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July 6, 2022

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Sometimes travelling can offer a mixed bag of highs and lows. There are times when your expectations are met with underwhelming experiences, and then there are times when you stumble into the experience of a lifetime. Our trip to London in the past 2 days has definitely been the latter.

When we planned this trip we realized that it would coincide with the 2022 Wimbledon tournament so we thought we’d start our vacation in London to try our luck at getting on the grounds. The main 3 courts are always sold via a lottery system, but you can “queue” to enter the grounds where you can watch any of the other matches that are going on during the day at no extra charge. If you’re at the front of the queue you can purchase tickets to the main courts as they hold back a small amount of tickets for a lucky 500 or so. We had originally planned to spend our first day in London taking it easy. Then on day two the plan was to get up early in the morning (3 am) and join the queue of people tenting outside the grounds in order to get first crack at tickets. To be honest, I wasn’t sure the odds were in our favour to secure the coveted centre court passes and I was thinking it was going to be a miserable experience. However, it is on our bucket list to see some grand slam tennis so I was going to suck it up and endure.

On day 1 we decided to walk over to the grounds just to get a lay of the land for our early line up the next morning. As we followed the signs for the queue, we quickly realized that there was no queue at all and we were able to get in to the grounds right then and there.

After walking around the grounds for a while, we headed straight for Henman Hill. We claimed a spot on the grass and soaked in the atmosphere with a Pimm’s in hand.

One of the highlights of our day was hearing the crowd erupt during a a pre-game ceremony where they revealed past Wimbledon champions were at the centre court match. The biggest surprise was that Roger Federer was among them.

For the rest of the day we went to match after match. We got to see some big names, some even walked by us on their way to the courts.

We were running on 2.5 hours of sleep from the airplane ride and time change but we managed to stay until the sun went down. When we got back to our AirBnB we changed our plans for the next day. We elected to sleep until 7 and get up to join the queue. We were confident that we would be able to get on the grounds.

Once we got in, we headed straight to the ticket resale line to wait for our chance to get centre court tickets. This was a risky move but Wimbledon has a system where they resell tickets once people leave. Each ticket costs 15 pounds and it all goes to charity. We were numbers 72 and 73 and were told our odds were good. They were right because 5.5 hours later we were in the possession of 2 centre court tickets!

First up, Paula Badosa vs Simona Halep.

I’m a huge Badosa fan so I was sad to see her lose, but it was amazing to see her play.

The next match featured one of the tennis GOATs, Rafael Nadal vs Botic van de Zandschulp.

When we planned on attending Wimbledon we weren’t sure if we would even be able to get on the grounds, let alone get to see Nadal play a prime time match. We feel like we have cashed in some serious travel karma. Game. Set. Match. robodawno.

February 16, 2022

Back out there

It has been a long 2 years since we have left Canada. And now that we have our chance, we did it with some serious style. DawnO was able to secure a pretty amazing deal in the Maldives that we couldn’t pass up. We knew there was a slim chance we’d actually get to go on this trip, but somehow the stars aligned and we found ourselves flying to the Indian Ocean to this island paradise.

It took us 3 days, 2 Covid tests and 1 float plane to get us here and it was all worth it! Our over water bungalow is quite posh with an outdoor shower, outdoor tub and an infinity pool! We can also walk down our back steps directly into the ocean if we feel like a soak in saltwater is in order.

We arrived on Valentines Day so there were a lot of cheesy (pronounced “romantic”) photo displays everywhere. When I was going through the payment with our island host he asked me if I would like to arrange a special Valentine surprise for my wife. I immediately said “hell no” and thought that dodging the $USD$ surprise on my credit card statement was the most romantic thing I could do. However we were unable to avoid the photo display.

Our island is quite small, as it only takes about 30 minutes to walk around the circumference. But there is plenty to do when we are not lounging around our cabin. We have been doing all the things an all inclusive has to offer including playing some tennis, ping pong, eating 3 buffet meals a day and trying out the 60+ island cocktails. DawnO had planned to try 20 by day 5, however she scratched that idea on day 2 after she sampled 9.

There’s more to come as we are here for another 6 days before we make our way to Houston, TX (don’t mess with it), to visit some cousins of mine. Stay tuned.

July 1, 2021July 1, 2021

Moby Dick… and balls

As our corner of the world began to return to “normal” we took full advantage and booked a trip to beautiful British Columbia. Our first stop was Vancouver where I got to see my family for the first time in person since Christmas of 2019. The next day we picked up our rental car and headed to one of our favourite cities in Canada, Victoria!

In another life, I would take the ferry between Vancouver and Victoria quite regularly over a period of 3 years. In that time, I had never seen a whale in the ocean. I was convinced others were exaggerating when they would talk about seeing whales during a ferry crossing. I began to believe it was a weird expression that people from BC said when they crossed the Strait of Georgia. “Took the ferry over this morning, ordered some White Spot and watched the whales swimming off the deck.” Don’t get me wrong, I knew that it happened from time to time, but it had to be rare, like a Stanley Cup win for the Vancouver Canucks. My confidence was shaken when Dawn and I went on a safari in Tanzania. Not only could I not see whales in the open sea, but I also had a really hard time spotting wildlife in the Serengeti. It seemed that I had a uncommon condition called wildlife recognition disorder. It’s where one can’t see the lion 6 meters in front of oneself because he is convinced the termite mound 500 meters away resembles a water buffalo. Symptoms include hallucinations, crippling disappointment and social embarrassment.

In an effort to rehabilitate me, DawnO decided to book us a whale watching tour the first day we were in Victoria. It didn’t take long before I was able to see 3 humpback whales and 12-15 orcas. We did our best to take pictures but the tour had an official photographer on board so I’ve stolen a few of his shots.

2nd of 2 breaches (I didn’t see the first)

Though I’m definitely not cured, I can now say with confidence that there are whales out there.

We made our way to Shawnigan Lake to visit with one of DawnO’s relatives who has a beautiful home overlooking the lake. BC has been hitting record setting temperatures this week so we jumped in the water to cool off quite a few times.

After our visit we continued northwest towards Dunsmuir to check something off of our bucket list.

Many moons ago DawnO came across a book called 50 Places to Stay to Blow Your Mind. Shortly thereafter we added our next stop to our list:

If you’ve never heard of Free Spirit Spheres I’ll give you a brief rundown. They are spheres that are suspended in the air that you lodge in. We spent 2 nights in the sphere called “Luna”. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but I definitely didn’t expect it to be so fancy. It was glamping in the sky. The site itself was very relaxing thanks to the on-site lagoon and resident wildlife. Not too far away was a cooking area and fully serviced private washroom and shower facility. There were many creative uses of space including a bed that could be lowered from the ceiling with the flip of a switch.

We have since made our way back to the mainland. DawnO will be back with another blog before we return to Alberta.

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020

Home Roam

I think this is the first time in a decade that DawnO was actually home during her birthday. It usually falls on or around August long weekend which means we tend to be in another country jumping out of airplanes, or touring Russian cities. For obvious reasons, we are limited in our travel options. In lieu of going somewhere exotic, DawnO decided to check something off her ever growing bucket list. To complete this task she looked no further than our own South Saskatchewan River.

We had heard that there are the largest fresh water fish living in our river which can live to be 160 years old and can grow to be over 100lbs. Once DawnO heard these creatures were in our river, she decided she needed to get a picture holding one of these prehistoric giants. I have a friend that takes people out to catch (and release) these monsters so we booked it. After two postponements due to weather, we were finally able to cast off on one of the most beautiful autumn days this year.

Leading up to the trip DawnO kept saying that she didn’t want to do any work, she only wanted to get the picture. I realized that meant that I was more than likely the sucker that was going to do the hard work. To my surprise, when the line got a bite, she jumped right in to reel in a 21lb monster!

The largest catch of the day went to our friend Marnie, who landed a 42lb dinosaur.

A few days later, we continued our new trend of local travel and headed to Saskatchewan to enjoy a few days at the Moose Jaw Spa.

We enjoyed soaking in the mineral pool, our massages, and exploring the historic downtown area. On our way back to the city we took a minor detour to Shaunavon SK, where my parents grew up. We got to visit with my Grandpa Jack who is the only relative I have left in town.

After our visit we were off to Harvest Eatery, hands down one of the best restaurants in western Canada. Even if you don’t have relatives in Shaunavon, it is worth the trip for this restaurant. I highly recommend anything they make.

Brisket with warm potato salad and unicorn demi-glace

DawnO had the wild mushroom ravioli, with walnuts, goat cheese mousse and aged balsamic deliciousness drizzled on top

Well that must be it. There’s no way we could find more to do around our little corner of the world… right? Wrong. DawnO had a couple more tricks up her sleeve. She planned a date day which included a corn maze in Brooks, Alberta, and a stop at a new distillery in Rolling Hills, Alberta.

It has been a pretty eventful week. ‘Relaction’ at its finest. I challenge you to discover places a little closer to home. You might be surprised what you find.

September 2, 2019January 14, 2026

We came from away

For the September long weekend, DawnO surprised me with a trip to Ottawa! She picked a nice little AirBnB in the heart of downtown Ottawa which was only a few blocks away from the Parliament buildings. Naturally we took to the streets and found DawnO some food truck poutine before heading to Parliament Hill.

We discovered that they had set up a state-of-the-art show that was projected on to the buildings every night during the summer. It was called the “Northern Lights” and was running the final show that evening. We returned to watch and were blown away by the show all about Canada’s history and diverse culture. At the end they played the national anthem while everyone stood sang along.

The next day we explored more of the city, checked out the market, and prepared for the main event, Come From Away!

Both of us were blown away by this musical! It expertly told the many true stories of when thousands of stranded passengers spent time in a small town in Newfoundland during 9/11. It got us both in the feels and perfectly captured what it means to be Canadian.

Afterwards we met up with Jason, a friend from Medicine Hat who just happens to be the regional manager in charge of ticketing for Broadway Across Canada and now lives in Ottawa.

On our last day we were picked up early in the morning by one of my cousins and were taken an hour north into Quebec to the family cabin on a lake. We spent the day visiting with family and enjoying their company before our flight home.

August 9, 2019August 19, 2019

A Visby Surprise

When we booked this cruise the itinerary initially had 2 days in Stockholm, but later the itinerary changed to 1 day in Stockholm and 1 day in a place called Visby, Sweden. It is located on an island called Gotland, which was an important trading post in the Baltic Sea. There are 92 historic stone churches around the island, with 7 of them within the medieval walls of Visby itself. This has led to UNESCO declaring the town a world heritage site.

For 1 week each year Visby hosts a festival which transforms it into an old fashioned medieval village. Luckily our visit corresponded with this intriguing event.

There is a marketplace where it is possible to purchase a multitude of medieval items including:

There are also many different events including ‘learning to braid like a viking’, jousting, and stage performances.

All in all, Visby was a great spot to spend a day.

I’ll finish with a note about our whole cruise experience. Other than the obvious challenges with sharing a space with 4,000 other guests, we were happy with the cruise overall. Surprisingly there were lots of young families, so we felt like we were about the median age range on the ship. We played ping pong every day, used the games room and library, went to a variety of shows, dances, and musical performances, and RobO dropped from the free fall water slide. We fought through crowds to eat more calories than ever before, then fought for space on the cardio machines at the gym. I don’t think that we’re cruise converts, but I would recommend this itinerary to get a taste of Scandinavia and Russia.

That’s it for this 6 month leave from work. We’ll both be back to work on Monday. Other than a weekend getaway at the end of August we don’t have the next vacation planned but stay tuned, there are lots more items on the bucket list!

August 7, 2019August 19, 2019

Stockholm walk

Today marked the last country we visited on our Baltic Sea cruise, but more impressively, it also marks the 50th country that DawnO has visited. I have only been to a measly 39. Technically we have both been to more, but we don’t count it if it’s only an airport stop. So number 50 for DawnO was Sweden. We docked at Stockholm and, as we do, we left the other tourists to board their packed buses while we used the local city transit system. We decided to begin our day in a neighbourhood called Södermalm, just south of the city centre.

This trendy spot offers cool coffee shops, a hipster vibe and breathtaking views of Gamla Stan (city centre), which can be seen after you climb to the top of the Södermalm heights.

We made our way across the bay on foot into the city centre and were greeted by this sign at the halfway point:

Once we reached Gamla Stan we did our usual walkabout of local churches and statues via winding cobblestone streets.

We didn’t have much of an itinerary but there was one place we made sure we visited, the Nobel Prize Museum.

The prizes themselves are actually awarded in Oslo, Norway, the museum is located in the heart of Stockholm. It details the history and accomplishments of all prize winners and features a collection of prize winning memorabilia. Currently they are featuring a Martin Luther King exhibit.

The 1923 Nobel Prize winner was Canadian, Frederick Banting, who discovered insulin. My failed pancreas thanks you, sir!

When we entered the building, DawnO immediately went over to the café area and started flipping the chairs over. I had no idea what the hell she thought she was doing, but apparently prize winners are asked to sign the bottoms of the chairs they sit on in the museum cafe. Once she explained that I became her mother flipping accomplice. And look who we found…

2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Barack Obama

Probably one of my favourite Nobel Prize winning POTUSes, even though his Peace prize was controversial at the time. My grandma from rural Saskatchewan went to the grave believing his name was Baracko Bama. Suffice it to say, Grandma never received a Nobel Prize.

August 6, 2019August 19, 2019

One Day Wonder

Tallinn, Estonia was the perfect city to visit with a 1 day itinerary. Its old town is easily walkable and has some major bang for its buck. Pretty much every direction you look there’s another beautiful spire poking out from charming buildings with colourful doors.

The medieval old town is still surrounded by a photogenic stone wall.

There are four different impressive cathedrals within the centre. In St Mary’s, built in 1233, we climbed a claustrophobic bell tower with rooftop views of the city.

The Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is magnificent inside and out. I was going crazy with taking pictures of the inside, then RobO asked for the camera. He took one photo before he was stopped by security. No photos allowed, I guess. Oops.

We were happy that we got to see the town hall square (called Raekoja Plats) in the morning light before the crowds set in. They say that in the centre of the square is where the first ever Christmas tree was set up.

We laughed when we visited ‘Kiek in de Kök’, which was once a cannon tower. The name sounds pretty dirty and legitimately means ‘Peep into the Kitchen’ because people could look into the houses below.

In the gardens outside there was an archery area set up. RobO’s eyes lit up immediately as he has a natural talent for the sport. He shot a round and posted a score high enough to make the monthly leader board. A real Rob-O-Hood.

I saw a postcard that said:

Top 3 Things I Did in Tallinn

Have a coffee in old town
Smile a lot
Take thousands of pictures

That pretty much sums up our awesome day.

August 5, 2019August 19, 2019

Far from Finnished

We are in the thick of it now! We are currently in the middle of touring 4 countries via 5 cities in 5 days. Today was the second stop on our Baltic Sea cruise. We arrived in Helsinki, Finland sometime in the night and ventured out, on our own, at about 8am. We were one of the few that didn’t book a tour. Instead we planned ahead with some destinations that we wanted to see, and even signed up to use the city bikes that could be found all around the city centre. DawnO even found a sauna that was going to be open on a Sunday that she really wanted to go to in the afternoon.

We found our bikes at a nearby station, and with a bit of guesswork (the electronics were in Finnish), we were off.

Our first stops took us to the Kauppatori (Market Square), the nearby church, and then a local coffee shop for a special cinnamon bun with cardamom flavour called a ‘pulla’ for DawnO. If you are familiar with the Redcliff bakery cinnamon buns, they pale in comparison to a pulla according to DawnO. Shots fired.

Next up was the cathedral around the corner from the coffee shop. Since it was Sunday, they were holding a service so they weren’t allowing annoying tourists inside. Fair enough.

Then it was back on the bikes to our sauna appointment, with a few stops to take in some more sites along the way.

When we arrived at our sauna we realized that it opened an hour later than they originally told us. Unfortunately that timing made it tight to make our return to the cruise boat so we had to abandon the dream.

We decided to slowly make our way back to the cruise boat and we came upon another market. There was a food stall making some delicious looking pancake-type things that cheered DawnO right up!

We found a spot where we could take in the views of Helsinki, including a Ferris wheel. If you look closely, you can see the compartment that is actually a sauna.

All-in-all we enjoyed our short stay in the Finnish capital. We will definitely return one day and find our way to a sauna. Next up, Estonia!

August 4, 2019August 19, 2019

See You Again St. Pete

RobO and I typically belong in the ‘independent travellers’ category, but we decided to do a Baltic Sea cruise specifically because tourists can access St. Petersburg without having to go through the arduous Russian visa process. Needless to say, we were very excited to arrive at this first port.

On Friday night we started our explorations with a quick city tour followed by a nighttime boat cruise. It was a great way to get the lay of the land before our full day in the city.

The next morning we had a full day of interesting history and art lessons, starting with a trip on the St. Petersburg metro system. It is the deepest metro in the world, with the immaculately clean and decorated stations being used as bomb shelters during war times. It was difficult to capture the depth, but the escalator was going down at literally a 45 degree angle!

RobO looking like a Secret Service guy with his tour headset.

Does this mess with your mind? The camera is tilted to show the angle we were going down at!

Our next stop was the Hermitage which started as a palace but is now the largest art gallery in the world. It is a maze of opulent rooms, each remarkably different. I think I took a picture of the ceiling in every room that we visited. We saw works from 3 different ninja turtles (missing Donatello) and other notable artists. Wow.

The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood was our next stop. It was built as a memorial for Czar Alexander II. Interestingly there were numerous serious attempts to assassinate the Czar before someone was eventually successful. The cobblestones with his ‘spilled blood’ were kept and serve as an altar in the church. The church, almost as a mirror of the Czar, has also survived numerous demolition attempts (from the Bolsheviks, the outlawing of religion during the Soviet era, and even a bomb that was found undetonated!).

The outside was spectacular (even with scaffolding), but the inside was equally impressive. I was especially amazed at how the light shines brighter on the gold gilded mosaic tiles making the halos and heavenly rays look remarkably real.

Our final destination was Peterhof, a summer palace a hydrofoil boat ride away from the city. Peter the Great built this palace to feel like the palace of Versailles and was especially into the gardens and fountains.

A symbol of Peter’s victory over the Swedish.

The entire day had spurts of rain and cold wind but it always seemed to be at the worst when we were indoors. The best part was the sun coming out at the end of the day for glorious shots at Peterhof.

This was a perfect way to spend my 41st birthday. I’m planning to keep this 7 year streak of birthday travels alive! At the restaurant last night there was a Happy Birthday song and cake delivery to a gentleman at the table next to us. I couldn’t believe the coincidence that we shared a birthday. It was only after the servers had left and he was eating his cake when he leaned over, laughing, and said, “I don’t know who this was for because it’s not actually my birthday”. It turns out the waitress had mixed up our table numbers. I’m sure the whole restaurant was surprised when yet another birthday song and cake was delivered to me.

We’ve decided that St. Petersburg is going back onto the bucket list as is deserves more exploration. We’ll be back!