Tuck me in, tuck me in!

I've done a pretty good job of not getting ill on this trip, partly down to not getting inebriated every day of the week. That is, until we arrived in Vancouver or Vancouvah as we now know it thanks to the 5 Aussie lads we shared the bar and room with these last 3 days. I'd love to tell you all how we've explored the city and done all these awesome things but I'd be lying because with the exception of the hours spent drinking copious amounts of beer, I've been in bed hungover.

You probably think I'm going to tell you how disappointed in ourselves we are but that would be another lie 'cause we're feeling pr-etty smug right now after keeping up with 5 aussie lads for 3 days.

Seriously what a laugh though. Cambie Gastown Hostel might not be a palace but it's got a crackin' bar and even better poutine. Thanks to Benjo's "mumsy" for sending money for 3 mammoth plates of poutine and the beer pitcher tab.

"Tuck me in, tuck me in!"

But with the lads now gone, it's back to finding a job and an apartment. Booooo! I've been sat here for 3 hours trying to find the strength to write this resume and it's nearly. Done. I'm going to go and have my Heinz beans on toast now before my forehead abuses the keyboard.

I Love Haggis and Mashed Potato

photo from tumblr

I'm not sure what's wrong with me tonight, I don't know whether it's the hangover but I miss home and my friends and my family and mashed potato. I know it's pathetic and self indulgent but tonight's the first night I've really missed home so I thought I would share it with y'all. I'm sure a large dose of Billy Connolly YouTube videos will sort me out and it better because I'm literally living my own dream here.

About a year ago I was sat with my beloved laptop, {whom I also miss by the way} looking for jobs and apartments in Vancouver for no reason other than fun {'cause I'm cool like that} and at the time I had no idea that in a years time I'd actually be here. And here I am feeling sorry for myself. What a doosh.

The Elephant in the Room

I woke up this morning feeling pretty sober as I looked in the mirror and seen an almost offensively large piece of metal clinging onto my face. Paula watched me silently for a moment obviously scared to address the situation until she was given some sort of cue. My cue went something like "HOLY f*ck, what the hell have I done to my face" and was met with raucous laughter followed by "nobody's gonna marry you now". Charming. I don't really believe in karma but...her ear started to bleed. Just sayin'.

I feel like I should be listening to the Stones or The Cure or something but I think I'm gonna tear up some stereotypes and listen to One Direction very loudly wherever I go. The worst part is actually the constant shining I can see out the corner of my eye. The best part is that I actually love it.

On a random note, I'm writing this on a 6 hr bus to Vancouver to distract myself from a very unnerving, cliff-y journey. To my right side right this second is death. There are two stoned girls at the back of the bus and I can't help but assume they've travelled this route before.

I'm gonna really miss this cafe...

Last night we made a conscious decision to not die so 100 yards from the front door we turned back and had our beers on the decking instead of walking the distance to the pub. Just to be clear, it's really dark here and there's no where to run. 

On a Saturday night the HI hostel has a bonfire but because of the snow they lit the fire upstairs in the lounge. Kind of a pathetic night all round but I caught up on some reading and investigated our next stop, Revelstoke.

We've also found ourselves in the Bill Peyto cafe which I like mainly because of the name and secondly because it's on site.  It's not gonna win any awards but the foods good enough and cheap enough that we've been two nights in a row. The Lake Louise Inn across the road serve a cracking poutine as well. 

I also feel like I should mention the Visitors Centre, it's definitely worth a visit even if it's just for a "I need to get here...". As for Lake Louise itself I couldn't say whether summer or winter is better. The mountains weren't as visible and the water not as still but you can't justify hot chocolate on the edge of a lake in the summer.

This post is dedicated to my mum and dad who I fear are on the verge of a breakdown with all my tales of bears and alligators.

Cow(boy) Town

We've landed in Canada once again! We were so tired. Like head bobbing mid conversation kinda tired. However we were persuaded by the crisp autumn air and the lure of Tim Hortons to venture out into the Calgary wilderness in search of some Alexander Keith's cider. And who did we bump into on our way to the liquor store? Only our two roommates (and Sunday dinner friends) from Toronto!
So we spent our day in Calgary the only way it should be spent...playing dress up in a cowboy store.

 

 

Dixie dreamin'

This week we made the best decision of our travels, to catch a 20 hour long Greyhound bus to Charleston. It was probably the worst travelling I've ever done, we thought because it was an overnight bus that we would be able to sleep and the length of the journey would ensure we would be the only ones stupid enough to do it. Funnily enough we were wrong. Reeally wrong. We also never looked at the schedule details so we didn't realise until we were in Columbia that we had a 5 hour stopover in a room which they've tried to pass off as a station.

 

We arrived in Charleston to everything we'd expected it to be. Palm trees, chevrolets, sun, and the accents. Aah the accents. We spent the whole week walking around, or cycling, catching the free trolleys up and down downtown, and the nights spent with beer on our balcony as the sun set and the temperature dropped. We've both loved everywhere we've been but there's something about Charleston that feels comfortable and homely, I can't explain it, I'm just completely in love with the place.

 

Tonight we leave to fly back to Canada where we will stay until next year. We land in Calgary where it's already winter weather. I don't think we'll see summer nights like these summer nights for a very very long time, bro.

 

Hey y'all...

Charleston's a funny little place. It's so beautiful and friendly then you walk in what you thinks gon' be a nice little store and they've got Obama toilet paper. Not cool, Charleston, not cool.
We went to the Citadel Mall today over in West Ashley because the buses are only $1.75 and we weren't very optimistic about the weather. 1 hour in Target and it had gone from 13 degrees celcius to 25. So we ate our squished Nutella sandwiches and headed back to Charleston to sunbathe.

Washington DC

Anyone who's been anywhere and fell in love with a place will know what I mean when I say there's been so many moments I just wanna bottle up and put on a shelf for later so I don't have to miss it. I visited the Lincoln Memorial the other day{something that's always been on my bucket list but wasn't sure why} and sat there on my own for over an hour, camera in bag. I only sat down because the humidity was making me melt so I sat in between the columns and watched for a while. 

I noticed how quickly people arrive, take photos then leave again and wondered how many of them experienced their whole trip through their viewfinder.

You just wanna slap someone and say "Si'doon, calm doon and think about where ye are for a second. Christ almighty."

These two bros are Vietnam war veterans who came in a group all wearing red shirts and called each other "buddy".

I know.

Are these Mitt Romney badges for sale yet?

Pretty pleased with what we accomplished in a day in DC...the entire Mall thank you very much! In the kind of humidity where you look like it's been raining. 

You'll need just over an hour for the Archives to look around the whole thing which you should because it's really interesting even if it's just to watch the photo slides of presidents as children...Obama as a baby, guys!
 If you {like me} love to people-watch then the Lincoln Memorial is the happnin place. Sit back and enjoy! Abe Lincoln's pretty cool company too. I walked the entire Mall from the White House corner all the way round and if you like squirrels then you're gonna die. They've been trained or something.

{see that lady in the buggy, she spent the day photo-bombing my pictures}

 {and that's what you get for buying Jingsai shoes. China town's finest}

Iiiiin West Philadelphia....

It isn't half bonny here but don't be fooled by the pretty pictures...we're in Ganglands territory here. Now I know what you're thinking, she's from Scotland, she grew up in Riverside, nobody gon' dare bust a cap in he' ass, but I reckon this is real Ross Kemp kinda stuff fo'sho.
 {I actually considered joining the Hells Angels but my mum's partner is in a rival outlaw gang with his 2 friends in Scotland so that would be awkward.}
It's safe during the day, full of loved up tourists and too many scrawny boys thinking they're Sylvester Stallone. The weather was great and it was cool to just wander about. All I'm saying is get your dinner before sunset. Infact lets make that a rule.
  Philly rule no. 1. Get your dinner before sunset and get the hell back to your hotel room.
Philly rule no. 2. Have a Philly cheese steak, savour every bite and eat till your little fat-encased heart's content then... burn it off running back to your hotel room.

Philly is really beautiful though. Old and beautiful and drowning in history. What more could you want! We loved it here.

 Mmhmm you know it guurl.