When I started this blog, I vowed to write once a week. I am sure I have enough travel experience/stories to share with you to do at least that!!

This week has been a little crazy though, my parents flew in from Romania on Tuesday and every day since has been a whirlwind of activity. They were in Romania for a long-time family friend’s wedding and for over a week leading up to that… they were traveling, by train, through Poland and Ukraine. What an awesome trip they had! So I thought today I’d share with you some of their travels.

I could post all the pictures from the castles they went into and all the beautiful scenery they drove by but I’ll dedicate this post to one particular event. The day they visited “Haven for Children” an orphanage run by a couple in their 30’s (he a Romanian and she a Bulgarian by birth) with 8 children of their own.  He runs a maintenance landscaping business in Glendale, Arizona – travelling back and forth.  From this business he supports the orphanage along with whatever other private assistance comes in, a little comes in from select groups but not a single dime from government agencies.

The following is written by my Dad.

“They presently have 45 children between the ages of 6 and 18 (school age).  The orphanage sits on several acres of land allowing them to plant fruit trees, have a garden, a grass area, a soccer field and beyond a field that could accommodate a few cows (which they don’t have yet).  While we were there they were in the last pour of concrete for footings of a future basketball court.

Sergius (who runs the orphanage) said you either provide sports activities for them to release their energy in a healthy way or pay the price of them taking it out on their own housing facility.

The children gathered as we came into the assembly area, all interested in who we were.  It wasn’t long before they were sitting across from us singing in both english and their native language – beautiful songs.  One wanted to show us how he could walk on his hands and that he did across the room turn and cross back without hesitation or losing his balance.  He is one of 6 children from one family that had been taken into the orphanage recently after being found abandoned in a field.  When found, they were undernourished and eating grass and drinking the milk from a lactating dog.  That’s right – a dog!  They are all of small stature for their age.  It is hoped that with proper food and loving care they will develop well.

Out back is a shed of about 8 feet by 6 feet that was hastily assembled earlier in the spring to temporarily house 8 teenagers who had been living on the streets.  They stayed in the shed until the last addition was completed and able to house them.  It is the hope some will go onto secondary education which is rare for orphans.

There was an old lady there as well.  Her property is 4 lots away and a week ago her house burned down, her nephew, who was living with her beat her up, blaming her for the fire.  She spent 4 days sleeping outside before someone found her.  With no place to go this Orphanage brought her in.  She just sits and watches the children with little expression on her face.

Volunteers – they welcome volunteers.  They can house and feed them but without pay.  Presently they have a young lady from France.

I have seen several orphanages in Romania since first visiting in 1992 and view this one as one of the best run ones.” ~ Dwayne & Sharon

Tomorrow my parents will leave here and head to their home in British Columbia, but they leave behind many wonderful stories of hope and love and inspire us to do more.  We are making plans to go to Romania next summer on a humanitarian aid trip. I can’t wait to post about that trip!

Have you ever been injured while on vacation?

In 2008 we took the kids to spend 10 days in the Smoky Mountains. Nearing the end of our trip, the last day at Dollywood, I had an accident. Actually a couple….

When we first entered the park my hubby wanted to go hear a Gospel quartet, as we were waiting for it to start, my youngest child was wiggling like only a 2 year old can. In a matter of seconds of trying to get him to sit still, he flailed his arms and one of his hands made its way to my face and he scratched my left cornea. Man that stung!! I was a trooper though, I managed to make it to the first aid station and they patched my eye but I continued to walk the rest of the park with the family, to make sure they got to ride all the rides they had missed the 2 days before.

My superpowers were starting to wane later in the afternoon. When it started to rain, I drew the line and pulled rank that we were leaving the park. After we went for ice cream of course….

While we were sitting having ice cream I reached in for the camera and realized that I didn’t have it, after searching all over the place I decided to go to the lost and found and fill out a report.  As I was leaving the ice cream shoppe, I started to run (to keep dry from the downpour) when my flip flops went out from underneath me and I fell forward, directly onto my knees.  Who knew that when new asphalt with mega amounts of sealant spray on top of it gets slippery when wet??!!!

So here I am, a pirate patch over my left eye and I’m on all fours in the pouring rain in the middle of the amusement park.  I kept thinking to myself, “Don’t cry!” “Don’t cry!” and then I started to bawl, uncontrollable sobs! A man that was sitting at a table by the entrance to the ice cream shoppe quickly came to my aide and picked me up. My right knee was the size of a cantaloupe!! It had swelled up nicely.

Security was called – people wanted me to fill out accident reports… I just wanted to get home. They gave me an ice pack and put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me out of the park. A great last day at Dollywood.

By the time we got back to our resort, my eye was swollen almost shut and my knee was pounding. I decided the pain was too great for this super-mom to take so my hubby took me to the Emergency at the local community hospital. American hospitals are sooooo different than those in Canada (we were in and out within an hour)!!! But I’ll save that for another soapbox moment.

THANK GOODNESS I HAD TRAVEL INSURANCE!!

I am so thankful we decided to get out-of-country travel insurance at the last minute (thank goodness for the internet, we really leave things to the last minute!). With the particular insurance that we had, we didn’t have to pay a cent up front. When we got home, the hospital sent us a bill for our records and boy oh boy oh boy, thank goodness I had travel insurance!!! The tiny tube of eye cream was $80, this tube was smaller than the smallest sample tube of cream I have ever scene!! The rest of the charges equaled to what we paid to stay at our resort for two weeks!!!

So many times I’ve thought, “I never get hurt or sick on holidays”, “I never use the insurance I’ve paid for” and could have so easily decided not to purchase it this time. That would have been a huge financial mistake! I can’t imagine what people would do if they didn’t purchase travel insurance and got injured?? For me… it’s purchasing peace of mind!

So my travel tip to you today is…. take a few moments while planning your next holiday and purchase travel insurance.

Discovering BC

I took my 3rd child to beautiful British Columbia with me when I returned for a family wedding this past June. He’s been there a few times before but now that he’s getting older, he can remember more for longer… so this trip, it was like he was seeing things for the very first time. It was fun rediscovering my home town with him at my side. That’s a tiny baby crab in his hand.

I loved listening to his questions like, “What happened to the water?” when the tide in Semiahmoo Bay was out one day. I now live in Ontario, my children were all born here, a Province in which there are plenty of bodies of water… they’re just fresh water lakes and not oceans. Lakes do not change, they do not have tides. You can take a simple thing like that for granted. It was also funny seeing his expression as he tasted the salt water for the first time (first time he can remember anyway).

I love Canada and exploring this incredible nation. I wish it was a little more affordable…. but that soap box moment is for another post. I do think that as Canadians, we need to spend some time discovering our own nation. It’s not just for the visitors.

My husband has driven across the country twice now, once to drive out for our wedding in North Vancouver back in 1996 and again last month when he helped move his brother to Nanaimo, BC. One day, I’d like to take the train across!! I’ll post some pictures of his trip soon, in the meantime, here are some more from my trip home.

Enjoy!

Have you ever experienced that?

You’re finally on the ground, the feeling has returned to your legs and now you have to go get your bags. After walking what seems like miles, closely following the other hundred or so passengers like cattle down the long and narrow corridors… you come across this large oval shaped turnstile. I still have yet to be the lucky person who gets the spot that is the closest to the shoot where all the bags come out.

I also want to know why I’m usually in the first group of people to arrive at the baggage claim belt but the last one to get her luggage??? But that’s a side point and probably a mute one at that!

Have you noticed that all the bags rolling around that thing all look alike?!!

When I worked for Holland America (best summer job ever!), I vowed never to purchase black luggage because everyone has black so I bought navy. DOAH! That’s the 2nd favourite colour out there! Since luggage is not cheap to change every time you find that your colour is now “the” colour… I learned through my many years of sorting left over and lost luggage at the Vancouver Pier, the ones that were all taken… were ones with those tacky, flashy pom-pom’s or shiny, florescent duct tape or large brightly coloured ribbons streaming from the handle. The ones left behind… were the plain, boring, undescript, everyday looking bags.

So the first time my bags never showed up, I couldn’t understand why. My homage to everything Canadian was on the side of that bag, from Duct Tape to Large Canadian flags!! But it does happen from time to time – and as annoying and stressful as that can be, having baggage insurance so I could get compensation from it was awesome!

The inevitable is going to happen! Have you seen that youtube video about the air carrier who ruined the guys guitar?? Those people handle your bags…. keep that in mind!

I just remember now to always pack an extra pair of “you-know-what’s” & my travel insurance papers in my purse, cause you never know how long it’ll take before they find it… if they find it!

What’s your worst lost / damaged luggage story?