Family Vacation

This will be our first family vacation since 2018 and our first really big vacation since 2016.

In 2016, we flew to Phoenix, Arizona, where we visited family and travelled all over the state. We also drove to San Diego, California for a few days. It was a great trip but it left me never wanting to go back to the US again, and I haven't crossed the border since.

In 2018, we stayed in Canada and travelled east, to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I suppose it's a big vacation, too, but we've been out east a couple of times and it feels close to home.

Either way, we haven't had a family vacation in more than six years.

In 2019, it seems as though all of us went in different directions. DW and I flew to Mexico to celebrate our 25th anniversary, and a couple of months later, I flew to South Korea on my own.

Kid 1, after graduating from high school, went to Europe with her best friend, visiting Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. At the same time, Kid 2 left for Greece with her best friend and family.

Nobody went anywhere in 2020.

Over the last month, DW and I became hooked on the TV series, Long Way... with Ewan McGregor and his best buddy, Charlie Boorman. These friends have ridden motorcycles around the world over three seasons, and we binge-watched them all within a week.

And it got us thinking about travel.

Yes, we have a booked vacation in Mexico, this December, but we like to look ahead. We scratched our head about where we'd like to go, largely based on McGregor's and Boorman's travels and some of the great cinematography that their cameramen shot.

When we decided on the country we wanted to visit, Kid 1 became interested. We told her that if she paid for her airfare, we'd pay for everything else (she works full-time and lives at home, so she's financially good).

We didn't want to leave Kid 2 out but she's a classic struggling artist. So we told her that if she could kick in a small amount, we'd love for her to join us.

She said it was no problem.

So, we're all booked. The kids will join us for the first week and head home together, and DW will finish out the trip on our own. We're so excited: we've already purchased new luggage and a new wardrobe.

Where are we going, you might wonder? Well, I'm keeping it secret for now. In the coming months, I'll offer clues along the way. For now, let me just say that it's somewhere that was visited in one of the three seasons of Long Way... (Long Way Around, Long Way Down, Long Way Up).

Guess where we're going?

Stay tuned.

Pshaw Festival Theatre

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Well, this is a first.
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My Where In The World contest for August has come to a close, and not only did no one guess the correct location (a first), no one submitted a guess at all (another first).
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The location is the Court House Theatre, one of the venues in Niagara-on-the-Lake for the Shaw Festival.
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Here's how the clues worked out:

1. Court is not in session—because the court house has been converted to a theatre!
2. The play's the thing—the mystery location is a theatre.
3. Always a festival—the Court House Theatre is part of the Shaw Festival.
4. Pshaw! It ain't that far—I thought this clue was a giveaway for having "Shaw" in it; relatively speaking, Niagara-on-the-Lake isn't that far from Ottawa.
5. Not the falls; the other one—not Niagara Falls; Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Either I stumped everyone or you're all on vacation. Maybe some of you are in Niagara-on-the-Lake, enjoying a Shaw Festival play at the Court House Theatre. In any case, the contest will be back in September.

Where In The World: The August Edition

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It's that time of the month.
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Actually, I haven't been regular with this contest, but starting today I will be running either my Where In The World contest or my Where In Ottawa contest on the first Monday of each month. So here we go:
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And now the rules:

• If you have been with me to this location, you are not eligible to enter the contest.
• If you have won this contest before, you can still play, but no prize will be awarded (I have learned that I'm really bad at sending prizes in the mail in a prompt manner).
• The contest closes next Monday, August 8, 2011, or as soon as the location is correctly identified.
• Guesses must be submitted as a comment to this blog post. Sorry, no tweets or e-mails (I want to keep the winning entry as transparent as possible).

That's it. The first person to correctly identify the location in the picture wins a PDF copy of Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary.
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Starting tomorrow, I will be posting clues on the right-hand side of my blog, near the top of the page. I will also tweet the clue on Twitter.
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Good luck!

Down In The Valle

In 1991, Lori and I took our first trip overseas together, to England, Wales, and France. It was not our first trip together, but I think I can safely say that it was the one trip that proved to us that not only could we travel together, but that we could do it very well. We are excellent travel companions.

We started in London, and after a couple of days we rented a car and hit the road, heading north, towards Stratford-Upon-Avon, and then into northern Wales, where we worked our way south, to Cardiff and then followed the southern end back into England, where we saw Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury, before finally returning to London and then over to Paris.

I loved Wales. Such raw beauty. In fact, several times I was so overcome by the splendour of the countryside that I had to pull over, had to stop driving so that I could take it in. In the six days that we were in Wales, we visited 10 castles and abbeys; nearly all of them, in ruins.

One of the prettiest sites that we visited was tucked away in a valley, in the vacinity of Llantysilio, in Denbighshire. The closest town was Llangollen. And this site was the location for this week's Where In The World? contest.

I'm talking about Valle Crucis Abbey.

Photo courtesy of Cadw (pronounced ka-doo).

This installment of my contest was solved after only two days. Clearly, I'm going to need to get tougher with my photo challenges. Here are the clues I provided and how they fit into the location:

1. Groundbreaking—810 years ago: Valle Crucis Abbey was built in 1201. You do the math.
2. Last of the White Monk monasteries: Valle Crucis Abbey was Cistercian (Cistercian monks were also known as the White Monks for the frocks they wore); Valle Crucis Abbey was the last Cistercian abbey to be built in Wales.

That's it: only two clues. And then the mystery location was solved.

Congratulations to Ben Wood, winner of my first Where In The World? contest. Fitting, since Ben also was the first winner for Where In Ottawa? And because Ben has already won a copy of my book, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary, I'm going to give him another book from my library.

Ben: please send me an e-mail or a DM tweet with your contact info, where I can send you your prize.

Thanks to all of you who played along. I'll be back with another challenging photo next month.

Where In The World? Round 1

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It's time to go global.
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If you're a follower of my blog, you're familiar with my Where In Ottawa contest: identify the location in the photo and win a prize. I'm giving away an electronic version of my book, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary.
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This time, the photo is not of a location in Ottawa (that's a bonus clue). You're going to have to look beyond my city limits. Here's the photo:
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Think you know where this place is? Think you know the world? Prove it! Leave your guess as a comment to this post. The first person to correctly identify this spot wins. It's as simple as that.
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I'll be posting clues every day on the right-hand side of this blog and on Twitter. Keep checking, and good luck!