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My Life in a Nutshell
Playa Jacó, Costa Rica 2017
In the past year, I've travelled to Vietnam (my luggage didn't seem to want to travel there with me though, as it took three days to show up!), Cambodia, Thailand, China (albeit on a brief flight stopover), Costa Rica and Panama.

I plan on doing a recap of each place, but I'm unsure of how much detail to put in.  This isn't a travel blog per se (although with the amount of travelling I do, it really could morph into one if I had the drive to keep up with it), but I think people do find my blog based on country/city Google searches - do people just want to see pictures, or would a little more msubstance be appreciated?

Things I've thought to put in travel recaps are a review of my accommodation, how I got around (how easy transit way to navigate - that kind of thing), whether or not I'd recommend the touristy sites I saw, and any neat tidbits that I think people would be interested in.

Maybe I'll do a couple of detailed posts and see if anyone actually reads them.  If not, I'll just go back to pretty pictures!
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I am Canadian by birth (and damn proud of it!), but also carry a UK passport (pretty much the only think my bio-dad was good for was being born in London).

That passport has been great - short lineups at Heathrow, a cheaper visa for Turkey, and no fee visas for New Zealand and Australia. I also haul it out when I’m passing through EU checkpoints in European airports, since having my picture taken in some little booth is way quicker than standing in the non-resident lineups (provided, of course, that I already have a passport stamp of that country in my Canadian passport. I’m a bit of a passport stamp collector). 

I got my UK passport almost ten years ago, after my first European trip as an adult (I’d been to England as a child, but then not again until I was 30) when, on a whim, I decided that I was going to pack up all of my possessions and move overseas to work. 

Alas, that did not happen. 

Until recently, that UK passport has been my gateway to the EU. I’ve seriously considered moving overseas for at least part of the year when I retire (some people head to Arizona, my plan is to head to Europe). That is, until a bunch of stodgy arsehole Brits (I’m not blaming the Scots for this) decided they wanted to exit the EU, only thinking about themselves, and not the future generations. Or me. They didn’t think about me! Bastards!

So now, for the purposes I really want it for, that passport will soon be rather useless.

But... my grandfather (who died before I was born) was born in Ireland! And they aren’t part of the UK! I’ve found another gateway to the EU!

The first step in securing an Irish passport is to register my birth as an Irish citizen born overseas. And that costs almost €300. For real. It also means that I have to track down my grandfather’s birth certificate, which should be really fun given his combination of first and last name (a super popular combination) and the fact that I don’t actually know where in Ireland he was born, or exactly when he was born. 

So - I’ve been researching my paternal family tree. I’ve found records of the birth of all of my aunts, uncle and bio-dad, and information on my grandparents marriage. The tough part is - back then, they didn’t list birthdates on marriage certificates, so tracking down the Irish birth certificate of my grandfather is a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack. 

But I think I’ve done it. My grandmother was born in 1912, so I’m assuming the person I’ve found with my grandfather’s name, born in 1908 is a likely candidate. Luckily I do have one cousin in Ireland (who has an Irish birth ceritificate through this lineage due to not being able to secure a UK one through her mother because until the 1980s women mean shite in the UK and couldn’t pass on citizenship), and she’s going to work to confirm the information I found... and then the next step is to become Irish!

For only a small (starting) fee of €300. Maybe I should start a Go Fund Me. I mean, everyone needs a third passport, right? 

I’m going to need a bigger passport wallet.
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I realized while working on a craft project that involves a cork map and flag pins, that with my current travel plans, I will have travelled to 49 countries in my first 40 years.

45 of those countries will have been visited since I turned 30...

49 is great... but not as great as 50. 

After asking to be included in a friend's vacation in the Fall to aid in getting to 50 countries by May (where we realized I'd been everywhere she's going with the exception of Gibraltar... which led to a discussion as to whether Gibraltar is even a country, and whether British Overseas Territories would count as a country), it was decided that a day trip from Barcelona in October will be just what I need. 

So Andorra... I'll be in you for about 8 hours in October... and I'll celebrate visiting my 50th country right on my 40th birthday. 
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I do a lot of travelling. I consider it a prize for not having children. Or a money-sucking relationship. 

Enough about that. 

Once I decide where I want to go, I dive fully into planning mode. 

Yeah... I'm the person that books things eight months in advance. Including flights. 

Although sometimes cheap flight deals are the reason I go to certain places (Iceland 2014, Istanbul 2013, Barcelona 2015). 

I use a couple of main resources when planning my trips...
- Tripadvisor
- booking.com
- Pinterest

Yes. I said Pinterest. 

I have boards for trips I'm currently planning. I have boards for trips I want to take. I have travel advice boards. Basically I have boards about everything. 

I use it to collate information, similar to how I used bookmarks in the past. But I find Pinterest a great resource for blogs posts of "real" people's adventures and advice. 

I just have to stay away from the 9000 posts on "how to pack" and "when the best time to book flights". Cause really, there are so. many. posts about those things and they all say the same thing. 

I'll write some posts about my use of Tripadvisor and booking.com over the next little while, since I think my planning neurosis may be helpful advise to others. 

Less than two months until I head to Spain and Portugal. 

And only nine months until Southeast Asia (oh yeah, I'm going to Southeast Asia)!
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Hello, my name is Carmen, and I'm addicted to travelling. 

Yes - I just got back from the Baltics and Scandinavia. 

And yes - I just booked a trip to Spain and Portgual for October. 

My excuse - the flight was less than $500. On KLM.

It is going to practically be cheaper than staying at home. Or something like that. 

Anyone wanna donate to a GoFundMe to support my travel habit?

Didn't think so. 
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I'm less than three weeks from my cruise. 

I've started pre-pre-packing. 

Which will soon be followed by pre-packing, packing and then finally re-packing. 

I've double checked all of my accommodation reservations for pre- and post-cruise.

I've bought a number of tickets for my shore excursions to beat the lineups that will inevitably occur when a cruise filled with 3000 people invade a small Norwegian fjord community of 250 residents. 

I've exchanged some money. Yes - I'm one of those... I don't like going to a country without a bit of cash in the local currency. It's paid off in the past - I was able to pay my fine on Bulgarian transit with cash - I'd imagine a night in the clink would've followed had I not been able to. 

Now it's just a matter of time. 18 sleeps to be exact. 
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About me

40-something. curmudgeon. thornback. tea drinker. hockey fanatic. introvert. world traveller. triple citizen. proud Canadian. mini donut connoisseur. Canucks fan. taller than average. #1 Trevor Linden fan.

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