Canada travels

I am a member of care2, an online community for healthy and green living, human rights, etc. In the middle of last month I received an email from a member regarding the 7 most toxic places to live on Earth.

As a person who loves this planet and loves to travel it… we really need to do something to keep it clean! I might not believe the world is going to end in 2012 but I do believe that God doesn’t want us to abuse what He gave us! I know that at times we, as individuals, don’t feel like we’re making a difference, but together we are!

It was originally shared with the Care2 community by Megan on the Mother Nature Network.

“As the world’s population balloons to almost 7 billion, it’s become more and more difficult to find anywhere on Earth unaffected by man-made pollution and development, and far too often it takes things going really wrong before people take action to keep our planet clean. So here’s a list that might help to motivate: The 15 most polluted places in the world.“

Riachuelo Basin, Argentina

Dzerzhinsk, Russia

La Oroya, Peru

Linfen, China

Citarum River, Indonesia

The North Pacific Gyre

Chernobyl, Ukraine

Citarum River, Indonesia

The Citarum has been called the world’s most polluted river. Around five million people live in the river’s basin, and most of them rely on its flow for their water supply.

Chernobyl, Ukraine

Chernobyl is the town in northern Ukraine home to the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. Once home to more than 14,000 residents, the town remains mostly uninhabited and unsafe today due to extensive radioactive contamination.

Linfen, China

Linfen has more air pollution than any other city in the world. Sitting at the heart of China’s coal belt, smog and soot from industrial pollutants and automobiles blacken the air at all hours. It is said that if you hang your laundry here, it will turn black before it dries.

The North Pacific Gyre

An island of trash twice the size of Texas floats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, circulated by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. The trash, which is mostly made up of plastic debris, floats as deep as 30 feet below the surface.

La Oroya, Peru

La Oroya is a soot-covered mining town in the Peruvian Andes. Ninety-nine percent of the children who live here have blood levels that exceed acceptable limits for lead poisoning, which can be directly attributed to an American-owned smelter that has been polluting the city since 1922.

Dzerzhinsk, Russia

The Guinness Book of World Records has named Dzerzhinsk the most chemically polluted city on Earth, and in 2003 its death rate exceeded its birth rate by 260 percent. More than 300,000 tons of chemical waste were improperly dumped here between 1930 and 1998.

Riachuelo Basin, Argentina

The Riachuelo Basin is a waterway whose name is synonymous with pollution. More than 3,500 factories operate along the banks of the river, a landscape that also includes 13 slums, numerous illegal sewage pipes running directly into the river, and 42 open garbage dumps.

Check out 8 more toxic cities!

For this weeks Thursday Thirteen I interviewed a friend of mine. She has been a travel agent for as long as I’ve known her, she works for Travel Professionals International. I wanted to know what her top 13 travel tips were, so she shared them with me and now I’m going to share them with you. I hyperlinked it up (with all the Canadian companies I like) and added my opinions here and there!

#1. Photocopy your passports, make 2 copies, take 1 with you & leave 1 at home with someone that has access to fax machine. In case they are lost or stolen, it is so much easier to replace.

#2. Sun screen for those hot spots, start with a 30 or higher. (Based on my – Shan’s – experience, I’d recommend a sun burn salve for those “just in case” moments!)

#3. Tie a colored ribbon on luggage, so much easier to identify, or buy purple like I did. (I totally agree!! I even posted about loosing my bags a couple months ago)

#4. Spend a few days there in the sun before booking day trips/excursions, if not you could burn badly ruining your holiday right off the bat. (I have a not so funny story about this… a couple we met while on our honeymoon… where on their honeymoon, 2nd day there… they were burnt to a crisp and had to spend the remainder of their honeymoon in their room, one on the couch and one in the bed. Burnt like lobsters! Not the way to spend your honeymoon!!)

#5. Take your own soap for the shower if you have sensitive skin.

#6. Book a stopover hotel prior to your trip if during the winter months, it’s not worth taking the chance. (You only need to spend one night on the floor of the airport to know THIS IS GOOD ADVICE!)

#7. ALWAYS purchase travel insurance. (Couldn’t say it better myself!!)

#8. Take along a bottle of after sun Aloe Vera gel, you will thank me later! Your skin will drink it up!

#9. Drink bottled water when away.

#10. Pack your carry-on in such a way that if it was lost or stolen, you could survive a few days. Create a few outfits out of a few items & be sure to have a swimsuit & wrap in there.

#11. Remember to take your own snacks when traveling to the Islands, they can be very expensive there.

#12. Take along a scented candle or 2 for your room, they are great for the high humidity & your room with smell awesome. (Not to mention… ROMANTIC! I was going to hyperlink the company I worked for when I met my hubby but I wanted to highlight all things Canadian…)

#13. Have a great time and make certain to relax; holidays are not holidays if you come home exhausted. (CAN I GET AN AMEN?!!)

#14. And… because Sherry did this for me out of the kindness of her heart… here’s her email if you need a holiday!!  swatkinson@tpi.ca

Thanks Sherry!! I really appreciate it!

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My heart sank as I heard the news that another earthquake rocked Haiti this morning. 6.1 on the Richter Scale. I’m told that that is 10′x lower than the one that destroyed much of Port-Au-Prince just a week ago but still big none-the-less. I can’t imagine the panic that consumed them during the 5 or so seconds that the ground shook.

This isn’t exactly “Wordless” but I am speechless…

I can’t stop crying every time I turn on the TV, the scenes of despair and destruction are almost too much for my soul to bear. I wish there was more that I could do.

The abject poverty that is prevalent in Haiti reminded me of my trip in July 2008 to the Valley of 1,000 Hills / Embo Township in South Africa. To go from having nearly nothing to absolute nothing would crush the strongest person I’m sure. I pray that the funding and support continues, that people will not just turn off their TV’s and close their eyes like to say, “If I don’t see it… it doesn’t exist”. I pray that hope lives on.

If you haven’t had a chance to donate to a relief fund for Haiti as of yet… I’d encourage you to do so. The Canadian Red Cross or The Salvation Army are good places to start. I would caution you however; there are a lot of pseudo organizations out there looking to take advantage of this tragedy. Charlatans are always among the crowd.

walked in... wheeled out

Remember what this picture is from??….

This morning I emailed (because there is no number listed on their website) the hospital that I visited back in Pigeon Forge, TN way back in August 2008 to get this “outstanding bill” figured out.

They sent me back a reply quite quickly, impressed at how quick actually, the phone number to reach the company that the Doctor’s bill through.

So I called them.

Buffy told me that yes there was an outstanding bill but she can’t send it to my insurance company because they already submitted it to collections. She gave me the phone number for them.

So I called them.

I finally reached the revenue recovery organization (fancy word for collection agency) & the department that was “handling” my claim. This time I was as sweet as cherry pie!

It’s true that you can get more bees with honey than vinegar!

The lady on the other end took my insurance policy information and told me that she’d send them a bill and help me take care of this issue. So there it stands. Hopefully soon this $326.00US bill will be paid and my credit score will be fixed!

Lessons learned: Check to see if the hospital and the doctor you visit in the US bill separately or all together. Read the small print!! Second thing…. don’t snap at the collection agents when they call… they are just doing their jobs. I apologized for being a cranky pants the last time we “chatted”.

13 places I’ve been worldwide (Canada excluded) or want to go to!

1. United States ~ I’ve been to almost every State, with the exception of Alaska (which is odd since I worked for an Alaskan cruise line for 4 summers as a teen), Vermont & Maine. My favourite was Hawaii followed closely by South Carolina (Charleston in particular) and one day I’d like to see the beaches along the Gulf Coast.

2. Mexico ~ I don’t really remember Mexico, I was really young. I do recall the locals had a thing for my little sister who had white blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

3. Japan ~ I lived in Kanazawa for a year after high school on an exchange program. While there I visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe.

4. France ~ My hubby and I backpacked through parts of Europe when our oldest was around 7 months old. He was a perfect traveler. We stayed a few days in Paris in a place a step up from a hostel on Ponte Neuf. It was incredible to walk this beautiful city.

5. Switzerland ~ While we were backpacking we made a stop off for a week at a friend’s place in Lucerne. They were proud to show off Zurich and a little village near the Swiss/Italian border. The Alps (& the Matterhorn) were exquisite.

6. Italy ~ While Lucerne was our “base” we took a train to Venice and Florence and back again in just a few days. We spent a night in each city and took in as much history as we could. We joke to our son (who is now 11) that he slept through some of the most famous museums in the world. Note to self: do not eat – while seated backwards – on the Italian speed train! blech…

7. England ~ OK, so I haven’t actually touched UK soil… I was trapped inside the airport in London while on the way and back from location #8.

8. South Africa ~ I took 5 teens from our church on a Mission’s trip in the summer of 2008. We spent 3 weeks touring and working throughout KwaZulu Natal.

Places I’d like to visit:

9. Egypt ~ The history and archeology intrigue me, my momma raised me right.
10. Israel ~ Biblical history… need I say more!
11. Greece ~ Same reason as #9 & 10 and it’s only increased since my parents took a cruise throug the Mediterranean a few years ago.
12. Ireland ~ My sister went on a Mission’s trip while she was still in high school and after seeing “Leap Year” I want to experience those lush, green, rolling hills myself!
13. Norway ~ It’s a part of my family heritage on my Dad’s side (he’s half Ukrainian and half Norwegian). The closest I’ve come to experiencing anything Norwegian is on the Ship my parents took my husband and I on a cruise around Hawaii for our 10th anniversary back in 2006.
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I was watching the news last night – in particular – the crazy weather that is happening around the world right now!

Snow in Dallas, Texas

Ice in Florida

Blizzards in England

What’s Global Warming!!

The other day a friend of mine from Fort Myers Beach in Florida emailed me to “brag” about their weather, “It’s 30 this morning,” she writes. I responded… “WOW, that’s hot, it’s minus 12 here!” It took me a day to realize that she was talking in Fahrenheit!

Being a Canadian, I think in Celsius.

It was then that I saw an image on the news with icicles dangling delicately from orange trees.

The CTV news correspondence in Washington, DC made me laugh. He finished off his story about all the strange, cold weather going on all over the US right now and says, “Canadians just call it, Winter”. Yup, that’s right. It’s just another normal winter up here. Maybe that’s why we have so many “Snowbirds“?! Just because we’re used to it… doesn’t mean we like it!

If you’re traveling this winter season to a location North of the 49th Parallel in particular… make sure you’re covered. I saw a whack of people sleeping in the airports in London, stuck there because they didn’t purchase the proper trip cancellation  / interruption insurance. That’s not how I’d like to spend my vacation!

Speaking of vacations… it’s been a great week at the cottage but it’s back to reality tomorrow. I hope you’re having a good start to 2010!

Today is the last day of 2009 and it’s been an amazing year! We managed to travel a fair bit this year, actually the most we’ve traveled in one year… EVER!

2009 started off with a week up in a cottage in the Kawartha Lakes region, close to Coboconk, Ontario. My husband is an avid winter camper, camper PERIOD, as seen in other posts in this blog but I…. AM NOT! That’s putting it mildly. So when he booked this trip to go camping in the middle of a Canadian winter… I thought he’d lost his mind. Thankfully he knows me well and booked a brand-spanking new, deluxe cottage! This is my kind of camping! To top it all off… he got quite the deal on the place. Can you believe a full week for around $130!! He’s a deal finder if I’ve ever known one. It was an amazing week away, to rest and relax and to enjoy our children. As leaders of a church… the last 4-6 weeks of each year are extra busy and sometimes overwhelming.

In June I took my 3rd child back home to White Rock, British Columbia. Trust me… he didn’t mind missing 2 weeks of school by this point of the school year!! Our time out there was filled to the brim with visiting family and eating at my parents wonderful Roadhouse restaurant. The trip spanned a family wedding and my younger sister’s birthday and many wonderful moments in between. These kinds of trips would not be possible without the generosity of my parents, without their wonderful gift each year… I don’t know when I’d be able to see my family.

Then came summer! It didn’t really feel like summer here in southwestern Ontario, the weather did not want to cooperate! Regardless, my hubby managed to get a couple of weeks in of his style of camping. He took a group of youth from our church canoeing/portaging for a week and then took another group of men from another church and our oldest son on a trek through the woods and beautiful lakes.

Towards the middle of August we started packing for our greatest adventure of the year. We took 3 weeks off and drove to South Carolina for our family’s very first big vacation. Imagine 7 of us in a vehicle (we took a teen from church to help look after the kids)… on the road for a minimum of 10 hours a day… resting in a few locations along the way. We broke up the trip into a bunch of stops…

Our 1st big stop: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. My hubby booked us a few days at a horse ranch/resort. We stayed in a Yurt! Yup, a large tent but this was a deluxe version with a beautiful kitchen, master bedroom and even flat screen TV’s! While we were here, hubby golfed the rest of us either lounged by the pool or went horse-back riding. I even tried my hand at tennis! We did manage to do some siteseeing “off the ranch” in the 4 days we were here. We drove a little bit into town to see Thomas Jefferson’s house, Monticello. He was one smart cookie!!

Then we were off to the Outer Banks of North Carolina! First night… Kill Devil Hills. We didn’t have much time here, not enough time to see the Wright Brothers National Memorial/Museum, just a quick dip in the Atlantic Ocean and we were off. The next day we spent over 10 hours in the vehicle again, driving through Rodanthe and taking a couple ferries along the way until we could get to our friend’s place to crash for the night in Morehead City, NC.

The day after that brought us to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We stayed in two different locations while we were here, I think for a total of 9 days. The first half of the stay was spent in a resort right on the beach, we could come and go in the surf as much as we pleased. It was a new experience for the kids… swimming in salt water! I kept having to tell them to keep their mouths and their eyes closed. They didn’t have anything available for our entire stay in Myrtle Beach so we had to move to another resort called Harbour Lights, this one was a lot further from the beach but thankfully they had a pool! They were also a lot closer to tons of golf courses so hubby was in his element! He took our oldest golfing one day and had a really great time together.

Our final destination in South Carolina brought us to one of my favourite locations in the entire United States of America! Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed in an old Cotton mill that had been converted into an Inn, it was in the heart of historic Charleston so I could easily walk to wherever I wanted to go. I strolled the streets and markets alone while hubby took the kids to various sites like, Fort Sumter and an aircraft carrier. It was wonderful and peaceful and chalked full of history! Hubby and I had a chance to spend a romantic weekend here in late October 2008, I have a photo album on facebook you can view those incredible shots! The weather was much better that trip so my pictures turned out better.

Then began the end of our journey, the long dreaded 16 + hour drive home… resting for a couple of days in West Virginia with my hubby’s sister and her hubby. I questioned my sanity at a few rest stops along the way. I don’t think we’re ready to drive to DisneyWorld next summer.

September blew by, my hubby took a church business trip to California the day after we got home from holidays and followed it up by helping his brother move clear across the country, that was quite the road trip for him!

And then boom, here we are! The end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010. It’s been an amazing year, it’s difficult to mention everything that has gone on, I think we had 6 weddings, two of which my hubby performed and I photographed. It was full of God moments and encounters, blessings and opportunities to share with others. I’m looking forward to 2010 and not just because we head back to the Coboconk cottage tomorrow…

Happy New Year Everyone!

(more…)

In June of 2007, I surprised my baby sister in BC by flying out for her birthday, she was turning 33. I took my baby with me, Jake was almost 2 at that time… meaning he was free. Oh how I long for the return of cheap travel! Now I have to pay for 6 full airfares and flying within Canada is not cheap!! Rabbit-trail…. Anyway, it was hard keeping the secret from her but I managed to do it.  This is a review from that trip home.

After a wonderful 5 hour – across 5,000 klm – flight from Ontario to BC, my mom picked us (Jake and myself) up from the Vancouver airport and off to their place we went. To all my friends and family from there… sorry I couldn’t see you — we were only there for about an hour before we packed my stuff into my parents RV and we were off.

Jake was a good traveler – the second helping of Gravol kicked in nicely. Now don’t sit there and think, “What a terrible mum – she drugs her kids!” Yes, yes I do! I’ve flown with kids for over 11 years – at least 1 or 2 times a year… and most of the times, I’ve flown with them as the only adult! I’ve learned a few good (doctor approved) tricks over the years. If you’re interested – I’ll share them with you another time.

Back to my travel log.

We drove for 3 hours that night before I made my Dad stop and sleep for the night, it was just after midnight!  I was worried about him falling asleep at the wheel and as much as I was keeping him awake – I couldn’t keep myself awake (remember it’s a 3 hour time difference for me, midnight in BC is 3am for me back home). We slept – wedged between two giant semi trucks – at the side of the road in Clinton. It seemed like moments after I closed my eyes my Dad was at the wheel again. I stared hard at the clock trying to focus… it was 5:40am. I crawled into bed with my mom at the back of the RV at 5:45am but couldn’t get back to sleep.

It was a slow go all day long. We were carrying a heavy load behind the camper, my sister’s new-to-her 1967 Chevelle on an already 2,000 lb you-haul-it trailer. The RV didn’t want to move very fast. Downhill we were going 45 miles / hour! Up hill… if we rocked back and forth (just kidding) we could make it to the top doing around 30 and that’s no joke! Something that should have taken us 8 hours

in a regular car or 9 or 10 hours in an RV with no heavy load… took us 15 hours in total – discount an hour or so for dropping the tailer off and grabbing lunch in Quesnel. We pulled into Prince George just before dinner time yesterday.

La didn’t know we were coming. I only told her hubby a couple of weeks before. I wanted it to be a true surprise. My Mom drove Lise’s new car into her driveway and Dad drove the RV right behind. He started honking the horn to get the family outside. Mom got out of the car and Lise ran up to her crying. I stayed hidden in the back of the motor home. I couldn’t wait any longer – I gingerly walked around to the front of the vehicle and said nonchalantly, “Hi!”

It took her a minute to comprehend what was going on. She screamed and cried even harder and screamed some more. She grabbed me and held on tight, I thought she was going to faint at one point, she didn’t want to let go. Her hubby was just smiling along… she was surprised! My dad tried to get pictures of her face but I don’t think the angle was right, I should have picked up a video camera. It was priceless!

Her hubby had the BBQ ready to go and so we had a wonderful steak dinner with all the trimmings just as if we were eating at The Keg. It was a great first night of my time with my sister in the “Prince” as locals call it – a place where the national bird is the Mosquito!!! I should have brought my bug suit!!

This has to be the most memorable trip home, surprising my sister like that was priceless! You have to understand what she was going through at that time in her life. They had recently moved to the north, leaving both of their families behind and her husband had been diagnosed with CIDP – it was a hard winter for them. She needed her big sister and I needed her. It’s a battle they haven’t won yet but I continue to pray and support them as much as I can living over 5,000 klm away.

I have a photo album on Facebook if you want to check it out.

Ok, I’ll admit… I’ve been a bit consumed by travel insurance lately. Maybe because I’ve been bitten by the “you didn’t tell me you billed twice” thing with a US hospital. There’s something on my credit report, I’m waiting until Monday when things are open again to find out exactly what it is! I’m not impressed.

So I guess I’ve also been ranting at home about insurance and this whole ordeal because on Friday, my hubby gets a local business paper and the front page article is all about travel insurance, “Uninsured travel might sicken you.” Hubby throws it at me, “Here, add this to your blog!”.

I haven’t had time to read the full thing this weekend as there are only 5 days before Christmas and all throughout the house, all the creatures are stirring and even the mice! I have 4 kids, have I told you that yet?! 4 kids who are very very excited about Christmas Day. That’s to say it mildly!! lol

But here’s the gist,  it’s true, if you travel without travel insurance the costs could be enormous. Before you go away again, check with your insurance provider. If you have a credit card, you may and may not be covered. My sister went to Hawaii with her family and her husband got stung by a ton of jellyfish. They went off to the hospital and when she called the insurance part of her credit card company, she found out that they weren’t covered. Why? Because they didn’t inform the company about the trip before they left the country. So here they were, he’s burned all over his chest and arms and they have no money to cover the hospital bills.

That’s all I’m going to say about that for a while. haha yeah right!!

Single Trip or Annual Plan — which is best?

I used to work in a credit union and used to purchase out of country insurance through their cooperative insurance provider. Right before each trip, I’d take out a plan for that particular trip. It only took me a couple years to smarten up! Since I’m a frequent traveler to the US (3-4 trips to the US a year on average)… which plan do you think would have been best for me? It would have been nice if my co-workers would have suggested the annual family plan. Better yet, it would have been nice if I had put more thought into it myself…. think of the money I would have saved?!

An annual travel insurance policy or (multi trip annual plan) is the best option for frequent travelers.
If you made more than one trip this year, an annual plan offers comprehensive coverage at a reasonable cost. It protects you and your family for an unlimited number of trips during a period of twelve months. There is a wide choice of maximum number of days available on the market and an annual plan may be extended in case of longer absences. I typically purchases one that allows me to be in the US (or other nations) for at least 2 weeks and if the holiday is extended, I can simply phone up and pay for an extension.

In some cases, an annual plan may also include trip cancellation and trip interruption. The benefits of cancellation insurance are subject to a maximum of up to $3,000 per insured person per covered trips and $5,000 per year for trip interruption, subject to a maximum of $5,000 per insured person per trips. What if this amount is insufficient? You can simply request a higher amount of coverage for your trip cancellation and interruption.

What about baggage insurance? The basic rate includes basic coverage of $500. You can always increase it to properly protect your belongings. For example, if you are traveling with your golf bag (hubby’s happy he can finally do this since our kids are out of the stroller age) or other valuable items, you can increase your coverage for baggage insurance to protect it at its fair value and therefore for the trip.

A Multi trip annual plan is the most practical and economical travel insurance coverage. Benefits such as trip cancellation / trip interruption, baggage, can easily be adapted for every trip you make in the year. There are several products available to you, an expert in the field can recommend the best program adapted to your needs and your budget.

Not all insurance companies are alike. Shop around! The most expensive plan does not necessarily mean the best and likewise, the cheapest isn’t always the way to save money.

You put a lot of time and effort into getting the right life insurance policy right?!  You should put the same effort into getting the right travel insurance policy.