Shame post

I've been shamed into posting. While I wait for my milk and cheerios to digest before I run I thought I would catch up. Well, not a full catch up but at least a partial. No going back to post photos from the trip (y'all can see them on Facebook anyway) but maybe filling you in on my last 3 weeks.

I jumped right back into work when I arrived. Not really both feet at first. I would say week 1 I had one foot in and the other was just thinking about my next vacation/trip. The bonus from this last trip is that it had clarified for me what kind of travelling I want to do next year.

Realising that I am getting older (yes, sadly true), and not everyone enjoys some of the places I want to visit, I'm going with a theme for my 2010 travel. Are you ready for it? 'Developing worlds and trekking/hiking.' I want to do everything I can't do with kids or a bad hip. And I want to check off some of this really big, once in a lifetime adventures.

My draft itinerary goes a little something like this:

Mid-April 2010 - Finish work. Have a few drinks. Pack up my belongings and put them in storage.

~ April 20, 2010 - Hawaii for a week or 10 days of relaxation and working out. (you will see why the working out is important. Hawaii is great for training. A lot of people go vacation there to train for ironman)

~ May 1, 2010 - Fly to Delhi and then on to Kathmandu. Go on 15 day trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp.

~ Mid-May 2010 - Fly back to Delhi. Travel around seeing Agra etc. If time, possible trekking in Rajasthan.

June, 2010 - Fly to Tanzania. Climb Kilimanjaro. This will be followed by an overland tour through Africa.

First week of July 2010 - Stop and rest up in either in coastal South Africa. I am thinking of Zanzibar.

Third week of July 2010 - Head back to Vancouver to enjoy the rest of the summer.

September 2010 - Start work.

In theory, doesn't it all sound great? I think I end up visiting 8 countries in 10 weeks and 7 of them will be new ones for me.

Off for my run.

Olives and Eggplant but no beer

Photos will be added later. This PC has no USB port.

Arrived tired but with lmuggage to Casablanca on Saturday. Got ripped off by taxi but was still less than if I was in Europe. The cheap taxis here are the petit taxis and there was only grand taxis at the airport.

First time joining a group tour and it was kind of nice to just show up. Immediately noticed the difference with it being an Muslim country. Wanted to spend my afternoon sitting at a cafe but there were only men at the cafes and I was getting the evil eye.

Met up with group the night I arrived and the 15 of us went for dinner. I had chicken with fries but tried the tapas at the table. Not a fan of olives or eggplant and that seems to form the base of everythin. Oh well. Also noticed no alcohol on the menu. Will have to save the drinking for Spain.

Not much time in Casablanca but we visited the third largest mosque in the world on the way out that morning. Here is a photo....oh right...no USB port.

We then visited Rabat and a lot of mosques. Our guide took us to a restaurant in Meknes where he was obviously getting a kick back because it was extremely over priced. I think that is just how it works here because same thing happened today but the food was way better and it was not quite as expensive. I have had 2 more chicken meals as chicken seems rather safe.

The best part of the first day was seeing some Roman ruins in Voullabis. So amazing. We were on this beautiful hillside and it was sunny. I could have spent hours there. The ruins were further ruined by teh Lisbon earthquake so they are all open but you can see the tile mosaics in the wealthier houses/ruins.

We arrived in Fez at about 8pm last night and hunted down a restaurant rather than caving to the McDonalds next to our hotel and eating a McArabia. Not kidding. It is a real item on the menu.

Au revoir for now.

Theoretically

Trip has started off with a bang. Running on 2 days with 3 hours sleep total. Had bad middle seat on flight and was book ended by older people that really didn't want to move when I had to go to the bathroom. I did manage to drink 1.5 litres of water on flight but I probably broke even on hydration as I had champagne and red wine.
It is raining in Paris as I wait for my flight to Casablanca.
Airline has screwed up on my luggage but they have told me that 'theoretically' it should be on my flight to Casablanca. They just can't confirm that it is.
Hopefully more posts later. This stand up kiosk for internet is not made for someone 6 feet tall. I thought Europeans were all amazons but maybe not the French.

3 more sleeps

I really have no excuse for not blogging other than fatigue. Life has been very busy with exciting things I could blog about but it has all been in anticipation of a vacation which starts on Friday.

10 days in Morocco and 7 days in Spain. Lots of sightseeing planned for Morocco and some day trips and beach time in Spain.

Other than the waiting for vacation I have been slowly recovering from 16 sport events along with numerous other work commitments over the last 3 months. This past 5 day weekend, with plenty of quality family time, has somewhat restored me but I am definitely counting the hours left until my departure.

For those of you interested, my itinerary is below. I am testing out my light packing skills for this trip in anticipation of my 10 weeks of travel next year around this time. Fingers crossed. You will see a lot of photos of me wearing the same thing.

April 17th - Depart from YVR! Stop over in Seattle and Paris (but no time to go tour the city :( )
April 18th to 24th - Arrive in Casablanca - meet up with Gap adventures. Much like the light packing I am testing them out for 2010. Have heard good things. They are not Contiki tours. For more info. on what I am up to from the 18th through 24th you can see the itinerary here.
April 25th - Meet up with Rachel and Chris in Marrakesh. Day of sightseeing.
April 26th - We're still debating the overnight train vs. day train to Tangier. We want to catch the ferry on the 27th from Tangier to Algeciaras to get over to Spain. It leaves at 7am and 4pm. I am voting for 7am and taking a train during the day on the 26th.
April 27th - The three amigos...okay...the happy couple and third wheel land in Spain, pick up rental car and drive Marabella.
April 27th to May 3rd - We have some rest and relaxation planned along with day trips to Gibraltar, Cadiz and Alhambra. Rachel and Chris drop me in Malaga on the evening of May 3rd and I fly home early the next morning.

Are you tired yet? I am really hoping I am not. I think the mix of sun and Spanish wine will be just what I need.

So fast

How cool is the Oval? Tied with the sliding centre for my favorite venue. Spent a few hours watching speed skating with Ritchy and two of our rowing friends. Had to get back to work after 3 hours of spectating and missed seeing 2 Canadian medals in the last event. The men's 10,000m was the middle event and it was long. Real long. Looked very painful.

Made Rachel stop in at Richmond Centre and check out Banana Republic sale. Richmond was a great choice. Lot's of stuff in my size. Bought 6 items for $200. Two pairs of pants that were normally over $100 ended up being under $20 each. Man I love a good sale.

Two more weeks of work craziness and then things start to get back to normal. Starting the countdown; 5 weeks from today and I am in Morocco. Woo hoo!

Government sure does take a bite...

I filed my taxes today. Yeah me. And, I checked my account on epass and they obviously got my letter, in reply to their revised assessment, and are now refunding me the money they thought I owed them. It is Monday and I've already filed my taxes. Yeah me!

In other news: I missed out on last nights torch dessert and tonight's home cooked meal at Ritchy's. Last night I didn't receive the invite and tonight I got the invite but it was 10 minute warning and I needed to eat and run because they were headed to the movies.

I'm not complaining (keep the offers coming Rich!) but sad none the less that I have missed out two days in a row.

Notes from my apartment

I've obviously spent a lot of time at home lately given my battle with the pneum. What I have noted so far is;

• IGA really is just downstairs. You can pick up gingerale and Lipton chicken noodle soup between the hours of 7am and midnight. Does it get any better?
• Other than the occasional pile drive at the construction site my place is quiet enough for a day time nap for a person, like myself, that is light sleeper.
• While I want to get rid of cable I am really enjoying Shaw On Demand movie service. Same price as pay per view but you can watch the movie you order anytime, pause, rewind etc. and you get it for 24 hours. Just wishing I wasn't working yesterday so I could have watched Pineapple Express for a second time.
• On a Sunday night when you are extremely short of breath you can text your sister a block away and let her know you might be needing her to take you to the ER. I felt very confident she would step up to the plate. Just need to provide her with an extra set of keys in case I had passed out.
• The chaise can be turned on an angle and is perfect for watching 2 movies back to back. Very comfortable.

Looking forward to a day of rest that will involve laundry, grocery shopping and seeing the gold medal sledge hockey game at 5pm.

The only thing that would perfect this day would be a nice visit from my new nephew Kaz. Not even a photo yesterday from Dave. Do we have to beg?