two aren’t going anywhere with their legs not sculpted!

Then there’s the trolls. At least I think they are trolls. They sure look like trolls to me!

Just a couple of old trolls, out for some strolls!

This one is all geared up for a Viking fight!

I’m looking forward to exploring more of Reykjavik and Iceland in the next few days. Will more of these oddities crop up? I’ll just have to wait and see!

Canadian Heat Wave?

July 3, 2014 / morganonthemap / Leave a comment

You know how everyone, (even us Canadians) always seem to be talking about how cold it is in Canada? How much snow there is, how low the temperature is, how frozen everyone’s hair/beards/eyelashes get…Well, let me tell you something, cold was not the problem this last weekend in my neck of the woods.

I was born and raised on the east coast of Canada, and yes, it gets very cold in the winter. It’s not unheard of for the temperatures to be well bellow 30º C in the frigid months of January and February, and winter here can last for more than half our calendar year.

Winter: Yikes!

With winters so long and so cold, we tend to try not to complain about the heat so much. This weekend though, we hit that threshold when people start to complain because it’s too hot. That’s right, too much heat!

Those non Canadian readers among you might be thinking that too hot for a Canadian is probably still downright chilly for you. Well, I guess it’s chilly, if you think 40º C is chilly. (That’s 104º F for those of you who don’t follow Celsius.) With temperatures so warm and weather so nice and not rainy, I did what any good person still stuck in a desk job should do: I took advantage of the weather and got my butt outside!

My friends and I went Kayaking on the river, lounged in a pool and just generally tried to stay cool. Kayaking has to be my new favourite thing. I’m talking leisurely kayaking here, by the way.

Leisurely, as in the water is calm and it looks like this.

Let’s not go crazy and think I’m in rapids or anything. Leisurely is where it’s at. We got to spend time in the water and just enjoy ourselves! Sure, I got a heck of a lot of nasty, itchy bug bites while trying to get the boat down to the water, but I had so much fun regardless.

Couldn’t resist taking what I am dubbing a “Kayak Selfie.”

We were even lucky enough to see an eagle fly by while we were on the water. We found him a few minutes later perched up in a tree, and he just sat there staring at me as I manuvered my boat under him to take a picture. I’d never been that close to a wild eagle before, it was pretty spectacular. Later he even gave us a bit of a show, swooped down in front of us and caught a fish. Pitty my camera wasn’t out when he did that!

He was staring me down. Considering if I was too big to have for dinner I bet.

So, if you’re finding yourself to be a bit warm right now, and the high temperatures of summer are getting to you, I suggest you find some way to keep cool! Try kayaking if you haven’t already, or find a friend with a pool, and get in it.

Oh, and remember, don’t forget your sunscreen!

Freddy Beach Ribfest BBQ Goodness

June 17, 2014 / morganonthemap / Leave a comment

I think I’ve died and gone to heaven! That or I’m slowly dieing right now… probably the latter. I’m sinking into a food coma, the best food coma of my life. This could be bad, or very very good.

That was my thought process as I rolled (pretty much literally) myself out of Fredericton’s very first Ribfest at the end of May 2014. It might have been the first time that Fredericton had hosted such a massive food event, but that didn’t dampen the success. It was certainly one of my favorite events we’ve ever had in Fredericton, and frankly, I think it needs to happen again. As in I personally need it to happen again, tomorrow would be good… mmmm ribs.

OK, I got distracted, let me start at the beginning. After parking in the incredibly packed parking lot I stepped out of my car, breathed in the smell of smokey fires and cooking BBQ, and instantly knew that I was going to have a great time. There were lots of different vendors and games and things with their tents and trucks encircling the seating area, so I couldn’t see anything until I stepped through into the center of Ribfest itself.

Like this game/ride thing. For kids only I think… how very disappointing.

There were rows on rows of picnic tables; each lined with people absolutely covered in BBQ sauce who were stuffing their faces. Towering above them all were the billboards for the different rib vendors, the reason that we were all there.

It was like stepping into BBQ heaven.

Five vendors in total, how could I possibly choose which line to get in? Turns out you can just go right up to the cooks, as they are BBQing their hearts out over the wood fires, and ask for a sample of their sauce. Some were smokey, some sweet, one was more spicy, but after trying them all I knew which one I had to get. I called it my Goldie Locks sauce. It wasn’t too sweet or too smokey, it was just right for me. My vendor of choice: Crabby’s BBQ Shack.

This is the place where my stomach’s best dreams were about to come true. Rib cooking geniuses.

So I hunkered down and got in the very, very long line to wait my turn. To my surprise the lines moved really fast and before I knew it I was up at the front excitedly ordering the meal I had priced and planned out, a chicken and ribs combo.

“I’m so sorry, we’ve run out of chicken for the night.” Were the next words I heard… out of chicken? Crap! I didn’t plan a backup choice! Needless to say I panicked and ended up ordering a full rack of giant ribs.

A full rack of ribs? Sure, yeah, I can totally eat all of that…. oh man that’s a lot of food.

Note to self: always have a backup choice.

It was a crazy huge pile of ribs, but my god were they good. Juicy, tender, tasty, fall off the bone; anything you could ask for. I may have accidentally ordered a whole rack, and I may not look like the type of person who could actually eat all of it, but sure gave it a solid try. I ended up eating all but 2 of the ribs, which I shared with some friends. I mean come on, I had to let other people know about how amazing and clearly superior these ribs were!

The Aftermath: complete and utter rib destruction.

All of these amazing rib cooking folks travel all over Canada, even going to a few US destinations, cooking their amazing ribs. In Fredericton they served the best ribs I have ever had in my life to over 70,000 people in one weekend. That’s a lot of BBQ. If they come to your neck of the woods, or you are able to find them on your travels, I highly recommend (basically require) that you go. It’s well worth the cost and your time. When you’re full to the brim with ribs at the end, relaxing in the beer tent listening to the live band, you’ll thank me for telling you to go. I know you will.

Hitting the Beach in LA

June 8, 2014 / morganonthemap / Leave a comment

I cannot stress enough how amazingly fantastic my day at the beach and Santa Monica Pier was. It was, bar none, the highlight of my trip to Los Angeles. I’d go back just for the beach. I’d leave right this moment if I could!

Lots of people out on the beach on this cloudless, sunny day.

I was staying in a small hotel in the down town area of LA, so I was anything but close to a beach. Even so, I would not be deterred! My friend and I hopped ourselves onto one of the city’s buses and hunkered down for the ride. We arrived at Venice beach just over an hour later and immediately knew that we had made the right choice by heading to the beach. The sand was smooth and clean, the water warm and the waves crashing up against the rocks were a sight to see.

There were quite a few people out on the beach, but even so it was well worth the trip. Venice Beach was less crowded then Santa Monica Beach, so if you’d prefer fewer crowds that might be the way to go. However, Santa Monica Beach has a lot more perks, but then I’ll get to that in a minute.

There’s lots to do on the beaches of LA. From making epic sandcastles for the kids, to sunbathing, swimming, and even surfing. The surf looked pretty good the day I was there, but then I’m no surfer! There were a lot of people trying to catch a wave though. We even saw a dolphin swimming along with the surfers, trying to join in.

Don’t forget to check out the famous lifeguard towers from Baywatch along Santa Monica Beach!

My recommendation: bring an old towel that you don’t mind throwing out. Spend some time on the beach, lounge, get a tan, go for a swim or surf. Then throw your towel in the trash so you don’t have to carry around the sandy, soggy thing and head on up to Santa Monica Pier!

It looks awesome just approaching it!

After trekking along Venice Beach the amazing structure of the amusement park on a pier came into focus. This is what I had been waiting for. Santa Monica Pier has a lot to offer any visitor. From amusement rides like the roller-coaster or the famous Ferris wheel to games, shopping, an arcade and of course, great food. Our first stop was clearly food. We saw Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Factory and knew we had to eat at the Forrest Gump inspired restaurant at the end of route 66, where the man himself had run in the movie.

They have these amazing stringy onion things… you need to try them, like now.

We spent hours on the Pier. We stuffed our faces, perused through the little shops, checked out the games and arcade, and soaked in the views of the sea and the surrounding mountains and cityscape. The best views of all can be found at the top of the Ferris wheel. It’s located within Pacific Park, a small amusement park on the Pier. Admission into the Park is free, but it will cost you a bit to get on any of the rides. Even with that in mind I recommend that you pay the slightly steep price of about 10 dollars, and take a ride on the wheel yourself.

If you’re on the Pier, don’t miss out on the amusement rides in Pacific Park.

The Santa Monica and Venice Beach area is one not to miss out on, whether you want to take a week there or make it a single day outing in a much larger trip to Los Angeles. Either way you’ll find there is plenty in the area to occupy your time. So take the time to relax, enjoy the sun and have some fantastic beach fun!

Look at me! I’m totally in the water! Enjoying my last moments on the beach.

Visiting Fredericton: Sugar Bush at Kings Landing

May 24, 2014 / morganonthemap / Leave a comment

Maple syrup: it’s a Canadian staple and the best way to enjoy it is melted into fresh white snow (Again, that’s white snow, NOT yellow!) and then wrapped around a stick and popped directly into your mouth like a lollipop. That or on pancakes, or both if you can manage, and you can. Often called Maple Taffy, I recently enjoyed this gooey treat at Kings Landing Historical settlement outside of Fredericton NB, Canada.

Kings Landing goes all out for their Sugar Bush event weekend, which happens every year in March. They do everything historically and by the books – no new technology here. Once the sap starts running in the maple trees, the workers take their buckets out to the trees and start collecting the not so tasty maple sap. They then put it into giant black cauldrons over toasty fires to boil it into maple syrup. Then they open the park for the first time in the season, and let the customers in.

Boiling the maple sap into syrup!

Because Sugar Bush takes place in March it’s a good idea to bundle up before you go. If you do find yourself getting cold though, you can huddle around the fires and listen to one of the kind gentlemen working the syrup as he explains to you how the process works. Plus, the table where they make the candied snow is right beside the fires, so you can set yourself up with a steady stream of sugar as you heat up, for only two dollars a pop.

Making Maple Taffy

Once you’ve had your fill of the Maple Taffy, be sure to explore the rest of the historical settlement. You can hop onto a free sleigh ride, pulled by giant horses, that will take you past old homes, brought to the settlement for historical preservation, and give you magnificent views of the, currently frozen, St. John River. You can hop off and visit the farm, where there are pigs, horses, cows and sheep. Kids love going inside the barns, but this is no petting zoo – these animals are huge. The man who takes care of them assures me they are safe, and is clearly attached to his oversized “pets.”

The caretaker of the animals

Beside the barns you’ll find the first of the old houses. Inside it’s like a small museum with antique furniture showing how people used to live and do their chores. However, it smells nothing like you’d expect in a museum, no musty old odour. Instead it smells like fresh pancakes. Head into the kitchen and watch the ladies cook on old-fashioned cook tops, then sample the tasty pancakes they serve up. See, I told you you could manage Maple Taffy AND pancakes! Before you leave this house, be sure also to ask to try to spin some wool on the wheel.

Finally hop back on the sleigh ride and make your way to the other side of the settlement. Here you’ll see the famous mill up the river and the main building called the Kings Head Inn. At the inn you can, and should, enjoy a hot chocolate or a hot apple cider. Then buy a voucher to try venison being cooked over yet another camp-fire up the path.

The Kings Head Inn

If you’ve never had venison before you should definitely try it. If you don’t know what it is, it’s deer meat. This year was my first experience eating it, and while I’m glad that I tried it I can’t say I liked it very much. My friends that I was with loved it though. It’s a bit chewier then meat that I’m used to eating, and it has that “gamey” taste that had previously been described to me. It’s also covered in maple syrup BBQ sauce, so that part was amazing.

Overall Sugar Bush at Kings Landing is a must do activity if you are in the Fredericton Area in March. Stepping into Kings Landing is like stepping into a time machine. Don’t rush a visit, there is so much to see, do and learn. Wander around, take some pictures, have some candy, and immerse yourself in the history presented all around you.

Why People “Can’t” Travel

May 24, 2014 / morganonthemap / Leave a comment

Through my years of travelling and trying to find people to travel with (I didn’t start out with the confidence needed to travel solo!) I have found that there are lots and lots of people who say they want to travel, but almost none who are actually willing to do it. Most simply tell me that they “can’t” travel, for one reason or another. There are lots of articles out there describing reasons why people do travel, but I have found that there are less articles written about why people don’t. So I have compiled a list of some of the excuses that I have heard given as reasons why people “can’t” travel, and why these excuses are unfounded – in my opinion.

Reason #1 – I don’t have enough money!

You don’t need a small fortune!

People often see travelling as this big expensive thing, and it definitely can be. The problem that I find with these people is they often stop thinking once they’ve made that assumption, leaving themselves to wistfully dream about travel for the rest of their lives. Now, if your idea of travelling is staying in 5 star hotels, flying first class and eating out in the most famous and high-class restaurants then yes, travelling for you will be ridiculously expensive, good luck, I hope you win the lottery.

The good news is that travel doesn’t have to be like that. It doesn’t have to cost as much as the 5 star trip I mentioned clearly would. Lots of people around the world don’t travel like that, I certainly don’t. It just takes a bit of research to figure out how to travel more cost effectively. For example, using sites like http://www.workaway.info/ or https://www.couchsurfing.org/ are great ways to lessen the costs of your accommodations (and sometimes even food!) while at the same time getting a great cultural experience and meeting fantastic new people.

If you want to travel, you will need to start saving money. The point is that it doesn’t have to be tons of money. Start by putting just a little bit from each pay check into a special travel account. Once you have enough to do it – buy your ticket! A deadline like a flight is the best motivator to keep saving even more money. If you are young and have student loans or some other kind of loan and think that you will travel once you have that loan paid off then there is something you have to realize. Living in today’s society you may never reach a point when you are debt free. Or you might turn around and realize that time has gotten away from you and now you have that debt, and kids, and a house, and a dog, and… you had been planning on solo travelling.

There isn’t likely to be a time in your life where travel is easy. Where you suddenly have enough money and zero responsibilities. So whether you are a broke student or a middle-aged mother, if you want to travel then the time to do it is now. You just have to start saving, little by little, and make travel a priority. Save by not buying that new tv, or that new video game. (I know it’s hard, I want it too) Then when you have a bit of a money cushion saved, just go. Money will sort itself out, so long as you stay within your budget and research to get the best prices on food, lodging and day trips.

Reason #2 – The world isn’t safe!

While it’s true that some places are safer to travel to than others, the world is generally a very safe place. Think about it, most places that you would travel to have at the very least a fair few inhabitants, and those people, living in that place, are probably just like you and I. They are going about the business of living their lives. They don’t care about you and your travelling, they are just concerned about getting to the bus stop to pick up their kid, taking their wares to the market, or whatever other daily chore they are on.

But Morgan, pickpockets! Yes, yes, there are people out there whose daily chore is to rob you. However, that just means that when you are travelling you should keep your wits about you and try not to stand out too much like a sore thumb. You might already live in a place where there are known to be pickpockets, or someone in your home town might have suddenly taken up pickpocketing. If you found that out would you lock yourself up in your house, never to leave again? I’d hope not! Anyone, anywhere in the world who you don’t know is a potential pickpocket, just simply because you don’t know them. However they are also a potential best friend, soul mate, adventure buddy, companion, tour guide, life saver and a whole host of other things.

The most important thing to remember is that most of the people in the world are good people, and your life will be better for having met them. Just stay attentive when in a crowd or around people you don’t know (just like you probably would at home) and try to relax and enjoy the people you are meeting. If someone does swipe your wallet, it’s not the end of the world. You’ll still wake up the next day, and figure out how to keep on travelling.

If you are worried about larger scale issues like war, political upheaval or massive protests, then the best advice I can give you is to do your research before travelling. Know before you leave if the places you are planning on going are currently in the midst of some sort of dangerous happenings. If they are, and that worries you, then simply stay away. You can always go once the state of that particular place has calmed down. The best thing to do when researching where you want to go is to check out that countries travel advisories. If there is a significant travel advisory out for that country, then simply wait to go there until the advisory has been lifted.

Reason #3 – No one wants to go with me!

New friends I met in Vancouver!

This was not a reason that I heard from my friends when I asked them if they wanted to travel with me, it was the reason I was asking in the first place. This was my reason and it stopped me from travelling for quite a while. I thought that I couldn’t travel if I didn’t have anyone to go with me. So I was guilty of saying “I can’t” more times than I am proud to admit. Eventually I got the guts to travel and I came to realize very quickly that not only can I travel successfully without my friends, but travelling solo doesn’t equal travelling alone.

Everywhere you go when you are travelling solo you will meet new people, some of whom will become great new friends, others you will only hang out with for a day as you do an excursion together. Each and every one of the people you meet will become a part of your trip, and you will become a part of theirs. They will keep you from being lonely and will add a greater depth to your trip then you might have gotten if you travelled with people you already knew. When you’re alone you are forced to interact with new people, when you travel with friends you don’t have that same social need. There are of course pros and cons to travelling both solo and with friends. But not having the option to travel with friends should never stop you from travelling. I personally think that travelling solo gives a much richer travel experience, and as such is preferred.

So whether it’s money, fear or lack of travel minded friends that’s keeping you from travelling, I am here to tell you to just go ahead and do it. Yes it might be lonely sometimes, you might be living off a ridiculously small amount of money, and yes someone may steal your wallet. But in the end you will be glad you did it, and you will come home with fantastic new life experiences and new and amazing stories to tell. Then hopefully you will be able to convince any of your friends who have told you these same excuses to start their own travel adventure and finally open their eyes and see the world.

Morgan On The Map

The Stories of my World Travels

Author: morganonthemap