The Travel Tales of Julia Sheldon

So, I am officially homeless. I'm staying with my grandmother in Florida for 2 months. I have a phone. I will have internet 2 days from now. I have 2 new catch phrases: "girl news:" and "real life"  While here, I intend to get fit. I swim laps to start everyday, walk a whole lot, and am eating good meals cooked by my super awesome grandmother. Real life. I'm working on a book of breast portraits, blogging, and continuing to work for the Acoustic Opera. I'm staffing a CISV village in Denmark in July, so will have various staff meetings. Here's hoping I manage to keep busy, otherwise, ima lose my mind. Thank goodness I now have a phone and can stay in touch with my peeps. So, Erin flew down with me, and we're on day 5. Hilarious moments: daily happy hour won a limbo competition at a bar Friday night: real life hit on by various attractive dudes mall security use segways grandma stories Disney Store ... way too much fun Oscars dri...

Housetrip.com = highly recommended for cheap apartments I met up with Hana and Grace from the US at an apartment we rented for 4 nights. We had a lazy day, got groceries, had a lovely dinner and Grace left to meet up with a team to plan our first conference. Gino from Ecuador joined Hana and I later in the evening. Having an apartment was super incredible: not having to worry about anyone else, being able to come and go as we please. Super rad. Saturday, Hana and I went to Sacre Coeur - a huge and beautifully lovely cathedral with a kickass view of Paris. Dow joined us for the eve, for super lovely wandering about and dinner on Boulevard Saint-Germain. We had a perfect Sunday: Thomas from the US arrived early in the morning, we went to Notre Dame during mass (quite by accident, but incredible) with a choir and a ton of people - it honestly brought tears to my eyes :) We walked across a  love lock bridge, so Dow and I decided to buy a lock for JB Canada & NJR, an...

Holy geeze, so much has happened in the last 5 days!! So, Saturday the 14th: Train delays on the way to airport Try to rush through security, with my checked luggage cause the woman at the check-in said it was cool Security doesn't think so, so I miss my flight Pay double what my original flight cost to change the flight to the next one Arrive in Dublin, easily get to Eetu's house Upon arrival, am told there will be a big dinner at his place, and then we're going to a birthday party Sweet! So, I change, am introduced to the Dublin CouchSurfing community (alive and very well), and we head to a pub to have cake and some drinks. Then a club. I try Bulmers, which is Magners - and delicious - and am forced to drink Guiness, cause apparently it's different in Dublin, cause it's original. Still tastes like crap to me. Awful. Regardless, solid night after a rough day. Sunday, the 15th: Sleep in. Woo hoo! Head to Kilmainham Jail, with Eetu, who is a super awes...

Day 1: Arrive. See Vanessa after more than 2 years! Get settled, and head to Piccadilly Circus to share a bottle of wine. Day 2: Hop on a bus to Leeds to visit with a bunch of CISVers. Stayed with James Pattinson, one of CISV's International Junior Reps. Super cheap pub night. Ballin. So rad seeing Ben Bowman 2 years after our summer camp! Day 3: Wander Leeds; so lovely! I like all of the pretty buildings, which I know sounds kinda dumb, but the architecture in this country is rad! James and I stopped in a square to have a beer and watch Wimbledon before I got on a bus. Fun facts about Leeds:  SO many people have brightly coloured hair; all the girls seem to wear super short shorts with tights underneath when it rains, or no tights when it doesn't. So basically, there's a lot of decent bum viewing, which confuses me. Got back to Vanessa's to an incredible eggplant lasagna... Though here, they're called aubergines. Day 4: Sightseeing with Baldo .... Wandered ...

I want to live here. No joke. This place is just so gorgeous. I spent the day wandering around the quaint little town to enjoy eating whale, tasty ice cream, and beautiful outdoor botanical gardens. I had a perfect date .... with myself. Stopped at the duck pond on the way back... people are encouraged to feed the various ducks and geese. and so many cute lil wee ones! A 3 year old punched my bum, then threw his shoe in the water. It was retrieved, but both of his parents were totally flabbergasted haha. So good. I am lovin' this so much. I feel so badass, and independent, and free. If I could get a job at this hostel, I would be here in a heartbeat. This place is honestly so incredible. Wow. And I'm not getting hit on! At all!! Woo hoo!! Day trip to Myvatn (pronounced MEE-vot-en) Had a guided tour around Iceland's second largest lake, first stopping at Godavoss, Iceland's biggest waterfall. It's nowhere near Niagara, but was lovely nonetheless. Stop 1: pseu...

Some of this will be in point form, some not. Apologies. also, there are a lot of really cool accents and non-English letters in Icelandic. I don't think I can do those .... awkward. Day 1:  exhausted, nap, meet Alex from Quebec city, start wandering. Wandering entails locating a free map, and heading in the wrong direction for 5 minutes .... oops. But then, we come across an arena, a c ool concrete church [read: concrete. for reals. with a friggin HUGE and beautiful pipe organ], plenty of hostels and tourist shops. This is such a pretty town, and the sun literally does not set in the summer. I walked home at 1am, and it felt like 8pm. So wild. Also,  Icelandics like to party. Night life starts at 1am and ends at 6am. Intense!! Crappy sleep. Jet lag + snorers +latecomers. Oh my. :@ Day 2: head to Penlan for panoramic view of the city, then to the park beside the pond in the middle of the city for a nap and to meet up with Gudny Helga and her family to play Kubb, a super...

I arrived in Bali at 11:30am, having no idea what there is to see and do besides what I had read in Eat, Pray, Love (totally awesome read, btw). A driver from the hotel picked me up and told me all about Bali: the industry is 80% tourism, 10% culture, and 10% other stuff; there is a national language of Indonesian, as well as hundreds of others for all of the bazillion islands; Bali is a relatively safe place, except for Kuta where one must be careful of pick pocketing; the population is 3.2 million .... plus all the tourists, so most people speak English. He was most helpful. The Island Hotel is SOOOOO incredibly nice and amazing. There is a wonderful reception area, with delicious food and drinks. There are 2 huge/airy/lovely air conditioned dorms of 12 beds, as well as individual rooms. There is a pool!! It is ideally located away from all the hustle and bustle but not too far away. The staff are all incredibly friendly and wonderful. There is a bar up on a second level above the ...