Stepping Out » One Giant Step

The Long Term Traveler’s Guide

11. February 2012

It’s no surprise that most people take small vacations to visit their favorite places but what if you’re interested in something more? Something longer term? Where would you even start planning something like that? Enter The Long Term Traveler’s Guide. It is the most comprehensive guide on the subject that I have seen anywhere and, [...]

Finally Becoming Myself

9. February 2012

6 Comments

Brushing the hair back from my face I stare at the clock and realize that it’s midnight already. My eyes are burning but there are still a few pages left in the chapter on covalent chemical bonds that have to be read by class tomorrow morning. Pulling the kitchen chair up closer I’m careful [...]

Wanna-be Expat

19. January 2012

8 Comments

I wanna-be an expat. I want to live outside of my home and native land*. I want to experience another culture on a more long term basis than when we breezed through country after country on our round-the-world trip. But I am having a devil of a time defining it beyond that. There’s all kinds [...]

A Bumpy Ride Into 2012

12. January 2012

8 Comments

I’m entering into 2012 all discombobulated. Like when the train doors suddenly open on the platform and the throng of people push relentlessly, puking you out into the station leaving you flapping your arms like an idiot trying to determine if all of you, and your stuff made it out in one piece. There [...]

Welcome Boots’n'All Readers!

7. December 2011

0 Comments

Hi! I wanted to be here to welcome all of you who arrive after reading the Round the World Travel Budgets Revealed article on Boots’n’All! I’m on a little hiatus right now as I spend time with my family after the passing of my father but I’m glad that you came over and wanted to [...]

Local Remembrance

11. November 2011

2 Comments

It’s impossible to miss them. Standing row upon row in the field in numbers that grow every year. Each white cross representing an Albertan soldier killed on duty. 2700 so far, and that’s not all of them. George Bittman, the man who curates the display, was there the day I stopped by. Placing the crosses [...]

Alberta: Remember To Breathe

26. October 2011

4 Comments

This is where I live now. Where the mountains meet the sky and then drop to the most velvety landscape I have ever seen. Where what looks flat is actually filled with coulees, and river valleys; rolling hills and fields as far as you can see. Where I can watch the weather from miles away [...]

Learning About Very. Slow. Travel.

19. October 2011

15 Comments

There are two great lessons that I learned while traveling around the world: Never piss off the one person in the whole world who can get you back home. Slow travel is better. The first lesson I learned early on in our travels and heeded closely our whole time away. The second took some time [...]

On Passion And Moving Forward

6. October 2011

10 Comments

I have always admired passion in a person. The unwavering ability to believe in something and to feel so strongly about it that nothing else matters. Soap-box preaching crazy heads in the town square? Passion. Conspiracy theory touting evangelists? Passion. Belting out a song about the ‘Mighty Fraser River’ to a small crowd in an [...]

Ten Must See Deserts

20. September 2011

11 Comments

I don’t know why but I have a thing for deserts. I like being able to see forever and wonder about the variety of life that manages to survive in such a seemingly inhospitable environment. A little while ago I boldly proclaimed that I would like to visit all the deserts in the world…maybe this [...]

And So It Starts

6. September 2011

7 Comments

We’ve been here in Calgary for five months now (already!). We have been extremely busy this summer exploring our new home and getting settled into new jobs. It’s been a great summer but I can start to feel the chill in the air as fall slowly creeps in. Before too long the dark hours will [...]